July 21, 2026

In January, we affirmed our unwavering commitment to defending the inherent dignity of every human person, especially our poor and vulnerable brothers and sisters. Today, we reiterate that commitment with renewed urgency following, once again, a series of fatal encounters involving U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and the continued fear experienced by immigrant communities across our nation.

As people of faith, we grieve the deaths of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine; Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston, Texas; and all those whose lives have been lost traveling to the U.S. in search of a better life, during immigration enforcement operations or in the aftermath of their arrest, detention, and deportation. We also remember Alex Pretti and Renee Good, whose deaths earlier this year prompted our January statement. We pray for their families, for their communities, and for all who carry the weight of these tragedies.

Our Catholic faith teaches that every person is created in the image and likeness of God. Human dignity is not earned through citizenship, legal status, race, or nationality. It is a gift from God that can never be taken away. Every policy, every exercise of authority, and every encounter with another human being must begin with this fundamental truth.

The call to welcome the stranger is not peripheral to our faith — it is at its heart. Jesus reminds us in Matthew 25 that whatever we do for “the least of these,” we do for Him. This Gospel mandate compels us to reject language, policies, and actions that dehumanize our neighbors or treat any human life as expendable.

The recent deaths in Maine and Texas raise serious moral questions about the use of force during immigration enforcement and about the systems and practices that have fostered fear within our immigrant communities.

Catholic Climate Covenant’s mission is rooted in caring for our common home and advancing the common good. These commitments cannot be separated from our responsibility to defend the dignity of every person. As Pope Francis repeatedly reminded us, everything is connected. Pope Leo XIV has taken up the same call, reminding us that all of humanity is magnificent, and human life and dignity should be put first — just as God intended. The same moral vision that calls us to care for creation also calls us to protect those who are vulnerable, displaced, marginalized, or living in fear.

We call upon the Catholic community to pray, to accompany immigrant families, to advocate for policies rooted in human dignity, and to bear witness to Christ’s command to welcome the stranger.

As we said in January, ora et labora — prayer and action — must go hand in hand. We remain committed to living out the Gospel by defending the vulnerable, welcoming the stranger, and recognizing the face of Christ in every person. We will never grow indifferent to suffering. We will respond with the courage, compassion, and hope that our faith demands.

Katie Zakrzewski | katie@catholicclimatecovenant.org | 501-618-0234

July 20, 2026

Washington, D.C. — Catholic Climate Covenant and a coalition of Catholic and faith-based organizations will host a public prayer service outside the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday, July 24, from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. EDT, inviting people of faith to pray for God’s creation and the common good.

Held on the front sidewalk of the EPA headquarters at 1200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., the prayer service will bring together Catholics, people of faith, young leaders, and creation care advocates in a peaceful public witness rooted in prayer and Catholic social teaching.

Handheld signs with creation care messages will be provided. Participants are also welcome to bring their own Laudato Si’-inspired signs. Organizers ask attendees to keep all messaging focused on creation care and appropriate for a prayerful gathering. Because the event will be held outdoors, attendees are encouraged to bring water, wear comfortable clothing, and prepare for the weather with sunscreen, hats, umbrellas, or other appropriate items.

Event Details

What: Prayer Service for God’s Creation and the Common Good
When: Friday, July 24, 2026, 10:00–10:45 a.m. EDT
Where: Front sidewalk of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.

Media interested in attending or arranging interviews should contact Kayla, Director of Advocacy & Youth Mobilization, at kayla@catholicclimatecovenant.org.

Participants will pray for the protection of creation, the health of communities, and policies that uphold human dignity and care for our common home. The gathering is inspired by Pope Francis’ call in Laudato Si’ and Laudate Deum to respond faithfully to the ecological and climate crises with hope, solidarity, and action.

Young people will offer reflections during the service, with additional speakers to be announced.

“This prayer service is an opportunity for people of faith to come together in hope and prayer for God’s creation,” said Dan Misleh, Executive Director of Catholic Climate Covenant. “As Catholics, we are called to care for our common home and to stand in solidarity with those most affected by environmental degradation and climate change.”

The prayer service is co-sponsored by Catholic Climate Covenant, Franciscan Action Network, Ignatian Solidarity Network, Laudato Si’ Movement – North America, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team.

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About Catholic Climate Covenant 

Catholic Climate Covenant is a national U.S. nonprofit founded with the support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006 that inspires and equips U.S. Catholics and institutions to care for creation together. Through 20 national partners, we guide the U.S. Church’s response to climate change and integral ecology through faith-driven education, advocacy, and resources.

www.catholicclimatecovenant.org.

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May 26, 2026

Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement – North America applaud Pope Leo XIV’s first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, as an important and urgently needed contribution to the global and ethical conversation about artificial intelligence (A.I.), human dignity, and building a humanity-centric future.

Magnifica Humanitas builds on all of the Church’s Social Doctrine, and in particular, two of Pope Francis’ influential encyclicals, Laudato Si’ (on the environment) and Fratelli Tutti (on human flourishing in a global community). It roots integral ecology as a core lens through which to discern God’s hope for us in the current realities we live, seeing the crises of the environment and the crises of social/human relationships as one complex and integrated crisis. The common denominator in this complexity is that humans, not machines, are made in the image and likeness of our creator God.

At a time when rapidly developing technologies are reshaping every aspect of society, Pope Leo XIV offers a clear moral reminder that technology must serve the common good, protect human dignity, and respect God’s creation. Magnifica Humanitas challenges all people of goodwill to consider not only what artificial intelligence can do, but what kind of world it is helping to create. The human is irreplaceable, and the human in community must drive technology to serve the common good, not just the wealthy and connected.

We are especially grateful that Pope Leo addresses the environmental consequences of the expanding digital economy. As A.I. systems grow and data centers multiply across the globe, their enormous demands for energy, water, and natural resources carry profound implications for our common home. These significant environmental costs are too often ignored in public discussions surrounding innovation and economic growth. And, as is always the case, it is the poor and the marginalized who have to pay the highest price, whether that’s unaffordable utility costs to subsidize energy consumption powering A.I. data centers, or contaminated air and water, causing significant health impacts for entire communities, or destroyed ecosystems.

The encyclical rightly insists that each of us use intentional and moral discernment in the creation and implementation of technology, in order to ensure that “innovation genuinely serve integral human development” (181). Communities already facing poverty, pollution, displacement, and climate impacts are shouldering the hidden environmental and social burdens tied to advancing technologies which prioritize profit and efficiency above human dignity, including extractive industries, infrastructure, and unchecked development.

Our task today is not only ethical or technical. It is ecological in the deepest sense, for it concerns a new dimension of our common home. AI is already an environment in which we are immersed, as well as a force with which we must engage. For this reason, merely regulating it is insufficient; it must be disarmed, welcoming, and accessible (110).

Catholic Social Teaching has long affirmed that human life, economic systems, and care for creation are inseparable. Magnifica Humanitas continues that tradition by asking whether our development and use of technologies is advancing solidarity, justice, truth, and authentic human flourishing, or only deepening inequality and weakening our relationships with one another and the natural world.

Pope Leo XIV also insists that everyone holds responsibility, even if differentiated, in discerning the answers to these questions. Questions surrounding artificial intelligence are not only technical or economic, but they are also fundamentally moral and spiritual questions about what it means to be human and how we live responsibly within creation.

Leadership from both Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement – North America praised the encyclical.

“The moral implications of AI are so profound that Pope Leo calls for it to be ‘disarmed’ in much the same way as Pacem in Terris called for the abolition of nuclear weapons. It is urgent that we begin a sustained dialogue about the direction of AI—that it serves humanity, not itself,” said Dan Misleh, executive director of Catholic Climate Covenant. “Technology can promote human flourishing, or it can devolve into a soul-crushing tool that leaves us enslaved to its power.”

“This encyclical is a powerful call to discernment and reflection from every person as Pope Leo XIV asks that we consider what kind of world we are called to build, and assures us that working for the upholding of inherent human dignity and our ‘situated anthropocentrism’ in God’s creation is the work of following the Gospel,” reflects Anna Johnson, North America Director for the Laudato Si Movement. “He re-centers us towards God and community, and reminds us of our irreplaceable call as a part of God’s magnificent humanity, in protecting all of creation.”

Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement – North America join Pope Leo XIV in calling for all people of goodwill to come together in building a future in which innovation is guided by wisdom, accountability, and care for the vulnerable through our individual, business, and communal actions, whether that be how we use technological tools, how we commit to orienting our shared moral compass in our workplaces and communities, or how we advocate for a just and liveable present and future. As people of faith, we believe technological advancement must never come at the expense of human dignity or the health of our planet.

We pray that Magnifica Humanitas will inspire people in governments, businesses, faith communities, and families to build this civilization of love.

Laudato Si’ Week 2026 is an invitation for Catholics around the world to turn faith into action for our common home. As we celebrate this global week of prayer and action, Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement invite individuals, families, and parishes to respond with hope rooted in the Gospel.

More than ten years after Laudato Si’, the call to hear “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor” remains urgent. Climate change, pollution, and environmental injustice continue to affect vulnerable communities first and worst. Yet our faith reminds us that transformation is possible when we act together.

Faith Calls Us to Care

Care for creation is not separate from Catholic life — it is part of how we love God and our neighbors. Ecological conversion begins with prayer, gratitude, and a willingness to live differently.

This Laudato Si’ Week, Catholics everywhere can take meaningful steps toward healing our relationship with creation and one another.

Here are a few ways to participate this week:

Pray and Reflect

• Include creation care intentions in Mass or personal prayer

• Read and discuss passages from Laudato Si’

• Host a parish prayer service or Rosary for creation

Care for Creation

• Reduce food and plastic waste at home

• Plant trees, pollinator gardens, or native plants

• Organize a parish or neighborhood cleanup

Advocate for Justice

• Support policies that protect vulnerable communities and ecosystems

• Contact elected leaders about climate and environmental justice

• Learn from Indigenous and frontline communities

Build Community

• Start a creation care ministry or team at your parish

• Join local or global Laudato Si’ initiatives

• Encourage young people to lead climate action projects

A Prayer for Laudato Si’ Week

Gracious Creator,

You call us into encuentro —
to meet one another with compassion,
to walk alongside those most affected by environmental harm,
and to recognize all creation as sacred and connected.

Open our hearts to the cry of the earth
and the cry of the poor.
Teach us to live simply, act justly,
and care tenderly for our common home.

May our faith move us from comfort to courage,
from indifference to solidarity,
and from hope to action.

Guide our communities to protect the gifts of water, air, land, and life,
so that future generations may flourish in peace and dignity.

Through Christ, who reconciles all creation to You.
Amen.

Español

Dios Creador y lleno de gracia,

Tú nos llamas al encuentro:
a encontrarnos con compasión,
a caminar junto a quienes más sufren por el daño ambiental,
y a reconocer toda la creación como sagrada e interconectada con nosotros.

Abre nuestros corazones al clamor de la tierra
y al clamor de los pobres.
Enséñanos a vivir con sencillez, actuar con justicia
y cuidar con ternura nuestra casa común.

Que nuestra fe nos mueva de la comodidad al valor,
de la indiferencia a la solidaridad,
y de la esperanza a la acción.

Guía a nuestras comunidades para proteger
los dones del agua, el aire, la tierra y la vida,
para que las futuras generaciones puedan florecer
con paz y dignidad.

Por Cristo, quien reconcilia toda la creación contigo.
Amén.

Hope Becomes Action

Every action — no matter how small — can become a sign of hope. A community garden, an energy-saving project, or a shared prayer service can help build a more just and sustainable future.

This Laudato Si’ Week, may we answer God’s call with courage, compassion, and action for our common home.

Learn more at Laudato Si’ Week. You can also explore resources and ways to get involved through Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement North America.

The Covenant is excited to announce the St. Francis & St. Clare Youth Art Competition in celebration of the Jubilee of St. Francis of Assisi!

Young people are invited to submit original artwork inspired by the theme Creation Sings!

Age Categories

• High School

• Middle School

• Grades 3-5

• Grades K-2

Accepted Forms of Art

We welcome all forms of original art, including visual art, media, poetry, and other literary works. AI-generated pieces of any kind will not be accepted.

Awards

Prizes will be awarded in each age category:

• 1st Place – $100

• 2nd Place – $75

• 3rd Place – $50

Winners will also receive certificates of recognition.

Important Dates

• Submission Deadline: September 25, 2026

• Winners Announced: October 19, 2026

How to Submit

Parents or guardians should:

• Complete this registration form

• Email a digital copy of the artwork (photo, video, or document) to: kayla@catholicclimatecovenant.org

We encourage schools, parishes, and families to share this opportunity widely with young people in their communities.

Thank you for helping celebrate faith, creativity, and care for creation!

In the spirit of Laudato Si’, we are called to an integral ecology — one that connects care for the environment with care for the poor, and recognizes that everything is interconnected. The climate crisis is not distant; it is already affecting communities through extreme weather, rising costs, and growing inequality.

Yet this moment is also one of hope. Across the world, parishes, dioceses, and lay leaders are taking concrete action: reducing emissions, divesting from fossil fuels, restoring ecosystems, educating communities, and advocating for climate justice. In solidarity with the Bishops of the Global South, we hold the First Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels close in prayer. These efforts show that faith is not passive — it is creative, courageous, and active in love.

As Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement, we stand together in supporting this global Church-wide response. Through collaboration, education, and advocacy, we seek to empower Catholics everywhere to respond to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.

This Earth Day, we invite every Catholic community to take one step forward — whether planting a garden, starting a creation care team, reducing energy use, or speaking out for just climate policies. Small actions, when joined together, become a powerful witness of hope.

May we continue to walk together in faith, guided by the Spirit, and committed to a future where all of God’s creation can flourish.

“May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.”

Laudato Si’

Helpful resources

• Catholic Climate Covenant’s 2026 Earth Day program

• Laudato Si’ Movement’s 2026 Earth Day blog and action steps

• EarthDay.org’s website and annual call for creation care

• Manifesto of the Churches of the Global South for Our Common Home

The Covenant knows that youth are the future of the planet and the Church. That means supporting them through social activities and educational pursuits.

For that reason, the Covenant created the Pope Francis Climate Justice Scholarship. The $5,000 scholarship will be awarded each year over the course of four years to support a student’s post-secondary education.

Scholarship recipients will maintain full-time enrollment in an accredited post-secondary institution, continue their involvement in climate justice through coursework, research, or community initiatives, and participate in brief annual check-ins with Catholic Climate Covenant staff to confirm eligibility.

And the Covenant is happy to share that we’ve selected our very first Pope Francis Climate Justice Scholar!

Alexa Santana, 17, of Boston, Massachusetts, is a senior at Fontbonne Academy and plans to study human development and applied psychology. After she finishes a two-year program, she plans to continue her educational studies in the D.C. area.

Alexa got involved in climate work during her freshman year of high school when attending a youth climate march in New York.

“That was the first time I had been introduced to climate justice,” she said. “… I realized how important it was, through my work and my community work in Boston, surrounding budgets and allocations of resources, how climate affects different people, different communities, and especially communities with fewer resources. … After that, two of my friends and I got involved with Catholic Climate Covenant together and started the environmental club at my school.”

This concern for her community and the vulnerable and marginalized was apparent when Alexa competed for the Pope Francis Climate Justice Scholarship.

“Care for our common home lies in the people, and in how we work together to make a change,” Alexa wrote in her application.

“That’s what made me want to do this work,” she said. “And what made me so passionate about climate justice in the first place. … Through climate justice, I feel connected with my faith, especially through social justice projects at school. Our big capstone project is about the different Catholic Social Teachings and how they relate to social justice.”

In Boston, Santana has been involved in community work focused on resource allocation and equity, while also co-founding an environmental club at her school with fellow students through her involvement with the Catholic Climate Covenant. She has also served as a student leader with the Covenant’s Catholic Youth Climate Leadership program in Boston since her freshman year.

Alexa said it’s important for climate and Church workers — especially young people — to continue working for change, even when the task is daunting.

