This Catholic Messenger Conversations Podcast explores the joys and challenges of caring for God’s creation, which encompasses people’s relationship with God, with each other and God’s earth.
You will learn what some parishes and the dioceses are doing to steward these gifts of God’s creation. Click here to listen.
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Season of Creation
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News
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September 18ST. PAUL — For more than 100 years, Ron Overberg’s family has owned farmland overlooking the tiny community of St. Paul. In the center of town — population 100 — sits St. James the Less Catholic Church. “It’s easy to recognize God during morning prayer when you look over the fields and see the steeple,” he said. Overberg and members of the Together in Christ Parishes, which include St. James the Less-St. Paul, St. John the Baptist-Houghton, St. Mary of the Visitation-West Point and St. Boniface-Farmington, gathered on the evening of Sept. 5 for a Rural Life Mass. Bishop Dennis Walsh presided at the Mass, which takes place annually around harvest time.Read More
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August 20CLINTON — Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace Parish’s new solar energy system is up and running. The panels should generate enough clean, renewable energy to offset the parish’s electrical costs, said Dave Schnier, the parish’s business administrator. On Aug. 5, at 8:35 a.m. the parish’s array of 174 panels began converting sunlight into electricity.Read More
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June 4FORT MADISON —Holy Trinity freshman Brooklyn Forsythe recently traveled to Phoenix to represent Iowa at the world’s largest science fair. She was invited to attend the Regeneron International Science and Industry Fair (ISEF) in a student observer capacity after an impressive run at the State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa in March, where she placed second in the power and structural category and earned the Excellence in Global Impact Award. Her science project focused on the potential for piezoelectric walkways in public areas to generate electricity from footsteps.Read More
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September 25St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville is rolling out a new parish Laudato Si’ Plan during the Season of Creation this year. The parish Green Team has been working the past few months to create an interactive online plan with simple goals that make it easy for parishioners and parish groups to participate (https://tinyurl.com/3rf6nmhd).Read More
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August 29A month-long commemoration of prayer and action that begins Sept. 1 unites Christians worldwide to care for their common home. Here in the Diocese of Davenport, the Season of Creation opens with Vespers at 4 p.m. at St. Anthony Church in downtown Davenport, featuring Evening Prayer and an exploration of this year’s theme, “Hope and Act with Creation.” “The Season of Creation is a time of grace that the Church, in ecumenical dialogue, offers to humanity to renew its relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment,” the organizers said. They are the diocesan Social Action Office and Pope St. John XXIII Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order. The season continues through Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology whose life and ministry more than 800 years ago resonates with Christians of various denominations today.Read More
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Catholic Relief Services Resources:
- Urge Congress to support the Green Climate Fund and Development Assistance.
- Reflect on how we can be better caretakers of our environment by reading Pope Leo message for this year’s World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.
- As climate change drives global hunger, watch the latest video from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization on the state of global food security and nutrition.
- Catholic Relief Services Approach to Climate Change _ this one page document with links to videos from CRS.
- Urge Congress to support the Green Climate Fund and Development Assistance.
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Events Requests:Please let us know about your Season of Creation upcoming events. We want to help you promote you event via our website.
Please let the diocesan Social Action Office know how your parish is planning to celebrate this year’s Season of Creation using the form below or emailing Esmeralda Guerrero at [email protected]
If you are looking for ideas please see page 30 of the celebration Guide.
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The theme for this year’s Season of Creation is “Living Water”.Season of Creation is celebrated September 1 – October 4.
The celebration guide and resources are now now available on their official Season of Creation website , Please visit the ecumenical Season of Creation website for resources and information of how you and your community can participate in the Season of Creation.
Season of Creation Celebration Guide:
The 2026 Season of Creation Celebration Guide is now available in English and Spanish
World Day of Prayer for Creation: September 1“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (Is 2:4) is the theme of Pope Leo XIV’s Message. Click the link below to read Pope Leo's full message.Pope Leo XIV’s Message
Join for this ecumenical prayer service celebrating the beginning of the Season of Creation with faith leaders worldwide.
8:00 a.m. CT
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The Season of Creation is an annual period of praise, prayer and action that is celebrated world-wide by Christians of many denominations to celebrate the wonder of how the world was made and to reclaim the theology of why it was made. The Season begins each year on September 1 with the World Day of Prayer and extends through October 4, the Feast of St. Francis.
In “Laudato Si” the Holy Father has said, “If we learn how to listen, we can hear in the voice of creation a kind of dissonance. On the one hand, we can hear a sweet song in praise of our beloved Creator; on the other, an anguished plea, lamenting our mistreatment of this our common home”.
“Si aprendemos a escucharla, notamos una especie de disonancia en la voz de la creación. Por un lado, es un dulce canto que alaba a nuestro amado Creador; por otro, es un amargo grito que se queja de nuestro maltrato humano”.- Papa Francisco
In listening to the Voices of Creation, The Holy Father asks us to really see our environment, the disappearance of not only glaciers, but of many species of plants and animals, and to notice how some once fertile lands have become drought stricken to the point they can no longer support the people living there and who are now in refugee camps in many parts of the world, while people in other lands are swept away by torrential rain and flooding. He walks us past mountains of refuse, the result of our “throw way culture” and our linear economy of extraction for manufacturing of items that are briefly used and then discarded. He asks us to notice the people scavenging through the mountains of trach hoping to find items usable enough to sell or recycle. He reminds us that too often the poor, the less abled, or elderly are also what is “thrown away”.
