The Catholic Climate Covenant is Champion for the Poor

The Catholic Climate Covenant is really cool.

http://catholicclimatecovenant.org/

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops fully supports this group who is advocating for people in poverty -- these people would otherwise have no voice in the climate change debate. Also, the poorest among us will be hit the hardest by climate change.

Their website gives great tips on how we can each reduce our own impact, e.g. eat one less meat meal a week, use cloth shopping bags, etc. Their website also has news on current topics, e.g. what are Catholics doing to help the oil spill in the Gulf?

Catholic Climate Covenant is on Twitter (ClimateCovenant), Facebook (Catholic Climate Covenant) and MySpace (Catholic Climate Covenant), too!

iCatholicRadio -- The Station of the Cross!

iCatholicRadio is a mobile service of The Station of the Cross, a not-for-profit Catholic Radio Network that exists in order to effectively evangelize through radio programming.

http://www.icatholicradio.com/index.php

We strive to proclaim
the Truth revealed in the person of Jesus Christ,
handed on by the power of the Holy Spirit,
through the Magisterium of the Catholic Church,
for the past 2,000 years,
and now laid out for us in the Catechism.

I just learned about this today, and at a glance, it looks faithful and informative. They are starting a drive to consecrate the world to Jesus through Mary! Praise God!

Looks like they have three podcasts in iTunes:

• Calling All Catholics
• Divine Mercy in My Soul
• The Station of the Cross: Various Talks

I plan to download these and try them out. If you listen and can recommend them (or not), let me know!

Catholic Church Has a Patron Saint for the Unemployed

Patron Saint of the Unemployed

One of my relatives is out of a job just now, so I googled the patron saint of the unemployed and those seeking employment.

Saint Cajetan is our friend for employment troubles.

SQPN has a good website on this (and other) saints at: http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-cajetan/

Saint Cajetan is also known by other names, e.g. Gaetano.

Why pray to a saint? Saints are currently in heaven and can present our prayers before the Throne of God. Ask them to pray for you, just as you would any friend or family member. They are fully within the will of God, and all grace and power they may have come from Him.

The Communion of Saints as stated in the Nicene Creed consists of the Church Militant (all of us here on Earth), the Church Suffering (those getting purified for heaven in purgatory), and the Church Triumphant (everyone in heaven).

Dear Saint Cajetan, please pray for all who are struggling to find a job that is good for them and their families. Amen.

Why Should a Catholic Care for Creation?

Here's some food for thought that I just submitted as an article to my parish bulletin. I like the blending of care for God's creation with care for God's children in the Pope's encyclical.

Scripture: The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it. – Genesis 2:15

Pope Benedict: The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole. -- Caritas in Veritate #48, Pope Benedict XVI

Top Ten Reasons to Care for Creation:
1. God is the Creator of the Universe and maintains its existence through an ongoing creative will.

2. God has blessed and called "very good" all that is created.

3. God's plan for Creation is one of harmony and order. Creation forms a whole, a cosmos.

4. God loves the community of life.

5. God's creatures share a common home.

6. God's presence is discernable in all Creation.

7. God intends the Earth's goods to be equitably shared.

8. Within Creation, the human person enjoys a consummate dignity. Inherent to this dignity is that of exercising a wise and just stewardship over the rest of Creation.

9. Sin brought division into the entire world, but not only within and between human persons. The consequences of sin also affect the Earth.

10. In a mysterious way, Christ's redemptive mission extends to all of Creation.

-- from the Catholic Conservation Center, http://conservation.catholic.org/