GCCM convener to Catholics: Sign, support the Laudato Si’ pledge

The convener of Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) challenged the Catholics to sign the Laudato Si’ pledge and commit their supports to its program during the Walk for Creation at Burnham Green, Manila last Sept. 1.

Fr. John Leydon said the target is to get as many as possible out of the 1.2 billion Catholics.

Laudato Si, released on June 18, 2015, is Pope Francis’s historic encyclical “on care for creation and our common home” that calls for ecological conversion, changes in lifestyle and society, and strong political action.

“Laudato Si said [na] kahit na hindi tayo aware [or] mulat, […] there’s a feeling in our hearts that something is wrong,” Fr. Leydon said in an interview with The Spiral Journal.

The GCCM convener explained the environmental crisis and the need for the Catholics’ true care for the creation.

“In our time, it’s a very particular context. Hindi parang feeling good lamang, it’s about, ‘Are we going to destroy the planet or not? May kinabukasan ba tayo o [wala]?’” he said.

“We are living in critical times, but it’s the time of where voice of God is very clear to us, we might go through great sufferings but we could also go through great fulfillments,” he added.

GCCM is an international coalition of Catholic organizations and individuals, who are supported by pope and bishops, that aims "to raise a strong Catholic voice in global climate change discussions."

The Walk for Creation is part of the Philippines’ participation in the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, a celebration that was instituted by Pope Francis in 2015.