Franciscan Earth Club
The Franciscan Earth Club program is an after school youth program that includes environmental education, Franciscan ecospirituality and prayer, social justice and peace, environmental community service projects, and nature arts activities and learning. Franciscan Earth Clubs can be established at local Catholic elementary schools, Catholic high schools, and Catholic parishes. The initiative is inspired by the spirit of St. Clare and St. Francis, Patron Saint of Ecology, and by the invitation of Pope John Paul II for Catholics to engage more actively in Care for Creation education and activities. Pope John Paul II and the American Catholic Bishops have recognized the importance of environmental protection, and the need to educate today’s Catholics about the Church’s teachings on caring for God’s Creation and environmental justice. The Catholic Church has much to contribute toward this effort, and Franciscans have been responding from our own unique ecospirituality tradition of ministry and scholarship. Membership is open to interested Catholic and non-Catholic students in the community.
Franciscan Earth Clubs meet regularly to help students develop a better understanding of the environment and ecospirituality. Clubs provide activities, service projects, field trips and educational lessons incorporating environmental justice and spirituality, environmental citizenship, environmental conservation skills, and ecology education. Clubs have the option of being affiliated with the Franciscan Youth program of the Secular Franciscan Order for the laity.
The Franciscan Earth Club is staffed by trained adult, young adult, and college student volunteers who serve as leaders/mentors for younger students involved the clubs. Topics include: ecotheology and ethics, Franciscan ecospirituality, ecology / environmental science, environmental justice and peace, environmental citizenship, environmental conservation skills, outdoor recreation skills, leadership and civic participation skills, and nature arts (creative writing and visual / performing arts inspired by nature). Environmental service projects are carried out on public parks or other public lands, around community facilities, and in church-affiliated facilities or properties. They can involve community gardening, testing and assessing environmental conditions, replanting trees and native vegetation, removing invasive plants, mitigating pollution, restoring stream banks and riparian areas, protecting wildlife habitats, and addressing environmental health concerns. Activities and field trips include hiking, backpacking, canoeing, and overnight camping.
Nationally, environmental education funding and programming are available mainly to public schools, and while Care for Creation is a major area for official Catholic Social Teaching, students in Catholic schools, including Catholics and non-Catholics, do not have adequate access to environmental education opportunities. The number of Catholic elementary schools, high schools, campus ministry programs and parishes that offer Catholic environmental education programs is currently very small, even though Catholic young people go on to assume a healthy percentage of important leadership roles in U.S. society.
Addressing contemporary environmental issues requires a collaborative approach from a variety of organizations and partners. Traditionally, environmental problem solving has relied heavily on scientific, technological, legal and political solutions, but there is a need for religious solutions, too. The scientific community, recognizing the credibility and power of religion to influence believers’ behavior, has called upon the religious community to join them in the task of collaborative environmental problem solving. The Franciscan Earth Club initiative helps the local Catholic Church to contribute its cosmological, moral-ethical, and educational resources toward environmental protection, sustainability and justice.
The Franciscan Earth Club model will be shared with other Catholic schools and parishes outside the greater Syracuse area to provide curriculum, technical assistance, materials and training. We will assist any other schools, parishes and campus ministry programs who are interested in developing Franciscan Earth Club programs for their students. Contact the Franciscan Ecology Center for more information, or to get involved.
This page was last updated on 09/25/04
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