(Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time-Year C; This homily was given on August 30 & 31, 2025 at Saint Augustine Church in Providence, Rhode Island; See Sirach 3-17-29 and Luke 14:1-14)
Seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary through prayer
Moments after rifle blasts reverberated inside a Minneapolis church, Catholic school children wearing plaid jumpers and green polo shirts ducked into pews, some jumping atop friends to protect them from the carnage.
One girl, Lydia Kaiser, was struck shielding her « little buddy » while her father, the school’s gym teacher, helped usher children to safety and reunite them with their parents, according to a family friend organizing fundraising for the family.
A 13-year-old boy named Endre, who was shot twice and rushed into surgery, asked the doctor, « Can you say a prayer with me? » his aunt said in a GoFundMe posting. Endre’s aunt said he’s now recovering, and the surgeon told the family that Endre had inspired their medical team.
Despite the horror carried out Aug. 27 by a shooter whose journal entries detail weeks of preparation and a fixation on harming children, stories of bravery and tragedy have emerged as families share their accounts.
At least five children and one adult remained hospitalized Aug. 20 after the shooter fired 116 rifle rounds through the church’s stained-glass windows. The attack left two students dead and 18 people wounded, nearly all of them children. The shooter died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Doctors and first responders in Minneapolis this week called the students and teachers at Annunciation Catholic School heroes for protecting each other and following their active shooter training as the barrage of gunfire erupted during the first Mass of the school year.
Matthew Stommes, who had just walked his 12-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son into the church that morning, was sitting in a back pew when he saw flashes of gunfire and children screaming and covering their ears.
« We didn’t know what was going on for those first few seconds that seemed like minutes, » he said. « We could see the leaders in the church from the front starting to tell everyone to get down. But those leaders in the church here, our priest, our deacon, our principal, they were not ducking. »
His own children were unscathed, but two of their friends remained hospitalized. Stommes and other parents were among those who carried injured children out of the church as emergency responders arrived.
Some of those who showed up to help didn’t know their children were among the injured.
A pediatric critical care nurse at Hennepin Healthcare arrived at work Aug. 27 to help treat shooting victims. It was then that she found out her 12-year-old daughter, Sophia Forchas, was among the wounded, the family wrote on a GoFundMe page.
The girl, whose younger brother also was at the school but not wounded, underwent emergency surgery and was in critical condition, a spokesperson for the hospital confirmed Aug. 28.
« Her road ahead will be long, uncertain, and incredibly difficult — but she is strong, and she is not alone, » the fundraiser says.
In the weeks before the attack, the shooter, identified as Robin Westman, 23, wrote in journals about running drills at a shooting range and borrowing money from family to buy guns. The preparation was spelled out across hundreds of pages written in Cyrillic, a centuries-old script still used in Slavic countries.
An entry in July describes the school as an « easy » target, but cautions about avoiding parents, who could have guns and fight back. The shooter also writes about waiting until school starts to be able to attack a large group of children.
Although investigators have not found a clear motive for the attack, the shooter’s connections to the school and church are clear: Westman, whose mother worked for the parish before retiring in 2021, once attended Annunciation Catholic School.
New law enforcement documents revealed Aug. 29 also show the shooter went through a romantic breakup not long before showing up at the church with a pump-action shotgun, a 9-mm pistol and a semiautomatic rifle.
What appears to be a suicide note to family contains a confession of long-held plans to carry out a shooting and talk of being deeply depressed.
Federal officials referred to Westman as transgender, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey decried hatred being directed at « our transgender community. » Westman’s gender identity wasn’t clear. In 2020, a judge approved a petition, signed by Westman’s mother, asking for a name change from Robert to Robin, saying the petitioner « identifies as a female and wants her name to reflect that identification. »
The shooting has renewed calls for gun safety legislation. But getting that done may be difficult in Minnesota, a state closely split along partisan lines.
I was 7 when I first watched « The Sound of Music, » and it left me with the impression that a nun’s vocation involved sabotaging Nazi vehicles and belting out show tunes. For a few months afterward, I told anyone who asked that I planned to be a nun when I grew up — even though my family was not yet Catholic.
Well, I didn’t become a nun, but I have gotten to know a number of women religious in real life. And though I saw many film depictions of nuns over the years, none managed to reignite my childhood yearning for the convent.
