Twenty-three congregations of Catholic sisters serving in Illinois will observe Catholic Sisters Week, March 8-14, with a challenge: do not consume beverages from single-use plastic bottles.
“We are taking advantage of the annual observance of Catholic Sisters Week to educate, inform, and act to end plastic waste through a Refuse to Use campaign,” said Sister Marcelline Koch, the justice promoter for the Dominican Sisters of Springfield.
According to National Geographic, 18 billion pounds of plastic waste flow into the oceans every year, nearly half the plastic ever made has been manufactured since 2020, and at the same time, less than one fifth of all plastic is recycled globally. The impact of plastic in the ocean and in the waste stream is devastating for all life. Its manufacture contributes annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 57 average size coal-fired power plants.
“It’s time to rethink what we drink,” said Springfield Dominican Sister Mila Díaz Solano, who convened the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) Region 8 to plan for this event.
Put an end to single-use plastic bottles
Download this poster then put it somewhere
it can make a difference during Catholic Sisters Week, March 8-14.
The production of polluting waste is only one part of the story. The life cycle of single-use plastic bottles—from the point of manufacture to what they are filled with and how they are disposed of—demonstrates the concerns Catholic sisters have for three Gospel-based challenges facing the world: racism, migration, and climate change.
For example, Coca Cola, the world’s largest seller of soda, often builds its polluting plants in poor neighborhoods most often inhabited by persons of color, engages in unfair labor practices that sometimes take advantage of immigrants, pollutes local waterways, and produces tons of microplastic pollution that harms the oceans, the soil, and our bodies. “When you understand this, you can see how one issue of Gospel justice is connected to the next,” said Sister Marcelline.
To draw attention to these interlinked global challenges, religious communities of Catholic sisters in Illinois are inviting the public to refuse to use any single-use plastic drink bottles during March 8-14.
For example, Coca Cola, the world’s largest seller of soda, often builds its polluting plants in poor neighborhoods most often inhabited by persons of color, engages in unfair labor practices that sometimes take advantage of immigrants, pollutes local waterways, and produces tons of microplastic pollution that harms the oceans, the soil, and our bodies
Fifty-two weeks a year, Catholic sisters stand with the poor and immigrants, teach children, fight injustice, heal the sick, share spirituality, empower women, defend the planet, promote peace, create community, and offer hope. For one week each year, Catholic Sisters Week, the spotlight shines on them in a celebration of the positive impact of women religious around the world.
The “Refuse to Use” campaign is a collaboration among the leadership, global concerns committees, and communicators for the 23 participating religious communities. It will be launched with a graphic of a crushed water bottle superimposed with an image of Earth and the words “The empty bottle will stick around for about 1,000 years after you are done with it. It will outlast your children and their children, and their children, and their children…”
The sisters encourage sharing the graphic in office breakrooms, beverage dispensing machines, and anywhere possible to build awareness and encourage participation.
The Catholic Sisters congregations in Illinois who are participating in the campaign are: Adorers of the Blood of Christ, Belleville; Benedictine Sisters of Chicago, Cenacle Sisters, Chicago; Benedictine Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Chicago; Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Frankfort; Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, Springfield; Joliet Franciscans; Congregation of St. Joseph, LaGrange Park; Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Wheaton; Missionary Sisters Servants of the Holy Spirit, Northfield; School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King, Lemont; Servants of the Holy Heart of Mary, Batavia; Servants of Mary, Berwyn; Sisters of the Living Word Des Plaines; Sisters of St. Francis of the Immaculate Conception, Peoria; Society of Helpers, Chicago; Sisters of St. Benedict, Rock Island; Wheaton Franciscan Sisters; and Sisters of Christian Charity, Wilmette.
Also participating are members of the LCWR Region 8 who are outside Illinois: Adrian (Mich.) Dominicans, Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa (Wisc.), and School Sisters of Notre Dame Atlantic Midwest Province.
References
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/plastics-facts-infographics-ocean-pollution
