The St. Francis Pledge - Fighting for God's Creation

There have been many times in my life where I have felt pulled and drawn to certain things. Like something was letting me know, "Hey, you! Get with the program and care about this!" Well, it's happened again.

For a couple months now I have felt a hunger for knowledge and information on how I can be better to the environment, to God's Creation. Now, if you knew me, then you would know that the environment isn't something I normally would have given a hoot about. Is it important? Yeah. But have I ever felt like a save the environment, reduce my carbon footprint kind of person? Not even a little bit. Which is why, it's been strange feeling this urge, this hunger, to educate myself more and to somehow be more involved in preserving this gift from the Lord. That's were my story begins.

Yesterday morning, I was bored and procrastinating on my household duties so I decided to look into things. What I discovered, is that the Catholic Church, MY CHURCH, has an official stance on global warming (also known as climate change). The stance is that Vatican employed scientists have without a doubt concluded that it IS, in fact, an issue and that we ALL need to STAND UP and do something about it.

After this, I started looking into what I can do to change things. What I can do to make things better. That's when I stumbled upon The Catholic Climate Covenant. From there, I learned of the The St. Francis Pledge. The pledge, as seen on the website, is this:

PRAY and reflect on the duty to care for God’s Creation and protect the poor and vulnerable.

LEARN about and educate others on the causes and moral dimensions of climate change.

ASSESS how we-as individuals and in our families, parishes and other affiliations-contribute to climate change by our own energy use, consumption, waste, etc.

ACT to change our choices and behaviors to reduce the ways we contribute to climate change.

ADVOCATE for Catholic principles and priorities in climate change discussions and decisions, especially as they impact those who are poor and vulnerable.

I am so pleased to have signed this pledge and to have decided to do my part in helping to make God's Creation a better, healthier, happier, place!

If you're interested in things you can do to make a difference, please visit this link.

-Blessings.