From ‘Not Enough’ to Bold Embrace: U.S. Catholic Responses to _Laudato Si’_

Abstract

This article presents the opening keynote address offered by His Eminence Blase Cardinal Cupich at the second convening of "_Laudato Si'_ and the U.S. Catholic Church: A Conference Series on Our Common Home” co-sponsored by Catholic Climate Covenant and Creighton University. Cardinal Cupich observes that following _Laudato Si'_, the U.S. Catholic Church has been largely unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to care for our common home. This is especially rooted in a distorted concept of freedom that idolizes self-interested economic growth and the “myth of progress,” and which requires three conversions: political and economic, educational, and spiritual.