Laudato Si’ Action plan Launching in South Africa

by Admin · July 1, 2021

What is the Laudato si’ – Action Platform?

First of all, what is the Laudato si’ – Action Platform? It is a journey to realise the integral ecological vision of Laudato si’. As Pope Francis reminds us in the encyclical, “we are all interrelated and interdependent” and “everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation” (Laudato si’, 14).

LSAP is a journey towards total sustainability in the spirit of integral ecology. In order to ensure that we remain faithful to the integral ecological vision of Laudato si’, we are proposing seven Laudato si’ Goals, namely, the Response to the Cry of the Earth, the Response to the Cry of the Poor, Ecological Economics, Adoption of Simple Lifestyles, Ecological Education, Ecological Spirituality, and Community Involvement and Participatory Action.

It is a journey to be realised in time. Inspired by the biblical theme of the Jubilee we chose the time frame of seven years. We envisage the first year to be dedicated to the three fundamental tasks of community building, resource sharing and drawing up concrete action plans for the realisation of the seven Laudato si’ Goals. This will be followed by five years of concrete action (some might finish this part of the journey even quicker). The final year will be the Sabbatical year to praise and thank God.

The Launch Of The Laudato Si’ Plan

“Six years after the encyclical letter Laudato si’, we must look at the world we are leaving to our children, and to future generations. The pandemic has made us reflect and has taught us a lot, but the cry of the Earth and the poor is becoming more and more heart-breaking, and the message from our scientists and our young people is increasingly alarming: we are destroying our future. Our human and non-human family, in its entirety, is in great danger, and we no longer have time to wait or postpone action. It is of fundamental importance to limit the increase in global average temperature to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, since exceeding it would and already does have disproportionate, catastrophic global impacts “(Pope Francis).

The Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development has initiated the Laudato Si Action Plan, a long term programme to reach the integral ecological vision of Laudato si’.

In order to bring persons together to care for our common home, we have identified seven key sectors: Families, Parishes and Diocese, Schools and Universities, Hospitals and Health Care Centres, Economy (Workers and Businesses, Farms and Cooperatives), Groups, Movements and Organisations, and Religious Orders.

Community Advisors from all over the world are part of the working groups implementing the seven-year programme in the different sectors.

All information regarding the programme is available on the Laudato Si Action Platform Website.

At this point in South Africa, we need volunteers to join in this implementation as soon as possible because the launch of the Laudato Si Plan is happening on October 4 2021.

If you feel called to represent your parish, diocese or archdiocese or you are a mom, dad, youth, teacher, nurse, doctor, business person or NGO keen to be onboard in this initial phase, please contact Berni Crewe-Brown for any further information on the whole programme or to join the Community Advisors: or 082 855 5582.

You will then be connected to the relevant LSAP Steering Committee Sector to start the process. As and when a sector feels it is ready, the plan can be implemented. This is a seven-year process. The LSAP Community Advisors are being fully trained and all resources will be supplied. The parish, diocese and archdiocese sector will be launched in South Africa this year.