Sophia Center develops ecological ministry

by Hannah Hiester
Special to The Leaven

ATCHISON — The Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica here have a unique historical legacy that spans centuries.

But through their mission to intentionally care for creation, the Sisters hope to leave an even longer lasting impact on Atchison and the world.

Though the Sisters at the Mount minister to the community and steward the environment in a variety of ways, the Mount’s Sophia Spirituality Center has become one way to increase the impact of their ecological and educational initiatives. Sister Elizabeth Carillo, who has been a Sister at the Mount since 2002, works on creation care programming, ecospirituality, and ecotheology for the Sophia Center.

There is no better person to lead the center’s ecological ministry. Sister Elizabeth shared with The Leaven that she obtained her master’s in religion and environment from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, where she learned to integrate science with theology, a combination that she said gave her a “broad picture of interaction between human beings and the environment.”

She said that the Sisters at the Mount periodically set “directional statements” to discern as a community what specific area they want to focus on. The two current statements place an emphasis on the care of creation.

According to Sister Elizabeth, the first statement involves “witnessing to the sacredness and interconnection of creation through Benedictine stewardship and ongoing conversion as expressed through spiritual formation, education, advocacy and collaboration.”

“The second one had to do with being guided and inspired by the Gospel, the Rule of Benedict and the teachings of Pope Francis, how we wanted to live our community life and monastic values from those sources,” she said, adding that the Sisters especially wanted to focus on “Laudato Si,’” Pope Francis’ encyclical on care of the environment.

The Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development at the Vatican created an initiative known as the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, which Sister Elizabeth explained consists of seven goal areas in which faithful Catholics can specifically practice creation care. According to the platform’s website, the goal of the initiative is to carry out “concrete actions to protect our common home.”

The Mount signed onto the platform in a seven-year-long commitment in spring 2024, immediately beginning their creation care ministry with the development of a community garden in Atchison. In its first year, Sister Elizabeth said, it generated thousands of pounds of produce, which they donated to Catholic Charities.

The Sisters at the Mount practice other eco-friendly and sustainable habits like beekeeping, organic gardening and composting, but they’re widening their outreach with a summer internship program as well. The Mount’s Creation Care Internship would allow young adults to practice stewardship of the environment through a Catholic lens, with guidance and spiritual enrichment from the Sisters. Applications are currently open for self-motivated college juniors, seniors or recent graduates.

Sister Elizabeth also said that interns would study “Laudato Si’” during the summer through a five-week online program and have opportunities to work with other ministries like Catholic Charities and Uplift in Kansas City, Missouri, to reach out to poor and marginalized communities.

“We want to make sure that they understand that it’s this integral approach — that it’s taking into [consideration the] care and concern for the dignity of the human person and for human society, at the same time as caring for the integrity of the Earth community,” Sister Elizabeth said.

She added that the Sisters’ focus on the care of creation, in which the internship would provide a profound experience, is deeply rooted in church teaching and Scripture, going all the way back to the creation story in the Book of Genesis.

“God’s creating all of these places for creatures to inhabit and to be living with one another, supporting each other in that network and interconnectedness of creation. And then, humans are to come along and keep that balance,” she said. “That sense of everything being given into the hands of humankind is not just a license to take and plunder, but [a challenge] — how do we keep . . . creation in this beautiful balance? 

“There is something about creation care that really is ennobling of the human person because it’s bringing us back to what we’re truly created for and to do.”