Australian School Participates in Vatican Dicastery Launch of New Laudato Si’ Resource

Speaking to a global audience, the Principal of Mercy College Coburg, Mrs Lila McInerney, together with her College co-captain Lydia, featured in the launch video with other voices from Italy, Ghana and Puerto Rico on 14th February about the value of a new publication “Our common home: A guide to caring for our living planet”.

The new booklet is the product of the collaboration between the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). It connects the science of climate change, biodiversity and sustainable resource use with the messages of Pope Francis’ Encyclical Laudato Si’.

Sr Adele Howard rsm, who works with the Dicastery, was asked to produce videos of key interviews with educators for the launch and post-launch promotion. Filming took place at Mercy College Coburg and at St Raphael’s Primary School in West Preston.

Speaking at the launch, H.E. Cardinal Michael Czerny SJ, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development said, “We are at a critical historical moment where actions today will determine the fate of generations to come.” He continued “The challenge ahead is monumental; we need nothing short of a ‘bold cultural revolution’ (Laudato Si’ 114) to respond to it adequately. For this reason, the guidebook we offer today to local churches and community groups represents an important and hopeful collaboration between two great sectors: that of science, and that of faith. While starting from complementary worldviews, what we hold in common is what matters – science and faith share core values and purpose capable of healing the world.”

Andrés Jato, Sweden's Ambassador to the Holy See responded, “The Holy See is a force for positive change, in a stage of history when change is needed more than ever. Sweden is proud to have taken an active part in this collaboration and we will continue to look for opportunities to cooperate with the Holy See.”

The 20-page, full colour booklet is available in 5 languages – English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese. Succinct summaries of the science on each topic are illustrated by beautiful photography and graphics. With its clear outline of what needs to change, and inclusion of ways individuals and communities can make a difference, this is a truly educational resource.

The booklet is free to download from the Stockholm Environment Institute website: sei.org/ourcommonhome 
​The Dicastery is distributing more than 500 000 print copies of the booklet to parishes around the world.

QUICK LINKS:

“Our Common Home: A guide to caring for our living planet” booklet
https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/our-common-home-sei-vatican-20221128.pdf

“Our Common Home: A guide to caring for our living planet” website
https://www.sei.org/publications/ourcommonhome/

Our Common Home: A guide to caring for our living planet”  video launch 
​​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_l27wVcDvg
​(see Mercy College Student at 26:33 - Principal at 26:50)
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