Cinema tends to reduce women characters to stereotypes, and nuns are not exempt from this. The wise mother superior in the 1965 movie « The Sound of Music » is one such type. Others include the naive, sheltered nun (Sister Mary Robert of 1992’s « Sister Act ») and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the sadistically abusive nun (Sister Mary Bridget of 2002’s « The Magdalene Sisters »).
Sexy, demon-afflicted nuns are a staple of the horror genre, as well as the « nunsploitation » thrillers that often depict nuns driven to unhinged depravity by the confines of their vocation. Memorable nunspoitation films include 1971’s « The Devils, » with Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave and, more recently, 2023’s psychological thriller « Sister Death. »
Yet not all cinematic nuns are reduced to type, and several recent films push back against some of the film tropes about religious sisters.
The 2024 film « Conclave » highlighted the vital but often thankless work of religious sisters. Ironically, the male characters in « Conclave » are gossipy, emotive and melodramatic, adorned in lace and finery. Meanwhile the character Sister Agnes, portrayed by Isabella Rossellini, is resolute and self-disciplined. Sister Agnes is hard to pigeonhole, neither old nor young, neither a font of divine wisdom nor a sheltered ingenue. Like the archetypal mother superior, she is intelligent and decisive, but her wisdom seems to derive, not from some supernatural line to God, but from her own experience and judgment.
Like the nuns in the 1992 comedy « Sister Act, » who shelter a witness to a crime, Sister Agnes is a protector. When a cardinal cruelly manipulates a younger nun, using her as a pawn in his play for the papacy, Sister Agnes intervenes. The power she shields the younger woman from is no outside force, but the church itself — or, at least, its princes.
The nuns in the 2025 horror movie « The Ritual » also do thankless work largely behind the scenes. « The Ritual » was a critical flop despite a reputable cast, including Dan Stevens and Al Pacino. Patricia Heaton’s portrayal of the mother superior at the convent where the exorcism takes place is one of its few bright spots. Brusque, businesslike and exasperated, Heaton’s character makes the best of a situation over which she has no control. And she seems less concerned about demonic activity than about the physical well-being of the woman being exorcised and the safety of the other nuns under her protection.
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Heaton’s mother superior has no illusions about priestly superiority. At one point she tells Stevens’ character: « All my life I have been taking direction from men who are not as smart as me, not as disciplined, and whose piety pales in comparison to the women of this convent. » Probably the only realistic detail in the film is the way she steps in to help the men who made a mess of things.
Both horror and the nunsploitation genre tend to fetishize the robed and consecrated female body. These stories sometimes involve nuns who struggle against the confines of their vocation, overstepping their vows into illicit sensuality.
A fascinating variation on the trope of the nun who dabbles in sexual experimentation occurs in « And Just Like That … », the television sequel to « Sex and the City. » The character Miranda hooks up with a woman named Mary, played by Rosie O’Donnell, who turns out to be a religious sister. « I had sex with a nun, » she tells her friend Carrie the next day.
While Miranda worries that Mary is in love with her, Mary assures her she has no intention of leaving God — she’s just grateful for this experience, and knows herself better because of it.
This plotline, with mature women in control of their destinies, is a contrast to stories about nuns being exploited sexually, or in which lesbian encounters are showcased for the male gaze. It also subverts the idea that nuns only stay in their vocation because they haven’t sampled the world’s pleasures.
Perhaps the most memorable nun in recent film offerings is the deadpan novice Liesl, portrayed by Mia Threapleton in Wes Anderson’s « The Phoenician Scheme. » When her father, wealthy arms dealer Zsa-zsa Korda (Benicio del Toro) lures Liesl out of the convent to prepare her to take over the family business, father and daughter must reckon with their wildly opposing views of life, relationships and morality.
Throughout the story, it’s the decadent Zsa-zsa who has religious experiences, while his austere daughter admits that God never answers her prayers. Her approach to religion, though rigid, is personal and idiosyncratic, and she repeatedly offers blessings to people, even absolving them in the manner of a priest. Liesl does end up leaving the convent and marrying a man, but her connection with her father, and the middle ground they find together, is the compelling relationship in her life.
Yet despite these films’ upending of the usual nun stereotypes, there are nun stories we aren’t telling. This might be because the work of women religious goes unthanked and unnoticed, but it could also be due to confusion about what a nun’s vocation entails. Not just the secular culture, but much of Catholic culture holds onto the idea of a nun as a veiled, mysterious figure, hemmed in by church walls — unless, of course, she chooses to scale those walls and cut loose.
