The Sisters of the Holy Names pray for a fair, practical, binding and universal agreement on climate change

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Longueuil, Quebec, Canada, November 30, 2015 – The Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM) ask the general public, their members and friends to join them in praying that the United Nations Conference on Climate Change manages to come together to develop a fair, practical and legally binding agreement.

To pray in an informed manner

The SNJM’s Justice and Peace Network also encourages everyone to become more informed about and to reflect on the issue of climate change from a spiritual perspective. The Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center, an SNJM sponsored NGO, has developed two educational guides to help inform and structure this reflection:

  • “Climate Change: Our Call to Conversion” a booklet offering four training sessions on climate change
  • A new “Laudato Si’ Reflection Guide”, which provides additional information along with extracts from “Laudato Si’ ” Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment and issues of human ecology. The guide is intended to help facilitate understanding of Pope Francis’ message.

These documents will be translated into French shortly. Click here for more information

Sister of the Holy Names in Paris

In 2008, the Sisters of the Holy Names took a position promoting universal access to drinking water, which is very much threatened by climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable. The congregation is also a founding and sponsoring member of UNANIMA International, an NGO that enjoys consultative status with, the United Nations Economic and Social Council. Barbara Spears, an SNJM representative on UNANIMA’s board of directors, is part of the organization’s delegation to the COP 21, the Paris Conference on Climate Change. During and after the conference, she will be continuing her advocacy work around this vital issue.

More about 2015 United Nations Conference on Climate Change

The Paris Conference on Climate Change will take place from November 30 to December 11, 2015 in Bourget, France. The participants in this conference are the nations who have signed the 1992 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and those who want to be involved in the negotiation of the convention to replace the Kyoto Protocol. The overarching goal of the annual meetings is to develop a Convention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the global temperature increase to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. For more information go to http://www.cop21.gouv.fr/en/

About UNANIMA International

UNANIMA is a coalition of 19 congregations of Roman Catholic Sisters which advocates at the UN for the improvement of the economic and social conditions of all peoples. Its members carry out various humanitarian projects on all continents. Through UNANIMA, marginalized persons are brought to the UN to speak their own truth. The UNANIMA offices are conveniently located in New York, near the United Nations Headquarters: www.unanima-international.org

About the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary

The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary (SNJM) is an international community of Catholic women religious. In their mission, the SNJMs act with the cooperation of associates, lay consecrated persons, volunteers, colleagues and friends. Founded in 1843 in Longueuil, QC, Canada, the congregation carries out its mission of education on three continents. Visit www.snjm.org