Statement by Canada’s Catholic Sisters Regarding the Climate Emergency
On this World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, leaders of Canada’s 65 Congregations of Catholic Sisters are calling on the country’s politicians to respond to the climate emergency declared by Parliament by taking concrete steps to avert it.
As Women Religious, caring for all of God’s Creation is an essential part of our faith. The drastic changes to our climate brought on by the release of greenhouse gases pose the greatest threat to all living beings. Yet, not enough is being done to address it. In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis points out that “reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most.” (169)
For our part, we have taken robust action to combat the destruction of our planet and to care for our common home. Many of our Congregations have taken steps to:
Divest from fossil fuel portfolios to clean and renewable energy projects.
- Eliminate single-use plastics.
- Retrofit residential buildings, including solar, bio-thermal and renewable natural gas installations.
- Commit to the Blue Community project which entails treating water as a sacred resource and shared commons.
- Plant trees in Canada and in the countries where our Missions exist.
- Compost, reduce and recycle.
- Partner and provide support to community groups and movements committed to address the climate emergency.
We urge all politicians running in the upcoming federal election to acknowledge the climate emergency and to implement an immediate multilevel policy strategy for a just transition to ecologically sustainable living.
The actions to address the climate emergency should be concrete, justice-based and stripped of partisan politics. We invite political leaders to join us in caring for our common home by:
Keeping fossil fuels in the ground and ending subsidies to fossil fuel and plastic producers.
- Redirecting investments and rapidly expanding the renewable energy economy, including investment in retraining for workers affected by job loss in fossil fuel production.
- Continuing to hold companies to account by putting a cost against the greenhouse gas pollution they produce.
- Coordinating an intensive and sustained public awareness effort to change attitudes and behaviours.
- Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and developing climate emergency policies in line with the Indigenous knowledge and teachings.
We are facing an urgent and potentially irreversible threat to Earth. With so many others on the planet, we hope that politicians will show commitment, leadership and collective wisdom in the movement to protect our planet from destruction. This is the only way forward together.
UISG (International Union of Superiors General) is a worldwide organization of Superiors General of Institutes of Catholic Women Religious. It encourages dialogue and collaboration among Religious Congregations within the Church and larger society. This statement is a collaboration of all 65 Canadian members of the UISG.
For more information:
Sister Margo Ritchie – Congregational Leader of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada mritchie@csjcanada.org (519) 432-3781 and Lisa Tabachnick – Director of Communications Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto ltabachnick@csj-to.ca (416) 467-2630
Signatories:
Antoniennes de Marie – Chicoutimi, Québec
Congrégation de Notre-Dame – Montréal, Québec
Dominicaines Missionnaires Adoratrices – Québec, Québec
Filles de la Providence – St-Constant, Québec
Filles de Marie-de-L’Assomption – Campbellton, Nouveau Brunswick
Grey Sisters of the Immaculate Conception –Pembroke, Ontario
Institut Notre-Dame du Bon-Conseil de Montréal –Montréal, Québec
Les Dominicaines de la Trinité – Shawinigan, Québec
Les Missionnaires du Christ-Roi – Montréal, Québec
Les Sœurs de la Providence – Montréal, Québec
Missionnaire Notre-Dame des Anges – Sherbrooke, Québec
Missionnaires de l’Immaculée Conception – Montréal, Québec
Missionnaires Oblates du Sacré-Cœur et de Marie-Immaculée – Winnipeg, Manitoba
Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur – Dieppe, New Brunswick
Oblates de Béthannie – Québec, Québec
Oblates Franciscaines de St-Joseph – Montréal, Québec
Our Lady’s Missionaries – Toronto, Ontario
Petites Filles de Saint-François – Montréal, Québec
Petites Filles de Saint-Joseph – Montréal, Québec
Petites Franciscaines de Marie –Baie-St-Paul, Québec
Petites Sœurs de la Sainte-Famille – Sherbrooke, Québec
Religieuses Hospitalières de St-Joseph – Montréal, Québec
Servantes du Saint Cœur de Marie – Montréal, Québec
Servantes du Très Saint-Sacrement – Sherbrooke, Québec
Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul – Halifax, Nova Scotia
Sisters of Charity of the Immaculate Conception – Saint John, New Brunswick
Sisters of Mercy of Newfoundland – St John’s, Newfoundland
Sisters of Mission Service – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Sisters of Providence of Saint Vincent de Paul – Kingston, Ontario
Sisters of Saint Joseph in Canada – London, Hamilton, Peterborough, Pembroke, Ontario
Sisters of Saint Joseph of Sault Ste Marie – North Bay, Ontario
Sisters of Saint Joseph of Toronto – Toronto, Ontario
Sisters of Saint Martha of Antigonish – Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Sisters of Saint Martha of Prince Edward Island – Charlottetown, Prince Edward
Island
Sisters of Social Service – Toronto, Ontario
Sœurs Augustines de la Miséricorde de Jésus – Québec, Québec
Sœurs de Charité de Saint-Louis – Montréal, Québec
Sœurs de Charité de St-Hyacinthe – Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec
Sœurs de l’Assomption de la Sainte-Vierge – Québec, Québec
Sœurs de l’Institut Jeanne d’Arc – Ottawa, Ontario
Sœurs de la Charité d’Ottawa – Ottawa, Ontario
Sœurs de la Charité de Montréal (Sœurs Grises) – Montréal, Québec
Sœurs de la Charité de Québec – Québec, Québec
Sœurs de l’Assomption de la Sainte Vierge – Nicolet, Québec
Sœurs de Miséricorde – Montréal, Québec
Sœurs de Notre-Dame Auxiliatrice – Rouyn-Noranda, Québec
Sœurs de Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil – Chicoutimi, Québec
Sœurs de Notre-Dame du Sacré-Cœur – Dieppe, Nouveau Brunswick
Sœurs de Notre-Dame-du-Perpétuel-Secours – St-Damien-de-Bellechasse, Québec
Sœurs de Sainte-Anne – Lachine, Québec
Sœurs de Sainte-Croix – St-Laurent, Québec
Sœurs de Sainte-Jeanne d’Arc – Québec, Québec
Sœurs de Sainte-Marthe de Saint-Hyacinthe – Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec
Sœurs de Saint-François d’Assise – Québec, Québec
Sœurs de Saint-Joseph de Saint-Hyacinthe – Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
Sœurs de Ste-Anne – Lachine, Québec
Sœurs de St-Joseph de Saint-Hyacinthe – Saint-Hyacinthe, Québec
Sœurs de St-Joseph de St-Vallier – Québec, Québec
Sœurs des Saints Noms de Jésus et de Marie – Longueuil, Québec
Sœurs du Bon-Pasteur de Québec – Québec, Québec
Sœurs Notre-Dame du St-Rosaire – Rimouski, Québec
Sœurs Servantes de Notre-Dame Reine du Clergé – Lac-au-Saumon, Québec
Ursuline Sisters of Chatham – Chatham, Ontario
Ursuline Sisters of Prelate – Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Ursulines – Québec, Québec