“I think a lot of people will say that it’s useless or that there’s no point — people view this work through such a pessimistic lens,” she said. “But I feel like, through faith, I feel like it’s my duty and my reason for this — it brings me hope and makes me want to do it even more when people say it’s useless. We need people to flip their ideologies on climate justice and not see us as something taboo, but something urgent and something that we all need to work on together.”

The following statement was written as an op-ed by Bishop Joseph J. Tyson, bishop of the Diocese of Yakima, Washington, and the Episcopal Moderator of Catholic Climate Covenant. It was published by National Catholic Reporter.

It is hard to watch Alex Pretti’s death. We see him attempt to record ICE activities on a phone; we see him try to help two women pushed to the ground by federal agents. And then we see a brutal horror unfold.

Jesus said to tend the sick, visit the prisoner, welcome the stranger. He said whatever we do to the most vulnerable of our people, we do to him. Who do we see as Alex Pretti is shot to death?

Who do we see in the photo of a detained 5-year old Liam Ramos? There are no photos or videos for most of the 3,800 children that the Deportation Data Project reports ICE has detained. Who will bear witness for them? We saw the image of ICE agents forcing an elderly U.S. citizen into the snow, barely clothed, after reportedly beating his door down without a warrant and holding him at gunpoint. A citizen! What is happening when no one is recording?

We were told that the government would focus on deporting violent criminals. So why is ICE targeting churches and school pickups? Why are they arresting people at immigration court hearings before their case has even been heard? These people are following the law to earn legal status. In fact, the percentage of detainees with violent criminal records is around 5 or 7%, according to recent analyses from The Cato Institute and The New York Times, respectively.

The government is also revoking the legal status of thousands of people so they can be pushed out of our country. This may impact more than 1.5 million immigrants. The federal government is ripping families apart and abusing human dignity, and this is an affront to our moral consciences as Catholic bishops. “We oppose the indiscriminate mass deportation of people,” the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops said. “We pray for an end to dehumanizing rhetoric and violence.” Cardinal Robert McElroy of the Archdiocese of Washington clearly named what is happening: a “governmental assault designed to produce fear and terror among millions of men and women.”

The governmental assault is not just happening in LA and Chicago. It is happening all across our country, including in my rural diocese of central Washington state.

We would never know about these assaults on our morality if not for witnesses like Alex Pretti. His example reminds me to check on parishioners and neighbors. I still do not know the whereabouts of my parishioner José López, who was mistakenly apprehended in September. How hard this long silence must be for his loved ones.

I thank God for witnesses. It can be dangerous to shine a light on that which the powerful would hide. The Greek word “martyr” translates to “witness.” The tragic death of witnesses like Mr. Pretti and Ms. Renee Good reveals the darkness around them.

If you are understandably afraid to bear physical witness to those suffering from ICE’s tactics, stay informed. Pray with your voice and your feet. This week, Congress is considering more funding for the Department of Homeland Security after ICE’s budget was increased tenfold last year. I echo my brother bishop, Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, who recently spoke to grassroots leaders: “Will you contact your congressional representatives? We ask them, for the love of God and the love of human beings — which can’t be separated — to vote against renewing funding for such a lawless organization.”

Though we are not all called to be martyrs, we are all called to be witnesses. If you are a person of faith, it is more important than ever to view politics through the lens of that faith, and not the other way around.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.” I pray that each of us has the courage to keep our eyes open.

During Black History Month, we pause to remember, grieve, celebrate, and recommit ourselves to the work of justice. This month invites us not only to recall the extraordinary contributions of Black leaders, saints, and communities, but also to confront the enduring systems of violence, exclusion, and environmental harm that continue to deny Black Americans their full human dignity.

Just weeks ago, Catholic Climate Covenant reaffirmed a foundational truth of our faith: every human person bears inherent and inviolable dignity. We named our concern for immigrants, for communities of color, and for all those whose lives are treated as expendable by systems of power. Black History Month calls us deeper into that same moral conviction.

The histories of racism, enslavement, segregation, redlining, mass incarceration, and environmental injustice are not separate chapters from the climate crisis. They are part of the same story. Communities that have been historically devalued are the very communities most exposed to pollution, extreme heat, unsafe water, and climate-driven displacement. As Pope Francis reminds us, all is connected.

To honor Black history faithfully is not only to celebrate resilience and faith, but to confront the ongoing realities that make Black lives more vulnerable — to violence, to poverty, and to ecological harm. When any community is treated as disposable, our common home suffers alongside our common humanity.

The Gospel leaves us no room for neutrality. Jesus identifies Himself with those who are hungry, imprisoned, targeted, and pushed to the margins. In Matthew 25, He does not ask what policies we preferred, but whether we recognized Him in the lives of the most vulnerable.

Black History Month, then, is a call to conversion. It asks us to examine how racism distorts our relationships with one another, with creation, and with God — and to choose a different way forward rooted in justice, solidarity, and hope.

As Catholics, we know the importance of ora — prayer — and labora — work. So what can we do in our work and prayer lives to remember our brothers and sisters of color?

Black Christian Witnesses and Saints

As Catholics, we look to the communion of saints and holy witnesses who show us what faithful resistance and radical love look like, and ask them to intercede on our behalf:

• Servant of God Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA: A prophetic voice for racial justice, cultural inclusion, and authentic Catholic witness, calling the Church to confront racism with joy, truth, and love.

• Venerable Henriette Delille: Founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, who served enslaved and free Black people despite laws forbidding such ministry.

• Venerable Pierre Toussaint: A formerly enslaved man whose life of generosity, charity, and quiet resistance embodied Gospel love in action.

• Servant of God Julia Greeley: Known as Denver’s “Angel of Charity,” she served the poor with profound humility, especially those who were overlooked or forgotten.

• St. Martin de Porres: Patron of social justice and racial harmony, whose care for the sick, the poor, and even animals reminds us that compassion knows no boundaries.

• Hazel Johnson: Known as the mother of environmental justice, she advocated for the well-being of her community in Altgeld Gardens on the southside of Chicago. She was also a devout Catholic who worked in her local parish.

• The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.: Honored as a Christian witness whose theology of nonviolence, beloved community, and moral courage continues to challenge Christians to confront injustice without surrendering hope.

• Cardinal Wilton Gregory: He was the first African American cardinal. He was also the first cardinal to greenlight a Laudato Si’ Action Plan in 2015 (in Atlanta) and linking environmental justice and Catholic Social Teaching.

These witnesses remind us that holiness is not passive. It is courageous, inconvenient, and deeply rooted in love.

Prayers

A Prayer for Dignity, Justice, and Healing from Catholic Climate Covenant

God of our ancestors,
God of the enslaved and the free,
God who hears the cry of Your people,

We come before You with gratitude
for the faith, courage, and perseverance
of Black communities who have trusted You
even in the face of violence, exclusion, and loss.

We thank You for the witnesses
who proclaimed the Gospel through action,
who defended life when it was threatened,
and who believed that love is stronger than death.

Forgive us, O Lord,
for the times we have been silent
when Your children were harmed,
for the ways we have benefited
from systems that deny dignity to others,
and for failing to see Your face
in those pushed to the margins.

Heal the wounds of racism
that scar our communities and our Church.
Soften hearts hardened by fear.
Strengthen all who labor for justice,
especially those protecting creation
and defending communities most harmed
by environmental degradation.

Teach us to welcome the stranger,
to protect the vulnerable,
to honor Black lives as sacred,
and to live as faithful stewards
of our common home.

May our prayer move us to action,
our faith move us to courage,
and our love reflect Your own.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Resources and organizations

There are several resources you can use to further your knowledge and support other organizations and the work they do. Read more below.

Religious

Each year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) celebrates a National Day of Prayer for the African American and African Family, while supporting dozens of related organizations around the world. You can find a list of those resources here.

Youth Leadership

If you’re a Black youth, consider applying for the Young Black Climate Leaders Youth Futures Fund. The YBCL Youth Futures Fund supports young Black people who are taking the initiative to dismantle the delusion of white supremacy, its disproportionate impacts on Black communities and communities of color in general, and disrupt climate chaos.

