President Joe Biden announced April 25 that he will seek a second term in the White House. Biden, a Democrat, is the nation’s second Catholic president, but his reelection would make him the first Catholic to serve twice in the Oval Office.
In a video message titled « Freedom, » Biden said, « When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are. »
« The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer, » Biden said. « I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection. »
Amid video images from the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol and an image of Biden’s declared and undeclared GOP rivals, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaking face to face, Biden said, « MAGA extremists are lining up to take on those bedrock freedoms. »
Biden claimed his rivals intended to cut Social Security, reduce taxes « for the very wealthy, » ban books, and implied his opponents would ban abortion, same-sex marriage, and increase restrictive voting requirements.
The announcement was expected, but followed months of speculation from critics and allies alike as to whether Biden, 80, would launch a reelection campaign.
Biden frequently discusses the role of his faith on issues such as labor, immigration and the environment. Biden routinely attends Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation.
However, Biden’s positions on some issues, such as his platform supporting legal abortion, including his call to end a prohibition on taxpayer funding for abortion, and his administration’s increasingly harsh actions toward migrants at the border, have come under fire from some Catholics.
In 2023, the U.S. bishops issued statements criticizing the Biden administration for expanding the use of Title 42, a pandemic-era federal public health rule permitting immigration officials at the border to block migrants seeking asylum from entry previously implemented by the Trump administration. The bishops also have pushed back on comments made by Biden appearing to indicate the bishops were not calling for a ban on the use of taxpayer funding for elective abortion, as they have called for that ban.
Most Americans don’t appear eager for Biden or his presumptive GOP challenger, Trump, according to recent polls. While a rematch is likely between the two, who faced off in the 2020 election, an April NBC News poll found significant majorities of Americans did not want either Trump or Biden to run.
The same poll, however, found Trump leading the Republican primary field for the Republican nomination in 2024.
Trump faces a few declared candidates — Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy and Asa Hutchinson — but some election analysts speculate that his biggest threat is DeSantis, who is seen as a likely contender for the 2024 Republican presidential primary but has not declared his candidacy.
Should DeSantis enter the race and secure his party’s nomination, the general election would become a contest between two Catholics. Up to now, no Catholic has won two terms as U.S. president, and the U.S. has not seen two back-to-back Catholic presidents.
Charred, drained or swamped, built up, dug out or taken apart, blue or green or turned to dust: this is the Earth as seen from above.
As the world commemorated Earth Day on Saturday, the footprints of human activity were visible across the planet’s surface. The relationship between people and the natural world will have consequences for years to come.
In Iraq, lakes shrivel and dry up as rain fails to fall, weather patterns altered by human-made climate change. In Florida, the opposite problem: too much water clogs roads and neighborhoods, trapping cars and stranding people, with the burning of fossil fuels again partially to blame for erratic conditions.
In megacities, like the rapidly growing Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, skyscrapers shoot upwards while in Guyana excavators dig deep into the earth for deposits of gold.
In California, surfers straddle waves in the ocean. In New Jersey, solar panels float in ponds, and in India, fishing nets sink into the lakes. Residents of neighborhoods in Utah meanwhile, find water where it shouldn’t be — coursing through their streets and homes.
On land, farmers are at the whims of the weather, with patterns being altered by climate change. In Argentina, parched lands turn crops to gray. Just outside Barcelona, new cracked, thirsty water beds appear after months of little to no rain.
Earth Day first began in 1970, heralded as the birth of an environmental movement that encouraged people worldwide to protect the natural world. Today, it also urges action to combat climate change, which has accelerated in recent decades.
Each year, scientists have warned that the burning of fossil fuels is heating the planet and bringing us closer to breaching internationally agreed upon limits of warming, which would have major effects, such as more extreme weather events.
Around the world, activists of all ages are keeping the pressure on governments and companies to do more to protect the environment and combat climate change.
How many times have you told a family story only to have a sibling say, « I don’t remember it that way at all! » (That is actually a very nice rendition of what often happens.) Memory shapes our perspective without our willing it. If my brother used to scare me by pulling a mouse out of his pocket, I’m going to react when I see him approaching with a grin and a hand in his pocket. If he should then hand me a gift card, my future expectations might be different.
Today’s readings are all about perspective. The Gospel tells the story of two disciples whose perspective threw them into blind grief. As Jesus, the stranger, walked with them, they described him as a failed messiah — assuming that everyone assessed the situation as they did. Jesus listened to it all, allowing them to vent their desolation as they walked along.
Then, in the way only a close friend can do, he shook them out of their stupor with an all-too-familiar, loving reproach: « You dunderheads! How long did you walk with Jesus without learning anything? Have you forgotten all he said about dying and rising — that all of Scripture teaches God’s love cannot be overcome? Let’s take it once more from the top. »
Finally, sitting at table with them, he explained it all again in one gesture. He took bread and blessed and broke it, reminding them that giving oneself totally for others is God’s route to the fullness of life.
