Source: Newsweek

Excerpt:

Many people do not immediately recognize the direct relationship between faith, God and environmental activism—but in my 52 years with the Sisters of Mercy, I’ve seen the connection.

For the last 12 years, I acted as the director of justice, completing community education and advocacy work for five critical concerns: the environment, racism, women’s issues, nonviolence and immigration. Each of these issues are interrelated, and my faith and relationship with God calls me to address them.

As a child growing up in a devout Catholic family, I was quick to learn that the Earth is a vital gift from God to humanity, and we are charged to be its stewards. My earliest memory of environmentalism is from a childhood camping trip with my family, where I was horrified to see trash shoved into a nearby drainage pipe in a natural spring. Even as a child, I remember thinking that it was wrong to destroy the beauty of God’s creation.

Read more: How God Calls Us to Protect and Advocate for the Earth | Opinion