For Secondary

For Secondary Students

The following questions relate to Pope Francis’ “A Prayer for our Earth”.  Download a copy of this prayer for distribution, as a PDF

1.    How are we responsible for the polluted state of our common home?
2.    What is being done to protect nature, reduce waste and clean our environment? Is it enough or as Pope Francis states, we are not doing enough? Why is that?
3.    What do you think Pope Francis means when he says we need to learn to “discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature”?
4.    Who are the “abandoned and forgotten of this earth” and how do we rescue them?

Additional discussion questions for more advanced students

1.    What does the pope mean by a “throwaway culture”?
2.    What steps am I taking to reduce and recycle in my home or school?
3.    How does Francis interpret Genesis 1:28, which grants humankind over the earth?
4.    In what ways does God speak to you through nature?

ACTIVITY

1.    Go to the pope’s @Pontifex twitter account and write down tweets and responses that support the need to do something about our ecological crisis.

2.    Make a list of things that you do to reduce and recycle. Consider the following ethical way of treating our environment. Research any of these topics that contain the following practices that are in direct contradiction to the pope’s message on treating other creatures and our environment with respect:

• Factory farming
• Drift net fishing
• Palm oil
• Plastic
• Animal testing
• Paper
• Rubbish
• Air pollution