One movie that disrupts these assumptions was made 30 years ago: « Dead Man Walking, » about real-life anti-death-penalty activist Sr. Helen Prejean. A Sister of St. Joseph, Prejean has been the spiritual adviser of several death row inmates, and written extensively about the spiritual and psychological effects of the death penalty. She’s no ivory tower mother superior dispensing wisdom in a song, nor a sheltered innocent enclosed by convent walls.
Prejean’s life is a reminder that being a nun or religious sister (they aren’t the same thing, incidentally) doesn’t mean being cut off from the world. And while few real-life women religious end up portrayed by Susan Sarandon in award-winning films, many do the same kind of healing work in a world Pope Francis famously called a « field hospital. » Even contemplative nuns engage with the world through prayer.
Some viewers enjoy the romanticized image of the woman enclosed by convent walls. Others — myself included — may be more invested in the drama of women who transgress those boundaries. But there are many other tales to be told about women religious, and I hope filmmakers start telling them.
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Today is the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall.
The devastating storm that struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 29, 2005, caused more than 1,392 deaths and untold damage, particularly in New Orleans. But it also marked the start of a new ministry for a handful of women religious that continues to this day.
As a reporter then with Catholic News Service, I spent an afternoon with these sisters, along with our photo editor, Nancy Wiechec. This was six months after Katrina, when these women were just getting started finding out what their community needed and how they could help.
For Sr. Vera Butler, the post-Katrina work was a continuation of what she already had been doing — helping those in need around St. Joseph’s Church in New Orleans.
Prior to the storm and the massive levee breaks that left 80% of New Orleans underwater, Butler and her fellow sisters fled their New Orleans home. When they returned weeks later, the first floor was under 4 feet of water and a rowboat filled with water and random items was sitting in the backyard — left by someone who had found refuge in their home through an upstairs window.
The parish basement was also flooded. That’s where Butler, a Sister of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, had been running a ministry for eight years serving lunch to the homeless each day.
Needing a new place to work, the Irish nun set up shop in an un-airconditioned trailer in the church parking lot with four other Presentation sisters who only recently arrived to help her. At first, they gave out bottled water, buckets, bleach and cleaning supplies to people beginning the grueling work of cleaning out their flood-damaged homes.
Months later the sisters shifted gears to help people rebuild, linking residents with plumbers or electricians or helping with FEMA or insurance forms. Lines formed outside their trailer first thing in the morning and calls continued throughout the day.
Some came to them for food, others were looking for a place to live; some just needed money for clothes or a haircut before a job interview, or help writing a resume.
Almost daily, at first while living with another woman religious about an hour away, the sisters made rounds by car or walking in the Tulane-Canal Street neighborhood. People slowly returning to the city knew the sisters by name, and the sisters were quick to learn the names of those just arriving looking for work.
These white-haired women religious, from Ireland, Canada, Iowa and New York, walked the streets — lined with houses marked with red spray paint from search teams — with ease. They chatted with those outside, just days after a subdued Mardi Gras, asking if people needed anything. The sisters were both practical and kind, like well-needed friends encouraging people to rebuild amid such overwhelming devastation.
Walking along with two of them, I was convinced the church here got it right about truly being present to those in need.
One woman, getting help from the sisters to fix her home, told me how a neighbor got her onto planks of wood after the hurricane and pushed her to the interstate where she walked to the Superdome — a shelter for thousands in the city after the levees burst.
The 74-year-old widow at the time said when she came back to her neighborhood, Sister Vera, as everyone calls her, was the first person she saw. « They’re my life now; they’ve saved my life, » she said of the sisters.
I spoke with Butler, now 80, on Aug. 27, just two days before Katrina’s 20th anniversary. She has lived in San Antonio for the past nine years with members of her congregation, teaching English to immigrants studying for their GED certificates. As she spoke over the phone while at the airport, it sounded as if New Orleans, where she lived and worked for more than 30 years, was where she really wanted to be.
« My heart is still there, » she said, her lilting Irish brogue cracking slightly when she said she wished she could go back.
Butler spoke fondly of the people of New Orleans, particularly those who endured the epic storm and then somehow found a new way forward.
