“The Earth is what we all have in common.” – Wendell Berry
June 05th, every year is celebrated as the World Environment Day- the largest international day dedicated to the environment. Created in 1973 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), it has become the biggest environmental outreach, involving the global community across 150 countries in finding solutions to today’s most pressing environmental challenges. Each year, one country hosts the global celebrations to commemorate the day, and in 2025, they are being held in the Republic of Korea, with the theme: to ‘ Beat Plastic Pollution’.
The JPIC (Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation) Commission of our Congregation was established this year to concsientise and inculcate in our sisters the common responsibility to promote JPIC activities, especially through various days that are celebrated in the Church and the society. Consequently, June 05th, which is celebrated as World Environment Day, was one of the days which the Commission encouraged the sisters to celebrate as a global response in the care of our Common Home.
In Rome, this day was celebrated with great zeal by both the communities of the Generalate and Procura Generale by coming together for a meaningful prayer service with vespers, praying the Psalms of gratitude to God for His creation and with the sentiments from Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ ( Praise to You my Lord), in the chapel of the Generalate.
In the spirit of gratitude for all that God has generously blessed us with, the sisters also prayed for the grace to be good stewards, to care of the nature, which symbolically expressed by planting some plants in the garden of the Generalate to highlight this commitment of taking care of our Mother Earth.
Similarly, our sisters from India have shared their role in celebrating this day with great passion in the communities, schools and hostels. The sisters conducted meaningful prayer services, planted trees in their premises and participated in conscientizing children and youth through resource persons with the pledge towards preserving and protecting the environment. These activities also featured thought provoking skits portraying the current threats to our planet and the actions that can be taken to reverse the damage.
We believe that this shared effort in creating a better world around us will bear fruit in due time by playing our part as good stewards of the earth entrusted to us by God our creator who calls us to live in loving relationship with all creation to create a sustainable world for future generations.
Text: Sr. Alda Paes, SAC
Photos: Sisters of the Generalate
See also the event gallery.
