Edgewood College Joins Call for ‘Laudato Si’

Madison, Wis. (April 26, 2022) – On Earth Day, April 22, 2022, President Andrew Manion made official the College’s commitment to participate in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si: A 7-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology.

In a signing ceremony, part of a special Earth Week Mass in St. Joseph Chapel, Manion signed the letter of commitment that will be sent to the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The signing was witnessed by dozens of attendees, including students, faculty, staff, administrators, and included several Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, the founding order and sponsor of Edgewood College.

“This is the start of an important journey, and we are honored to join the other Catholic colleges and universities around the world, and here in the U.S., in this important work to care for our common home,” President Manion, said. 

As a new Laudato Si’ Institution, Edgewood College will chart a course through the Journey, with the assistance of the Laudato Si’ Action Platform. In the coming academic year 2022-23, the College will gather a group of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and neighbors to develop a Laudato Si’ Action Plan that will address each of the seven Laudato Si’ goals:

• Respond to the Cry of the Earth
• Respond to the Cry of the Poor
• Foster Ecological Economics
• Adopt a Sustainable Lifestyle
• Offer Ecological Education
• Develop Ecological Spirituality
• Support Local Communities

Edgewood College will report to the Dicastery each year on its progress, and pledges to participate with other institutions around the world on the Journey around the world.

In 2015, Pope Francis released his landmark encyclical letter Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Moved by this encyclical, millions of people around the world are thinking and acting in new ways to heal the Earth.

(Friday, April 22, 2022. President Andrew Manion signs the letter to be sent to the Vatican, marking Edgewood College as a Laudato Si’ Institution)
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