Laudato Si’ Action Plan Newsletter for September 2026, No. 18
Welcome to the eighteenth edition of the Laudato Si’ Action Plan Newsletter of the Carmelite PCM Province. This electronic newsletter is intended to inform the members and partners of this province on our collective commitment to living the values of Laudato Si’ –hearing and responding to the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor. It is prepared by Laudato Si’ Action Plan Coordinator, Dennis Kalob.
A VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL OF YOU:
If you or a member of your ministry or community submitted a plan that was included in our province’s report last year, we ask that you review it now and submit any updates that you may have, including successful projects and promising works in progress. We will be looking for updates by October 4, which is the Feast of St. Francis.
We further ask that you consider adding new goals to pursue in 2027 and beyond. Remember, these action plans are meant to be dynamic, not static, documents.
If your community or ministry did not have an opportunity to submit an action plan last year, you may do so this year and you will be included in the updated provincial report.
You can find the current PCM Province’s Laudato Si’ Action Plan here. Please send questions and comments, as well as new/revised action plans to me, Dennis Kalob, Laudato Si’ Action Plan Coordinator: LSCoordinator@Carmelites.net.
Thank you most sincerely!
WE ARE IN THE SEASON OF CREATION!
The Season of Creation began on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on October 4, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi.
The theme of this year’s season is “living water.”
For more information, including some great resources to help you, your community and ministry celebrate the season, you can check out this dedicated webpage (in English or Spanish) from our friends at Catholic Climate Covenant:
https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/resources/season-of-creation-2026/
How we live the values of Laudato Si’ is, in part,
determined by our actions as consumers.
There are many ways we can hear and respond to the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor. One way is by determining what we choose to purchase.
It is good for people to realize that purchasing is always a moral – and not simply economic – act. Hence the consumer has a specific social responsibility, which goes hand-in-hand with the social responsibility of the enterprise. – Pope Benedict XVI (Caritas in Veritate)
Here I am, standing against the car I bought last year. It is a hybrid and gets 50 miles per gallon. This is good for the environment and for my wallet.
Two products are sitting on the hood of my car. The red bag contains 10 pounds of coffee beans. They are from Equal Exchange, a company that is known for their fair trade and organic products, particularly coffee and chocolate.
Fair trade products guarantee small producers a fair price for their goods (in the case of the coffee, small farmers mostly in Latin America).
It is also awesome that this coffee is delicious! It (whole bean or ground and usually in 12 ounce bags) can be purchased in many stores, as well as online (where you can also buy their wonderful chocolates).
Equal Exchange, organized as a worker-owned cooperative, is celebrating 40 years of ethical economic action in support of small farms and sustainable agriculture.
The other little boxes that are next to the bag of coffee are products from Cleanomic: thirteen-gallon kitchen trash bags and quart and gallon zip bags ideal for food storage. These bags are compostable (plant-based and yet sturdy). They are good for the environment, especially compared to conventional oil-based plastics. And they are better for human health, addressing the problem of microplastics leaching into the food we consume. Cleanomic is one of several companies now producing these compostable products. (They can be pricey, but they also offer special deals.)
I do not share this information with you to illustrate how ethical I am in my consumer behavior. I frequently fail to be as ethical as I should in my purchasing. I do buy unhealthy and unsustainable products. It is hard to act justly within the context of an unjust system. I do know, however, that I could try harder (and I pledge to do so). In any case, I do believe that each of us should do what we can. If we buy and enjoy coffee, for example, why not try to purchase it from a worker coop that specializes in organic and fair-traded goods?!
So, as we try to do what we can to serve others and the planet, I encourage everyone to find little ways to do so each day. One time to do so is when we shop. (By the way, such ethical shopping can be included in your Laudato Si’ Action Plans.)
On the Lighter Side…
On August 11, the Chicago White Sox held a promotional evening at their baseball park that featured the giving away of some 35,000 replica papal miters. It was a way of celebrating their connection to the world’s most famous Chicago native and White Sox fan, Robert Prevost, better known today as Pope Leo XIV.
Click here for a story from America Magazine about that evening at the ballpark, which also featured a Catholic sister throwing out the first pitch and a 5th inning “sign of peace.”