Although they have widely differing backgrounds and life experiences, Lucy Silva-Thomas, Vincent Valdez and Betsy Reifsnider all are putting their Catholic faith into action working on a common goal: the belief that individuals and parish communities can be better stewards of creation.
They are each working to increase awareness among their fellow Catholics of the long tradition of Catholic social teaching on the responsibility for creation care. Each is personally invested in speaking about the importance of and the obligation to better care for God’s great gift to all, the environment.
Betsy Reifsnider, a member since 1994 of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in midtown Sacramento, says her love of the outdoors was fostered during her childhood years in Glendora, located at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. “I was very fortunate to always be able to go hiking, backpacking and bicycling on mountain roads and in the wilderness,” she recalls. She was a Girl Scout, graduated with a degree in diplomacy and world affairs from Occidental College, and studied modern Chinese political history at the University of Chicago.
Her career of more than 30 years throughout California focused on work for many nonprofit environmental organizations, and she served as environmental justice director with Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Stockton from 2004 to 2013. Now retired, she still serves as a policy associate in Sacramento for the Mono Lake Committee.
Living in southern California before the Clean Air Act was signed into law, “as a kid, we had some of the worst air pollution. My lungs would hurt and since then I’ve had a sadness because of how we pollute our earth,” Betsy recalls. “Still today we are all victims of air pollution, but we are also the perpetrators and we can’t scapegoat anyone. Everyone has to play their part in caring for the environment.”
For several years, she has been involved in the Pathways for Justice ministry at St. Francis, which focuses on social and environmental justice. The ministry hosted a presentation on Laudato Si’ when it was first issued by Pope Francis. Among the ministry’s activities were a Bike to Church Sunday; an energy and water audit of the church, school and parish hall by the City of Sacramento Water Department and the Sacramento Municipal Utility District; organizing ecological Stations of the Cross during Lent; and working with St. Francis of Assisi School to designate the school and parish grounds as a St. Kateri Tekakwitha Habitat.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when parishioners couldn’t gather in person, the ministry offered a four-parish Zoom series to discuss Laudato Si; provided an eight-week Zoom series from JustFaith called “Sacred Land,” in conjunction with the Dominican Sisters of Racine, Wisconsin; and distributed seedlings, compost bags, Care for Creation prayers and earth-friendly information after all Masses on Earth Day weekend.
Full story at Diocese of Sacramento website.
I bet every single one of them votes for Democrats.
“Care for creation” ministry at any parish is really just a parish’s Democrat Party alliance.
So, if care for creation is a Democrat plan then shouldn’t we all be Democrats? I’m sorry, but your logic doesn’t flow on this one. The Bible tells us that we should care for our earth, and do what we can to help it survive even with the damage we do daily. I don’t see care for creation as a partisan issue. We should all embrace it.
I agree Bob One: it is not a partisan issue, but nevertheless methods for caring for creation have become sources of division.
It’s not that only Democrat Catholics care about creation. It’s that Democrat Catholics only do this church “care for creation” stuff as a show that they’re “truly” Catholic despite not agreeing with Catholic teachings about anything else. Republican Catholics see through the charade, so they don’t participate in the parish Laudato Si Vegetable Garden like the Democrats do.
Only Bob One could not see this green nonsense as a partisan issue. The ruling elites are pushing this nonsense so that we can be forced into adopting their failing green technology which has proven it does not work. See frozen windmill in Texas 2 winters ago, Germany abandoning this idiocy as well. He in NY state we are being told to get rid of the gas cars by 2035. This will finish off the middle class but the elites simply do not care. Note Bob One and the rest of the Leftists, earth’s temperature was warmer during the Medieval warming period then it is now. We are on to your scam and your attempt to crush the middle and working classes in the name of your green god and so the elites can line their pockets.
And how does this lead people to Jesus?
Answer= It doesn’t they don’t believe in Christ of His Church
You gotta be kidding me !!!!
go online and check out ecologocal or environmental stations of the cross and you will see that they all focus on different forms the earth “suffers’, basically replacing Jesus on the cross with the earth on the cross. ecological stations of the cross can’t be written without pushing aside Jesus as the main protagonist of the sacred drama of the cross, the center of all history.
It’s veiled Marxism. Environmentalism is the new iteration of Marxism.,.
Lord have mercy on us!
None of this has anything to do with the salvation of souls!!
The mandate to the bishops is “Go and baptize all nations” … not “love mother earth”.
How long, O Lord, how long?!?!
1 Corinthians 12:5
there are different forms of service but the same Lord;
In our city each residence has two garbage bins & a bin for yard trimmings and wood. The first two are divided in half. In one side goes food scraps to be made into fertilizer the other holds garbage that cannot be recycled. The second bin holds glass and scrap metal on one side and clean paper scraps in the other. They should have these at all businesses and churches.
