Care for Creation retreat: ‘Jesus would have loved this’

Care for Creation retreatant Anne Wildenborg (right) hands her husband, Peter, dried flowers for a basket that was placed in front of the altar for the 5 p.m. Mass Oct. 2 at Immaculate Conception of Marysburg in Madison Lake. School Sister of Notre Dame Kathleen Storms helped gather plants with the Wildenborgs, parishioners of St. Joseph in Red Wing. BARB UMBERGER | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Father Kevin Clinton, a retired priest of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis and one of 17 members of the archdiocese’s Care for Creation leadership team, hosted a daylong retreat Oct. 2 for the team and others who were interested.

The group spent the morning at his home parish, Immaculate Conception of Marysburg in Madison Lake, greeted in a video message by Archbishop Bernard Hebda and taking in videos on the challenges of climate change. They spent the afternoon on nearby acreage that has been in Father Clinton’s family since the 1850s. Father Clinton has spent about 25 years creating a “conservation reserve” on the property.

The leadership team, led by Adam Fitzpatrick, social mission outreach coordinator in the Office for Mission, includes volunteer leaders from parishes that have their own care for creation teams. The retreat was held to “build up” the archdiocesan team, which because of the COVID-19 pandemic hadn’t met in person since its first meeting in February 2020, Fitzpatrick said. Group members also experienced the retreat as they help develop it for use in parishes.

The retreat could easily be replicated in other settings, Father Clinton said. “People should have easy access to something local to their parish” that puts them in touch with God through nature, he said.

In the morning session, retreatants watched videos featuring Professor Philip Sakimoto from the University of Notre Dame addressing climate change and the urgent need to take action to stem its advance, and Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago discussing ways Catholics are called to respond to a challenge that many scientists believe is being hastened by human-induced global warming.

In his message, Archbishop Hebda said “our lives have purpose when we are in tune with creation and with the plan of the creator.” He spoke of the archdiocesan Care for Creation team as helping the faithful think about “our individual responses, spiritual growth and ways to make our institutions promote practices that sustain the dynamics of the natural world and use our natural resources justly and wisely.”

Retreatants Ann and Chris Biehn, neighbors of Father Kevin Clinton, participate in a “creation story walk” in front of Immaculate Conception church, where participants walked in silence past 57 stations with photos and timeframes about the unfolding of creation on earth. BARB UMBERGER | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT

Marcia Stapleton, a parishioner of Immaculate Conception, attended the retreat after hearing about it from Father Clinton’s sister, Martha. It was a wonderful opportunity to bring people together, “to understand where we came from and why it’s so important,” she said. Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’, on Care for our Common Home” and his other messages about the challenges wrought by a warming planet can help people grapple with the issue, she said.

“Jesus would have loved this, I think,” Stapleton said, “this focus on creation — making people aware of their place and where they fit into all of creation.”

In his encyclical, Pope Francis calls on people to address pollution, waste and misuse of natural resources. He promotes “integral ecology,” that is, a realization that all things in the natural world are connected, and mankind has a responsibility to promote a healthful planet.

In May, Pope Francis instituted a Laudato Si’ Action Platform, inviting all sectors of society over seven years, including parishes, dioceses and schools, to help address environmental degradation and the needs of the poor and vulnerable in creating an ecologically sustainable economy. The archdiocesan Care for Creation team is preparing plans to be part of that effort, which launches internationally Nov. 14, Fitzpatrick said.

In May, Pope Francis instituted a Laudato Si’ Action Platform, inviting all sectors of society over seven years, including parishes, dioceses and schools, to help address environmental degradation and the needs of the poor and vulnerable in creating an ecologically sustainable economy.

“Laudato Si’” stresses, and the retreat tried to emphasize, that spiritual health and balance requires being “close, to have a relationship with nature because, like it not, we are from nature,” Father Clinton said. “We are created from the dust of the Earth and to dust we shall return.”

School Sister of Notre Dame Kathleen Storms, who led the retreat planning and spoke to participants, has been involved with environmental education for more than 20 years. The retreat seeks to help people find ways to do “something different in our lives,” she said.

“You won’t forget those beautiful scenes or the good food that you had that was prepared with all locally grown foods,” she said. Another benefit was connecting with others who feel the same way, she said.

“Every one of us can change something in what we do to relate to the earth,” she said. Recycling is basic, she said. Parishes also could consider using solar panels, creating rain gardens and using excess property around churches as gardens to feed the poor, she said. Priests and deacons could preach from the pulpit about simplifying lives and identifying with the God who loves the world, she said. “It’s just basic to who we are as Catholics,” she said.

“Creation is the face of God, basically,” Sister Storms said. “And as someone said on the retreat, ‘feel the touch of God in everything that’s been created.’”

“We’ve got a long way to go to really live it all out, but there are so many resources that are available now,” and the archdiocesan Care for Creation team is there to support parishes, she said.

Stapleton said she participated in one of the Archdiocesan Synod Small Groups as Archbishop Hebda encourages everyone to help prepare for a Synod in June that will focus on developing a pastoral plan for the archdiocese. Stapleton plans to attend another Synod Small Group Oct. 28. The last Small Group sessions focus on youth and young adults.

“It just seems to me that one of the ways we’re going to bring young people to the Church, which I think is a huge problem, is to focus on these kinds of issues, because these are issues that are important to everybody, but particularly for young people,” she said. “They’re thinking about this and what our earth is going to look like for them and their children.”

The Church could be a leader in this area, Stapleton said. “I think that would be such a good thing.”

CARE FOR CREATION

Parishes seeking resources for reflection or to be added to the archdiocese’s Care for Creation email list may reach out to [email protected]. More information on the archdiocese’s involvement in the “Laudato Si’” action platform will be available closer to its international launch Nov. 14. Details on specific “Laudato Si’” goals and a list of suggested action items are available at laudatosiactionplatform.org.

The archdiocesan team can answer questions from parishes about care for creation teams and schedule early consultations, as needed, said Adam Fitzpatrick, leader of the team. “We can be there for guidance and ideas,” he said.