July 9, 2025
By John Gonzalez, Office of Mission
Ten years ago, Pope Francis signed the Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, devoted to care for our common home. It has had an extraordinary impact, inspiring countless initiatives and teaching everyone to listen to the twofold cry of the Earth and of the poor. I greet and encourage the Laudato Si’ movement and all those who carry on this commitment. – Pope Leo XIV Regina Caeli
This year, on what is traditionally known as Laudato Si’ week, Pope Leo XIV addressed a network of universities to highlight the tenth anniversary of famous environmental encyclical Laudato Si’. In this brief message Pope Leo emphasized his predecessor’s last World Day of Peace Message.
You will reflect together on a possible remission of the public debt and of the ecological debt, a proposal that Pope Francis had suggested in his message for the World Day of Peace. And in this jubilee year, a year of hope, this message is so important.
This year’s World Day of Peace message offers three proposals to help offset debt, financial debt and ecological debt. Pope Francis saw this as “two sides of the same coin, namely the mindset of exploitation that has culminated in the debt crisis.” In one such proposal Pope Francis suggests that we forgive the debts of the poorer nation to eliminate the austere hardships that affect their ability to provide any social benefits. He also offered the following pragmatic suggestion to combat the “ecological debt.”
Let us use at least a fixed percentage of the money earmarked for armaments to establish a global Fund to eradicate hunger and facilitate in the poorer countries educational activities aimed at promoting sustainable development and combating climate change.
At the local level, we at Catholic Charities can do our part to provide educational opportunities and promote sustainable development in our communities. Our Office of Mission Volunteer services collaborated with the Next Generation Committee at the Bishop Boardman Senior Houses to assist seniors with their own community garden. Our partnership with groups like the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement allows us to also support initiatives like their Care for Creation Parishes that look to promote study groups and local parish-based ecological practices. We also are attentive to the growing reality of natural disasters in our world and local communities and to that end we have trained members of our staff to be part of the CCUSA Cadre. As a member of CCUSA Cadre trained members of our staff will be sent to respond with other Catholic Charities staff to natural disasters throughout the nation.
One of the projects I would like to highlight is the Bridgebuilding Gardening Experience that we have at our Catholic Charities Msgr. Pfeiffer Resource Center in Howard Beach. This is a new initiative, partly funded by Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA), that brings together seniors and youth to experience a series of gatherings centered around the creation of a communal garden cultivating vegetables, herbs, and spices.
Participants engage in hands-on gardening activities, interactive workshops, and meaningful discussions that explore the importance of healthy eating and physical wellness. Through this experience, we aim to promote intergenerational understanding, build respectful relationships, and encourage community cooperation.
The 2015 environmental encyclical reminds us that “a change in lifestyle could bring healthy pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power.” Catholic Charities in Brooklyn and Queens are committed to this goal which we highlight in our own tag lines “Changing Lives… Building Communities.” Through these programs and collaborations, we are able to support the environmental goals of Laudato Si’. Pope Francis’ ground-breaking encyclical inspired us as it inspired the universal Catholic community by recognizing that “If we can overcome individualism, we will truly be able to develop a different lifestyle and bring about significant changes in society.”