Announcing the MLSM Canada National Gathering
Sept 27, 2023
Message of Pope Francis for the 2023 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
For the 2023 Season of Creation, Mouvement Laudato Si' Movement - Canada (MLSM Canada) is excited to invite all MLSM Canada members and supporters, as well as global Laudato Si’ Movement (LSM) members across Canada, to the first MLSM Canada National Gathering, Wednesday, September 27th at 7:00 pm AT; 6:00 pm ET; 3:00 pm PT. This free, two-hour, online, MLSM Canada National Gathering aims to provide space:
- to share on action and advocacy opportunities and invite collaboration;
- for participants to connect by region or with participants who speak French, to invite community and build collaboration;
- to facilitate sharing of resources, successes, challenges, and strategies.
Agnes Richard, MLSM Canada Coordinator, and Anna Johnson, Laudato Si’ Movement's Senior Programs Manager for North America, will provide updates and highlight opportunities for action.
If you are seeking collaboration on projects you are working on in your area, or have resources that you have developed, we invite you to bring those and share them in the Gathering chat. Our team will make sure anything shared in the chat will be captured and made available to all registrants following the event.
Information and Registration: MLSM Canada National Gathering
Remember to click the “Send me email updates” button so we can get back to you with more information closer to the event date.
Contact: National Gathering coordinator Karen Van Loon at [email protected]
Save the date, register, and we look forward to seeing you there!
Two successful spring events
On May 25, 2023, MLSM Canada partnered with the Mary Ward Centre, Faith & the Common Good, the Archdiocese of Toronto Office for Interfaith Dialogue and the Sisters of St. Joseph, Toronto to host An Interfaith Conversation on Care for Our Common Home featuring the film, The Letter. We provided a partial film screening of THE LETTER, and interfaith panel discussion with Emilio Rodriguez, CPJ, Roop Singh Sindu, EcoSikh Canada, Noah MacDonald, Michipicoten First Nation and Canon Lawyer with the Archdiocese of Toronto, Yusra Shafi, Muslim youth delegate to COP27, Kehkashan Basu, Hindu and Green Hope Foundation international. The event was attended by approximately 25 people, who enjoyed good food, lively conversation and stimulating networking opportunities.
Here are some of the memorable statements from the panelists:
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“The multiple crises we are facing right now intersect with each other and exacerbate each other, just as they do in Aruna’s story in THE LETTER. Everything is interconnected, and so the solutions must also be connected. That’s what we’re trying to do here with multifaceted approaches from people of different spiritual backgrounds.” Emilio Rodriguez |
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"The Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops have statements about medical assistance in dying, so there is already a precedence for our leadership to act in political ways on issues to protect the most vulnerable. But we should also recognise that the Earth is part of what is most vulnerable right now. Wouldn’t it be amazing if our Bishops acted similarly with caution against the assaults to the protected status of The Green Belt in Ontario?” Noah MacDonald |
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“Every single time you take action for people and planet you too are benefitting. You not only bring joy to yourself, but you are bringing joy to others as well. Every single one of us has the change making potential to bring about a new world order.” Kehkashan Basu |
From left to right, panelist Roop Singh Sindu (EcoSikh), co-organizers Michelle Singh (Faith & the Common Good), Kathy Murtha (Mary Ward Centre), Daniel Niamat (Archdiocese of Toronto), Sabrina Chiefari (Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto), assisting Karen Van Loon (FCG and MLSM Canada) and co-organizer Agnes Richard (MLSM Canada).
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“One God, one Humanity, one Earth. The solution to climate change is humanity working together as one.” Roop Singh Sindu |
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“I would like to address the contribution of young people. The ideas of borders are melting away. We can connect globally at the touch of a button. The understanding we have of disproportionate suffering seems intuitive to us. The youth of today are the changemakers of tomorrow. We know the solutions we need aren’t here yet, but they are in reach and we may be the ones to achieve them.’’ Yusra Shafi |
Full house at the Mary Ward Centre with live and virtual panelists from 5 spiritual traditions.
The weekend of June 2-4, MLSM Canada collaborated with Jericho House Youth Leadership, Justice & Spirituality Centre to host the second annual Care for Our Common Home Retreat. The 20 people in attendance shared inspiring stories and personal experiences, restful intervals in nature, prayerful meditation, and community building. There were many noteworthy interactions. Sr. Noreen Allossery-Walsh and six members from the Seeds of Hope Women’s group prepared Seeds of Hope Lifegiving Strategies for Thriving in the Long Haul, a powerful commissioning and conclusion to the weekend. This gift is available for all MLSM Canada members to use.