Peter taught something similar in his Pentecost reprise of the mystery of Jesus. Peter recounted the historical events as everyone knew them. He then proclaimed that all that happened to and through Jesus was part of the process of accomplishing the divine plan for the world.
Having reminded them of Jesus’ goodness, his rejection, death and resurrection, Peter summarized it all saying, « It was impossible for him to be held by death. »
Luke the evangelist gave us these two different renditions of the same story. For the early church, it was a story they heard from participants (who probably each had their own version). Ultimately, the story is that, in Christ, the Holy Spirit is filling Earth and her inhabitants. But, as we and the Emmaus travelers know only too well, it takes a long time for Jesus’ followers to understand that.
And so, for us? Because this is the weekend of Earth Day 2023, we might listen long and carefully to one particular line from the first letter of Peter. He says, « Conduct yourselves with reverence during the time of your sojourn. »
The author wrote that nearly 2,000 years ago. We hear a modern rendition of it today as Pope Francis tells us in « Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home » to show reverence for every bit of creation because « it is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamless garment of God’s creation, in the last speck of dust of our planet. »
Peter told his audience that the people of his time failed to recognize that Jesus was sent by God in spite of the good he did. The travelers to Emmaus didn’t recognize the risen Christ as he walked with them until he prayed with them. Until the 19th century, most Christians accepted slavery as a natural state for some people — until they knew they had to change the laws.
When humans accept new perspectives, they must put them into action.
Today, in Laudato Si’, Francis makes an extraordinary claim as he invites us to recognize all of creation as « a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. » He adds that, for Christians, « the destiny of all creation is bound up with the mystery of Christ. »
Just as people of Jesus’ day missed the point, many today remain unaware or insufficiently concerned about how we are shaping the future of our planet. While the crisis of Earth is but one of the ways in which God’s plan for the future is being thwarted, with the exception of nuclear warfare no other evil compares to the possibility that all life on Earth could be snuffed out as a result of human carelessness or apathy.
Jesus invited the Emmaus disciples to see through his eyes. Francis does the same in Laudato Si’ as he calls Christians to « an ‘ecological conversion,’ whereby the effects of their encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in their relationship with the world around them. »
He adds, « Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not … optional. »
The early Christians had to develop a new perspective. How are we called to do the same?
In early 2020, members of the newly formed creation care committee at St. Anthony Parish, in Sacramento, were exploring ways to raise ecological issues within the parish. They had begun education efforts around Pope Francis’ encyclical « Laudato Si’, on Care for Our Common Home » for themselves and the rest of the parish, including through the weekly bulletin. Now they were looking for an anchor project to put Catholic teaching about the environment into action.
They decided to install solar panels on the roof of the parish’s Memorial Center, and by May 2022, the full 82-kilowatt, 181-panel system was ready to power up, producing enough energy to cover the parish’s electricity needs. But the solar project also served as a first step toward flipping the switch on a wider effort to electrify the entire Sacramento Diocese in living out the message of Laudato Si’.
Within months, a new creation care committee was established at the diocesan level, and California’s geographically largest diocese enrolled in the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
The work of the St. Anthony parishioners to power up their parish and diocese was recognized in February by Interfaith Power & Light, which named the parish one of its 2023 « Cool Congregations » winners and recipient of the Renewable Role Model award.
« This shows the big impact that can be made by a committed group of people at one congregation, » Susan Stephenson, IPL executive director, told EarthBeat in an email. « St. Anthony’s Laudato Si committee served as a role model and driver for climate action across their whole diocese! »
Solar at St. Anthony
The creation care committee at St. Anthony grew out of its social justice ministry. Parishioners like Kim-Son Ziegler felt the need to give greater attention to environmental issues, especially as the impacts of climate change — including heat, drought and wildfires — have become more stark throughout the Golden State.
The idea of bringing solar power to the parish was always appealing to Ziegler, the parish environmental lead and a project manager for a local utility. He had panels installed at his home and thought they could be a good fit for St. Anthony, too — a visible reflection of faith in action.
Moving to solar energy would also reduce the parish’s reliance on fossil fuels that contribute to climate change. The parish had considered adding solar in the past, but the costs were prohibitive. Now, they felt ready to move forward, and Fr. Mieczyslaw « Mitch » Maleszyk asked Ziegler to oversee the project. The solar array was installed in two phases, the first providing power to the Memorial Center and the second to the rest of the parish campus. The parish self-funded the project through donors, with each phase costing roughly $100,000.
