On Sunday evening, at a Mass marking the beginning of Mission Week 2022, Dr. Al Miciak, President of Ӱ̳, announced that the University is part of the first cohort of colleges and universities to answer Pope Francis’ call to join the “Laudato Si’,” President Miciak explains, “is the Pope’s 2015 encyclical on Integral Ecology. Over the next 7 years, we will be one of over a hundred universities to take concrete steps to promote ecological education and simplified lifestyles, reduce our carbon footprint, invest and spend responsibly, and listen carefully to the voices of those who are poor and most adversely affected by climate change.”
Vice President for Mission and Identity, Edward Peck, notes that “President Miciak signed the pledge on behalf of the University last October. Since the Journey does not officially begin until May, and the theme of Mission Week 2022 is Caring for our Common Home, we wanted to announce our joining the Journey this week, at the beginning of the year.” For the past year, Peck has been a member of an international working group under the auspices of the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development that developed the Laudato Si’ Action Platform and a process whereby participating institutions can show measurable increases on their sustainability efforts and the reduction of their carbon footprint.