NDMU Commits to Sustainability as a Laudato Si’ University

(BALTIMORE, Md.) – Notre Dame of Maryland University is taking bold action on sustainability and social justice in becoming a Laudato Si’ University, joining the first cohort of about 100 Catholic colleges and universities around the world.

NDMU is adopting the Laudato Si’ Action Platform, an initiative of the Vatican Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, to create a better future for the planet and humanity, as part of Pope Francis’s 7-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology. NDMU will have access to resources to develop and implement a robust action plan on sustainability and social justice, aligning with the University’s mission to build inclusive communities, engage in service to others, and promote social responsibility. A comprehensive co-ed university founded as the nation’s first Catholic college to award women the baccalaureate degree, NDMU has a history of leadership in addressing societal concerns.

“Becoming a Laudato Si’ University reaffirms our treasured NDMU values to care for our world and communities, rooted in our Catholic and School Sisters of Notre Dame identity,” said Julia Campagna, director of NDMU Mission & Ministry Office, who is leading the University’s Laudato Si’ efforts. “I am looking forward to advancing NDMU’s commitment to be a good steward of our common home and agent of transformational change within our communities.”

NDMU will convene a group representing the University community to conduct an annual progress report on the institutional plan to address the seven Laudato Si’ goals:

• Respond to the Cry of the Earth, protecting our common home for the wellbeing of all
• Respond to the Cry of the Poor, promoting the defense of human life from conception to death
• Foster Ecological Economics, acknowledging that the economy is a subsystem of human society within the biosphere
• Adopt a Sustainable Lifestyle, advancing sufficiency in using resources and energy
• Offer Ecological Education, re-envisioning curricular and institutional reform to encourage ecological awareness and action
• Develop Ecological Spirituality, embracing that the life of the spirit is not dissociated from worldly realities
• Support Local Communities, encouraging community engagement and action at all levels

An international coalition of Catholic organizations and individuals have joined the Laudato Si’ Action Platform to work toward achieving full sustainability and care for all people. The initiative brings together the efforts of the global community committed to a holistic approach to the ecological crisis.
 

Established in 1895, Notre Dame of Maryland University (NDMU) is a private, Catholic institution in Baltimore, Maryland, with the mission to educate leaders to transform the world. Notre Dame has been named one of the best "Regional Universities North" by U.S. News & World Report.