Get to know the communities
We invite you to connect with these communities as part of your pilgrimage to share a reflective process and exchange stories via zoom or physically, if you are located near these areas.
Balay Laudato Si’ (House of Gratitude) is the culture and ecology center in the ancestral domain of the Pulangiyēn community in Bendum, Malaybalay, Philippines that provides time and space for reflection, listening to the youth and learning from culture and nature. In coordination with the Apu Palamguwan Cultural Education Center, the culture-based, multi-lingual school in Bendum, BLS opens opportunities for connecting the vision of the Pulangiyēn people in Upper Pulangi with global development movements that include the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the Universal Apostolic Preferences of the Society of Jesus.
Over the years, Balay Laudato Si’ has welcomed students, novices, development workers, and people from different contexts all over the world to share their culture, hopes, and experiences in reflecting on Laudato Si’.
Young people from different communities in Upper Pulangi are participating in the global pilgrimage by converging in Balay Laudato Si’, reflecting on their culture and relationship with the land, deepening their understanding of the Laudato Si’ Goals in their own context, and expressing their messages of hope and commitment for COP26 and beyond. Read the story of their journey here.
Casa Velha is an ecology and spirituality center located in a family farm in the municipality of Ourém, Portugal, about 137 kilometers from the capital Lisbon. In 2009, the Casa Velha project started and since then, has attracted over 1,000 people a year who joined more than 30 different workshops.
When the visitors arrive, they are searching for themselves, for others, and for God. They build experiences in a context of a simple and shared life in contact with nature, prayer, and rural work. To better respond to these challenges, Casa Velha – Ecologia e Espiritualidade (or Ecology and Spirituality) was established in 2012 as a Catholic nonprofit association with a commitment to the environment and local development.
This ecological and spiritual center is shared among family members, lay friends of different ages, and representatives of the Portuguese Provincial of the Society of Jesus and of the Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Their identities and missions contribute to the richness of Casa Velha. The experience of being welcomed and feeling at home, rediscovering roots in the earth, strongly affects almost everyone who pass through, confirming the ecological and spiritual dimensions in our being.
