EarthBeat Weekly: Laudato Si' in action in San Diego, Catholic universities

Laudato Si' in action in San Diego, Catholic universities Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change January 19, 2024   People rally at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., Feb. 20, 2020, calling for the Jesuit-run school to fully divest from fossil fuels. (CNS/courtesy Emily Burke) Nearly a decade after Pope Francis released the encyclical Laudato Si', in which he critiqued "a model of development based on the intensive use of fossil fuels" and urged "that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels … be progressively replaced without delay," the first Catholic diocese in the United States has publicly announced that they have divested their financial holdings from funding the fossil fuel industry. NCR environment correspondent Brian Roewe reported that the Diocese of San Diego, led by Cardinal Robert McElroy, in 2021 began to explore the process of divesting its portfolio. By the end of 2022, it had eliminated all direct investments in fossil fuels and reduced its indirect holdings, through mutual funds, to 3%, surpassing its goal of less than 5%. Throughout the past year, diocesan officials and investment advisors continued to monitor the funds to ensure they were meeting the divestment goals. Now, they are ready to publicly declare, "Mission accomplished." "Pope Benedict XVI says that all purchasing is a moral act. And so we have to think about also the way that our financial behavior has an impact around the world," Christina Bagaglio Slentz, the diocese's associate director for creation care, told EarthBeat. Read more: In first for US church, San Diego Diocese divests from fossil fuels The diocese of San Diego made headlines again at EarthBeat this past week when McElroy focused his presentation during a Catholic higher education conference on the outsized role he thinks Laudato Si' should play at Catholic universities.  During his talk at "Lighting the Way Forward: The Purpose of Catholic Higher Education in a Changing World" at the University of San Diego, McElroy said: "Climate change and the degradation of the earth are the most important global moral challenge that we face at this moment in our history. For this reason alone, Laudato Si' should be a focus for every Catholic university. But Laudato Si' is so much more than this." He explored five reasons Laudato Si' constitutes a pillar for advancing the mission and identity of a Catholic University. Laudato Si' points to the single most universally inviting pathway to encounter with God that exists for the young people whom we are forming in faith and character. Laudato Si' speaks powerfully to the concept of truth which should lie at the center of every Catholic university. Laudato Si' beautifully testifies to the principle of solidarity which lies at the heart of Catholic social teaching and is so much under attack in our own nation. Laudato Si' can be a central pillar of mission and identity for the Catholic university because it speaks piercingly to the moral question of technology and its limits. Laudato Si' speaks incisively and powerfully to the ethic of intergenerational solidarity that must suffuse our family life, our culture and our politics. Read more: Cardinal McElroy: Catholic universities should lead on climate change action     What else is new on EarthBeat:   US climate envoy John Kerry, who called pope a 'moral authority' on climate, to step down by Brian Roewe John Kerry, a Catholic politician who has welcomed and amplified Pope Francis' intervention on the issue of climate change, will be leaving his post as the lead climate negotiator for the United States. Passionist provinces turn to solar energy to power ministry and care for creation by Robert Alan Glover, OSV News Catholic Energies, an initiative of the Washington-based Catholic Climate Covenant, has converted three of the Passionist order's sites to solar energy, in New York, West Hartford, Connecticut, and — just since this past September — San Juan, Puerto Rico.     Pope refines Vatican norms for spending, awarding contracts by Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service Continuing the long-running updating of laws and norms regarding Vatican expenditures and processes for awarding contracts, Pope Francis issued two documents Jan. 16. Herring fishermen, Justice Kagan, truth and Cardinal McElroy by Michael Sean Winters A case before the Supreme Court brought by a group of fishing companies shows deeper issues than herring fisheries. Some of those issues are legal, entwined with issues of governance, and others epistemological. Sisters train to advocate for Malawi's displaced cyclone survivors by Doreen Ajiambo With Malawi and other southern African countries still reeling nearly 10 months after Cyclone Freddy, Catholic sisters gathered to learn advocacy skills to lobby on the neglected survivors' behalf. What are sacred forests? by Deepa Bharath, The Associated Press Sacred forests and groves are primeval woodlands that different faith communities around the world have safeguarded for centuries as abodes of the spiritual or the divine.   Devotions on creation from Kat Armas: 'The Mountains Groan' by Kat Armas Our world has so much to grieve: the injustice toward her inhabitants, the eradication of her kin. We kill not only each other but also the very place we call home. But we are not alone in our lament. God mourns with us. The earth is groaning alongside of us. What is our truest response but to grieve?   What's happening in other climate news: US in deep freeze while much of the world is extra toasty? Yet again, it’s climate change —Seth Borenstein for The Associated Press As big 2024 elections loom, what's at stake for climate action? —Jack Graham and Bhasker Tripathi for Thomson Reuters Foundation Republicans dodge Iowa's hot-button energy issue: CO2 pipelines —Jeffrey Tomich for E&E News Climate Change is 'Baking' Elderly Prisoners —Alex Krales for Atmos A huge battery has replaced Hawaii's last coal plant —Julian Spector for Canary Media   Final Beat: On Jan. 16 Pope Francis issued a document updating the 2020 "Norms on Transparency, Control and Competition of Public Contracts of the Holy See and Vatican City State." "The expanded law for awarding contracts repeats that the regulations are issued in accordance 'with the social doctrine of the church and the fundamental principles of the legal system of the Holy See and Vatican City State,' but it adds that they also must be in harmony with the principles set out in Francis' 2015 encyclical 'Laudato Si', On Care for Our Common Home,'" reported Cindy Wooden for CNS. Thanks for reading EarthBeat! Stephanie Clary Environment Editor National Catholic Reporter sclary@ncronline.org Instagram: @stephanieclaryncr     Featured Advertisers   Looking to Hire? Offering Retreats? Selling Books? Place an Ad in NCR's Online Classified Section for Only $75 per Month!   Advertisement