Sisters of Saint Anne

St. Marie Province

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The Sisters of St. Anne, St. Marie Province

in Marlborough MA, join the seven-year journey to

“care for our common home”

The Sisters of St. Anne, St. Marie Province, located in Marlborough MA are among a global cohort of hundreds of Women and Men Religious Congregations to join Pope Francis’ seven-year action plan to implement environmental sustainability measures. 

The international effort, known as the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, launched on Nov. 14, 2021. It builds on Francis’ 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home,” by calling for actions to address global warming.  The Platform is the fruit of a unique collaboration between the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, nearly 200 Catholic organizations, and individuals from around the world.

Taking a truly ground-up approach, it is rooted in the strengths and realities of communities around the world, empowering all to take “decisive action, here and now” as we journey towards a better future together. (LS 161)  The goal is that a critical mass can be motivated to make the changes our environment needs to heal.  The initiative is a seven-year journey, allowing for self-reflection of how one’s current practices, a commitment and concrete plan to change, three to four years to fully implement the changes while tracking one’s success and areas in need of improvement culminating with the 7th year of jubilation.

“We need a new ecological approach that can transform our way of dwelling in the world, our styles of life, our relationship with the resources of the Earth and, in general, our way of looking at humanity and of living life,” Francis said in a video message translated by the Catholic News Agency. 

The Platform has designated seven sectors: families, parishes and dioceses, educational institutions, healthcare and healing, organizations and groups, economics and women and men religious. The action plan lists seven goals: respond to the cry of the Earth, respond to the cry of the poor, foster ecological economics, adopt a sustainable lifestyle, offer ecological education, develop ecological spirituality and support local communities. 

The Sisters of St. Anne are charting their own course through the journey, with the assistance of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. Over the next year the group will take a hard look at how they can collectively and individually make changes responding to each of the seven goals for sustainable living. In addition, they will engage in workshops to better educate themselves in these areas. The Sisters invite anyone interested in joining this movement to ‘care for our common home’ in concrete ways to reach out to the coordinator at stmariesocialconcerns@gmail.com.