The fund will support a new generation of Black climate leaders to advance work and initiatives at the intersection of racial and climate justice by supporting the power of leaders who advocate for community participation and the reclamation of Indigenous ecological wisdom and practices across the African diaspora. Learn more and apply here.

Volunteer-based

There are also several Black faith organizations working on these important issues, Catholic and otherwise, if you’d like to connect with one in your area or support their work:

• Rise St. James (Louisiana): A faith-based grassroots environmental justice group rooted in a predominantly Black Catholic community near New Orleans, founded to protect local communities from industrial pollution and environmental harms. They are also a partner of the Covenant. Learn more.

• Green the Church: An organization that works at the intersection of faith, sustainability, and environmental justice, originally rooted in the Black church community. It helps congregations “green” their ministries and addresses how environmental issues intersect with racial and economic justice — a great example of Black faith leadership in ecological care. Learn more.

• National Black Church Initiative – Environmental Justice Initiative: A coalition of Black churches across multiple denominations that is mobilizing congregations and faith leaders to educate, advocate, and act on climate and environmental justice, connecting racial justice with stewardship of creation. Learn more.

• Climate Revival (Black Church Climate Action): A movement rooted in the Black church tradition that calls congregations to lead on climate justice, using music, spirituality, and storytelling as tools to mobilize faith communities for environmental action. Learn more.

• The Black Church Center for Justice & Equality (Environmental Justice Program): Works with Black clergy and congregations, especially in the Philadelphia area, training pastors and faith leaders to advocate for environmental justice, clean energy, and climate policies from the pulpit to the public square. Learn more.

Take Action

Black History Month invites us not only to reflect, but to respond.

As Individuals

• Examine how racism and environmental injustice intersect in your own community. Learn whose neighborhoods bear the greatest environmental burdens.

• Pray intentionally for Black leaders, organizers, clergy, and communities working for justice and healing.

• Support Black-led environmental and climate justice organizations.

As Parishes and Faith Communities

• Host a prayer service or educational event on racial and environmental justice during Black History Month.

• Invite Black Catholic voices to speak, preach, or lead reflection.

• Audit parish practices to ensure they reflect inclusion, equity, and care for creation.

As Advocates

• Support policies that protect communities of color from environmental harm and climate displacement.

• Advocate for accountability, due process, and nonviolent approaches to public safety.

• Speak out when human dignity is violated — whether through racialized violence, environmental exploitation, or unjust immigration practices.

As Stewards of Creation

• Recognize that caring for creation is inseparable from caring for people.

• Prioritize climate solutions that center those most impacted by pollution and climate change.

• Commit to sustainable practices that reduce harm to vulnerable communities.

Black History Month is not a detour from Catholic Climate Covenant’s mission — it is a deepening of it. To defend creation is to defend human dignity. To honor Black lives is to honor the God who created them. To remain silent is to accept a world that treats both people and the planet as disposable.

May this month strengthen our resolve to welcome the stranger, protect the vulnerable, confront injustice, and care for our common home — knowing that in doing so, we encounter Christ Himself.

The time for ora et labora — prayer and action — is now.

February 12, 2026

Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement are deeply alarmed and disappointed by today’s decision by the Environmental Protection Agency to rescind the 2009 Endangerment Finding.

This action abandons one of the most important public health safeguards in modern environmental law. Grounded in a 2007 Supreme Court ruling, the Endangerment Finding recognized that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are pollutants when they harm human health and future generations. For more than fifteen years, it has provided the scientific and legal foundation for limiting pollution from vehicles, power plants, and industry.

Rescinding it places our country and our planet on a dangerous path.

Scientists have warned for decades that the burning of fossil fuels and the unchecked release of greenhouse gases would warm the planet and destabilize the climate. We are now living with the consequences: intensifying storms, prolonged droughts, crop failures, ecosystem collapse, rising health risks, and mounting economic losses. Even with the Endangerment Finding in place, we have not reduced emissions quickly enough to avoid worsening harm. Removing it signals retreat at precisely the moment when stronger action is needed.

The practical consequences of today’s decision are far-reaching. Without the Endangerment Finding, the federal government will no longer have a clear mandate to enforce limits on car and small truck emissions, curb industrial pollution, or sustain progress made in reducing greenhouse gas emissions over recent decades. This will increase pollution, heighten uncertainty, and expose current and future generations to even greater risk.

While it is always appropriate to review and refine regulations, eliminating this foundational finding is not refinement — it is dismantlement.

“This action is akin to eliminating stop lights because you don’t like the color red,” Catholic Climate Covenant Founder and Executive Director, Dan Misleh, told Kate Scanlon of OSV News. “...One can only imagine God reaching for the antacids as we ignore both scientific warnings and moral responsibility.”

The inconvenience of regulation cannot justify the chaos and harm that follow its removal. For Catholics and all people of faith, this is not primarily a political issue. It is a moral one.

We are called to be co-creators with God and to cherish and protect the gift of creation. Catholic Social Teaching makes clear that care for our common home and solidarity with the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized are central to our faith. Those who have contributed least to climate change — low-income communities, future generations, vulnerable nations — will suffer the most from today’s decision.

The Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement have worked to preserve the Endangerment Finding since last September, when over a dozen multi-faith organizations worked together to collect nearly 10,000 comments from various religious congregations across the country, asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to rescind the Endangerment Finding.

The organizations, including Catholic Climate Covenant, Franciscan Action Network, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, Laudato Si’ Movement – North America, NETWORK, the Sisters of Mercy, Ignatian Solidarity Movement, National Religious Partnership for the Environment, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, as well as thousands of Black church leaders, worked with their supporters to collect comments delivered to the EPA on Sept. 17.

The role of government is to advance the common good, not to privilege the wealthy and well-connected. Rescinding the Endangerment Finding moves us further from that responsibility.

St. John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo XIV, along with the U.S. Catholic bishops, have consistently urged bold action to confront climate change. In his apostolic exhortation Laudate Deum, Pope Francis asked a haunting question: “What would induce anyone, at this stage, to hold on to power, only to be remembered for their inability to take action when it was urgent and necessary to do so?”

When we know what is required to reduce the risks of climate change and choose not to act, we fail in our duty as stewards of God’s creation. Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement call on Congress, state leaders, and people of goodwill across the nation to redouble their commitment to climate solutions that protect human health, safeguard creation, and defend the most vulnerable.

Today’s decision is more than a setback — it is unconscionable. The Endangerment Finding should have stood. But our moral obligation to care for our common home remains unchanged.

Taken, Broken, Shared: Catholic Witness Today, a powerful online webinar, brought together more than 3,500 registrants from across the country for a national gathering of prayer, reflection, and action, with over 1,000 attendees on Zoom live and now with over 2,700 views on YouTube. (You can read more about that incredible webinar in this press release.)

Organized in less than 36 hours by a coalition of Catholic organizations — including Catholic Climate Covenant — this call responded to an urgent question facing the Church at this moment: What does it mean to live our faith publicly when human dignity is under threat?

This gathering was not simply about responding to one event. It was about naming a deeper reality — and discerning how Catholics are called to show up with courage, care, and conviction.

What This Call Was About

This call created space for Catholics to do three essential things together: pray, listen, and act.

The evening was grounded in prayer and Ignatian reflection, reminding participants that even in moments of pain and disruption, God is still with us — forming us into people of public witness. As one opening reflection by Father Scott Santarosa, SJ, named, “Even in moments of pain and disruption, God is still forming us into people of witness who ensure dignity, justice, and hope for all.”

Participants heard directly from people living through intensified immigration enforcement and community trauma in Minnesota — voices closest to the harm. Their testimonies made clear that faithful witness begins with listening.

Chris Damian, a Catholic lawyer and Twin Cities resident, shared the daily reality of fear, racial profiling, and family separation, while also naming the profound solidarity growing within his community:

“I can’t tell you how overwhelming the grief, the anger, the sadness, but also the pride, connection, and gratitude have been living here in recent weeks,” he said. “If you’re living here, you’re being forced to hold a lot of things every day. I had a friend who volunteered to drive a family’s kids to school, strangers, every single day, because their parents are too afraid to leave the house, and they haven’t left their house in months. I went and showed up to pack groceries for my community, and an opportunity for connection. And then while I was there, a volunteer was on her phone, and she started sobbing, and we were all there with her in real time as kids at her school were being separated from their parents by ICE.

