Sisters of Saint Joseph of Annecy

Celebrating the Jubilee of Laudato Si in a unique way – JPIC 

The Earth is what we all have in common.”—Wendell Berry

The month of September was dedicated as a month of celebrating the “Earth – our Common Home”. This year it was very special as we celebrated the jubilee year of the Encyclical “Laudato Si”.

“The Earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love the land and then take steps to destroy it for use by future generations.”—John Paul II

Sisters of St. Joseph in Bhubaneswar Province, celebrated the month of September 2020 as a month of creation by creating awareness among the sisters, students, staff - the need for caring for our mother Earth. The JPIC team planned out a month long programme for the Province and the same was sent to the communities for the practise.

Activities conducted

8^thSeptember 2020 – The birthday of Our Lady who is also known as the mother of creation was celebrated by the Province with special prayers and awareness programmes. Each community had a holy hour and creatively conducted prayers for our mother earth.

• Communities had special readings from Laudato Si during the evening prayers along with the readings of the Congregational texts throughout the month of September. Communities have also have taken up Laudato Si for the spiritual reading and certain articles for the community effort.
• Various quotes of Pope Francis on Care for the Common Home, Earth was printed and is placed in the prominent places of the community -Community room, Dining room, etc.
• Community notice boards, Institutional notice boards etc. were decorated with the theme of Common Home called Earth. This was mainly to create awareness among the sisters, staff, students, parents and the visitors.
• The prayer and other activities was an education about our environmental responsibilities and encouraged the sisters to find ways to reduce directly and significantly the use of plastic and papers, reducing water consumption, cooking only what can reasonably be consumed, showing care for other living beings, using public transport, carpooling, planting trees, turning off unnecessary lights and excess use of electronic gadgets.
• All the communities have planted a kitchen garden with organic planting for our own need.
• To mark the occasion, all our communities have planted a tree of their choice with the name Jubilee tree or Laudato Si Tree.
• Communities have set apart days to clean environment, to keep it hygienic and eco – friendly.
• We have pledged to use less plastic in our daily life, carry our own bags while going to the markets and use cloth or related material bags for carrying things and to introduce reusable and recyclable things such as bottles for drinking water etc.
• Few of our schools organized online programs for the students on the importance of caring for the Earth.
• Sisters visited the families of our parishes, bringing awareness in them of having kitchen gardens, less use of plastics and proper disposal of wastes etc
• Our hospitals also tried to be eco-friendly by planting ornamental plants which rejuvenate the mind of the sick, suffering and those who come to our hospitals.

The events and the activities have imparted knowledge, great interest and awareness among the Sisters and our associates. “Living our vocation to be protector of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue, it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”