Care for Creation
Franciscans are dedicated to the care of creation,
seeing all creatures as brothers and sisters.
Saints Francis and Clare believed all creatures, from the smallest creature to “our Sister, Mother Earth,” are sisters and brothers and part of the family of God. Pope John Paul II named Francis the patron saint of ecology. The Franciscan Action Network seeks to activate and support Franciscan-hearted people to advocate in this spirit of fraternity and kinship— to drive public comments to the U.S. administration and influence Members of Congress and other elected officials to care for our common home.
2027 Campaign— Abundant Life Beyond Fossil Fuels
COMING SOON!
Abundant life beyond fossil fuels is within our reach! In the Gospel story of the Good Shepherd, Jesus implores us to see: “I came that they might have life and have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10). Human thriving requires a healthy Earth and a deep appreciation for our spiritual connectedness to all of creation.
Learn more about our current dependency on fossil fuels and what might be possible with a change of consciousness as hoped for by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’. Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato si’ calls for a profound “ecological conversion”— a fundanmental shift in human consciousness away from consumerism and mastery toward deep relationality, awe, and care for creation. The poor and most vulnerable contribute the least to climate change and are harmed the most. Living more simply, reverently, and fully is possible.
Advocate with FAN and support the national No Immunity for Big Oil Campaign, which seeks to reach out in concern to our Members of Congress about the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act (S. 4340 and H.R. 8330). Other legislative priorities include: public comments on proposed methane gas rule changes, promotion of just transition policies and financing, legislation to reduce plastic packaging and make polluters pay legislation, and more!
COMING SOON!
2026 Campaigns
Pope Francis warned of the “virus of materialism” that “anesthetizes the heart,” fuels inequality and poverty, and destroys the environment. How do we resist a “throwaway culture” and embrace a “better kind of politics” that seeks the common good, prioritizes the poor, and protects the environment? (Fratelli Tutti, 2020) One way to do this is to work to end plastics pollution and combat extractivism on our public lands.
More than a third of the U.S. territory is public land or water. We own it collectively and the U.S. government stewards it. Yet, this administration is seeking to strip protections and auction off our public lands for corporate profit to the lumber, oil, gas, and mining industries at an alarming scale. Millions of acres of public lands and waters are at risk. Please take action to protect our public lands and waters!
Protect the Arctic from Extractive Oil and Gas Drilling
Protect our National Forests and the Roadless Rule
Protect our Wetlands and the Clean Water Act
Protect Our Wildlands and Endangered Species
Critical bills at the state level are seeking to address the crisis of planet-warming, ocean-polluting, landfill-clogging, human health-harming single-use plastics by reducing them at the source while saving taxpayers money and providing support for recycling and reuse efforts. FAN urges its network to join the growing grassroots movement of people working to reduce plastic pollution in their own towns and cities via Beyond Plastics.
Urge Elected Officials: Stop Plastics Pollution
Learn more, watch webinars, and take action!
2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 Campaigns
Since 2022, FAN has annually sponsored an environmental justice campaign which sought to highlight prominent cases of environmental injustice and advocates from the affected communities. We encourage you to learn more about environmental injustice in the U.S. by referencing FAN’s past campaign resources and webinars.
“A Right to a Clean and Healthy Environment” (winter 2025)
“Environmental Racism in Diverse Regions in the United States” (Fall 2024)
“Awakening to Environmental Justice” (Spring 2024)
“Working for Environmental Justice” (2023)
“Confronting Environmental Racism” (2022)
Keep Current on Creation Care!
Do you want to work for environmental justice? Do you want to protect our national forests? Defeat plastics pollution? Work for abundant life beyond fossil fuels? Please sign-up for The Current, FAN’s monthly environmental advocacy newsletter, which features relevant online action items, news headlines, and event listings.
“Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically…He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.”
-Pope Francis, Laudato Si #10
“We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and other other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand and integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature”
-Pope Francis, Laudato Si #139
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