Ideas for the New Year

Here’s what we’re considering at Guardian Angels: (still in process)

• Using Advent to invite people to “alternative Christmas giving.” Give out a one-sheet flier with ideas, along with the Advent reflection booklet already planned. Build in some education about the relationship between reducing consumption and earth-care. Have a poster with ideas from parishioners who are already thinking and doing “alternatives”.
• The U.S. Bishops, in 1991(!!!!) identified the need to care for the earth as “an exceptional call to conversion.” What better theme for Lent!! Tentatively, we are planning
• Talk with as many people as we can before Lent about the St. Francis Pledge (10-15 minutes in existing groups).
• A pre-Lenten parish survey, done in church, to identify which issues people are most concerned about; what time frames they prefer for earth-oriented education, retreats, projects, etc.; information about what they are already doing.
• Using the 5 Sundays of Lent to highlight the 5 aspects of the St. Francis pledge:
• Pray (individually and together)
• Learn (about the crisis of the earth) ,
• Assess (in the light of scripture, church teaching),
• Act (individually, as families, as a parish) ,
• Advocate (work to change laws, structures, cultures, services. (Actually, this is a model for a theological reflection process…)
• Invite people to take the pledge, indicating specifically what they will do for at least some of the steps
• Present the completed pledges at Masses before or after Earth Day
• Throughout: Share stories about what parishioners are doing.

Your input, ideas, experiences, resources will be most welcome in these projects!!