« It’s just their resilience, their sense of gratitude, » Butler said. Many people in the community, even if they had little or nothing, were willing to share what they had and care for each other, she said,
She’s also pleased that the work she and the other sisters started continues on a much broader scale with the Rebuild Center at St. Joseph Church — a collaborative effort of the Presentation Sisters, the Vincentians, St. Joseph Church, the Jesuits, Immaculate Conception Church and the Hispanic Apostolate of the Archdiocese of New Orleans under the umbrella of Lantern Light Ministries.
Butler serves on the board of the center, dedicated in 2007, which provides breakfast and lunch, health screenings, showers, bathrooms, a laundry room, a large meeting room and office spaces, pro bono legal services particularly for identification documents, help with job searches and a mail service for those with no mailing address.
Prior to the center’s opening, Butler told the Clarion Herald, the former archdiocesan newspaper of New Orleans, that this expanded ministry « would never have come about without Katrina, » referring to the work the sisters started then in response to so many needs. « Things will never be the same again, but I think things can be better, » she said.
Kenitha Grooms-Williams, executive director of Lantern Light Ministries, is motivated by some of that same optimism. She started working with the sisters at St. Joseph’s as a volunteer in 2009. After she earned her master’s degree in social work, the sisters asked her to run the organization, which she views as part of her life’s purpose.
« It’s a ministry, » she told me, but she also stressed that « it’s a challenge every day, » particularly in scrambling for funds to help the growing number of people in need.
Grooms-Williams, from New Orleans, stayed with family members in Louisiana during and right after Katrina. As she sees it, the region still has not completely recovered from the flooding, particularly its young people, dubbed « Katrina babies, » who have experienced so many mental health issues.
« Twenty years later people are still suffering; that is heartbreaking, » she said.
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The sisters left their mark, Grooms-Williams said, but the needs only continue to grow with limited affordable housing, potential cuts to Medicaid, lack of wage increases and challenges in health and education.
« There is still a lot to do, » she said, emphasizing « a lot. » But almost without pause, she also reflected the same spirit of the sisters who greeted those who returned to New Orleans after Katrina’s waters subsided.
« But there is hope. »
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When Mike Roaldi received text messages about a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis on Wednesday (Aug. 27), the father of three jumped in his car and headed to the century-old Catholic parish that is at the center of his family’s life.
« I drove down there as fast as I could, » Roaldi told the National Catholic Reporter, his voice unsteady, sobbing. « There were police and first responders on the scene, and they were wonderful. I could see that a lot of the kids were going back towards the school from the church and then there were some kids who were injured on the sidewalk getting treatment. And I tried to find mine. »
Roaldi said he located one child quickly amid the chaos and police tape, then searched frantically for the other two.
« They’re safe. They’re upset, but they’re safe, » Roaldi said. He declined to give their ages.
As students gathered in the pews to celebrate the first week of school, two children, ages 8 and 10, were killed by a gun-wielding assailant who fired a barrage of shots through stained-glass windows of the church.
« We lost two angels today, » Annunciation Catholic School Principal Matthew DeBoer said at a news conference as he fought back emotion.
« We are navigating an impossible situation together at this time, » wrote DeBoer and the parish pastor, Fr. Dennis Zehren, in a joint letter to parents and parishioners. « No words can capture what we have gone through, what we are going through, and what we will go through in the coming days and weeks. But we will navigate this – together. »
Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who oversees 89 Catholic schools serving more than 30,000 students, decried an attack carried out inside a place that should have been a refuge.
« My heart is broken as I think about students, teachers, clergy and parishioners and the horror they witnessed in a Church, a place where we should feel safe, » Hebda said in a statement about the shooting.
DeBoer and Zehren praised the swift response of staff and law enforcement in their joint letter. « Within seconds, our heroic staff moved students under the pews. Law enforcement responded quickly and evacuated all of our children and staff to safety in a matter of minutes when it was safe to do so, » they wrote.
« Tragically, we lost two of our beloved students before the scene was secured. A number of other children and parishioners were wounded, and they are being treated at area hospitals. Some have been treated and released. All staff are physically safe and accounted for. »
The letter asked families and parishioners to hold one another close.
