Honoring our Creator
Plant giveaway hosted by the Caring for God’s Creation team at Most Blessed Sacrament Parish in Arlington on Sunday, April 12. (NTC/Kevin Bartram)
“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue. There is a nobility in the duty to care for creation through little daily actions.” — Pope Francis, Laudato Si’
The purple coneflowers budding outside Linda and Tommy Woodson’s Arlington home do more than indicate summer is on its way.
“It reminds us the mystical Body of Christ is alive and well in our parish,” said Tommy Woodson, who received the perennial a couple of years ago at Most Blessed Sacrament Parish’s free native plant and flower giveaway. “They come up every year in the same spot. It’s beautiful.”
Encouraging parishioners to use native vegetation in landscape projects is one of several initiatives embraced by members of Caring for God’s Creation, a parish ministry inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home). Addressed to all people, the encyclical asks the world’s population to take better care of the natural environment and each other, especially the poor.
Founded at the Arlington parish on May 24, 2023, on the encyclical’s eighth anniversary, the ministry hopes to protect and preserve the earth’s resources for future generations through education, activities promoting a sustainable environment, and prayer.
“When the ministry started, we weren’t sure it would get traction, but people keep swarming to it,” Woodson said. “This group of people have the passion and determination to make things happen.”
Most Blessed Sacrament has the only parish-based Caring for God’s Creation ministry in Texas enrolled in the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ Action Platform. The seven goals outlined in the platform include listening to the cry of the earth and the poor; ecological economics; sustainable lifestyles; education; ecological spirituality; and community empowerment.
Longtime parishioner Carol Stilley started the parish ministry after participating in a webinar sponsored by Catholic Climate Covenant in July 2021.
“It talked about Laudato Si’ and, how five years after it was published, Pope Francis felt people were not responding to what he presented,” she explained. “He wanted better care of the earth and the people in it.”
The retired marketing and food science specialist drafted a proposal to start the ministry based on the Vatican’s action plan and presented it to then pastor Monsignor Joe Pemberton.
“Thinking of my grandchildren made it real for me,” Stilley mused. “I want to make sure they have an environment they could thrive in, which is what we had.”
Promoting native gardens
During the past three years, the ministry’s steering committee and 100 volunteers who sign up for different projects have beautified the Mary garden and redesigned the church’s entry islands with native perennials. Fall aster, muhly grass, autumn salvia, black-eyed Susans, purple coneflowers, sun drops, paprika yarrow, and daisies provide color throughout the year.
Twice a year, the ministry gives away free plants and seeds so parishioners can create their own native and pollinator landscapes at home.
“Native gardens are good for the earth because they are drought tolerant, conserve water, and save money,” Stilley pointed out. “And native plants don’t need pesticides or fertilizers.”
Educating people about the impact a perennial wildflower, like milkweed, has on the environment is part of the mission. Monarch butterflies are the state insect of Texas and are an endangered species.
“They only lay their eggs on milkweed and when the eggs hatch, the caterpillars feed on the leaves,” Stilley said, citing how critical one native plant is to the environment.
Caring for God’s Creation also advocated replacing incandescent lights with energy-efficient LED lightbulbs parish-wide. Donations to the #iGiveCatholic campaign paid for the conversion and the project was completed in 2025.
Parishioners like Tommy Woodson noticed the improvement LED fixtures made on the parish campus.
“Our parking lots have more light and are safer than they have ever been, and the same goes for the gym,” he said. “It’s just fabulous the impact this ministry has made. The impact is not only emotional and spiritual but practical. LED lights use less electricity.”
Prayer and preservation
Spirituality is a critical component of the ministry and organizers plan to observe the Jubilee Year of St. Francis with special activities.
In the past, the parish’s religious education program partnered with the ministry to educate youngsters about the patron saint of ecology, the Laudato Si’ encyclical, and what they can do to preserve nature.
“Last May, we had a pilgrimage around the parish starting at the Mary garden and ending at the Our Lady of Guadalupe statue during Laudato Si’ week,” Stilley recalled. “There was prayer, reflections, songs, and fellowship. Walking to the children’s playground reminded us that what we do now will affect future generations.”
A few months later, parishioners joined Catholics from across the country by participating in a Pilgrimage of Hope for Creation. The 1.4-mile walk from River Legacy Park to the Most Blessed Sacrament chapel included prayers, hymns, and “being part of God’s creation,” she continued.
Avid gardener Karen Donnelly spearheads the ministry’s plant giveaways. Parishioners have the opportunity to choose from rock rose, milkweed, columbine, spiderwort, irises, and other selections.
“I’ve been with this since the beginning because it fits in with who I am and my interests,” said the Arlington homeowner who cultivated her own native, drought-tolerant yard and regularly shares seeds and cuttings with neighbors.
Environmental issues Pope Francis raised in his encyclical strongly tie in with caring for the poor, she said. Responding to that reality, Caring for God’s Creation received a plot in the Community Gardens at the University of Texas at Arlington. A portion of the vegetables grown in the raised beds are donated to Mission Arlington, the garden’s designated food bank program.
“Every year we review what we’ve done to see if we met the seven goals Pope Francis listed,” Donnelly added. “We reflect on whether we’re making progress and encouraging other people to become educated about the environment. The pope’s encyclical reminds Christians there are issues affecting the whole world relating to climate and caring for the poor on earth.”