As a Franciscan parish, we strive to deepen knowledge of our Tradition and embody the Franciscan view of creation in the way we worship, evangelize, teach our children, and use the resources that God gave us.  Hence, the care of God’s creation is increasingly becoming an integral part of our parish life.

Our preaching and liturgical music deepens our love of creation.  Moreover, St. Camillus Church evangelizes by offering the adult faith formation programs on care of creation to parishioners, promoting various activities around Earth Day that spur people to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle, and doing advocacy for policy and legislation.
Our parish community is undertaking an effort to “green” our campus, reduce our energy consumption, and eliminate practices that are wasteful and destructive to God’s creation.

St Camillus has adopted policies that prohibit the use of bottled water, the use of styrofoam products and non-ecological balloons at the parish functions, retreats, etc.

In 2016 as a follow up to the Earth Day Fair, Spanish JPIC in partnership with the Department of Environmental Protection of Montgomery County, MD, organized a workshop for parishioners to learn about ways to reduce stormwater runoff and enhance the local environment. Those who attended the workshop were given, free of charge, a rain barrel with all the installation instructions and materials.






 

Get involved in any of our annual events: Earth Day Fair, Earth Day Clean-up, Maryland Day to Serve, Polar Bear Plunge and Garden Project. Read below the description for each event. For more information contact Bob Simon at robertmsimon@gmai.com

The Annual Earth Day Fair is held every year in April. This was an initiative started by the Spanish JPIC in an effort to help parishioners commemorate Earth Day and, more importantly, to raise awareness about the impact of environmental degradation and our call to care for our common home.

The fair is a fun event for the entire family. Parishioners learn about local environmental justice efforts at table displays set up by members from our Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation ministry and other environmental organizations and become involved. The theme of the 2018 Earth Day fair was “Living Simply: Simple Ways of Caring for Mother Earth.”

  

For more information or to volunteer, please contact the Parish Office at 301-434-8400.

St. Camillus celebrates Earth Day by joining the Anacostia Watershed Society to help clean up the Anacostia River. Each year, during April, we take at least 50 participants, Confirmation Students, Youth Group remembers and their families. This is a family friendly event and kids are welcome! There is live music, local exhibitors, and notable speakers. All volunteers are welcome!

Join us on Earth Day as we seek to clean up the Anacostia River Watershed, the vital waterway that is so impacted by our daily lives here in Montgomery/Prince George County. 

Contact: Faith Formation Office at 301-434-2111 or Mr. William Pineda at ext 602.

The St. Camillus campus is 14 acres and most of that is comprised of impervious surface - parking lots, building roofs and driveways. Rain falling on these impervious surfaces and hillsides cannot seep back into the ground and runs off into the storm sewers, which flow into the Northwest Branch and then the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. The runoff carries pollutants and its volume and speed scours the land causing erosion and flooding.

In an effort to be good stewards of the land, each September the parish takes steps toward reducing stormwater runoff and its effects. During Maryland Day to Serve Saturday, we will implement conservation landscaping projects to slow the flow of rain runoff and erosion on the hillside running down along the driveway from the school to the main parking lot. 

In 2015, the construction of the three sites involved more than 50 volunteers and included the planting of nearly 400 shrubs and plants. New projects are announced each August and new volunteers recruited. Watch video >>
In 2016, 60 people of all ages and races worked together to create butterfly, bird and bee sanctuaries and some erosion control to protect the health of our rivers and the Bay. Watch video >>
Join us to take care of the environment around our campus. There is lots of work to do cleaning up our gardens and planting. Everyone can help, just be ready to maybe get a little dirty. Contact the Parish Office at 301-434-8400

Our Franciscan school seeks to engender in our children a love for creation and care of the environment. One of the ways we do that is our school garden program beginning in 3rd grade where the students plant and harvest vegetables which are part of our school's lunch program. Watch video>>

Each January St. Camillus community joins Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Franciscan Action Network in the annual Polar Bear Plunge to raise awareness of the need to speak out on the threat to the environment from Global warming and other threats such as fracking. And, to call for a deeper commitment to sustainable alternative sources of energy like wind power. Watch video>>

Join Fr Jacek and many other from St Camillus make the Polar Bear Plunge.