Indiana's five bishops are urging Catholics to adopt an integral "faith-filled" approach to the challenge of caring for both creation and the poor.
"The social, economic, and political reality of human life and poverty is not disconnected from environmental issues concerning polluted air, water, and land, decreasing biodiversity, and habitat destruction," the Indiana Catholic Conference of Bishops wrote in a pastoral letter released April 8.
"Human ecology and natural ecology are united in what Pope Francis called 'integral ecology,'" the prelates said.
The pastoral letter, signed by Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Bishop Robert McClory of Gary, Bishop Timothy Doherty of Lafayette, and Bishop Joseph Siegel of Evansville, was written during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope, according to a press release from the bishops.
The prelates emphasized "Christian hope" amid ecological and societal challenges and called the faithful "to live Eucharistic lives as we care for both our human community and for God's good world."
They explained that integral ecology "recognizes that we are both ecological citizens and ecclesiological citizens. We belong to the earth and to the Church."
The letter encourages sustainable farming, enhanced development of renewable energy sources, and care for the state's water sources.
The Indiana faith leaders highlighted farming as "a vocation from God to feed the human community," noting that "our state is an agricultural leader in that regard." They called for the prioritization of "safe, affordable, and sustainable food supply" that "treats people, land, and animals in accord with their God-given way of being."
"At the core of the ecological and social crises is a human heart enclosed in upon itself, alienated from God, our neighbor, and creation," the bishops said. "The Sacred Heart of Jesus seeks to draw each human heart into communion with himself and through him into communion with the Trinity."
Beyond care of creation and the poor, the bishops encouraged Catholics to seek healing in relationships with God, oneself, and each other by restoring commitment to observing the sabbath, unplugging from the virtual world, and seeking encounter with each other and creation.
They further suggested that the faithful could take up gardening in order to become closer to God's world.
"Biblically, our human life originated in the Garden of Eden, a paradise of holy and just relationships among God, ourselves, and creation," the bishops said.
"Gardening is a way of life that requires humility, attentiveness, gratitude, and faithful obedience to cooperate with the ways of soil and plants."
Cardinal Michael Czerny, the prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, praised the bishops' letter in a separate message.
He called the letter a "thoughtful contribution to the Church's ongoing reflection on the relationship between integral human development and care for creation."
Czerny urged Catholics in Indiana to "continue fostering reflection and action regarding integral ecology in an attentive and balanced manner."
