The Creation Care Ministry realizes and affirms that care for the earth, our common home, is an obligation of our Catholic faith. We are called to be careful stewards of God’s creation and to ensure a safe and hospitable environment for all human beings now and for generations to come.
About
Creation Care Ministry has a twofold mission: To create a deeper awareness of environmental stewardship in the parish and its extended family; To encourage good stewardship practices at home, at work, in our parish and in the community.
Pope Francis’ encyclical, Care for Our Common Home (Laudato Si’), is his appeal addressed to “every person living on this planet” for an inclusive dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. Pope Francis calls on the Church and the world to acknowledge the urgency of our environmental challenges and to join him in embarking on a new path to Care for Creation and Care for the Poor.
Meetings
Please join us as we guide the role of Nativity parish in this commitment to live Laudato Si. We welcome anyone interested in working to incorporate Creation Care into their own lives and to help the parish and community grow in this commitment. Your special interests are welcome and can make a difference in this ministry’s broad range of current and potential projects.
When: 4th Thursday of the month | 7:15 pm
Where: Virtually (please email us below for an invitation to our meetings, we would love to have you!)
For more information or to join us, please contact us at nativitycreationcare@gmail.com
Resources
Lenten Creation Care Calendar
This 2023 Lenten Creation Care Calendar will help you prioritize care for Earth and neighbor as spiritual practice.
Creation Care in the Arlington Catholic Herald
Diocese of Arlington and parishes form a green network
Virginia bishops sign the U.S. Catholic Climate Declaration
Burke naturalist’s faith grows amid her love for creation (Featuring our very own parishioner, Kim Young)
Other Resources
USCCB | Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home
Catholic Climate Covenant
Prayer for the Care of Creation
When Jesus appears to his disciples, he shows them the wounds in his hands and his side. In this way he makes it clear that the Glorified One who stands in their midst is one and the same as the Jesus who lived among them and suffered on the Cross. Here we note that even in his glory, Jesus carries the marks of his history among us, wounds and all. In the first reading, we hear of all the people who turn to the apostles for healing. In light of what we read in the Gospel, we know that healing does not erase our wounds, as if they never happened. Rather, healing transforms them so that they no longer weigh us down. On this Sunday when we place our focus on the Mercy of God, we are aware that this mercy takes us in, with all our wounds and failings, hopes and triumphs. God’s mercy envelopes us in our entirety and heals us. Jesus is our redemption. When we contemplate all God’s creation, the Scriptures tell us—and Laudato Si’ reminds us—that God’s redemption ultimately extends to all creation. In our own day, we witness the marks of our own impact on nature. Yet as Christians who have witnessed the Resurrection of Jesus, we hope and have faith that God’s redemption will renew us and the Earth itself. This hope and faith is what Christians bring to the care of God’s creation.
(from Catholic Climate Covenant)
A Prayer for Our Earth
All-powerful God,
You are present in the whole universe
And in the smallest of the creatures.
You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.
Pour out upon us the power of your love,
That we may protect life and beauty.
Fill us with peace, that we may live
As brothers and sisters, harming no one.
O God of the poor,
Help us to rescue the abandoned
And forgotten of this earth,
So precious in your eyes.
Bring healing to our lives,
That we may protect the world and not prey on it,
That we may sow beauty,
Not pollution and destruction.
Touch the hearts
Of those who look only for gain
At the expense of the poor and the earth.
Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,
To be filled with awe and contemplation,
To recognize that we are profoundly united
With every creature
As we journey towards your infinite light.
We thank you for being with us each day,
Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice,
Love and peace.
Amen!