On Sunday, February 12, 2023, in the park of the Generalate House, Rome, the first anniversary of the collaboration between the Sisters of Charity and the Circolo Laudato Si’ Trastevere was celebrated, on their way together for the care of the Common Home.

A year ago, the invitation of the sisters to the Circolo Trastevere – bordering the Aventine – was greeted with joy, as Piera Savino, referent of the Circolo, recounts, “because of the beauty of the Cathedral of Creation – the garden in which the celebrations take place – but above all because of the loving enthusiasm of the sisters.” The collaboration was born from the communion of purpose, from the desire to live ecological conversion in a collective way.

Sister Mirna Farah, Integral Ecology Area Contact for the Congregation, opened the anniversary celebration by recounting the past year, during which “we have lived relational ecology, discovering together the beauty of growing together, working together, experiencing friendship and brotherhood. We are not only celebrating Mass in creation, but with creation“.

Also opening the celebration, Tomás Insua, Executive Director of the Laudato Si’ Rome Movement, brought attention to the synodal aspect of the anniversary because “ecological conversion is a communal conversion, which must then be translated into action because of the urgency of the crisis of the Common Home. The goal is to put Laudato Si’ into practice at the local level with groups and circles of believers, to cultivate an ecological spirituality: contemplation and action on the same level“.

Father Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam, “Ecology and Creation” coordinator of the dicastery Service of Integral Human Development, presided at the Mass: “Laudato Si’ is not an environmental text, it is much more integral and profound. Pope Francis reminds us that human life is part of this interweaving of relationships with God, with our neighbor and with the earth. It is not environmentalism, but it is an integral vision in which the dimensions of the divine, the human and the earthly are intertwined“.

Intents for this 2023 include intensifying collaboration. The goal is to take action, reflecting on and creating spiritual pathways to enable people, eager to enjoy the beauty of nature, to have a sensory and spiritual experience that allows them to encounter the Creator in creation.