LAUDATO SI: TEACHING US ALL TO BE STEWARDS OF THE EARTH
Laudato Si’ is not merely an initiative, but a habit and call to action for all to spearhead the advocacy of the conservation of our only planet. It is and will be “a common good, belonging to all and meant for all” - Pope Francis
Written by: Sean Aldrich Siruno
Layout by: Ma. Sophia Duenas
October 3, 2023 | 5:30 P.M.
It has been eight years since Laudato Si’ was enacted on May 15, 2015. Laudato Si' which translates to "Praise be to You" is Pope Francis' second encyclical letter that focuses on care for the environment and everyone and everything in it. Its mission and objectives were to take care of our slowly degrading home and to put into action the ways to save, nurture, and take care of mother nature, thus, the subtitle "Care for our Common Home".
Laudato Si' is woven with the theme of stewardship, something that God has tasked us to with. As stewards of the Earth, it is our obligation to care for the creation of our Father. He shared his love to His people, and it is only fair that we do the same for our environment.
Laudato Si’ is aimed at individuals to do a small yet powerful part in our society to assist the world in healing, 1 kilogram of trash at a time. An example of this is the Baseco beach cleaning that took place on September 16, 2023; over 1500 volunteers (school, government, and private organizations) took part in International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICC), according to INQUIRER.
Let us not forget that Laudato Si’ is based not only on reverting the damages caused by polluters and pollutants, but also a way of habit that strives for the individual to go beyond for Mother Earth. That is why the educational and spiritual implementation of Laudato Si’ is essential to further the reach of this initiative on the ecological conversion of responsibility safeguarding our home and our future.
Schools and universities were and are encouraged to participate in this initiative by means of recycling, nature proliferation, lessening of pollutants, and overall becoming a sustainable school. Schools such as Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University, and many others are willing to participate and act in the initiative of Laudato Si’ in a myriad of ways such as recycling, nature conservation, sanitation, switching to renewables, and improvements in their journey of sustainability.
In Malate Catholic School in the light of Laudato Si’, MCS relaunches an initiative called 7s (which was called 5s prior to the pandemic) where students participate by recycling trash, cleaning classrooms and hallways, and tending to plants. This initiative aims to teach the habit of taking care of the environment of the school and the outside world as well.
In more recent news, Pope Francis has revealed an extension of Laudato Si', the next and new initiative called “Laudate Deum: Apostolic Exhortation on climate” in which the Pope calls all the people to take on the complex and important world issue of climate change. This was raised concerns by the participants of the Rectors of Public and Private Universities of Latin America and the Caribbean. The upcoming initiative encourages us to be responsible about the use of our limited and valuable resources to properly use, dispose, or recycle.
As Pope Francis described "There is a throwaway culture that is always going on, there is a lack of education to use the things that remain, to remake them, to replace them in the order of the common use of things. And this throwaway culture also affects nature." He insisted on the urgency of returning to the proper use of nature: "Today humanity is tired of this misuse of nature, and must return to the path of good use of nature. And how we use nature, a word that may sound strange, I would say: dialogue with nature, dialogue."