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Participants Lowell, Mariette, Robin, Freda, Gale, Diana, Maria, Roman and Dianne enjoyed an interactive walk with nature. |
A moving ceremony including “Strategies for Thriving in the Long Haul” sent participants on their way with words of wisdom and hope. |
Thanks to all of you our Laudato Si’ Movement in Canada is thriving! Thank you for everything you do to bring Laudato Si’ to life!
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Coordinator MOUVEMENT LAUDATO SI' MOVEMENT Canada |
CELEBRATIONS |
Welcome Newly Certified Laudato Si’ Animators!
| Meredith Bacola | Paula DosSantos Papel |
| University of Manitoba | interCULTURES*media |
| Winnipeg, Manitoba | London, Ontario |
Sponsorship Partners
Centre Oblat, Oblate Fathers of Lacombe Province, have made their first donation.
Several private donors have sent one time donations, through the Faith & the Common Good Canada Helps page for the MLSM Canada fund, in memory of John Dorner.
We are deeply grateful for your generous donations. Thank you!
You too can support faith-based climate action for a more resilient and sustainable Canada. Donate today.
ACTIONS / RESOURCES |
1. The Care for Creation: Seven Year Plan - A Diocesan and Parish Response to Laudato Si’ is available from the Association of Catholic Bishops of Ontario (ACBO) in an English version and French version.
The guide is designed to help all Catholic dioceses and parishes in Ontario develop their own Laudato Si’ Action Platform seven-year plan.
It was reviewed and endorsed by the ACBO Social Affairs Commission, in the fall of 2021, and as such there should be no barriers to Laudato Si’ Animators asking about it, offering their help in formulating goals and helping your parish or diocese achieve them.
2. Season of Creation 2023 Let Justice and Peace Flow!
Pope Francis’s message for the World Day of Prayer for the 2023 Season of Creation, was released May 13, 2023.
“How can we contribute to the mighty river of justice and peace in this Season of Creation? What can we, particularly as Christian communities, do to heal our common home so that it can once again teem with life? We must do this by resolving to transform our hearts, our lifestyles, and the public policies ruling our societies.
....In the same way that a river gives life to all kinds of animal and plant life, a synodal Church must give life by sowing justice and peace in every place it reaches.
[I]t is absurd to permit the continued exploration and expansion of fossil fuel infrastructures. Let us raise our voices to halt this injustice towards the poor and towards our children, who will bear the worst effects of climate change.”
- Pope Francis World Day of Prayer for the Season of Creation message 2023
This is the work we are called to do in Canada. Ours is a country of wealth and privilege that continues to enable the gross extraction and expansion of fossil fuels, while impoverishing communities and biomes here and around the world.
A Pastoral Letter on the Season of Creation from Christian leaders in Saskatchewan was circulated in June and is co-signed by four Catholic Bishops.
The Season of Creation Celebration Guide, 2023 is available to view and download here.
3. Letter writing to Members of Parliament
to preserve Canada’s carbon pricing plan and demand action on carbon pollution.
At the second annual Care for Our Common Home retreat, reviewed above, Randy Haluza-Delay assisted participants in preparing their own letters to Members of Parliament to bolster support for Canada’s Carbon Pricing Plan. You are encouraged to follow his guidelines, here, for composing a letter, with a list of Senators and MPs to address it to. Remember, all mail delivered to parliamentarians can be sent without postage.
This link from Ecojustice will make it easy for you to ask your MP for the following:
- Ban thermal coal exports (because coal is highest in greenhouse gas emissions)
- Block new fossil fuel projects (new projects take us in the wrong direction to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050)
- Stop banks and other finance companies from pouring billions into coal, oil, and gas (billions of dollars should be directed instead to develop clean energy and green jobs)
Please use one of these tools to raise your voice with your elected officials.
4. Laudato Si’ Movement Global Encounter
In 2025 the global Laudato Si’ Movement will celebrate the 800th anniversary of the Canticle of the Creatures, a prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, and the tenth anniversary of both the Laudato Si' Encyclical and our beloved Movement at a Global Encounter in Assisi, Italy.
This important project involves a preparatory process towards the celebratory jubilee. The first stage of the journey will be "Preparing the canoes: Confirming memberships". When you receive an invitation to complete a survey about your involvement with the international movement, please take a moment to reconfirm your membership. This is a crucial step in planning for the rest of the journey.
There have been two Global Encounter webinars to date, and more are planned on a quarterly basis until May of 2025. Register here to participate in future Global Encounter webinars.
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