INTRODUCTION:
LAUDATO SI´ SACRU REPORT

This report has been created by Working Group 2 “Catholic Identity and Laudato Si’: The Common Home and Social Justice”, of the Strategic Alliance of Catholic Research Universities (SACRU). WG2 reflects the Catholic identity of the SACRU member universities and how they have committed themselves to the principles of Laudato Si’, seeking to care for the Common Home and its inhabitants.

This group is focused on reaching three objectives:

・Objective 1: Create evidence on how Laudato Si’ is integrated in our campus life.
・Objective 2: Strengthen the role of our universities in research and public engagement – thus promoting Laudato Si’ principles outside the university.
・Objective 3: Establish a dialogue with secular universities.

“The urgent challenge of protecting our common home includes the concern of uniting the entire human family in the search for sustainable and integral development, since we know that things can change”, says Pope Francisco in Laudato Si’. In that sense, Catholic universities have a lot to do. As the Pope tells us: “Young people demand a change from us. They wonder how it is possible to try to build a better future without thinking about the environmental crisis and the suffering of the excluded”.

This report seeks to answer that call. It presents a display of today’s campus initiatives that are being developed across SACRU universities, identifying how Laudato Si’ is integrated in several aspects of the university community such as education, research, campus life and public outreach. This document also presents the series of webinars that were developed jointly combining efforts across the 8 universities of SACRU.

This document is a combined effort of the Working Group members and many contributors from SACRU university community members. It is formed by 15 people from 8 universities: Australian Catholic University, Boston College, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, Sophia University, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, and Universitat Ramon Llull.

We would like to thank all members of the SACRU community and all the people who made this report possible. We hope this report will reach a global audience with which we can share all the activities related with sustainability that are being developed and are taking place in our campuses.

We are convinced that the only way to successfully respond to Pope Francis’ call is in community. The joint work marked by the Catholic identity, and the creation and strengthening of ties between people, make it possible to create warmer and more humane spaces, with harmony and respect for our common home

WG2: Catholic Identity and Laudato Si’, The Common Home and Social Justice
https://www.sacru-alliance.net/working-group-2-catholic-identity-and-laudato-si-the-common-home-and-social-justice/