What would it look like if caring for creation was fully integrated into the life of every Catholic? How would Catholics shop, travel and eat if each choice was considered in light of how it could impact the health of the earth, plants, animals and humanity? What would each parish look like if they totally embraced the call for sustainability?
Jose Aguto, executive director of the Catholic Climate Covenant and a parishioner of Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria, wants to help individuals and the church at large find out. “God is our creator, and that which he created he found good,” he said. “We need to be proper stewards of his creation. (That) is an integral part of us loving our neighbor, because if we are not stewarding our earth in a good way then we are harming the ability of our brothers and sisters to flourish.”
Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home,” inspired Aguto to work within the church to advocate for a more sustainable world, but his environmental work began before that. The cradle Catholic — who lives with his wife, Danielle, in Alexandria and has three adult children, Anthony, Gabriel and Anna — was born and raised in Baltimore. He attended Brown University in Providence, R.I., and then served for a few years in the U.S. Army. While attending law school at Villanova University outside of Philadelphia, he decided he wanted to work on behalf of tribal communities. “I asked myself the question, ‘Who are the people most abused by the rule of law or the lack of application of the rule of law?’ And the answer to myself was Native Americans.”
For several years, he worked for the Environmental Protection Agency’s American Indian Environmental Office. A presentation he heard there changed the focus of his work. “We had some scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) come and talk to us, and I was stunned by what they were saying and thought I needed to work on climate issues,” he said. “Many Indigenous people are very tied to their lands, territories and natural resources, and that’s where I learned a lot about what it means to be connected to the land.”
Aguto worked in climate change advocacy for the National Congress of American Indians and the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker organization, before moving to the Catholic Climate Covenant in 2017. “I felt I needed to work with the church to manifest what Pope Francis was asking for,” said Aguto.
The Catholic Climate Covenant was formed in 2006 by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and other Catholic organizations. Aguto sees the CCC mission as “weaving green threads into the fabric of the Catholic Church.” It has many resources, programs and initiatives, including a national campaign, “Encounter Our Common Home,” which prepares participants to speak with U.S. senators about enacting “authentic solutions to the climate crisis” during the week of May 2-6.
The CCC also is spearheading Pope Francis’ call for a seven-year implementation of Laudato Si’ in the United States, an initiative in which the Arlington diocese is participating. The diocesan Creation Care Network is coordinating a series of webinars hosted by parishes on topics such as green landscaping and reducing energy waste, and is working on future programming. At the end of the seven years, “We’re hoping that care for creation is meaningfully considered as an integral aspect of the Catholic faith,” said Aguto. “Right now it isn’t in the minds of most Catholics, and (we hope) through prayer, word and action, that it is.”
Aguto knows the struggle of trying to be green in the modern world. “Everything we depend on in some way has been built or is sustained by industries that use fossil fuels,” he said. “I think we need to be thankful for the world that we have because the fossil fuel infrastructure has brought us to this place, but what we need is to be very intentional about moving ourselves incrementally away from where we are into a more sustainable place.”
There are numerous ways to pray, act and advocate for a church and a society that better honors God’s earth. Aguto believes getting reacquainted with nature is a good place to start. “Spend a minimum of five minutes outside just to take in what is God’s creation and to pray — centering ourselves in the breeze, the sun, the leaves, the sounds of the birds, your breath,” he said. “One of the challenges that we face as a modern society is that we’re disconnected from earth, from its rhythms, and that’s in part because of the way society is right now — we’re increasingly separated (from nature). (It’s a) simple, humble but profound act.”
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Catholic Climate Covenant, led by an Alexandria Catholic, works for creation care integration - Arlington Catholic Herald
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