“I have friends whose brown kids at Catholic schools have been taunted by their peers who told them, ‘We’re going to call ICE and have your family deported.’ I had a neighbor recently, in the last few days text me telling me to be careful because ICE agents were at the store around the corner from my house. I now carry my passport like a lot of my brown friends because we know that we are people likely to be targeted, but even that is only partial protection because there are a lot of stories of ICE agents pulling brown people into cars and driving off.”

His testimony challenged narratives of disorder and instead lifted up the truth of communities responding with presence, mutual aid, and courage — armed not with violence, but with “whistles, cameras, and community.”

Kim Smick, former Executive Director of Leadership Roundtable, who was raised in Minneapolis, reflected on the collapse of accountability and the moral clarity of this moment. Drawing on her Benedictine formation, she contrasted the rhythms of prayer and stability with the terror unfolding in neighborhoods:

“It is the residents — the immigrants, the citizens, the neighbors — who are standing in the gap,” she said. “I walked in the protest last weekend, nearly a hundred thousand people marching in love and anger and peace in Minneapolis. And I cried icicles, literally, not because I was sad, but because I was continuously moved by my fellow Minnesotans who were helping keep me warm. The sacrifice, the strength, the anger, the science, the creativity, the sense of humor. Thank goodness that they were there, the absolute resolve to protect each other.”

She named the exhaustion, fear, and grief people are carrying, while also pointing to the deep resolve and creativity of Minnesotans who continue to show up for one another.

Emilia Gonzalez Avalos, Executive Director of Unidos Minnesota, rooted the crisis in Catholic history and teaching. She reminded participants that the Church itself was built by immigrants and warned against the cost of silence:

“When we deny dignity to immigrant families, we do not just fail them — we weaken the common good.”

She named this moment as a redemption opportunity for the Church: a chance to move beyond past failures and live out solidarity not just in words, but in action.

Why This Moment Matters

Faith leaders from across the Church helped name why this moment demands a response rooted in both prayer and public witness.

Sr. Carol Zinn, SSJ, Executive Director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, invited participants to reflect on the meaning of now — not only as the present moment, but as what we now know:

“This did not just happen. We have seen this coming. And now that we know, what does faith ask us to become?”

She named this time as a “moral convulsion,” reminding participants that such moments in history require deeper faith, long-term commitment, and a willingness to walk together for the marathon ahead.

Bishop Brendan Cahill, Chair of the USCCB Migration Committee, grounded his reflection in Hebrews 13: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. By doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

He reminded participants that welcoming the stranger is not optional — it is a core expression of God’s tenderness made visible through our actions.

Bishop Oscar Cantú shared personally about the fear he has felt as the son of immigrants, even as a U.S. citizen, and emphasized that prayer must lead to advocacy: “This anger and fear and grief have to be focused. It has to be directed.”

He called for renewed commitment to comprehensive immigration reform alongside immediate solidarity with immigrant families.

Bishop Joseph Tyson reminded the gathering that the word martyr means witness: “Not all of us are called to be martyrs, but I think we are all called to be witnesses.”

He urged Catholics to resist fear, reject division, and live the works of mercy joyfully and publicly — especially in communities beyond the spotlight.

Together, these reflections named a shared truth: faith that remains private in times of injustice is not faithful at all.

What Faithful Witness Looks Like in Practice

The gathering also lifted up concrete examples of Catholics already living this call.

Jennifer Kleinjung of the Dorothea Project shared how Catholic women in Minneapolis have organized rosaries, vigils, and accompaniment for detained mothers, reminding participants that “doing the next right thing is a faithful step forward.”

Ellie Hidalgo of Discerning Deacons described Catholic Masses, processions, and prayer outside immigration courts in Miami, showing young people that the Church stands with families in fear — and that public witness can grow quickly when rooted in faith.

These stories made clear that faithful witness is not about perfection or scale — it is about presence, courage, and inviting one more person to walk alongside us.

What You Can Do Next

This gathering was a call not only to reflection, but to action.

Here are concrete ways Catholics can continue to live faithful witness:

1. Advocate for human dignity

• Contact your U.S. Senators and urge them to oppose increased ICE and DHS funding without safeguards for accountability, due process, and family unity

• Sign NETWORK’s Action Alert and, for Catholic religious leaders, add your name to the letter to Congress

2. Join the Season of Faithful Witness

• Commit to organizing or participating in a public expression of Catholic faith — such as a vigil, Mass, procession, Stations of the Cross, or prayer service — between Ash Wednesday and Corpus Christi

• Join a Season of Faithful Witness Orientation call on Tuesday 2/10 at 8pm ET OR Thursday 2/12 at 3pm ET You can learn more about the Season of Faithful Witness here.

3. Support communities on the ground

• Support and accompany organizations responding directly to this moment, including:

  • Minnesota Freedom Fund

  • Stand with Minnesota

  • Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en La Lucha

  • Church of the Ascension (Minneapolis) Emergency Relief Fund

  • ISAIAH’s Palm Sunday Pathway (for those in Minnesota)

  • Laudato Si’ Movement chapter in Minnesota’s sign-on letter (for those in Minnesota)

4. Stay rooted in prayer and formation

• Participate in prayer services and resources shared by Pax Christi USA and partner organizations

This gathering revealed something powerful: many Catholics are longing for spaces that hold grief and hope together, that connect prayer to action, and that make public witness possible.

Our tradition calls us not to turn away, but to show up — taken, broken, and shared — for the life of the world.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Over 3,000 Catholics and people of faith from across the United States joined Taken, Broken, Shared: Catholic Witness Today, an online vigil, reflection, and call to action Tuesday night, in response to the recent killing of Minneapolis ICU nurse Alex Pretti by federal immigration enforcement agents. The event was rooted in prayer, testimony, and Catholic social teaching.

Organized in partnership with ten Catholic justice organizations, the gathering brought together lay leaders, women religious, bishops, organizers, and people living amid intensified immigration enforcement—many of them in Minnesota—to discern what faithful public witness demands in this moment.

“I feel so tired and exhausted, but I’ve never felt more connected—to my community, to God, and to my faith,” shared Chris Damien, a Minnesotan on the frontlines. “We’re facing an armed occupation, and we’re armed with whistles, cameras, and community. It’s hard, but from what I’m seeing, we’re winning. They intend to break us, but the longer they’re here, the more connected we become.”

The gathering featured reflections from Catholic leaders, including Sr. Carol Zinn, SSJ, executive director of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious; Bishop Brendan Cahill of Victoria, Texas; Bishop Oscar Cantú of San José; Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima, Washington; and Bishop John Ricard, SSJ, Superior General of the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

Participants were invited to take immediate action by contacting U.S. senators to oppose harmful increases in funding for ICE and CBP, support mutual aid efforts in Minnesota, and commit to ongoing prayerful presence and accompaniment in their local communities in a “Season of Faithful Witness” from now until the Feast of Corpus Christi in June.

“Our Catholic tradition calls us not to turn away, but to show up, together, with courage and care,” said Jon Gromek of the Ignatian Solidarity Network. “Love is not passive, and in moments like this, our faith compels us to act through prayerful presence and courageous public witness.”

A recording of the gathering is available here or on the @JesuitsWestJustice YouTube channel.

The event was organized in partnership with The Ignatian Solidarity Network, Jesuits West, Catholic Climate Covenant, The Dorothea Project, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, The Los Angeles Catholic Worker, Catholic Volunteer Network, The St. Joseph’s Society of the Sacred Heart—the Josephites, Discerning Deacons, Jesuit Refugee Service USA, and Pax Christi USA. Click here for a recap of the event and to pull more quotes.

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January 27, 2026

We, the staff of Catholic Climate Covenant, affirm and defend the inherent dignity of every human person. This commitment lies at the heart of our Catholic faith and compels us to speak not only about the treatment of migrants, but about a broader and more urgent moral crisis: the disregard for human dignity itself.

