An eventful Feast of St. Francis

Events across the globe will celebrate the Feast of St. Francis while helping the Church help others help creation.

If you'd like to organize your own gathering, check out the Catholic Climate Covenant for excellent resources.

And check out my September column in the Rhode Island Catholic to see what's happening here in Providence. Perhaps you might wish to use it as a model. Events like this are relatively simple to put together and offer a nice blend of faith, reason, church, state, and the necessary information to build up the common good.

Sound good? If so, here's the opening of my column:

Dioceses and religious groups around the United States have increasingly been turning to solar energy, thanks to advances in technology and better financing. We’ve seen this just over the Massachusetts border where a sizeable solar farm is providing clean energy for the Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham.

More recently, a few pastors in the Diocese of Providence, like mine, are seeking solar solutions for their parish operations. And there is preliminary interest within other Catholic circles, too.

To begin explaining how solar energy can work at your parish or your home, the Diocese of Providence’s Office of Life and Family will be offering an environmental forum on Friday evening October 3 in honor of the Feast of St. Francis.

Chris Kearns of the state’s energy office will be there to give an overview of the how and what of better energy management, as well as the basics of using renewable energy.

Others may wish to join Julia Gold for her talk on the health impacts from what has been a century-long trend in warming temperatures. Julia is from the Department of Health. She works with others to help us all protect the vulnerable from weather extremes. Individuals and parishes all have their part to play, and Julia will help sort all that out.

Read the entire column here.