Finally, (some) US dioceses are taking the pope's climate message seriously

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https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/editorial/editorial-finally-some-us-dioceses-are-taking-popes-climate-message-seriously?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3hGVDq_18Y2VVxBp4W9tupXFFAXAgMR69XeIUmLO8VK-oigVVqJdeaJnc_aem_AXLocxTam5sDvr0SIC1Fds-0hEgYJSQ7vDCPyaZhZ-UE7JgIsJzYrUz1swVoHGTzp4sQbIrrjTOLpnQjpDRr59Ge

Nine years after the publication of Pope Francis' encyclical "Laudato Si', on Care for Our Common Home," four years following the announcement of the Vatican-led Laudato Si' Action Platform and six months since the release of Francis' apostolic exhortation "on the climate crisis," Laudate Deum, Catholics in the United States are beginning to see the type of clear, tangible and decisive climate action for which the pope has called.

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The latest encouraging news came from the Diocese of Lexington, in the middle of Kentucky coal country, when on April 23 Bishop John Stowe announced his diocese has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2030. As reported for EarthBeat by NCR environment correspondent Brian Roewe, they've assembled an 11-member task force of diocesan officials and business leaders of major industries in the area, including Toyota and Lexmark.

It's a bold goal from an unlikely region of the country, but the apparent enthusiasm surrounding the initiative goes to show what might be possible when leadership prioritizes climate issues and engages the community in pursuing solutions together. Some might even call it an exercise in synodality, an organizational process that rests on the type of mutual listening and collaboration many people weren't sure the U.S. church hierarchy was capable of practicing. And yet, it's precisely the approach demanded by an integral ecology that recognizes the connectedness of all creation and every facet of a community with a focus on the common good.

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And despite reports earlier this year that even some U.S. bishops themselves feel the U.S. church is failing on the pope's climate goals (an opinion NCR has also often expressed within our editorial pages), it does seem that at least some diocesan leadership is ready to rise to the challenge and might be interested in that roadmap.