Although immigration is not the central focus of Catholic Climate Covenant’s mission, the defense of human dignity is inseparable from our work. The fate of migrants, the lives lost to state violence, and the health of our planet are bound together by a single moral truth: every person matters. All is connected.

The dignity of migrants seeking safety and opportunity is inseparable from the dignity of those — such as Alex Pretti, Renee Good, Philando Castile, George Floyd, and far too many others — whose lives were taken through the use of force by law enforcement. When any person is treated as expendable, dangerous, or undeserving of due process, the dignity of all people is placed at risk.

In Matthew 25:37-45, written nearly 2,000 years ago, we were given rather simple guidelines for living out our Christian mission:

“‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you as a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me.’”

These words, spoken by Jesus Christ, are at the core of Christian teaching and the foundation for much of our Catholic Social Teachings and Catholic faith.

In recent months — and with particular urgency in recent weeks — we, the staff of Catholic Climate Covenant, have been increasingly alarmed by patterns of violence, dehumanization, and disregard for human life, especially toward immigrants and communities of color. We believe that every human being possesses an inviolable dignity that does not depend on citizenship, race, legal status, or perceived threat. When people are targeted, detained, separated from their families, or killed without accountability or due process, that dignity is violated. Such actions harm not only individuals and families but also the moral integrity of our society.

The American ideal has long been to welcome the stranger, and its dream has been to provide access to prosperity and liberty for all, including pathways for the immigrant. With countless stories of immigrants experiencing incredible hardship in pursuit of their well-being and the well-being of themselves and their families, the common good requires attending to our neighbors. To deny their dignity is to deny a shared humanity.

We condemn actions — often documented and witnessed by the public, and captured on video — that treat human beings as disposable rather than sacred. When people of color are disproportionately targeted, when families are torn apart, and when force is used in ways that escalate fear rather than ensure safety, we are morally obligated to respond. Militarized tactics and the unchecked use of power have no place in our neighborhoods. Authority exists to serve and protect human life, not to dominate or destroy it.

Catholic teaching reminds us that all is connected. As Pope Francis taught, our relationship with the Earth, with one another, and with God cannot be separated. When we exploit creation, human communities — especially the poorest and most vulnerable — suffer. Likewise, when we disregard the dignity of human life, our relationships with one another and with God are fractured. We cannot claim to care for our common home while remaining silent as our neighbors are harmed or killed.

We at Catholic Climate Covenant commit to living in a way that honors the sacred dignity of every human life. Each of us hopes that when our earthly journey ends, we will be welcomed by Christ Himself, who will recognize that we welcomed the stranger, protected the vulnerable, and defended the dignity of all. The time for ora et labora — prayer and action — is now.

With a single executive action issued on Jan. 7, the President of the United States ordered U.S. withdrawal from 67 international organizations, including 31 United Nations bodies, and many of the world’s leading institutions dedicated to climate science, environmental protection, biodiversity, renewable energy, and sustainable development.

Among those abandoned are the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), UN Water, UN Oceans, the International Renewable Energy Agency, and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

As Catholic organizations committed to caring for God’s creation and protecting human dignity, we are deeply alarmed by this withdrawal from the very forums where nations confront shared global challenges that no country alone can solve. Climate change, ecological degradation, environmental disasters, forced migration, water scarcity, and biodiversity loss do not recognize national borders. Turning away from international cooperation on these issues does not make them disappear; it only leaves the most vulnerable and marginalized people, along with future generations, more exposed to harm.

For Catholics, this moment is pivotal in defending one of the core tenets of our faith: caring for creation. As Pope Leo XIV said, “We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile and wounded.”

Pope Francis wrote in the groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si’ that “the climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all.” Pope Leo XIV has reiterated that creation itself is crying out — through floods, droughts, storms, hunger, and displacement — and that those who suffer most are those who contributed least to the problem.

Pope Leo XIV recently echoed Pope Francis in his speech at the Raising Hope Conference, held in Rome on Oct. 1, 2025, quoting Laudate Deum, saying that, “the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels.” Withdrawing from global institutions dedicated to climate science, environmental protection, and sustainable development undermines our responsibility to listen to both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.

The United States’ withdrawal from the IPCC and other scientific organizations is especially troubling. Irrefutable data and legitimate science are not partisan threats; they are gifts that allow humanity to understand reality truthfully and respond wisely. Catholic teaching affirms the vital role of science and scientific advancement in informing moral decision-making, particularly when human lives and the integrity of God’s creation are at stake.

Pope Leo XIV quoted Laudate Deum in his speech at the Raising Hope Conference, identifying that, “the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels.” Withdrawing from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and related organizations weakens the collective capacity of other nations to pursue these solutions. At a time when the world is failing to limit global warming to 1.5°C (the maximum temperature rise scientists recommend), retreating from cooperation only moves us backward.

We reject the false dichotomy between national interest and global responsibility presented by this Administration; they are not either-or. They are both-and. Protecting clean air, safe water, a stable climate, and thriving ecosystems is in the true and long-term interest of the United States and the entire human family. Authentic leadership does not seek isolation. Despite this discouraging decision, we reaffirm our hope.

At the Raising Hope conference, Pope Leo XIV reminded us of our interconnectedness:

“We are one family, with one Father, who makes the sun to rise and sends rain on everyone (cf. Matthew 5:45). We inhabit the same planet, and we must care for it together.”

Hope is rooted not in political power alone, but in faith, solidarity, and persistent action. Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement-North America will continue to accompany dioceses, parishes, schools, institutions, and communities as they live out the call of Laudato Si’. We will continue to advocate for ecological policies grounded in science, that pursue justice, and that embody compassion. We will continue to stand with frontline communities at home and around the world who bear the brunt of climate change.

We, the leaders of the Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement-North America, urge Catholics and all people of goodwill to:

• Continue and accelerate engagement in caring for God’s creation at the local, national, and global levels, including engagement in the political arena.

• Support faith-based and civil society efforts that uphold climate science and environmental protection.

• Pray for wisdom, courage, and conversion among political leaders.

• Deepen our commitment to lifestyles and institutions that reflect reverence for God’s creation and love for our neighbors.

At this critical moment, in the face of such a global threat, withdrawing from the world is not the path forward. The Gospel calls us outward — toward solidarity, cooperation, and shared responsibility for our common home.

For readers and followers of our work here at the Covenant, you’re probably familiar with Father John’s name. Over the years, he and his parish have taken several major creation care steps as a community, converting to 100% solar power, donating 25,000 trees to Kenyan farmers, and supporting clean water efforts for the Navajo Nation. His work even inspired us to create a series keeping up with all of the amazing things he’s done over the years!

Father John believes that the support of a parish’s pastor in creation care work is crucial in elevating the importance of environmental work among lay Catholics. That’s why, for two months, he and parishioners worked side by side to build a local shoreline in an effort they dubbed the “Francis Project.”

(Photos taken by Sue Mangan with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation)

This past summer, Immaculate Conception Church partnered with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) on a major living shoreline project on the Hampton River. Over 100 volunteers from the church helped build 1,076 feet of oyster sill using thousands of oyster castles and recycled shells. The effort aims to combat sea level rise and polluted runoff in the densely populated region.

“All of our area (the five cities of Hampton Roads, VA) is in the top 3 locations in the U.S. for sea level rise (and ground sinking),” Father John said. “Even the Navy’s DRYdocks get flooded in extreme high tides, as do our streets in heavy rains. It is getting worse every year.

“As you know, I have been constantly looking for a local ‘water’ project, and I found one that deals with rising water and protecting against surges. It is the living shoreline. We are partnering with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to create a living shoreline in Hampton River starting in May!”

Fr. John Grace emphasizes that climate change is a moral issue, not just political or economic. The project is being dedicated to Pope Francis, and parishioners, including elderly members, are deeply involved — even taking vacation time to participate.

“Our faith doesn’t stay in the doors [of the church], it goes outside, with a sense of shared responsibility,” Father John told Chesapeake Bay Magazine.

Father John sent more updates in an email to the Covenant.

“We moved hundreds of blocks these past few days. I have been very impressed with the number of parishioners literally ‘getting down in the mud!’” he wrote. “We had to cancel a couple (of) days of work due to the high heat this week. We should have to work done by July 9th.”

