As we celebrate Laudato Si’ Week May 24-31, 2025,  we are reflecting on ten years of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment, has been stirring hearts and minds among Catholic sisters everywhere, including the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville. We’ve been inspired by all who are embracing this call to care for our common home—some installing solar panels, others divesting from fossil fuels, many of us trying to live more simply. For us Ursulines, this feels like a natural extension of our calling as Christians to serve those most in need, who are often the ones most affected by climate change.

How Laudato Si’ Has Moved Our Community:

  • Learning Alongside Others: Catholic sisters across the globe, including our Louisville Ursuline community, are mobilized by the Laudato Si’ Action Plan, learning how caring for creation connects seamlessly with our charism and spirituality.
  • Living Integral Ecology: Laudato Si’ calls us to see everything as connected— care for the earth, service to the poor, and our commitment to justice.
  • Action Plan: We are taking steps where we can: looking into renewable energy, examining our consumption habits, and weaving creation care into our ministries and mission.
  • Advocacy with Heart: Laudato Si’ has given us language and urgency for climate advocacy that feels deeply rooted in our faith tradition and our mission to educate and serve.
  •  Standing with the Vulnerable: Environmental justice and social justice are inseparable—the same communities we serve are most affected by climate impacts.
  • Personal and Community Conversion: This encyclical has challenged us as individuals and as a community to examine how we live, pray, and minister, calling us to ongoing ecological conversion.
  • Building Collaborative Networks: We are working with other religious communities, lay partners, and environmental groups, living out that spirit of dialogue and shared responsibility that Laudato Si’ encourages.