“The safeguard against complacency and hubris is a listening faith, always aware of God’s action preceding and increasing our own efforts,” said Archbishop Paul Coakley and Bishop David Malloy, who chair the US bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development and Committee on International Justice and Peace. “This Season of Creation, we give thanks to the professionals and everyday citizens who work to protect the environment and promote the common good.”

(The Season of Creation, an ecumenical initiative, begins on September 1—the World Day of Prayer for Creation in the Orthodox churches (since 1989) and the Catholic Church (since 2015)—and concludes on October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi. In 2019, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and Pope Francis lent their support to observance of the season.)