Over 70 parishioners started the volunteer work on May 11th.

The Catholic Virginian, the biweekly newspaper for the Diocese of Richmond, also covered the work of the Hampton parish in its publication.

The parish even produced a video summarizing the project and its importance.

After a summer of busy activities, parishioners came together to reflect on all of their creation care work so far this year as Father John held Immaculate Conception Church’s first annual Mass for Creation Sept. 12, “in our backyard among the trees and gardens.”

“I am still amazed at the turnout and universal response,” Father John said. “The day was perfect, from the ideal weather to the participation of well over 200 parishioners. It was a call to appreciate and savor the creative love of God in all life and the need to be responsible for the divine gift of creation.”

“Looking back, I’m really happy we were able to do this — to honor Pope Francis and honor his legacy by essentially applying his vision in our own local environment,” Father John told the Covenant. “Literally caring for our neighbors in terms of protecting homes from storm surge, expanding and protecting the wetlands and their biodiversity, and finding fellowship. Looking back in terms of what we did and why we did it, I am very proud of our parish.”

Ten years ago, in his Laudato Si’ encyclical, Pope Francis appealed to all of humanity, calling us to pay attention to science and commit to action on the environment. Ten years ago, a breakthrough agreement was penned at COP21 in Paris. Today, 10 years later, scientists have noted that the last decade has been the hottest ever recorded.

Since the Paris Agreement, nations have continued to commit to slowing down global warming and keeping temperatures below 1.5 degrees Celsius, but few nations have fulfilled those ambitions. And every year since 2015, the U.S. federal government sent official delegates to the annual conference of the parties — except this year.

As organizations working in the U.S., Canada, and the English-speaking Caribbean, we are disheartened but still hopeful as we unpack the results of COP30 in Belém, Brazil. Due to pressure from oil-producing states and industries, there was no mention of a just transition away from the primary culprit accelerating climate change: the burning of fossil fuels.

We believe that to face a problem squarely, it should be named. The science is clear: we must urgently and justly move away from the burning of fossil fuels in order to save humanity and all of creation from the worst impacts of climate change. Inspired by Saint John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, and now Pope Leo XIV, we are not afraid to name fossil fuels as the primary driver of this existential crisis. It is disappointing that the Belém statement refused to name this problem.

For Catholics, climate chaos is also a moral issue. As Pope Leo said to the COP30 delegates: “Creation is crying out in floods, droughts, storms and relentless heat…one in three people live in great vulnerability because of these climate changes.” Those who are poor have the fewest resources to escape or recover from these disasters, and it is our Gospel call to stand together with the most vulnerable in seeking a path forward in which “all may have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

In Pope Leo’s first major address on climate change on October 1, he quotes Pope Francis, who in Laudate Deum, said: “the most effective solutions will not come from individual efforts alone, but above all from major political decisions on the national and international levels.”

Despite the inability of national and international actors to face reality and commit to real reductions, our organizations will continue to work to focus on the moral imperative to be better caretakers of God’s gift of creation. We take great hope and courage from the document of the Catholic Episcopal Conferences and Councils of the Global South. We will also make the scientific, economic, and cultural case to care for the envelope that contains all life, human and non-human, that is, the Earth itself.

We find additional hopeful actions here:

• This fall, thousands of Catholics in nearly every state in the U.S. joined the Catholic effort to heal our broken relationships with others, ourselves, Creation, and God, journeying on Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation.

• More dioceses, parishes, schools, and other Catholic institutions engage in projects and programs that live up to the challenges outlined in Laudato Si’.

• The November meeting of the U.S. Bishops included a workshop on the implementation of Laudato Si’.

• The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops will be implementing training activities to assist dioceses in more fully responding to Laudato Si’ and the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform.

• Hundreds of parishes and other faith communities are forming creation care teams or becoming Laudato Si’ Chapters, which work locally to urge more action, including advocating for stronger public policies.

• Many Catholic facility owners (parishes, schools, hospitals, universities, and others) are committing to reducing their emissions, creating healthier and higher-performing buildings while saving energy costs, and using those savings to support core mission activities.

We encourage all Catholics to join Catholic Climate Covenant and Laudato Si’ Movement to learn how we can live our faith fully to care for God’s gift of creation, to truly see our neighbors, be they across the street or around the world, and to protect and promote all life, both human and non-human. All is a gift, so let’s treasure it.

On Sept. 17, Catholic Climate Covenant, alongside other Catholic and faith-based organizations, gathered in Washington, D.C., to deliver nearly 10,000 public comments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), urging the agency to retain the Endangerment Finding. The event was organized in response to the EPA’s proposal to repeal the finding, which serves as the legal basis for regulating greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Participants from nine faith organizations took part in the delivery, which included a bike ride pilgrimage and a prayer service outside EPA headquarters. The comments were submitted as part of the required public input process and reflect widespread concern among religious communities about the potential rollback.

The multi-faith coalition included Catholic Climate Covenant, Franciscan Action Network, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, Laudato Si’ Movement – North America, NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, Sisters of Mercy, Ignatian Solidarity Network, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and over 4,000 Black church leaders.

“Standing together with leaders from a multi-faith background is a powerful witness that shows care for climate is important to many communities,” said Kayla Jacobs, Policy Advisor for Catholic Climate Covenant. “The Endangerment Finding needs to be protected for the sake of the earth and for human health.”

Catholics submitted approximately 4,400 comments — nearly half of the total — including a significant number of comments from women religious. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) also submitted a formal 15-page comment opposing the repeal, citing the Church’s commitment to environmental justice and the integrity of the scientific evidence underlying the Endangerment Finding.

“This delivery of comments to the EPA represents voices from Catholic and other faith communities across the country who oppose repealing the 2009 Endangerment Finding,” Covenant Executive Director Dan Misleh said. “The scientific record supports the need for the finding, and the public-health consequences of reversing it would be significant.”

Misleh also testified to the EPA against the rescission of the Endangerment Finding. You can read the script of his testimony here.

Originally issued in 2009 following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, the Endangerment Finding established that greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and welfare. It has since provided the foundation for federal climate regulations on vehicle emissions, power plants, and other sources.

The proposed repeal is part of what EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has described as the most extensive deregulatory effort in the agency’s history. Public comment on the proposed rule closed on September 22.

A recent report by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reaffirmed the validity of the Endangerment Finding, concluding that the evidence of harm from human-caused greenhouse gas emissions is “beyond scientific dispute.”

The EPA is currently reviewing submitted comments before issuing a final decision.

This blog is a Substack exclusive, only published to the Covenant’s Substack as exclusive content for our subscribers. Thank you for being our reader!

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As world leaders prepare for COP30 in Belém, Brazil, Catholics have a unique role — and a sacred duty — to raise our voices for creation and the most vulnerable among us.

Scheduled to take place in the Amazon Rainforest, this annual United Nations climate summit is more than a political gathering; it is a moment of moral and spiritual conversion, echoing the call of Laudato Si’ to hear both “the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

Pope Francis — and now Pope Leo XIV — remind us that everything is interconnected. The deforestation of the Amazon is not just an environmental issue — it is a human one. It is about Indigenous rights, food security, water access, and global climate stability. It is about environmental justice. And the scope of issues that will be tackled at COP30 goes far beyond the verdant foliage of the Amazon — the challenges tackled at COP30 will impact the whole world, and especially the poor and the marginalized everywhere.

COP30 invites the global community to act with the urgency and integrity that integral ecology demands. As Catholics, we draw from our Social Teaching — upholding the dignity of every person, the common good, and our preferential option for the poor. These values compel us not to treat climate change as an issue “for someone else,” but as a moral crisis that impacts all, especially the “least” among us.

We at Catholic Climate Covenant call on Catholic institutions, parishes, schools, and individuals to pray, educate, and advocate for bold action at COP30.

Join us on Oct. 20th for our monthly webinar, previewing COP30.

