As we celebrate Earth Day on the 22nd of April, UISG spoke with a few sisters who told us about their relevant projects.

The women religious pray, educate and work on the ground: Almost every first Sunday of the month in Rome, there is a Holy Mass with a focus on the creation. Priests, religious men and women together with lay persons and animals gather in a garden. They reflect on the intentions and ideas taken from Laudato si’ - Pope Francis’ encyclical on “care for our common home”:

“First of all, we pray together. Then we reflect on a given idea in a small group and then join a big group as we communicate and share our reflections and intentions,” Sr. María Marta (Hiroto Sasaki) of Missionaries of Santo Domingo says.

We have a big garden under big trees with a “cosmic altar” which contains thematic specific intentions, the Japanese religious and co-organizer of the event shares her enthusiasm.

Moreover, the religious women educate children in the school and people in the parish. This is the experience of Sr. Tarcisia, a Franciscan Sister of the Sacred Heart from Indonesia:

“For this Jubilee, we multiply our efforts to take more action, invite people to help us, and to say more about education, justice, peace and integrity of creation, so have small and also big activities.” 

Sr. Gérard Ventura from Africa talks about a project in Madagascar run by her own Congregation of The Sisters of Saint-Paul de Chartres:

“There is a problem with climate change and hunger. Thus, our sisters try to realize many agricultural activities so that the local population can be sustained.”

To sum up, from the care for the home to the rights of the migrants or the marginalized, all those issues are interconnected. Sr. Taskila from Asia who belongs to The Sisters of The Good Shepherd puts it in a bigger picture in this way:

“Every religious congregation and the Catholic Church in general pull together and show various initiatives so that they can vibrate the whole world”.