By Jennifer Mauro | Associate Editor

It’s been one year since Pope Francis’ encyclical on environmental responsibility was released, but religious leaders in the Diocese say the lessons in Laudato Si’ will never grow old.

“In the Gospel, God created the world and gave it to us,” said Franciscan Father James P. Scullion, pastor of St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Long Beach Island. “But it’s important to understand what it means to have dominance over creation,” he said. “We just can’t do whatever we want.”

Released in 2015, “Laudato Si’: On the Care for Our Common Home” addresses climate change, man’s impact on ecology and social responsibility while posing the question, “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?”

“Some issues are political, but some are also moral and religious,” Father Scullion said. “This is one of those issues.”

Msgr. R. Vincent Gartland, a retired priest of the Diocese of Trenton who has led numerous study series on the encyclical in the past year, agreed.

“We are dealing with the future of humanity,” he said. “We are called to kinship, to live with the earth and all of creation. That’s a big change for us – that we are not the center, but a part of creation. The thought that earth revolves around humans is a false reading of Genesis.”

In the spring, Msgr. Gartland concluded a study series that started last fall in St. Ann Parish, Lawrenceville, where he explained and discussed a new chapter each month with those who attended. It’s important to keep talking about the encyclical and the spiritual perspective on the environment, he said, “to make sure that it’s a continuing process. To make sure it has roots.”

He even helped facilitate a study seminar as recently as June – an event held in St. George Parish, Titusville, and hosted by the New Jersey Council of Churches. The fact that it was a gathering of Christian communities – not just Catholic – is exactly what Pope Francis is calling for, he said, because the environment is a world problem.

“The goal of the Laudato Si’ is to get people to change their lifestyles,” Msgr. Gartland said, adding that one of the messages he pushes in his study groups is, “If you read this well, you’re going to change your lifestyle and if you don’t change your lifestyle, you didn’t read it well.”

In St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Father Scullion also held an encyclical study series last summer. Though there were many discussions and some debates, he said the group could see that the earth is in trouble.

“I think more people here are sensitive to this issue because we live by the sea,” he said, referencing the many homes – including the church - that were damaged in Superstorm Sandy. “Going through the hurricane, we are very away of the environmental impact” of climate change.

Franciscan Sister Pat McNiff, who heads adult formation in the parish, said she invited a parishioner to present the encyclical to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults group this past spring because it’s an important message about man’s responsibility to creation. She said the parishioner’s presentation was well-received, though the message of forfeiting material things for the good of the world can be a difficult message to hear.

“It’s a challenge to live the Gospel in today’s day and time – a challenge and a gift,” she said.

To that regard, Msgr. Gartland said that at the end of his study series in St. Ann – where he was pastor for 19 years – his group discussed even the simplest ways man can be more conscious of the environment, such as using real plates and cups instead of paper or plastic ones. He also continues to put quotes from the encyclical in the weekly bulletin.

Similarly, Father Scullion said his parish does its best to follow in the steps of St. Francis of Assisi in living out the encyclical. For example, the weekly bulletin always promotes the JPIC Corner (Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation) as well as an “Integrity of Creation” box that lists ways people can help the environment, such as conserving electricity by unplugging appliances and switching to LED lightbulbs.

“The key is making this understandable to people, and there are so many resources,” Msgr. Gartland said, explaining that all anyone has to do is enter “Laudato Si’” in an internet search engine to find information, study guides and even the encyclical itself online for free.

“I think every parish has a responsibility to find ways to introduce not just their parish, but the community to the encyclical and challenge them to an ecological conversion,” he said.