HARVEST OF FAITH

SUMMER 2019

A GENTLE ROAR

IN 1996, REPRESENTATIVES FROM AN ASSORTMENT OF CATHOLIC ORGANIZATIONS in the Hudson River bioregion came together to talk about environmental goals and challenges. Most of these groups – 15, including the Sisters of Charity, the Maryknoll Sisters, and the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill – had stewardship over tracts of undeveloped land, which they wanted to care for responsibly. They called themselves Religious Organizations Along the River (ROAR).

“Ecologically sound care of Earth is a God-given mission,” ROAR’s mission statement declared, and the members pledged to “support one another in using the land under our care with respect for its integrity, revelatory nature and beauty” and “address the interrelated issues of poverty, injustice, and ecological deterioration in this bioregion.” Since ROAR’s founding, its member organizations have donated hundreds of undeveloped acres to regional land trusts to be protected in perpetuity from development. Many of these tracts are open to be enjoyed by the public.

ROAR also collaborates with other groups such as the Metro New York Catholic Climate Movement to advocate for broader environmental goals, educating and mobilizing Catholics on issues like protecting clean water, reducing plastic use and containing climate change through safe, renewable energy choices. ROAR’s Facebook page (facebook.com/ROARHUDSON) is regularly updated with news and event announcements.

Although ROAR came into being more than a decade before Laudato Si’, Sr. Carol DeAngelo, Director of Peace, Justice and the Integrity of Creation for Sisters of Charity of New York and one of ROAR’s founders, remembers her excitement when Pope Francis’ encyclical was published. “People now see that social justice issues are very interconnected with care for creation,” she says. “Climate change issues affect poverty and migration. If we explore the depths of Laudato Si’, we are being called to a new way of being.”