Parish News

Care for Creation: Fasting from Indifference

This week, Care for Creation is asking, as your Lenten practice, to practice simply being aware, to notice what we often ignore, from overflowing waste bins to polluted waterways, from food insecurity to the quiet suffering of vulnerable communities. Pope Francis reminds us in Laudato Si that “everything is connected,” and that our care for one another is inseparable from our care for the earth.

Fasting from indifference means choosing to see, to care and to act. It might look like reducing our use of single-use plastics, conserving water, supporting local environmental efforts or simply taking time to appreciate the beauty of God’s creation. When we open our eyes and hearts, we begin to recognize creation not as something to use, but as a gift to cherish.

As a parish community. Let us take this step together toward gratitude, responsibility and love for our common home.

Care for Creation: Fasting from Excess Energy Use

This week, Care for Creation is asking, as your Lenten practice, to consider reducing your use of energy generated from fossil fuels. Per a 2022 EPA report, in the United States, 80 percent of the greenhouse gases released during combustion is carbon dioxide. Greenhouse gases are largely responsible for climate change.

As disciples, we can honor God’s creation by looking for ways to reduce our use of fossil fuels:

• Calculate the amount of carbon dioxide emissions associated with your household activities. Use the free EPA free carbon footprint calculator at https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/carbon-footprint-calculator. Understanding which of your activities are carbon-intensive allows you to know where you can take action.

• Educate yourself about Naperville’s pending contract to continue purchasing electrical power from the Illinois Municipal Electrical Association (IMEA). Currently, eighty percent of the power provided by IMEA is from coal-burning power plants. You can check out the IMEA and the Naperville Environment and Sustainability Task Force (NEST) websites for information.

Care for Creation: Fasting from Overconsumption

This week the Care for Creation ministry is asking, as your Lenten practice, to consider the impact of overconsumption. Often this time of year, our thoughts go to the task of “Spring cleaning”. Have you thought of that task as having a spiritual impact, an impact on our Earth we have been given to care for?

Twenty-six billion pounds of clothing and textiles pile up in landfills each year — 95 percent of which could have been re-worn or re-purposed. The most sustainable clothing is the clothing that already exist. Share by donating discarded clothes to others or to organizations of your choice for redistribution, buy less in the future and consider shopping in re-sale shops. Finally pray for those with whom you share.

Care for Creation by Fasting from the Use of Plastics

The Care of Creation ministry invites us to consider fasting and or reducing our use of plastics this Lent. Plastics are not biodegradable and only a very small percentage (approximately 9 percent) of plastics are recycled, ending up in landfills or in our local waterways. It is estimated that the number of plastics in our oceans (currently about 5 trillion pieces) could nearly triple by 2040.

Here are some ideas of ways we can reduce our use of plastics this Lent and, in doing so, care for God’s Creation.

• Bring your own reusable beverage container instead of using Styrofoam or plastic cups to work or school.

• Fast from plastic bags when grocery shopping by bringing our own reusable bags.

• Use bar soaps and shampoo bars instead of plastic dispensable soaps in plastic containers.

• Fast from single use salads in boxed containers opting for whole lettuce and veggies you can prep yourself.

• Use laundry detergent sheets, thus eliminating large plastic containers.

Care for Creation by Fasting from Water Waste

This week, the Care for Creation Ministry invites you to adopt water conservation as your Lenten practice. The average U.S. household uses approximately 88 gallons of water per day, and nationwide, leaking pipes waste nearly 900 billion gallons of treated water annually.

We can honor God’s creation by adopting simple, responsible habits at home:

• Repair leaking pipes promptly.

• Run dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads and scrape dishes before loading.

• Take shorter showers.

• Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth.

• Ensure no toxic materials are poured into household drains.

As we work to conserve water, let us also pray for all who lack access to safe, clean water and ask God to deepen our gratitude for this essential, life giving resource.

Traditionally Lent is a season of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Lent not only invites us to give something up, but also to live differently so that all creation may flourish.

This year, each week of Lent, the Care for Creation ministry will invite you to consider fasting in a way that cares for creation. In caring for creation, we also care for the poor. As we anticipate Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent, we ask that you pray for the poor, especially those negatively affected by climate change.

During the weeks of Lent, the Care for Creation ministry will include suggestions for actions individuals and families may take to care for the earth and the poor.