« In this time of darkness, let us commit to being the Light to our children, each other and our community, » they wrote. « We will rebuild our future filled with hope – together. »
Hebda said in his statement that he had been deeply moved by the response. « I am so grateful for the many promises of prayers that have been coming in from the Holy Father, Pope Leo, and from so many from all around the globe, all praying for the families of Annunciation Parish and School and for all who were impacted by this morning’s senseless violence, » the archbishop said.
Hebda appealed to Catholics across the archdiocese and beyond.
« I beg for the continued prayers of all of the priests and faithful of this Archdiocese, as well for the prayers of all men and women of good will, that the healing that only God can bring will be poured out, » he said. « We lift up the souls of those who lost their lives to our loving God through the intercession of Our Lady, Queen of Peace. »
Hebda placed the tragedy in the wider context of violence in the city, noting that it followed another deadly shooting near Cristo Rey High School just one day earlier. « That today’s tragedy occurred only a day after the tragic shooting near Cristo Rey High School increases the sadness about the pain and anger that is present in our communities, » he said.
« We need an end to gun violence, » he said. « Our community is rightfully outraged at such horrific acts of violence perpetrated against the vulnerable and innocent. They are far too commonplace. »
Hebda added that archdiocesan staff are working directly with parish and school leaders to ensure support services.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said that Sen. Amy Klobuchar had spoken to President Donald Trump and his leadership team earlier that day. Trump and his team had expressed their deep condolences and offered to provide support.
At an afternoon press conference, the governor said: « There shouldn’t be words for these types of incidents because they should not happen. »
Earlier, outside the school parents held their children tightly after being reunited among the chaos.
When Suzanne Garcia arrived at the school, her car was stopped by police cars and yellow tape. She got out of the car and started running and screaming, « Clarissa! Where are you? »
She found her daughter, Clarissa, a fifth grader in a crowd of evacuated students.
« There’s nothing like putting my arms around her, » Garcia said. « It’s something you see in the news. It’s not something that you live. »
Roaldi, when asked what Annunciation parish means to his family, broke down in emotion.
« It’s a great place, so very special to us because we moved from out of town, » he said through tears. « People were very welcoming and it’s a place where everyone’s welcome and supports each other and we have very close friends. Everybody lives in the neighborhood and looks out for each other, and staff is wonderful and caring, thoughtful. »
He praised the staff, later cited as heroes by the archbishop, mayor and police chief.
« They’ve been there for a long time. The priest and deacon are very great, great leaders, and it’s just a community parish where people love each other and look out for each other, and we were very lucky to become a part of it. »
Roaldi said the rest of his week would be spent close to home. « Just first, be with my family, and then next, be with our community and do whatever we can to support them, » he said.
At the afternoon news conference, DeBoer noted that the theme for the school year was taken from the Book of Jeremiah, Chapter 29: « For I know well the plans I have in mind for you — oracle of the Lord — plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. »
Josh McGovern of The Catholic Spirit and news researcher Alice Crites contributed to this report.
In the waters off Mozambique’s northern coast lies one of the largest gas reserves in Africa. Its discovery in 2010 gleamed of possible riches for one of the continent’s poorest countries, but for thousands of people in the coastal province of Cabo Delgado, it meant the loss of their homelands.
At least 557 households were relocated to make way for infrastructure to support offshore gas drilling by several foreign energy companies, according to a 2023 report from Franciscans International.
Some of those who lost their homes turned for help to the Sisters of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, who have also ministered to others among the hundreds of thousands who fled their homes due to insurgent and terrorist attacks, which have been linked partly to the gas projects.
The fossil-fuel megaprojects under development also threaten air quality, fishing grounds and the local biosphere, the Franciscans’ report said, and stand to exacerbate climate change — three planned plants would increase national greenhouse gas emissions by 14%.
The gas exploration « profoundly altered the way of life of the local population, » the report said. « This has had serious consequences for human rights. »
Scenes like the one playing out in Mozambique, and around the globe, have led the Franciscans and other Catholic organizations to years of advocacy for the legal recognition of a human right to a healthy environment.
Those efforts received a victory in late July, when the International Court of Justice issued an advisory opinion declaring a healthy environment is not only a human right, but one foundational to many others.
« We were very, very, very excited and happy,” said Budi Tjahjono, international advocacy director for Franciscans International. “We’ve been awaiting that ruling for some time. »
The unanimous July 23 opinion from the international court, dubbed « the World Court, » made global headlines with this ruling, which also said international law requires nations to take action to limit climate change.
