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Our Mission
Inspired by our Marianist Founders’ global family vision, the Integral Ecology Team works in partnership with the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) by animating MSJC members and our Marianist Family networks to take transformative action for a just and sustainable future. Embodying Mary’s responsive care for our common home, we collaborate in the Marianist Family Encounter Project by nurturing ecological conversion through prayer, dialogue, and education that promotes behavioral and policy change for the healing of our earth community.
Our Vision
Nurturing a Marianist spirit of integral ecology for a just and sustainable earth community.
What is Integral Ecology?
In Laudato Si (LS) Pope Francis emphasizes that everything is interconnected. “A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” (LS # 49) He invites us to deeper awareness of how care for the earth intersects with human systems and the quest for economic justice. “The protection of the environment is in fact ‘an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it’” (LS #141).
Marianist Reflection Guides on the Laudato Si' Action Platform (LSAP) Goals
The Integral Ecology Team has developed reflection guides for each of the seven LSAP goals that support living the integral ecology vision of Laudato si through the lens of our Marianist charism. Designed for individual reflection or group/community discussion, each two-page guide includes brief background on the goal, inspiration from our Marianist Founders, mindfulness reflection, discussion questions and additional resources for action and sharing through the Marianist Family Encounters Project While guides each stand-alone and can be explored in any order, we suggest beginning with Ecological Spirituality.
Pope Francis, in his Encyclical Laudato Si' placed care for the earth in the Canon of the Church’s Social Teachings: “It is my hope that this Encyclical Letter, which is now added to the body of the Church’s social teaching, can help us to acknowledge the appeal, immensity and urgency of the challenge we face.” (Par 15)
Our Founders also saw nature as integral to the mission of all Marianists:
“We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God's creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot be ignored.” (Sharing Catholic Social Teaching: Challenges and Directions, 1998)
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