Regis to launch and engage in Laudato Si’ Action Platform

University to host listening sessions in developing plan

Regis University will engage the entire campus and community in participating in the Laudato Si’ program.  Inspired by Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’ equips organizations to achieve real and lasting solutions to the ecological crisis. The seven goals of Laudato Si’ are: the Cry of Earth, the Cry of the Poor, Ecological Economics, Sustainable Lifestyles, Ecological Education, Ecological Spirituality and Community Involvement and Participation.

In 2021, Regis committed the institution to developing an action plan resonant with the seven goals of the platform. Since then, and with the full support of the University leadership, students, scholars, and activists have come together to reflect and strategize together about how Regis can work toward a more integrated, holistic, and sustainable way of life in our common home. 

Kari Kloos, Assistant Vice President of Mission said, “Organizations are at a very important time in history where communities need to find ways to address many of these ecological issues that Pope Francis is asking each of us.”

In the Laudato Si’ 49, the Pope speaks about how healing the environment requires much more in-depth work, a true commitment and a more integral approach.

“Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor," the Pope has said.

The Regis Laudato Si' reflection calls on us "to build a more just and humane world through transformative education.’ Today, creation itself is threatened by changes on a geological level. He continues by asking 'How are we listening to the cry of the earth, and what are we doing to build a more just and humane environment? People living in poverty and marginalized by society bear a greater burden of environmental degradation: what are we doing to hear their cry and to promote their well-being?'”

In developing this plan, Kloos also added, “We are also aware that we need to reflect on our own history and patterns that have generated and continue to maintain unjust and unsustainable relationships with each other and with the Earth. The challenges we face are global, but they begin at home. We look to the future, but also must right past wrongs.”

There are already a number of Regis faculty and staff meeting to ensure the planning process is not only thorough but led with genuine intention. 

In honor of Earth Day, Laudato Si’ will be tabling Wednesday, April 19, from 3–5 p.m. at Claver Hall in the Mountain View Room.  More information will be available about how people can get involved.