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Vatican Meeting Calls for Guidance on Environmental, Corporate Ethics May 18th, 2011
Catholics are looking for guidance and a larger voice from the Vatican on ethical principles for the world of finance and the environment, according to a number of participants attending a Vatican meeting on social justice in a globalized world.
Some 200 people involved in social justice issues for the church gathered May 16-18 for an international conference sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The meeting celebrated the 50th anniversary of Blessed Pope John XXIII’s social encyclical, “Mater et Magistra.” It was designed to find ways to use the church’s social teaching, including Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 social encyclical “Caritas in Veritate,” to bring greater justice to a globalized world.
The Oblates were represented by Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, US JPIC Director. Fr. Seamus, a leader in the faith-responsible investment movement said, “Individual Catholics are looking for guidance” in how to connect their concern for corporate responsibility and the environment to their faith and Christian spirituality.
Christians cannot be motivated solely by utilitarian arguments that natural resources should be protected so that they will not run out or poison future generations, he said, adding that “Environmental and corporate ethics needs to be based on the Christian sense of stewardship, of care, respect and appreciation for God’s gifts.”
Read the Catholic News Service article…
Recipes for Non-Toxic Cleaning May 6th, 2011
Concerned about chemicals in the cleaners you use? Do you want to save money as well as protect our environment? Try these recipes for non-toxic cleansers, and let us know what you think.
Recipes for Non-Toxic Cleaning (Download PDF)
Available also on this website in Spanish
Thanks to the Oblate Ecological Initiative for these suggestions.
Best Practices from Oblate Parishes February 27th, 2011
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish, Laredo, TX
“Greens of Guadalupe”: Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, Laredo, Texas
Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Laredo, Texas prides itself as a leader in promoting a healthy community environment. Greens of Guadalupe is a parish group at Our Lady of Guadalupe. The group is supported and led by members from the parish. Greens of Guadalupe at Our Lady of Guadalupe is an example of parish best practice organizing.
Click here to read more »
These Come From Trees! January 10th, 2011
Do you want to save trees – and money – at the same time? Check out the blog “These Come From Trees” – which describes itself as “An experiment in environmentalism, viral marketing, and user interface design with the goal of reducing consumer waste paper!
The group sells inexpensive, but durable stickers that look like this:
A single “These Come From Trees” sticker can save roughly a tree’s worth of paper, each year!
The project has indeed gone viral, with stickers appearing everywhere from the Denver airport to Seton Hall University. Schools can order them for free, and the project has developed a simple lesson plan which guides students through calculations of paper and money saved.
People often accidentally over-consume paper products, without intending to do so. A friendly reminder at the right time can help us to pause and consider how much of that item – whether a paper towel, napkin, or photocopy – we really need. The stickers wind up reducing consumption by as much as 30%, and at no cost to the user!
Order your “These Come from Trees” stickers today!
Eco-Tips for the Holidays December 10th, 2010
We have a new Eco-Tips page on this site. Updated weekly, it has suggestions on how to make our everyday lives more environmentally sustainable – and fun! Please visit the Eco-Tips page in English and in Spanish.
Our thanks for these weekly posts go out to a committed parishioner in the Oblate parish of Mary Immaculate in Pacoima, California! These weekly tips are printed in the Sunday bulletin in that parish. Feel free to use them for your church.
Consider giving experiences rather than things:
As we enter the holiday season, consumers flock to malls, department stores and outlets in droves to search for that perfect gift, that one card that says it all, that tree to end all trees. But as we feast, give gifts, decorate and travel, we also consume lots of resources and generate lots of waste. A recent report noted that the amount of household garbage in the United States generally increases by 25 percent between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, from 4 million tons to 5 million tons.
Think about what you can do to stop the impact of the holidays on earth. The people we love will most enjoy spending time with us; think about how you could do this instead of buying more things.
