Faith, Climate, and Living God’s Hope

Anna Johnson of the Laudato Si’ Movement witnessed the devastating impact of climate change in communities across Uganda and Guatemala. She had an “ecological conversion” that shaped her faith and vocation. Now she draws upon the call of ecological justice in Catholic social teaching to encourage people of faith to unite their care for creation with contemplative action.

A Ugandan boy pointed at the plane in the sky above them. “America!” he exclaimed.

Things began to click for Anna Johnson in that moment. At that time, she was working in a displaced-persons camp for Ugandans who had fled war in the northern part of the country. The Catholic Church had donated a building to create a safe space for children in this community ravaged by war and trauma, along with nearby land that could be used for farming to help make the community sustainable.

The only problem was the weather. Whereas equatorial countries like Uganda historically had steady, predictable rains, a lack of rain caused all the planted seeds to shrivel and die before they could sprout. When the little Ugandan boy pointed at the plane above and shouted, “America!” he was perhaps not talking about climate change, but the event led Johnson to make connections in her mind.

“It was one of those moments where I realized, ‘Oh, the world is changing because of the way that we as Americans are living, and my life until now has been a part of the reason that these crops were unable to take root.’ These incredible people are suffering because of our changing climate. It became clear to me the longer I lived in Uganda that we can work for justice — for the unfolding of God’s kingdom — as much as we want, but that the ecological crisis is upon us and moving faster than we can.”

This narrative continued to unfold in different ways as Johnson worked in growing global solidarity. After her time in Uganda, she worked with communities in an area in Guatemala that had historically been one of the most fertile lands in the country. It was now dubbed by locals the “home of the migrant” because it could no longer bear food. Johnson’s heart broke in witnessing what these communities, who had welcomed her in so warmly, had faced.

Seeing this story happen repeatedly, she pivoted in her vocation, earning a master’s degree in sustainability leadership. This led her to the Laudato Si’ Movement (named after Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical calling Catholics and people of faith and conscience to care for creation), which seeks “to inspire and mobilize the Catholic community to care for our common home and achieve climate and ecological justice, in collaboration with all people of good will.” Today, Johnson serves as the organization’s director of North America.

“One of the things I love about Catholic social teaching is the preferential option for the poor,” Johnson shares. “Preferential option for the poor necessitates that when we make decisions, there’s a seat at the table for those who are most impacted by those decisions. Pope Francis, early in his papacy, once said that if today we are to consider who the poorest of the poor is, it would be Mother Earth. [1] Anyone who knows that teaching knows that what he’s saying is that Mother Earth deserves a seat at any of our decision-making tables. We should always be asking: How will what we decide here impact God’s creation? Imagine if every Catholic really upheld that. Movement members around the world are doing exactly that.”

The movement encourages Catholics and faith-based people to transcend the political divide plaguing the U.S. and unite around the gospel and Catholic social teaching. “In the last few presidential elections, we’ve been split almost down the middle in terms of which candidate Catholics voted for,” Johnson shares about the Catholic Church in the U.S. “This is one of the few remaining places in this country where people are united [around their faith] across political parties in a really profound way.”

Pope Benedict XVI, typically viewed as more traditional, was nicknamed the “Green Pope” for making ecological responsibility a theological and moral imperative. Pope Francis, often considered more progressive, built on Benedict’s progress and authored Laudato Si’, named after St. Francis of Assisi’s “Canticle of the Creatures.” Pope Leo XIV is following his predecessors in making environmental protection and “ecological conversion” a top priority.

Johnson notes the challenge in mobilizing Christians in North America who are not yet directly experiencing the catastrophic impacts of climate change in the dire way that she saw the people of Uganda and Guatemala suffering.

“There’s the funding of a narrative that climate change is a divisive issue when it is not,” Johnson states. “I think the rest of the world often looks at us and wonders, ‘Why are you seeing this as a political issue?’ We’re all impacted. There’s not some one-sided political agenda here. People in the United States were looking around at all the snow they experienced last winter, perhaps thinking to themselves, ‘What’s the big deal?’ Meanwhile, four typhoons hit my colleagues in the Philippines in ten days. That’s what 1.5 degrees of global warming can do.”

When the inaction in the U.S. weighs on Johnson, she returns to nature. Spending time in nature has breathed life into her since she camped and hiked with her family as a child. “I don’t know how to be in nature and not end with a sense of joy,” she beams.

Then she gets back to work, trying to help Catholics in North America live into the Church’s teachings through the Laudato Si’ Movement. “This is a space where we can come together around a shared language and witness, understanding that we’re all invited to have a personal and communal relationship with Jesus,” Johnson shares. “Jesus came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. So, what does abundance look like for us?

“That’s the beauty of contemplation. It allows us to slow down enough to understand that that which is most beautiful in our life doesn’t require purchasing a lot. Our society can be moving so fast that we forget what it means to be human and what it means to be living God’s hope for us. Encyclicals only make sense if we give them legs.”

Reflect with Us  
Anna Johnson’s story invites us to see that caring for creation is not separate from our spiritual lives. When we pay attention, we begin to see how our lives are connected to the well-being of people and places beyond our immediate view. What small shift could help you live with greater care for our common home and for those most impacted by its changes? Share your reflection with us. 

We Conspire is a series from the Center for Action and Contemplation featuring wisdom and stories from the growing Christian contemplative movement. Sign up for the monthly email series and receive a free invitation to practice each month. 

Reference:
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word, directed by Wim Wenders (Focus Features, 2018), 24:34.