USF’s Commitment to Laudato Si’
We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.
Pope Francis, Laudato si (2015)
USF’s One Earth Initiative Action Plan takes inspiration from Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical, Laudato si’: On Care for Our Common Home. The encyclical urges all people to care for our common home through “integral ecology” - a holistic approach that recognizes the interconnected scientific, political, legal, economic, social, cultural, and spiritual dimension to our understanding of the environment and the profound threats we face.
In 2021, the Vatican called on all Catholic institutions, including universities, to embody the Laudato si’ principles, and set up the Laudato si Action Platform to guide the process.
The Laudato si Action Platform sets forth the following goals:
Here at USF, the One Earth Initiative (OEI), a working group of faculty, administrators, librarians, staff, and students, was convened by the Provost's Office, the Joan and Ralph Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition, and the University’s Chief Mission Officer to develop USF’s Laudato Si Action Plan. With input from across the community, including USF students, faculty, staff, and leadership, the action plan is designed to integrate the principles of Laudato si’ into all aspects of the university, into its cultural, educational, scholarly, and physical dimensions. The plan seeks to fulfill our Jesuit Catholic mission to walk with those who are marginalized and journey with youth toward a hope-filled future.
The action plan builds on USF’s environmental justice and sustainability strengths, and accords with the university’s mission and strategic plans. Central to our mission is the obligation “... to care for our common home, including the native lands on which our campuses reside.” That mission is embodied in the university’s 2027 strategic plan, which calls on us to “[r]eimagine Jesuit education to accelerate the achievement of a more just and sustainable world.”
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