Laudate Deum 2024 Reflection
Laudate Deum Reflective Reading and Discussion
January/February 2024
The Conference Care of Creation Dream Group is offering an opportunity for Presentation people to read, reflect, discuss and discern around Pope Francis’ Laudate Deum document. This six-week reflective experience will begin on Wednesday, January 3, 2024, and be offered weekly on Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Pacific, 12 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Eastern until the final session on Wednesday, February 7. Each session will include a facilitator that will lead the group in prayer, discussion and reflection.
Download and share the flyer for this experience with other Presentation people! Laudate Deum Flyer
Below are resources that will be used for this opportunity:
- Pope Francis’ Laudate Deum
- Praise God – Group Reading Guide (PDF)
We are using Bill Huebsch’s group reading guide for our process. There are six short sessions included in this guide. We ask that you read the session for each week prior to our Zoom discussion for that session. - Zoom links for each weekly session are included below. Please join the Zoom meeting a few minutes before the start so everyone is ready to go at the designated time. Each session will be held at 10 a.m. Pacific, 12 p.m. Central, 1 p.m. Eastern.
- Wednesday, January 3
Session One: The Global Climate Crisis – Resistance and Confusion (pages 5 – 8)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83081176407?pwd=MvH1wN8oDaS6sYFuiTWpF4GUrepLau.1 - Wednesday, January 10
Session Two: A Growing Technocratic Paradigm – Human Causes, Damages and Risks (pages 9-13)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81864969977?pwd=ubBR7XwyoU6ySExVLPpYM3DHYmLxSi.1 - Wednesday, January 17
Session Three: The Weakness of International Politics – Rethinking Our Use of Power, The Ethical Goad (pages 14-17)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82044917835?pwd=b96EzsyJJblX79soiUdoerC0xl6uL7.1 - Wednesday, January 24
Session Four: The Climate Conferences – Reconfiguring Multilateralism (pages 18-21)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85335541804?pwd=i8F9T2NKbION08IencGlJSgDImqQ8s.1 - Wednesday, January 31
Session Five: What to Expect from COP28 in Dubai? (pages 22-24)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89001198383?pwd=awgQ3u7mZ5vjU3KdVHPOAIbdGGdjgO.1 - Wednesday, February 7
Session Six: Spiritual Motivations, In the Light of Faith – Journeying in Communion and Commitment (pages 25-28)
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82270450409?pwd=ceLO2W71u0ZhJCaSmkmPfEQG5zTnRP.1
- Wednesday, January 3
“Laudate Deum” comes from a long line of creation care in the Catholic Church
While Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” was published on October 4, 2023, it is hardly the first time a pope has spoken about caring for creation as being integral to our Christian calling. In 2015, Pope Francis issued the prophetic and most widely read encyclical “Laudato Si.” This writing was addressed to every person on the planet.
Before Pope Francis, Pope Benedict was known as the Green Pope for his many statements regarding creation care and for putting solar panels on the Vatican.
On January 1, 1990, Pope John Paul II gave his World Day of Peace message in which he declared that “the ecological crisis is a moral issue.”
Centuries ago, mystics like Hildegard of Bingen wrote about the goodness and holiness of creation. Some 800 years ago St. Francis of Assisi wrote the “Canticle of the Sun” and is beloved for his humility, and his care of creation and of those made poor.