Below are some resources for that praise, Prayer and Action:
September 1, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation: Celebrate this day on Sept. 1 by thanking God for his creation and praying that we recognize the need to care for our common home. -
Praise, Prayer and Reflection:
- USCCB - Scripture
USCCB Season of Creation flyer that speaks to the “throw-away culture” that Pope Francis decries in “Laudato Si” and provides suggested actions: WDPCC-Bulletin-Insert.pdf (usccb.org)
A Laudato Si Roundtable discussion with Archbishop Paul Coakley, Bishop Robert Barron, Bishop Robert McElroy and home discussion guides as well as prayers. Disfrute de esta conversación entre los obispos Jorge Rodríguez-Novelo, Oscar Cantú, Daniel Flores y Joseph Tyson, quienes reflexionan sobre el 5º aniversario de la encíclica Laudato Si. Ambos videos están en el mismo lugar. Environmental Justice - Justice Peace and Human Development | USCCB
Catholic Earthcare of Australia’s video introduction to “Laudato Si”: https://youtu.be/IcP5E2trsX
A video from Catholic Relief Services, an element of their series on Catholic Social Teaching 101, Care of God’s Creation. https://youtu.be/wSnXuCxiHXE
A video for the Season of Creation from Vatican https://youtu.be/qDqGkSb-4R
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Learn:
Read a book from a library (save money and trees) about some aspect of care for creation. Some suggestions:
Care for Creation: A Franciscan Spirituality of the Earth, by Ilia Delio, O.S.F., Keith Douglass Warner, O.F.M., and Pamela Wood. Saint Anthony Messenger Press, 2009.
The Earth Cries Out: How Faith Communities Meet the Challenges of Sustainability, by Gary Gardner. Describes best practices of faith communities responding to the impending climate and sustainability emergency, and presents the next steps for people of belief in the years following Laudato Si'. This book is used in the JustFaith program, Faith and Poverty: A Global response.
How Much Is Enough?: Hungering for God in an Affluent Culture, by Arthur Simon. written by Rev. Arthur Simon, Founder of Bread for the World and prior Pacem in Terris Award winner, this book explores the title question in terms of personal and public lifestyles.
The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices, Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists by Michael Brower, PhD and Warren Leon, PhD. Three Rivers Press, 1999.
The Lorax, by Dr. Suess. Written in 1971, the environmental lessons in The Lorax still rings true today. The book discusses consumerism, deforestation, and even pollution.
The Water Princess, by Susan Verde. Based on the life of African-born model Georgie Badiel, who grew up in Burkina Faso, the book is about a little girl imagining she was a princess who could bring water to her village.
Little Pirate: Why Do We Recycle? Science Made Simple!, by Ikids. Something is littering the ocean and Little Pirate investigates. An interactive book.
Possible Actions:
Parish – Plan a mass for the celebration of the Feast of St Francis
Parish – Plan a Blessing of Animals
Parish – Use videos if Season of Creation and “Laudato Si” in Bible study, and faith formation discussions.
Family – Take a family walk in a state or local park and make lists or take photos of the plants and animals you see. When your return home say prayers of thanks to God for what you have seen
Family – Plan an annual family season of creation event with your own favorite prayers of thanks, planting a tree or bush, and attending events in your local area.
Family – View videos about the Season of Creation and “Laudato Si” as a family and discuss their message.
Individual and Family – Learn about our care for creation role as Catholics and write a letter to the editor or post something about our roles on social media.
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Calendar
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Sunday, October 4, 2026Information will be available at the Season of Creation Webpage: https://seasonofcreation.org/events/Read More
- There are no upcoming events.
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Season of Creation Mass _ Presider Bishop Dennis Walsh
Saturday, September 5th at 5:00 pmDue to the because of the heat the mass is now move back to the St. James Church in ST. Paul Address: 2044 Locust St, St Paul, IA 52657St. Thomas More, Coralville _ Season of Creation Events:
St. John of Arc, Bettendof
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
Sisters of St. Benedict, Congregation of the Humility of Mary, and Others
Creation Care Prayer Service
All are invited to join in a spiritual immersion of prayer and response to the cry of Creation. Attendees are invited to bring a small jar of water from a local source. The water will be blessed with our communal prayers.
As part of the Service, the Quad Cities Chapter of the Sierra Club, Eagle View Group, will give a short reflection on their "Water Sentinels" Quad City Program.
10:00 a.m. CT
St. Mary Monastery
2200 88th Ave. W.
Rock Island, IL 61201
SATURDAY,OCTOBER 3
Franciscan Peace Center, Vince Jetter Community Center, and the
Clinton Public Library
Peace in the Park
Celebrate the Season of Creation and the International Day of Peace with this storytelling event. Eco-centered books and resources will be shared and
creation-focused stories for young participants.
2:00 - 4:00 p.m. CT
Clinton Park
301 S. 4th St.
Clinton, IA 52732
THURSDAY, AUGUST 6
Progressive Action for the Common GoodGreen Drinks: How to respond to climate change
Join Ray Wolf - retired Science and Operations Officer for NOAA National Weather Service in Davenport, IA - as he explains how we can respond to climate change. This is a hybrid meeting, attend online or in-person!
5:00 p.m. CT
MLK Interpretive Center
501 Brady St.
Davenport, IA 52803
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Advocacy:
From: Catholic Climate Covenant's Summer Advocacy:
Advocate for Our Common Home & the Common Good
This week, we're asking you to speak out against legislation that would shield fossil fuel companies from legal accountability for climate-related harms.