When I arrived in Rome to assume the coordination of JPIC in January 2021, I had not heard about the Laudato Si Action Platform. Thanks to an email from the JPIC coordinator of the Chicago Province, Brother Brian McLauchlin, I heard for the first time about this wonderful 7-year eco-spiritual itinerary to which Pope Francis invites us. The idea is that in 7 years the whole church divided into sectors: families, educational establishments, economy, religious congregations, health establishments, parishes and dioceses, NGOs or groups, will take concrete actions to achieve the 7 objectives of the encyclical Laudato Si: Responding to the Cry of the Earth, Responding to the Cry of the Poor, Ecological Economy, Adopting a Simple Lifestyle, Ecological Education, Community Involvement and Participatory Action. The challenge of involving all members of the Society of the Divine Word and lay collaborators in this ambitious project seemed too big. However, our superior general, Fr. Budi Klenden, and the members of the general council encouraged me to take steps to adhere to Pope Francis’ invitation to make the necessary changes to prevent the destruction of our common home.

The creation of a work team was essential to elaborate a plan for the whole congregation, which would have to be flexible enough to be applied in each corner of the world according to its concrete reality. For the purpose of choosing the members of the working group, we decided at the generalate that there would be one confrere for each zone. Thus, PANAM is represented by Brian McLauchlin, EUROPE by Franz Helm, ASIA by Paul Rahmat, and AFRAM by Sebastiao Da Silva. Subsequently, the group decided to invite SSpS Mission Secretary Gretta Fernandez. The group also requested the help of our Mission Secretary, Stanis Lazar. After several online meetings, the group came up with a concrete Laudato Si proposal for the SVD. It consists of focusing each of the 7 years on one goal of Laudato Si, starting with the response to the cry of the earth and so on. Each year our confreres and lay collaborators are called to focus on the respective Laudato Si goal in a holistic way, from 4 pillars: spirituality, education, concrete actions, and advocacy.

The General Council approved the proposal, and sent a circular letter to all provinces, regions and missions informing and encouraging our confreres to join the Laudato Si platform, and to take up the response to the cry of the earth as a priority at the community and pastoral level. The communication department of the Generalate, and Verbo Film produced good graphic and audiovisual materials to promote the first year of Laudato Si.  The Society of the Divine Word registered on the Laudato Si platform; and on October 4, 2021, the feast day of St. Francis, the Congregation officially launched the first year of Laudato Si with a video message from our Superior General. I am proud that our Society was one of the first to registered on the Laudato Si Action Platform.

The first year of Laudato Si is now history, it ended on October 4, 2022, when we begin the second year of the Laudato Si Platform, which focuses on our response to the cry of the poor. There were several challenges regarding our response to the cry of the earth. At the level of the Dicastery for Human Development, the official website of the Laudato Si platform proved too difficult for communities, schools, hospitals, parishes, etc., to register. At the diocesan level, where many confreres work in parishes around the world, they focused on the synodal process and did not pay due attention to the Laudato Si platform. The first year’s objective, ecology, was also challenging, as we are more accustomed to working pastorally accompanying and empowering the poor and marginalized. However, from what we observed in the general visits and in the annual reports of the JPIC coordinators, the outcome of the first year is very positive and exceeded my expectations.

I believe that the first year of Laudato Si in line with the reflection of the last General Chapter, helps us to be conscious that the care for the environment is part of our mission.  In the document of the 18^th General chapter, it is mentioned that: “As transforming missionary disciples, stewardship of creation is our responsibility in expressing God’s love. This can be manifested in diverse ways—care for creation, sustainable development, eco-justice and so forth.” (N 44). The same document also invites us to commit ourselves to the care for creation. The first year of Laudato Si was an opportunity to do so, and overall, our confreres and lay partners carried out many initiatives: prayers, workshops, recollections and retreat on eco-spirituality, advocacy work in collaboration with other religious congregations, lay people, Christian churches, and other religions, Laudato Si Groups, Organic Farms, biogas production, planting trees, giving seedlings and seeds to the people, solar panels for electricity and water heating, segregation of garbage, recycling, use of public transportation and walk, avoiding the one use plastic items, vegetable and fruit gardens, poultry, cows and other domestic animals, etc.