I remember the first time a friend told me: “I am a Laudato Si’ Animator”. I didn’t understand what he was talking about, I was just starting to read the encyclical Laudato Si’… but to be an Animator of an encyclical?
“What do you mean, an Animator?”, I asked him. Laughing, he replied, “Being an animator is what is needed today to take care of the world we live in… in fact I invite my communities to take the course as well.”
My friend Fernando, a 25-year-old Colombian, was convinced and kept convincing others to take the animator course. But I wondered why, among so many situations of social and political injustice, violence, poverty, vices… we should give time to training in the care of nature, aren’t there much more important issues?
When I studied Laudato Si’ more and talked to friends from different continents who shared with me the pain caused by seeing their families and communities suffer injustice, I understood that pain is directly linked to the loss of natural areas where to plant, fish, or live.
REGISTER: Become a Laudato Si’ Animator willing to change the world
When we suffer, nature suffers: “Everything is connected,” says Laudato Si’. For example, the thirst that the earth suffers – in regions of Africa and today in Monterrey, Mexico – is the same thirst that people suffer, right?
Social justice is linked to ecological justice: when Pope Benedict XVI cried out on the XLVI World Day of Peace 2013, saying “if you want to promote Peace, protect Creation”; or when Pope John Paul II expressed his cry on the XXIII World Day of Peace 1990, “peace with God, peace with all creation”, they were making an integral call: nature and society must be cared for as one.
Why would you also want to be a Laudato Si’ Animator?
- Perhaps you are tired of seeing so much contrast between extreme poverty and extreme wealth.
- Maybe you don’t understand how to take steps toward a world more like the one God dreams of.
- Maybe in your community you already have projects to take care of your brothers and sisters and the planet, or maybe you don’t yet…
The Laudato Si’ Animators Program teaches and guides you to:
- Learn to read the reality you live to understand the root of the problems you perceive.
- Lead your community in prayer and action to transform your reality
- Inspire friends, family and communities who are also seeking a better world, and act in their own context.
Want 3 other reasons?
- You will receive totally free online training with experts.
- You will be part of the global community of Catholics working for the common home.
- You will discover that you are a leader in your community.
ALSO: You will receive an international certificate
very inspiring.