Altogether, the solar array provides 100% of the parish’s current electricity needs and was scaled to cover future growth, as well. Already, the system has saved the parish $17,000 annually in energy costs and offsets 80 tons of carbon emissions each year — both greater than initial estimates.
After Sunday Mass on Feb. 20, 2022, Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto led a blessing of the solar array, sprinkling holy water on a panel on the ground and others already installed on the Memorial Center roof.
« Through the works of our hands and the help of technology, we cooperate with the Creator to improve the Earth as a dwelling place, as the common home, of the human family, » the bishop said at the blessing.
Creation care in the diocese
As the solar project moved forward, St. Anthony parishioners were meeting with other creation care groups in the diocese to brainstorm ways to partner and build off each other’s work.
« We noticed that we were operating in silos. Each parish was doing good stuff, but we weren’t integrated at all, » said Betsy Reifsnider, a member of the social justice committee at St. Francis of Assisi Parish in midtown Sacramento.
They became interested in getting the Sacramento Diocese more involved, primarily by elevating Laudato Si’ in its own ministries and in providing an outlet for parishes to meet and share resources, said Reifsnider, who before retiring worked with the Sierra Club and as the first environmental justice coordinator for the Diocese of Stockton, California.
« We would probably learn more if we could talk with one another and find out what they were doing and the kind of challenges that they had and what was working in their parishes, » she said.
But they didn’t see much action around creation care coming from the diocese.
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Shortly after Laudato Si’ was released in June 2015, Soto and Stockton Bishop Stephen Blaire met with members of the California Legislature to discuss Catholic teaching around the environment and climate change. And in 2019, Soto joined his fellow California bishops in issuing a pastoral statement applying the encyclical to the California context. The document outlined a number of action steps, including for dioceses.
« We thought, well, this is wonderful. And then nothing really happened at the diocesan level, » Reifsnider said.
Ziegler saw the invitation for Soto to bless St. Anthony’s solar installation as an inroad to engage the diocese more on environmental issues. Another was through Sacramento ACT, the local affiliate of the multifaith justice group Faith in Action that works with more than 50 congregations in Sacramento County.
In the last decade, Sacramento ACT began hearing from its members a desire for it too to become more engaged around climate change. In response, it formed a committee and launched a listening tour to hear directly from parishes and congregations how climate change is impacting their lives.
« It’s impacting the way their kids learn. It’s affecting their health because they’re breathing fumes in homes. It’s impacting transportation, » said Gabby Trejo, Sacramento ACT executive director. « Climate is impacting every issue, social issue, that we work on. »
Along with helping connect parishes around creation care, Trejo, who is also Catholic, helped them engage the diocese. Shortly after Miriam Sammartino took over as director of Catholic Charities and Social Concerns, they scheduled a meeting with her.
That first conversation was « very harsh, » Sammartino told EarthBeat, as the parishioners spoke bluntly about the lack of movement they saw on Laudato Si’ from their church leadership.
« When parishioners are frustrated that we as a diocese aren’t providing an opportunity for them to live out their faith in the way that they’re being called to, then that’s a big [red] flag for me, » she said.
Sammartino relayed those frustrations to Soto, telling him, « I think it’s time to respond. »
« And he was very open to it, » she added. « I think he’s been very interested in being more active in care for creation. It just, for whatever reason, hadn’t happened. »
Along with frustrations, the parishioners outlined several steps for the diocese to take. In addition to a diocesan creation care committee, they asked the diocese to host events and speakers on faith and ecology, and for it to provide spaces to gather and discuss how to start creation care teams in their parishes.
Another major ask was for the Sacramento Diocese to sign up for the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. The program, unveiled by Francis in May 2021 and officially launched later that year, outlines seven thematic action-oriented goals for all types of Catholic institutions — from dioceses and parishes, to religious congregations, schools, hospitals, businesses and families — to achieve over the course of seven years in the spirit of the encyclical’s teachings on integral ecology and ecological conversion.
Sammartino, who heads the new diocesan creation care committee, said the Laudato Si’ Action Platform has been « really helpful » in not just learning more about environmental issues like climate change and how they relate to what it means to be Catholic, but also in highlighting « where are the opportunities for us to really engage with our parishioners » around ecological challenges.
« There is a foundation in our Catholic teaching, and this is what we’re trying to do, » she said.
Laudato Si’ in action
The meeting with the social concerns office the only meeting the parishioners had with the diocese. They also met with the bishop.
Trejo, who holds monthly meetings with Soto, brought several parishioners with her during one of the sessions. There, they shared ideas and brainstormed possible events and initiatives the diocese could take up and how it can support parish efforts.
