On April 21 – the day before the annual observance of Earth Day – choir members from the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C., performed songs and read passages on taking care of planet’s resources during the “Earth Day Service of Lessons and Carols.”
The event began with the cathedral’s choir, known as the Schola Cantorum, lining the cathedral, singing and ringing bells as they paced in unison toward the aisle, while one person carrying a kite shaped like flames trailed the group.
Msgr. W. Ronald Jameson, the cathedral’s rector, addressed those in attendance.
“It is our responsibility and our joy together this afternoon to marvel at the splendor of creation and to praise and thank the creator whose unconditional love brought the universe to birth,” he said.
Msgr. Jameson led a prayer for peace and justice, listing Ukraine, Syria, Myanmar, and the Israel-Hamas War as intentions of the prayer.
Thomas Stehle, the cathedral’s pastoral associate for liturgy and director of music ministries, led the 32-person group in song. Stehle organized the event, which was greatly inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical letter Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home) which addresses the responsibility people have to take care of the earth.
“Pope Francis has brought to our attention, in 2015, the need to not just appreciate creation and be grateful for creation and to notice what God has done for us, but to really be conscious about caring for creation, especially as we look around in communities where the environment is really being poisoned by air pollution or water pollution, or more recently, by rising climate temperatures,” Stehle said.
Stehle said the event's structure was similar to the cathedral’s Advent “Lessons and Carols” concert, with substitutions taken from the Pentecost liturgy and featuring a variety of readers. Stehle said there was a mix of modern music, hymnody, and songs from the Renaissance.
“Instead of using the ‘O Antiphons’ chant in Latin and in English, we decided to use the Pentecost sequence chant,” Stehle said. “We found that it really lines up beautifully with the themes of the Pope’s Laudato Si’ and even his more recent writing, Laudate Deum ("Praise God,” the pope’s 2023 encyclical follow-up to Laudato Si’).”
The nine lessons included “Our Water,” “Everything is Connected,” and “Many Things Have to Change.” Stehle said the pope wrote Laudate Deum as a follow-up to Laudato si’ because not enough work was being done in response to the climate crisis.
“[Pope Francis] wrote that we need to urgently do something about things because his hope that we would take things more seriously after 2015 (when he published Laudato si’) somewhat have not been realized. We’re still using more fossil fuels than we ever did before, the temperatures are still rising,” Stehle said.
He finds the hymn “For the Fruits of All Creation” to be “the best” of the program. It repeats “Thanks be to God” for different acts, such as plowing, sowing, reaping, and “for the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us, most of all, that love has found us.”
“Just meditating on that hymn would be enough in the day, but there are just dozens of pieces of music,” Stehle said.
Although the program detailed the different readings and hymns, Stehle had his own recommendations for those in attendance to make the most of the experience.
“I think bringing an attentive, open heart is the most important thing because I think that anyone, even one who doesn't know much about it, if they come with an open mind, listening ear and an open heart, they will find moments of grace throughout this, both in the scripture and the hymnody,” Stehle said.
The program for the event included a “What Can I Do?” section, with links to read Laudato Si’, and join the volunteer group St. Matthew’s Creation Care Green Team.
Other organizations listed included Catholic Climate Covenant, REPAM: The Church in the Heart of the Amazon, Interfaith Power and Light, Casey Tress, and Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake. There was also a note about the upcoming virtual event hosted by Capital Area Solar Switch on May 30 at 7 p.m. for a workshop on how to convert to a solar-powered home.