Katie Zakrzewski | 501-618-0234 | katie@catholicclimatecovenant.org

October 9, 2025

WASHINGTON, DC — From October 1-3, Catholic leaders from the Laudato Si’ Movement, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Catholic Climate Covenant joined with global partners in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical, Laudato Si’.

The meeting was facilitated by Laudato Si’ Movement, the global network of Catholic environmental justice leaders, with partners, and attended by over 400 Catholic, other faith, and secular leaders engaged in the care of our common home from around the world.

The highlight of the conference happened early on the afternoon of Wednesday, October 1, when His Holiness, Pope Leo XIV, addressed the gathering. His speech acknowledged how the encyclical inspired many people of goodwill to work to protect the Earth, but noted that there is still much to be done. He encouraged all of us to continue to work to transform hearts so they may both recognize the human impact on the environment and act to do more to reduce the threats we face. He said:

We must shift from collecting data to caring; and from environmental discourse to an ecological conversion that transforms both personal and communal lifestyles. For believers, this conversion is in fact no different to the one that orients us towards the living God. We cannot love God, whom we cannot see, while despising his creatures. Nor can we call ourselves disciples of Jesus Christ without participating in his outlook on creation and his care for all that is fragile and wounded.

As Pope Francis did, Pope Leo also acknowledged that while individual acts to care for creation are important, more must be done to pressure governments to adopt “rigorous regulations, procedures and controls. Citizens need to take an active role in political decision-making at national, regional, and local levels.”

He concluded by asking us to consider this question: “God will ask us if we have cultivated and cared for the world that he created (cf. Genesis 2:15), for the benefit of all and for future generations, and if we have taken care of our brothers and sisters (cf. Genesis 4:9; John 13:34).“

The conference continued on October 2 and 3 with internationally-renowned leaders from both the faith community and secular environmental world. Included were voices from Indigenous peoples to youth and young adults, and from Catholic bishops and cardinals, to women and men working tirelessly to draw attention to our environmental crises, particularly the threat of climate change, which is a current and ongoing threat to the future of humanity.

Participants then generated over 200 pledges — both individual and organizational — to do more to live up to the challenges of Laudato Si’.

True to the goal of the conference to raise hope, the closing rituals delivered. It was clear to those of us from the U.S. that everyone was motivated to redouble our efforts to care for our common home.

United States Attendee Reactions

Marianne Comfort, Interim Director, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team: “I left the conference inspired by participants from around the world defending their communities from the harms of climate change and extractivism and by faith leaders responding with hope through action. It is exciting to know that the commitments we made there to address the ecological crises will be delivered to COP30 in Belem, Brazil, next month.”

Dan Misleh, Executive Director, Catholic Climate Covenant: “The global perspective that was in full array at this conference was eye-opening and inspiring. So many concrete policies and actions are taking place from the Philippines to Kenya and from Argentina to France. Global indigenous and other impacted communities reminded those of us in developed countries how much more we need to do to reduce the harmful emissions causing climate change and continue to inspire hope, transform hearts, and develop programs for real action.”

Lisa Sullivan, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns: “What a privilege to have the opportunity to share with so many deeply committed people from around the world. From Amazon leaders to Appalachian pastors, from South African Laudato Si’ animators to Polish farmers, from Filipino activists to Ukrainian climate scientists, there was an extraordinary exchange of inspirations and experiences of caring for our Common Home. We each carry back to our countries a small flask of the melted waters of the iceberg blessed by Pope Leo — and with it a powerfully renewed commitment to our earth and to one another.”

Jill Rauh, Executive Director, Secretariat of Justice and Peace, USCCB: “Pope Leo’s powerful words are an inspiration to the many U.S. dioceses, parishes, and others seeking to ‘raise hope’ through the work of integral ecology. As we respond to the call to hear ‘the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,’ we are grateful for the leadership of the Holy Father and the witnesses of so many speakers and participants calling each of us to conversion of heart and new ways of acting.”

Anna Johnson, North America Director of the Laudato Si’ Movement: “It was incredibly energizing to gather with leaders from around the globe, from Tuvalu to Canada and so many places in between, to face these ecological crises with the power of community, solidarity, and hope. Pope Leo’s words and blessings brought healing to so many experiencing ecological harm, and a challenge to those exacerbating harm. The launching of the People’s Determined Contributions in response to the need for more urgent action was an infusion of hope!”

Gina Castillo, Catholic Relief Services: “Attending the Raising Hope conference deeply moved me, witnessing the passion and solidarity of so many answering the Church’s call to care for our common home. It was a profound reminder that our mission as people of faith includes not only protecting creation but also comforting and uplifting those already wounded by the climate crisis — the displaced, the vulnerable, and the suffering. While our personal choices matter, lasting change will come when we, as faithful citizens, raise our voices and urge our leaders to enact policies that care for both people and planet, as stewards of God’s creation.

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Katie Zakrzewski | katie@catholicclimatecovenant.org | 501-618-0234

September 18, 2025

Washington, D.C. — Over a dozen multi-faith organizations have worked together to collect nearly 10,000 comments from various religious congregations across the country, asking the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to rescind the Endangerment Finding.

The organizations, including Catholic Climate Covenant, Franciscan Action Network, Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, Laudato Si’ Movement – North America, NETWORK, the Sisters of Mercy, Ignatian Solidarity Network, National Religious Partnership for the Environment, Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns, as well as thousands of Black church leaders, have been working with their supporters to collect comments that were delivered to the EPA on Sept. 17.

These groups participated in a bike ride pilgrimage in Washington D.C. on Sept. 17 to the EPA headquarters at 1200 Pennsylvania Ave NW and will hold a prayer service outside of the building before hand delivering the 9,200 comments.

The Endangerment Finding provides the scientific and legal foundation for EPA regulation of climate pollution, as well as the rolling back of greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks. This proposal would allow toxic pollution from vehicles, power plants, and other sources to go unchecked, erode life-saving public health protections, and set the stage for irreversible harm to God’s creation.

4,371 leaders in the Black church also wrote a statement to accompany their signatures to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.

“We, the undersigned 4,371 leaders in the Black church, unequivocally affirm that climate change and greenhouse gas pollution is one of the greatest public health and moral crises facing not just our communities but our country,” the statement said. “The cost of this decision by the EPA will be paid for in human lives — and Black bodies will bear the brunt of the burden. Regardless of income, Black Americans are more likely to live near highways and industrial corridors where air quality is worse and live in flood-prone and heat-vulnerable areas. We are also less likely to have access to disaster recovery support when needed. This action by the EPA would put Black communities at further risk.”

“The proposal to rescind the Endangerment Finding is a moral failure and an abandonment of EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment,” said Rev. Michael McClain with the National Religious Partnership for the Environment. “This decision will be paid for in human lives — and Black bodies will bear the brunt of the burden. Thousands of Black Church leaders joined with other faith leaders to demand justice for God’s creation and God’s people by halting this ill-advised proposal.”

Nora Collins, the Director for Campaigns and Creation Care at Franciscan Action Network, said, “The proposal to repeal the endangerment finding is a denial of who we are as individual persons and in community — deeply connected and called to delight in profound kinship with each other and all of creation. To protect life and for the flourishing of all life, we must stop this repeal.”

“The Endangerment Finding is the foundation that establishes the scientific truth that greenhouse gas emissions released by fossil fuels cause harm,” Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder and CEO of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, said. “It’s the bedrock upon which the EPA can fulfill its mission: ‘to protect human health and the environment.’ Repealing the Finding is like tossing out the Ten Commandments. They are not only denying something that’s fundamentally true about the world, but have eliminated what enables our government to live and act in alignment with our core values.”

“As Franciscans, we feel a deep kinship with all of creation,” said Michele Dunne, OFS, Executive Director of Franciscan Action Network. “We need the endangerment finding rules to protect life and promote the Earth’s flourishing as our common home. We are called to do more and better together, not end lifesaving protections.”

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About Catholic Climate Covenant 

Catholic Climate Covenant is a national U.S. nonprofit founded with the support of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2006 that inspires and equips U.S. Catholics and institutions to care for creation together. Through 20 national partners, we guide the U.S. Church’s response to climate change and integral ecology through faith-driven education, advocacy, and resources.

www.catholicclimatecovenant.org.