| Earth
Charter (Care for Creation)
“We have heard the cry of our world. Although
precious and beautiful in God's design, the earth and its peoples exist
today in a fragile, divided, and fragmented condition.” SSND Call
to Transformation (21st General Chapter)
Caring for the earth and its resources demonstrates our respect
for God’s creation. To the School Sisters of Notre Dame, caring
for creation is a foundational element of SHALOM and our striving for
justice and peace.
Sisters and associates are involved in a variety of projects and organizations
that promote respect for the environment and address sustainability issues.
Integrating these concerns with broader issues of justice and peace has
lead the congregation to begin studying and reflecting on the Earth Charter.
The Earth Charter is a declaration of fundamental principles for building
a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society in the 21st century.
In the Earth Charter there is a special emphasis on the world’s
environmental challenges. However, it also recognizes that environmental
protection, human rights, equitable human development, and peace are interdependent
and indivisible.
The Four Principles of the Earth Charter
- Respect and Care for the Community of Life
- Ecological Integrity
- Social and Economic Justice
- Democracy, Nonviolence, and Peace
The Earth Charter is the product of a decade-long, worldwide, cross-cultural
conversation about common goals and shared values dating back to the 1987
UN World Commission on Environment and Development and the 1992 Rio Earth
Summit. Thousands of individuals and hundreds of organizations from all
regions of the world participated in its development.
The School Sisters of Notre Dame Respond
The School Sisters of Notre Dame believe they can serve as a positive
global influence for just and sustainable living. Through the SHALOM network,
the School Sisters of Notre Dame are engaging in a multi-year process
of study and theological reflection on the values and principles of the
Earth Charter. This process will include a reflection on our experience
regarding the integrity of creation, as well as reflections on Sacred
Scripture, our Catholic faith tradition, and our congregational documents.
Already workshops exploring the Earth Charter and Catholic Social Teaching
are under way and theological reflection resources are being developed.
The purpose of the process is to assist the congregation to respond with
renewed action for the sake of justice and the integrity of creation in
our time.
"We commit ourselves to reverse those personal and communal choices
which exploit the earth and impoverish peoples." (20th General Chapter
1997)
What You Can Do
After you or your group has studied the Earth Charter, why not consider
endorsing it? Earth Charter Endorsement www.earthcharter.org/endorse.
Pray – Add this Prayer of Commitment to your daily/weekly prayers…
Prayer of Commitment (From Education for Justice Earth Day Prayer Service)
We commit ourselves to care for all the gifts of Creation. We commit
ourselves to explore and understand environmental concerns. We commit
to work with others for environmental justice for all. Come Holy Spirit,
enkindle in us the fire of your love. Send your breath over the waters
and we shall be re-created. And we shall renew the face of the Earth.
Amen.
Pray
Add this Prayer (From
Education for Justice Earth Day Prayer Service)
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