Catholic justice ministries and environmentalists have described the court opinion, while nonbinding, as a watershed moment for global efforts to address human-driven climate change and safeguard ecosystems and traditional lands.
Legal analysts say it could spur litigation against countries falling short in reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions that drive global warming. It may also increase pressure on nations later this year at the United Nations climate summit, COP30, in Brazil to commit to more ambitious measures — and actually deliver.
To date, 165 countries have enacted healthy environment laws. The U.S. is among 28 that have not, though several states, including Hawaii and Montana, have added it to state constitutions.
« What Pope Francis and others have presented as a moral obligation [this opinion expands] to a legal obligation to prevent climate change, and consequences for those who fail to do that, » said Lisa Sullivan, senior program officer on integral ecology for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Legal obligation to cut emissions
The court’s 15 judges called climate change an « urgent and existential threat » to nature and human populations, and said under international law all countries are obligated to control pollution. That includes even countries outside the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, such as the U.S. once its second withdrawal from the accord takes effect next year.
A country failing to protect the climate system from greenhouse gas emissions, including fossil fuel production, fossil fuel consumption, the judges wrote, « may constitute an internationally wrongful act which is attributable to that State. »
A finding of a breach of international law would require a country to halt the polluting action and could lead to legal consequences, such as reparations, restitution and compensation to countries harmed by the pollution and related climate impacts, such as sea rise and extreme drought.
As for how it could apply to the U.S., judges could use it in their own decisions to interpret domestic law as well as international obligations, said Erika Lennon, a senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law. The advisory opinion could also become a basis for stronger environmental legislation or in lawsuits against the federal government or individual states, such as the numerous youth climate suits.
Lennon said the court’s opinion was stronger than expected.
She said the court, considered the world’s most authoritative interpreter of international law, has clarified « what the law requires in order to protect the environment and protect all the people on it, and current and future generations and ensure a livable future when it comes to the climate crisis, » and what legal consequences they could face for noncompliance.
Legal recourse for countries failing to meet their climate commitments could help address the Paris Agreement’s lack of enforcement, a criticism since its adoption 10 years ago.
Under the Paris accord, countries are required to submit new targets to reduce emissions every five years. The next pledges are due in September before COP30 in November in Belém, Brazil.
Environmental groups and faith-based organizations hope the court’s opinion will encourage countries to be more ambitious. Pledges to date have fallen far short of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — the loftier goal under the Paris accord that the ICJ said is « the scientifically based consensus target. »
Healthy environment a human right
The ICJ advisory opinion also clarifies that a healthy environment qualifies as a human right, said David Boyd, who served as U.N. special rapporteur on the right to a healthy environment from 2018 to 2024.
The right to a healthy environment includes access to clean air and water, healthy food, a safe climate and non-toxic surroundings where people live and work. It also includes things like access to environmental information, a voice in decision-making around land and natural resources and the ability to seek justice.
The new court ruling said a healthy environment is a precondition to « the right to life, the right to health and the right to an adequate standard of living, including access to water, food and housing. »
Boyd called a legal recognition of the right « a fundamentally important tool for catalyzing accelerated action toward a just and sustainable future. »
« Human rights were used historically to end slavery, to end apartheid, to end or to make progress in discrimination against women, » Boyd said. « Those are the kinds of transformative social changes we need to make today in terms of our relationship with the Earth’s life support system. »
Sullivan said that the court’s ruling aligns with the Catholic understanding of care for creation. Pope Leo XIV earlier this summer described environmental justice explicitly as « a duty born of faith. »
Beginning in 1972, organizations, faith-based groups and popes have championed a legal right to a healthy environment.
As U.N. special rapporteur, Boyd helped assemble an international coalition of nearly 1,400 organizations championing the right. « Some of the most active members were faith-based, and particularly, Catholic organizations, » he said.
Franciscans International advocated for such recognition through work at the U.N. and its Human Rights Council. For Franciscans, Tjahjono said, tying a healthy environment to human rights goes back to St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.
« It’s very clear that as Catholics, we are called to defend the planet, to defend the creation, to defend our common home. And this ICJ ruling, in fact, is really pushing that Catholic system of teachings to another level, toward the legal level, » he said.
