“The passion of the earth is always the passion of Christ himself. When we’re gone, the earth will still be here. Whatever we do to Mother Nature always comes back to us.”  Father Brando Recaña, C.P., pastor of St. Gabriel’s

In 2006 a new church was consecrated in Toronto, inspired by the cosmic vision of Thomas Berry, the teaching of Passionist Father Stephen Dunn, C.P and the work of architect Roberto Chiotti. St. Gabriel's was the first church in Canada to be certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or L.E.E.D., rating system. From its floor plan to its building materials to its parishioner programs, St. Gabriel’s has embodied a Catholic vision of ecology since its consecration in 2006, nearly a decade before Pope Francis published Laudato Si' in 2015.

Read about the vision and reality of St. Gabriels here.

Since publication of the 1985 book from the Center of Concern, Our Best Kept Secret: The Rich Heritage of Catholic Social Teaching, the phrase has been repeated often.

The reality of course is that the Catholic church is deeply blessed with more than 100 years' worth of outstanding social justice and peace documents authored by popes, the second Vatican Council, world synods of bishops and national conferences of bishops. But sadly, these documents, compiled in the weighty Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, "attract more dust than readers." (NCR)

Louisville's Bellarmine University student, Alexander Reeves was given the challenge of encapsulating on a bookmark the "7 pillars" of Catholic Social Teaching. The bookmark is distributed through the campus ministry office.  Alexander enthusiastically gives us permission to use this design as we wish.  If anyone would like him to help with your project he can be reached at [email protected] 

Download a PDF file of the bookmark here