National Catholic Reporter: Laudato Si' five years on: a continued call for courage
by Tomás Insua
…One outcome of Laudato Si’ was the creation of Global Catholic Climate Movement, an organization that I co-founded with a global group of allies. In the five years since our founding, we’ve helped over 150 Catholic institutions divest from fossil fuels (becoming the single largest source of participation in the divestment movement), trained and certified nearly 1,500 Laudato Si’ Animators to lead action in their communities, supported our 900 member organizations in hosting thousands of local events, and so much more.
But Global Catholic Climate Movement is only one member of a vibrant community. Countless diocesan commissions, parish committees, religious communities, and other groups have taken bold steps forward in the past five years.
As one example, Catholic Climate Covenant has developed a Catholic Energies program, which provides financing and expertise for Catholic institutions to get renewable energy or increase their energy efficiency. The program has begun the construction of Washington D.C.’s largest solar array, built for the Archdiocese of Washington…