Climate change and the protection of creation will be the focus of a major campaign coordinated through the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.
The Coalition plans to introduce an ambitious effort to reach all the country's 19,000 parishes through what is being called the Catholic Climate Covenant: The St. Francis Pledge to Protect Creation and the Poor. The covenant is an extension of efforts to more fully implement the U.S. bishops' statement on climate change.
Executive director of the Coalition, Daniel Misleh, disclosed campaign plans Oct. 25 in an address to the 39th Annual Peace and Justice Awards Dinner of the Commission on Catholic Community Action of the Cleveland diocese.
The covenant, according to the coalition's online fall update, will be the campaign's cornerstone. It will "offer a distinctively Catholic perspective on global climate change." It will also invite people to "deeper prayer, more learning and sincere action in this time of environmental uncertainty and challenge."
The St. Francis Pledge commits people, groups and institutions to five action steps from prayer and reflection to advocacy.
The campaign will be launched during the Easter season.
