Become a Laudato Si Animator!

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Source: Laudato Si Animators UK

Laudato Si Animators UK is a group of people, mainly Catholics, who have graduated from the Global Catholic Climate Movement's (GCCM) 'Laudato Si Animators' Course which is set up to educate and enable people to inspire others, in parishes, schools and in the world at large, to engage in dialogue and action on the current environmental crisis. We do this by promoting the messages in Pope Francis' Encyclical 'Laudato Si'.

GCCM aims to activate the world's 1.2 billion Catholics to tackle the climate crisis. One of the ways it does this is by running a course to educate and empower people to bring the 'Laudato Si' Encyclical to life.

The course of five weeks had a weekly zoom webinar with inputs from experts on the themes of Laudato Si and the chance to connect with other participants. A wide range of resources was made available to watch and read during the week. We were invited to practise reflective and prayer experiences, alone and with others.

We were given prayer and reflection practices to help the conversion process which was called "Ecological Conversion". They included Lectio Divina, the Laudato Si Chaplet, an Ecological Examen and reflecting on our own Ecological Conversion. Throughout we were invited to journal and share our personal reflections and prayers on the web platform. This inserted us into a rich global learning and praying community.

The primary focus of the Laudato Si Animators course was for us to strive to 'live Laudato Si' in our own lives. This is our guiding principle, driven by 'the cry of the earth and … of the poor' (LS paragraph 49). This goes further than informing ourselves, necessary though that is, to being open to conversion, to real change in our mindset, our heart and our lifestyle.

The second focus was to animate others in our local communities and groups to live Laudato Si. We all need a community to support us on this demanding journey (it is too hard alone) and the scale of the ecological crisis is so great that more and more people are needed to build a massive movement to change the world.

Towards the end of the course, we were invited to sign up to the Laudato Si Pledge: praying for and with creation, living more simply and advocating to protect our common home: https://livelaudatosi.org/ The Pledge can be downloaded for displaying at home by clicking on 'Resources - Pledge Forms' then downloading the Individual Pledge card.

We were encouraged to do a 'Capstone project' which involved a small practical project to invite others to join the Laudato Si journey. It was stressed that as animators we each do our bit according to our context, our skills, our time availability and our preferences … "Everyone's talents and involvement are needed" (LS 14).'Each participant who completed the online course was awarded a 'Laudato Si Animators Certificate' as confirmation of our participation and motivation to take it forward. We were encouraged to connect with other participants in our part of the world to create LS circles and groups across the world.

GCCM who organised and found funding for the course has a truly global outreach with a highly professional way of operating. At the same time the facilitators are themselves steeped in the spirituality of Laudato Si with a deep faith forming the bedrock of all the actions proposed.

The course was at the same time truly 'Catholic' and yet inclusive of everyone who is concerned about the future of our Common Home.

A few examples of the personal experiences of Animators:

"It re-grounded my life-long religious faith and long-time involvement in J&P/CAFOD and motivated me afresh to translate faith into care for our shared home. My prayer became: "Lord the people and creation you love are sick. Help us to heed their cries and so live and act that we walk with and heal all peoples who suffer and your creation which we have so harmed. Amen."

"I found the GCCM course very stimulating and took forward my earlier promotion of Laudato Si with interfaith groups back in 2015."

"The course was a time of grace for me during lockdown last year. It made me aware of the blessings of a faith which gives hope during times of darkness and of having family and communities who care about me and our planet. Even living in the middle of a city (Salford) the ecological exercises brought me out into nature which energised me and continues to do so. The interaction with committed people from across the globe, many a lot younger than me, was a morale booster in the face of the otherwise mostly depressing daily news. Truly a work of the Spirit!"

"The course gave me an in-depth explanation of the causes of climate change and graphic examples of real-life situations. I heard of Joanne Sustento who lost her whole family in Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines and so was motivated to work for Friends of the Earth. She is a wonderful example for me!"

"I relished the 'homework'. It made me think. I changed from being a passive onlooker to a person charged up with passion to do something … now."

How Animators are implementing the learnings from the course

"While I enjoyed talking to people from all over the world, I wanted to meet people from the UK and so we set up the Laudato Si Animators UK (LSIUK) group, initially on email then developing into zoom meetings. "

"My action has been to help set up a Sustainability Broxbourne group and encourage our local Churches Together to hold a service celebrating God's creation and taking this project forwards. "

"I am helping to form a London (Laudato Si) action group across five dioceses, eventually setting up an online group based at Westminster Cathedral."

"I contacted all 30 Catholic dioceses in England and Wales asking them to forward the Catholic Season of Creation liturgy guide to every parish with prayers at Mass. "

"With the help and advice of various Catholic agencies, I established an active "green team" complete with Facebook page in my cluster of parishes."

"I have been invited by my own parish to take the lead on applying for an Eco Church award. This involves a review of our energy supplier."

"I joined our Diocesan J&P Climate Group and pushed awareness of Laudato Si through the diocesan ACTA Group. I joined parishioners who form a Laudato Si Network for snappy communications."

"Our household tries to live simply, sustainably and as carbon-reduced as possible. We grow kale! "

"I am helping my Religious community to look at energy use, buying locally produced and reduced carbon-footprint foodstuffs and products with less waste packaging."

"I pray the Laudato Si 'Chaplet' on my daily walks … 'Praised be God in mother earth, sister wind …'".

"I facilitated my Religious community in doing an ecological examen and telling their story of ecological conversion."

The LSIUK group is currently collaborating with GCCM in organising a Lenten course based on the Global Healing videos from the Catholic Bishops Conference.

To register for this event, see: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcvcOuuqzsvEtMBwz2hxBzhhvwy0hcgyoEb

GCCM are running the Laudato Si Animators course again this year starting on 14 April 2021.

We encourage anyone who has a concern for the environment and a desire to act to protect our common home to enrol in the course. See: https://laudatosianimators.org