If you want a Christian patron for organic gardening just asked for St. Fiacre’s prayers. By the way, we have had some serious rain in our backyard recently, which is great for the roses and fruit trees, among other needs. Pray for that.
but, of course, while you are praying for rain where it is truly needed, ask the Lord not to rain on your neighbor’s party. (Laughter.)
It is a moral issue. The Church has always taught so.
Our Lady at Medjugorje (unapproved) said that Satan’s plan was not just to destroy mankind but also the planet.
Medjugorje is false.
Faced with the widespread destruction of the environment, people everywhere are coming to understand that we cannot continue to use the goods of the earth as we have in the past. . . . [A] new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge. . . . The ecological crisis is a moral issue. –Pope John Paul II, The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility, nos. 1, 15, December 8, 1989
I visited the website for Betsy Reifsnider’s parish of St Francis of Assisi , Sacramento, to to see if the seamless garment was sewn well enough to cover all the body of Christ and noticed that there was no list or mention of pro-life activities in the parish. While parishes cannot always have every committee possible, at least give babies a back seat in the car and don’t leave them on the roadside .
Checking the website of St Philomene’s parish where Lucy holds membership i happily noted that the parish bulletin indicates that there is a Respect Life Committee to assure the proper fit of the seamless garment. St Robert’s parish in Sacramento to which Vincent belongs lacks any mention of pro-life activitieson the website, but at the Knights of Columbus working in the area might allow for exposure to care for pre-born creation protection activities to preserve the highest form of life
Gluttony is a deadly sin. Some seem to care too much about creation’s fruits.
by the way … what religion are these people?
I was on a group trip once and I heard an environmental atheist wacko say, “Earth bless,” in response to someone sneezing. Environmentalism is their religion.
Environmentalism is a costume leftists wear to virtue signal.
Well, this is interesting. A group of people tries to do something positive and they get slammed for it. How is it possible, that in our church, everything is partisan? Trying to reduce the human effect on the environment, no matter how little that effect might be, is not an evil thing. Separating our garbage and trash before it goes to the dump is not evil. Trying to use more wind and solar power is not evil. Teaching others to be more aware of their footprint is not evil. St. Francis told his followers to preach the Gospel, and use words if necessary. By our actions you will know us!
Bob One, the people here do not represent a faction in the Church. Every faithful Catholic knows that care for creation is a part of a Catholic’s responsibility although we vary in how well we perform that duty.
If they did it without calling attention to themselves, it would be fine. If they did it without trying to convert others to their pet cause, it would be fine. Just like with the gays. If the gays just did what they do without screaming about it to everyone all the time, they’d be fine. If they did it without trying to get the support of others for what they’re doing, it would be fine.
Just keep it to yourself and leave everyone else alone. We don’t care about your environmental projects nor your rainbow festivities. Just be quiet about it already. Please.
Of course we should be better stewards of creation, but biking to Mass and “ecological Stations of the Cross!” Really? This sounds like more woke “feel good” environmentalism. This is like the parish I was where someone forced the use of biodegradable disposable cutlery, made from potatoes, for parish events. I asked a scientist, and a liberal at that, about such. He said by the time one calculated in the amount of pesticides, water, diesel fuel and heat needed to make a piece of potato work like a fork, one might as well use plastic and throw it away. Carbon neutral is good. But, where do electric cars get most of their energy from?
It depends on the goal. If the goal is biodegradability then the potato fork is better. If the goal is saving resources, then the plastic would probably be better.
Fair enough. I just don’t like people looking at us potato heads. As the cattle say, “Eat mor chikin.”
I am guessing that most people don’t know much about it and just take a position and defend it or ridicule others who take the opposite position.
It is one of those fields with differing viewpoints even among those who are educated in it. (not I.)
I think it is more about jobs and prices. Many people have good jobs in the plastic industries, and others have good jobs in the other industries and do not want to lose them. Foam plates and cups are cheaper, but I avoid buying them for several reasons. They are not good for the birds and environment and are not microwaveable as the paper ones are. The making of plastics, like the disposal of contraceptive pills, is destroying our fish with estrogen production. Everything has its good and bad points.
it’s my custom to look the potato right in the eye.
What if Mr. Potato’s eye has been removed?
I meant to give “eye” a thumbs up too but clicked the thumbs down. Both posts were clever. Like to give credit where credit is due.
The problem is most churches do not have recycle bins for recycling plastics, so “potato head” forks are better for those churches. If they have recycling bins, go for the plastic.
Plastic forks are not recyclable
In many areas they are. Evidently yours is behind the times.