Molloy becomes a Laudato Sí’ University

Having just concluded our annual Founders Week, I share with you our campus-wide response to an invitation from Pope Francis to support the seven goals outlined in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Sí’. It is our responsibility to support the health of our campus and our common home, the earth, in respectful stewardship of God’s creation, and we affirm this obligation by becoming a Laudato Sí’ University. This is in keeping with our identity as a Catholic Dominican University.

The Pope’s Call

In Laudato Si’, Pope Francis insists that all people must embrace “the moral imperative of assessing the impact of every action and personal decision on the world around us.” He invites Catholic organizations like colleges and universities to embrace “an integral ecology . . .that is about much more than caring for nature” but also “about caring for each other as fellow creatures of a loving God.” This document and the many efforts inspired by it from Catholic institutions reflect a “concern for the environment” that is “joined to a sincere love for our fellow human beings and an unwavering commitment to resolving the problems of society.” Pope Francis outlines seven goals in the encyclical: “responding to the cries of the Earth and the poor, fostering ecological economies, adopting a sustainable lifestyle, offering ecological education, developing ecological spirituality and supporting local communities.”

Molloy’s Response

We commit ourselves as a Laudato Si’ University in accordance with the four Dominican pillars that are foundational to our core values. Specifically, a commitment to Service means focusing our efforts with urgent attention to the ongoing environmental crisis, economic inequities, and social injustice that disproportionately affects the most vulnerable in our community and throughout the earth. We have begun to take initial efforts in this area by establishing the Laudato Sí’ Action Plan Committee comprised of faculty, students, administrators, staff, and community partners. This group is developing an Action Plan for the University that will advance each of the seven goals laid out in Laudato Si’. This Plan will serve as a foundational and guiding document for how we will proceed as a community to foster sustainability both in our campus life and operations and through our curriculum and engagement with the broader community. In the next five years we will implement concrete action steps identified in the Plan. Evaluation of the community, ideas for implementation, and concrete action require the contributions of the entire University community.

As a Catholic Dominican University committed to transformative education, we must face the reality of the continuing global environmental crisis, and entrenched injustice and inequity honestly and with resolve. For too long, “sister earth, along with the abandoned of our world” have suffered because of inaction. As Molloy moves into the next chapter of its history as a University, our community can chart a course for environmental justice that recognizes the intimate relationship between the dignity of the earth and the dignity of every human life.

Get involved to support Molloy as a Laudato Si’ University by contacting Catherine Muscente, mission@molloy.edu.