New Mass to focus on creation

By DAWN PROSSER
Director of Communications
 
As northwest Iowa is largely rural with agriculture playing a major role in the economy and heritage, Catholics may soon participate in a new Mass focused on care of the environment.
 
The formulary of a new Mass “for the care of creation” (Pro Custodia Creationis) was added to the Roman Missal – the liturgical book with texts for celebrating Mass – June 8 by the Dicastery for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.
 
Pro Custodia Creationis was ordered by Pope Francis prior to his death in April 2025. This addition coordinates with the 10^th year anniversary of Pope Francis’ Laudato Sì encyclical, Care for Our Common Home, released in 2015. The environment was a major theme of the late Holy Father’s papacy.
 People Leo celebrates the new Mass for the Care of Creation in the gardens of the Castel Gandolfo./CNS photo Cristian Gennari, poolThe formulary for the Mass’s development was in response to "requests for a liturgical way of celebrating the meaning and the message of 'Laudato Sì,'" said Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, who presented the new formulary at a news conference July 3.
 
Pope Leo XIV celebrated the new Mass July 9 in the gardens of the Castel Gandolfo, the summer residence of popes just outside of Rome. It was a small gathering of Vatican officials and staff of the Borgo Laudato Sì ecology project and others.
 
"The mission of safeguarding creation, of bringing peace and reconciliation" is "the mission which the Lord has entrusted to us," Pope Leo said in his homily. "We listen to the cry of the earth, we listen to the cry of the poor, because this cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is his indignation; our work is his work."
 
Local application
The English and Spanish translations for Masses in the United States and the Diocese of Sioux City will most likely be released in a few months, Father Andrew Galles, diocesan director of worship predicted.
 
“Newly-printed Roman Missals will have this Mass formulary included, but for old ones, publishing companies usually provide a leaflet with the Mass formulary that can be inserted into an existing missal,” he explained.
 
Once parishes and pastors have the new formulary, Father Galles anticipates priests might use the Mass for the Care of Creation during the crop growing season.
 
“A good time for its use is really any time – but more specifically for us in northwest Iowa, during the spring and fall, the times of planting and harvesting,” he said.
 
Sister Janice Hoffman, OSF, who recently retired from ministry in the Diocese of Sioux City, sits on the Franciscan community Laudato Sì committee. She envisions the new Mass formulary to also be used for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on Sept. 1. Sister Janice noted that the annual Season of Creation runs from Sept. 1 through the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on Oct. 4.
 
Prayers for creation
A longtime champion of the environment, Sister Janice said when she learned of the release of the Mass of Care of Creation, she felt it could provide “hope and encouragement.”
 
“There is growing concern about the devastation of the earth, which some see as a political issue,” she said. “But the Mass of Care of Creation reminds us that we are called to care for God’s gift. The most vulnerable are first to feel the devastating effects of the present situation.”
 
She said she views the new Mass as another prayer resource as the formulary includes “focus on creation as a reflection of the glory of God and on humanity’s connection with God, neighbors and the earth.”
 Pope Leo offers the homily during the first Mass for the Care of Creation./CNS photo Cristian Gennari, poolFather Galles pointed out that there are similar Masses in the Roman Missal, including Masses for after the harvest and seedtime. These Masses include references to agrarian life and creation and the new Mass of Care of Creation will have similar wording and references.
 
“The language of the Mass is one that promotes a harmony between mankind and the rest of creation,” he said. “Some of these elements hearken back to medieval society, which was rural and agrarian. (They) understood perhaps better than today, (our) reliance upon the created order for sustenance.”
 
All the creation and agrarian-themed Masses remind the faithful that humans are stewards of creation. The director of worship, who was raised on a farm near Remsen, said in the past there was a greater understanding of the role humans play as caretakers of the earth.
 
“It is from that time that we get many of our traditions – such as rogation days – that revolve around praying for bountiful crops and good weather. As society has moved away from being largely rural and agrarian, this sensibility and direct connection to living off the land has been lost. This has undoubtedly – at least indirectly – provoked the need of a Mass formulary to remind people that they do not live independently but rather are intrinsically tied to the very earth upon which they walk,” Father Galles pointed out.
 
The Mass formulary begins with the entrance antiphon from Psalm 19: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims works of his hands." The Collect prayer, which gathers the prayer intentions of the faithful to close the introductory rites of the Mass, asks God "that docile to the life-giving breath of your Spirit, we may lovingly care for the work of your hands."
 
The prayer after Communion asks for increased communion with God "so that, as we await the new heavens and the new earth, we may learn to live in harmony with all creatures.”
 
Cover photo - Father Andrew Galles blesses the fields at his family's farm near Remsen spring 2025.

(Content from Catholic News Service contributed to this article – with permission.)

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