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In 2008, the Vatican endorsed the right to a safe and clean environment among a set of 10 commandments for the environment, which were later published as a book under Pope Benedict XVI’s name.
Pope Francis later supported the effort by the Council of Europe in 2021 to recognize this right in law. « We should also speak of the duties of every human being to live in a healthy, wholesome, and sustainable environment, » both present and future generations, Francis said at the time.
In 2023, Cardinal Pietro Parolin signed on Francis’ behalf a joint statement by 28 religious leaders that in part endorsed the concept.
The court’s opinion will be a legal tool for Indigenous and local communities to seek reparations for climate-related losses and fight development on traditional lands and waters, activists say.
« Our global village is on fire, and it’s those homes on the periphery that are feeling the effects, » Sullivan said. « We have the moral voice calling for action, but this puts it in more concrete terms, in legal terms. And so it’s just another really powerful tool to help put out this fire. »
I was on the Metro traveling into Washington recently to attend a Multifaith Vigil of Prayer at Columbia Heights that sought divine help to both take back the city and to protect immigrants.
Given the topic and President Donald Trump’s latest performative excess — his attempted takeover of D.C. — I stewed on the train, prepared to let the anger and disgust flow freely. Changing trains at Gallery Place, I saw one of the National Guard soldiers, a young Black man, part of Trump’s deployment, leaning against a wall talking with one of the regular Metro Transit Police.
I could feel new fuel stoking the anger.
Being directionally challenged, I also wanted to make sure I was getting the correct train and needed to ask for help. I headed toward the Metro police.
Then, something clicked to change my attitude. Maybe it was the soldier’s casual demeanor. Maybe it was the realization that he was just there, no imminent danger in sight, an unfortunate pawn on someone else’s big chessboard. I decided that I’d use the need to ask directions to maybe say something. Not angry. Not disgusted.
When I got there, I simply said hello, asked directions to the next train, and before being escorted to my destination by the most helpful Metro police, I said to the soldier, « I know you are just obeying orders. But I want you to know I am sad that you’ve been placed in this position. »
He smiled, nodded several times, and said, « Thank you. »
The next day I had to pick someone up at Union Station, so I went early to get a look at what was going on there following the lunatic speech by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller a few days earlier in the Shake Shack hamburger outlet in the marble-clad lobby of the station. For the record, I am neither a « stupid white hippie, » nor « over 90. » I certainly am not « a communist. »
I also don’t want to do anything to advance Miller’s juvenile hatred and rage.
I ended up talking to six more National Guard troops, two pairs walking around and around the inside of Union Station, and a pair outside near their big, tan military vehicle. In each case, I said the same thing — I understood they were only following orders, but I wanted to say that I was sad they were placed in this position. This day, however, I added a line: « I hope you are not ordered to do something we all would end up regretting. » And I told them, as I did the first, that I hope they stay safe.
We are all in this together. The soldiers are fellow citizens. A majority of those I encountered were people of color. This is not what they were trained to do. They are being used as props in the Trump/Miller follies. They are not being deployed to stop crime. As one resident of a high crime area in the city told The New York Times, « If Trump is genuinely concerned about the safety of D.C. residents, I would see National Guard in my neighborhood. I’m not seeing it, and I don’t expect to see it. I don’t think Trump is bringing in the National Guard to protect Black babies in Southeast. » The Wall Street Journal found a similar sentiment.
The performative art only works where there is a guaranteed audience, places like Union Station, around the Capitol and near the White House, outside of busy night spots. I can envision troops showing up on postcards: « Greetings From the Nation’s Occupied Capital! »
I don’t know if my encounters with the National Guard add up to anything more than a distraction in what appears to be a very boring assignment for citizen soldiers. The order to carry arms had not yet taken effect. If the smiles, the nods and the thank yous are any indication, they appreciated being spoken to as fellow citizens. What I saw in those faces were ordinary folks, perhaps husbands, fathers, very likely people with jobs and careers outside their National Guard service.
We need to do what we can to counter the inane noise of the likes of Trump and Miller: protests, signs, certainly voting. The show of prayer in the public square was a powerful witness. Divine help in pushing back against the lies and racism of this administration would be welcome.
And then maybe, occasionally, a quiet, understanding conversation with other citizens who happen to wear military uniforms. They should know our thoughts. We’re all in this together. The need to understand each other will only become greater as the threat from the Oval Office increases.
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