Leadership Team shares statement on United States exit from Paris Climate Agreement

Note: The following statement was crafted by several national faith organizations. The Leadership Council of Women Religious (LCWR), of which the Congregation is a member, also joined in sharing their dismay as the United States formally exited from the Paris Climate Agreement.

As religious organizations representing a diversity of faith traditions we profoundly regret that today the United States formally exits the Paris Agreement on climate change, the world’s best framework for action to address the climate crisis. Global climate change presents an unprecedented threat to the integrity of all life on Earth and a challenge to values that bind us as human beings.

Even as climate change impacts all of God’s creation, we know that the consequences of climate change both in the U.S. and around the world are felt more keenly among low-wealth communities and among those that have suffered long histories of racial and ethnic discrimination and exploitation. Our principle of the common good calls us to be in solidarity with those most adversely impacted by climate change now while avoiding the temptation to pass this problem along to future generations as a result of our own neglect or narrow interests.

The Trump Administration’s abandonment of the Paris Agreement undermines a key pillar of international cooperation against climate change and damages the world’s ability to avoid the most dangerous and costly effects of climate change. It also leaves the U.S. behind in the global transition to a clean energy economy.

Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice

Columban Center for Advocacy and Outreach

Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action

The Episcopal Church

Faithful America

Franciscan Action Network

Friends Committee on National Legislation

Jesuit Conference of Women Religious

Maryknoll Office of Global Concerns

Maryknoll Sisters Eastern Region USA

Mennonite Central Committee, Washington Office

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Justice Team

Union for Reform Judaism

Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

The United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society

United Methodist Women

Young Evangelicals for Climate Action