Trejo recalled Soto being « excited about the energy that parishioners brought to the table. »
Ziegler, now part of the diocesan creation care committee, said he left that meeting feeling « that the bishop is behind [us]. He’s open to our ideas, he’s engaging with us, and this is not something that’s just going to quietly go away. »
In September, during the Season of Creation, the Sacramento Diocese officially kicked off its entry into the Laudato Si’ Action Platform with an event at St. Anthony Catholic Church, in rural Winters.
« This is a long marathon, not a sprint, » Soto said of the multiyear initiative, per the diocesan newspaper the Catholic Herald.
To aid those efforts, the diocese has produced a care for creation parish toolkit, in both English and Spanish, that gives background on the seven goals of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, information about environmental justice and resources from Catholic Climate Covenant on creating creation care teams.
The diocese has initially focused on three of the action platform’s seven goals — response to the cry of the earth, response to the cry of the poor, and ecological education — and created reflection guides on each for parish pastoral councils.
Sammartino told EarthBeat that education remains a main priority. They have used their Spanish radio show, « Cultivating Hope, » to bring awareness to issues around climate change and the environment. How they speak about it affects whether it’s heard, she added, as they’ve found using the words « climate change » can be less effective in some parts of the diocese compared to talking about how water shortages affect communities and farming, how air pollution can impact growing fetuses, and how heat waves put elderly people and children at greater risk.
The Sacramento Diocese has also organized regional meetings on creation care for the northern part of the diocese, the Sacramento area and the Yolo-Solano counties in its southern boundaries. In addition, it has added to the liturgical calendar Rogation Days (May) and Ember Days (September) to mark periods of planting and harvesting. An emergency preparedness virtual course is in the works.
In May an ecumenical prayer service will kick off Laudato Si’ Week.
Catholic parishioners who spoke with EarthBeat said they have been surprised and excited by the pace the diocese has responded.
« But there was a lot of legwork and a lot of discussions that happened beforehand, » said Reifsnider, adding « I think it’s very important that we keep moving forward because it’s going to be so easy to say ‘Oh, been there, done that. Check the box.’ «
She said she would like to see the diocese next create a position specifically on creation care and environmental justice, similar to the Environmental Justice Project in the Diocese of Stockton’s Catholic Charities. Others have discussed the possibility of adding solar panels at other parishes or even charging stations for electric vehicles.
Trejo, the community organizer, credits the parishioners at St. Anthony and elsewhere with spurring the diocese to action. « It was this clarity about who Pope Francis was calling us to be in this moment and who they are as parish[es] wanting to step into their leadership. »
Added Reifsnider, « There are so many issues and initiatives that are coming at the diocese, diocesan staff and the bishop, that unless you have people in the parishes who are really pushing to have Laudato Si’ elevated to be an important part of the work of the diocese, it might not happen. »
By calling itself the « Papal Foundation » and supporting projects identified by the Vatican, members of the U.S.-based group have an obligation to promote the unity of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis said.
« Unfortunately, we see even in our day how the unity of the church is wounded by division, » Francis told a delegation of about 150 people from the foundation April 21.
« The devil is a specialist in fighting against unity, » the pope said. « He is a specialist! »
Division in the church, he said, often is « caused by the influence of ideologies and movements that, while sometimes having good intentions, end up fomenting ‘parties’ and cliques, with each one developing a certain superiority complex when it comes to insight into the practice of the faith. »
The tensions, the pope said, are « further aggravated by the application of secular terminology, especially from the political realm, when speaking of the church and the faith itself. »
Jesus called St. Peter to serve as « the visible sign of unity of the church, » and that responsibility was passed on to his successors, the popes, he said. Encouraging and defending unity is a responsibility « shared in varying degrees by all those who directly or indirectly assist the pope in fulfilling his mission, » including members of the Papal Foundation.
The Papal Foundation was established in 1988 to respond to the pope’s philanthropic priorities in developing nations around the world; since its foundation, members have allocated more than $200 million to projects, including building churches, hospitals and schools and providing scholarships for lay and religious leaders to study in Rome.
« Motivated by sincere faith and a heartfelt desire to help others, » Francis said, members of the Papal Foundation « rise above these partisan divisions and foster unity through the generous funding each year of numerous projects and scholarships that provide vital assistance, without prejudice or discrimination, to our brothers and sisters throughout the world. »
Francis also thanked the group for its commitment to ensuring accurate record keeping and transparency so that their funds truly benefit people in need.
« As you are aware, » he told them, « the Holy See has been making strides » in ensuring its own financial dealings are marked by accountability and transparency.
« This is especially important in its service of charity, which relies on the goodwill and generosity of so many people around the world, » the pope said. « While not comparable to the immense harm resulting from the failure to protect the most vulnerable from various forms of abuse, financial scandals caused by a lack of oversight and transparency also damage the good name of the church and can call into question the credibility of the faith itself. »
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