22 May 2020

St Macartan’s School, Mornington, is reflecting on Family Week and Laudato Si’ Week, which marks the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical letter On Care for Our Common Home.

Sustainability Leader Cynthia Menon said: ‘This week, students participated in a challenge to share photos of how they are taking action as a family to care for our earth and the poor. Year 6 leaders have written prayers and, on Sunday 24 May, school families are invited to pause at 12 noon and participate in the global moment of prayer on the 5th anniversary of Laudato Si’.’

Families got on board and submitted their response to the challenge with photos. Here are a few of their responses:

• Lily: ‘We are trying to reduce our waste and recycling appropriately.’
• Leonardo: ‘My family is helping earth by walking to the shops, to the beach and to go out to eat. Not driving helps reduce carbon emissions. We reduce, reuse and we recycle.’
• Louise: ‘At home we have created a compost to help reduce our waste and we have been donating a lot of money to the poor and homeless people in India.’
• Sam: ‘To care for our common home, we use soda stream and reuse plastic bottles. We also use an allocated amount of water.’
• Persia: ‘We turn off the heater at night, we have all of the lights off at day, we never waste food, we have showers from three to five minutes, and we grow our own veggies and some fruits.’
• Mateo: ‘My family is doing many things to support the poor and help the environment. We are donating clothes, food and toys, walking to places we can, planting lots of plants and herbs, and using limited water.’

Principal Colleen McGreal said: ‘During this challenging time, it is more important than ever to create opportunities where we can connect with each other and our world. Family Week and Laudato Si’ Week combined was the perfect time to emphasise the importance of caring for each other and our planet.’