Taking steps to confront climate change and personally and professionally work for environmental justice “is at the very foundation of what our faith calls us to do,” Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory said at The Catholic University of America at the April 21 opening ceremony of a conference on Climate Change and the Future of Work.

“We live in a changing climate, and we have a moral obligation to respond thoughtfully and respectfully as Christ Himself would,” said Cardinal Gregory, who said that requires caring for one another as brothers and sisters and as neighbors, and working together “to care for our common home with dedicated vigilance.”

The conference, inspired by Pope Francis’s landmark 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home,” coincided with Earth Day, April 22, when students from that university and other colleges and universities would be gathering for panel discussions featuring speakers from government, industries, higher education and the nonprofit sector. The April 22 conference, which also was featuring an exposition fair and break-out sessions on environmental topics and professional opportunities,  was described by organizers as a forum to engage students as they prepare to enter the professional world adapting to a changing climate.

“Part of our collective response is just what this conference is about – analyzing the many ways that we can professionally and personally work in collaboration to bring about environmental justice in every community,” the cardinal said. 

Cardinal Gregory, who as the archbishop of Washington serves as Catholic University’s chancellor, noted that the conference was timely, and also happening at a challenging moment as the global coronavirus pandemic is in its third year, and as the world is rallying to support and pray for the suffering people of war-torn Ukraine.

The cardinal said Catholic social teaching and pro-life beliefs should spur people to respond to environmental crises like insufficient and polluted water and poor air quality.

He noted that nearly every industry has new and restructured professional roles for environmental sustainability commitments, and Catholic University and other institutions of higher education are providing new environmental areas of study.

“In the ever-expanding landscape of environmental work possibilities, women and men wanting to make a tangible difference in green industries can and should responsibly act to address environmental and other inequities in our society in a meaningful way – especially in marginalized communities,” he said.

Cardinal Gregory emphasized how environmental negligence and exploitation often impacts “the locations where the poor, the marginalized and people of color live.”

Pope Francis grounded his environmental justice encyclical Laudato Si’ in Scripture and Catholic teaching, but addressed it to all people on Earth, the cardinal said, adding that as neighbors, people are called to care for one another and also to care for the planet they share.

The cardinal noted how The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington this past fall launched a Laudato Si’ Action Plan containing “small and big ways for us to exercise stewardship over God’s creation,” just as the Archdiocese of Atlanta, which he previously led, had done with one of the first diocesan action plans that was inspired by the encyclical and also drew on the input of local experts.

“When it comes to environmental justice, we each have a critical, ongoing role to care for creation to ensure the Earth is protected for future generations,” he said.

Cardinal Gregory encouraged students as they consider the future of work and how they might fit in, to reflect on several key personal calls to action raised in Laudato Si’, including responding to the cry of the Earth, which he said can mean working to guarantee that all people have access to clean water.

The encyclical’s call to respond to the cry of the poor, he said, relates to defending human life in all its stages and all forms of life on Earth, and he said special attention should be paid to reaching out to vulnerable groups like indigenous communities, migrant children and human trafficking victims.

The cardinal said the issue of ecological economics raised in the encyclical can be addressed when businesses and organizations support fair trade initiatives “so that workers are paid just wages and so consumer goods are made as environmentally friendly as possible.”

Another key recommendation of Laudato Si’ he said, is adapting a simple lifestyle in our busy world, and he said in the workplace that might mean looking at professional options to limit waste.

Noting how Catholic University is a leader in ecological education, the cardinal said Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ wants Catholic universities, parishes and schools to re-think and redesign educational programs “in the spirit of integral ecology. Our hope is that this will promote an ecological vocation in our young people, as well as teachers and leaders in education.”

In 2020, Catholic University adopted a five-year plan for creating a culture of sustainability, emphasizing Catholic social teaching on the environment, teaching students environmental best practices in careers like architecture and engineering, and expanding clean energy on the campus. The university now offers more than 150 courses related to sustainability across multiple programs. Catholic University has 2,700 solar panels and announced in March that it will be building the metropolitan Washington area’s largest urban solar array on the university’s campus, providing locally generated, renewable energy.

In his talk at the university, Cardinal Gregory also highlighted the encyclical’s concept of ecological spirituality.

“Pope Francis challenges us in Laudato Si’ to recover a religious vision of God’s creation, encouraging greater contact with the natural world in a spirit of wonder, praise, joy and gratitude,” the cardinal said.

Washington’s archbishop said the encyclical also emphasized community involvement and participatory action in preserving the environment.

“We are to care for creation at every level of our lives, including in our work,” the cardinal said, adding that means supporting public policies that honor God’s creation and fostering work cultures rooted in pro-life values and environmental justice.

Caring for Earth, our common home, means working in collaboration, he said.

“Pope Francis makes us aware in Laudato Si’ that we are undeniably interconnected – neighbors dependent on our planet and one another with closeness and assistance to respond and care for our sisters and brothers,” the cardinal said, adding that reflects the Catholic social teaching principle of working for the common good.

Afterward, Holly Thompson, a Catholic University senior majoring in environmental studies, said in an email to the Catholic Standard that, “I thought that it was really great that the cardinal talked about how we all have the professional responsibility to use our careers to care for the Earth, because every industry is related to the environment.”

Thompson, who is treasurer of CUA’s Environmental Club and the founder of the school’s chapter of the American Conservation Coalition, said she appreciated what the cardinal said about the importance of environmental education.

 “I took this to heart a year ago when I started a class at CUA that teaches students how to engage the campus community around environmental initiatives and projects,” she said, adding, “I have been working to promote the environment as a pro-life issue to CUA’s campus and its relation to environmental justice issues, so it was important to me that the cardinal mentioned that care for creation is a pro-life issue.”