As the U.S. government prepares to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change effective Jan. 27, leaders of 14 Chicago-area Christian denominations will gather on Jan. 24, 2 to 4 p.m., to call the government to heed this international treaty. The signing takes place at an ecumenical day of prayer and action at St. Gregory the Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church, 6700 W. Diversey Ave., Chicago.

The public is welcome to attend.

Organized by the multi-denominational Ecumenism Metro Chicago, the event is part of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity observation in Chicago, Jan. 18-25.

The 14 participating judicatories comprise 1,500 congregations/parishes and over 3.25 million people. In contrast to this fractured time in the U.S., these churches are demonstrating their unity in caring for God’s creation.

In addition to their declaration on the Paris Agreement, the leaders are calling on Illinois state and local officials to eliminate reliance on the more than 400,000 lead drinking-water pipes that still are in use throughout the Chicago area. Lead exposure is linked to cognitive and developmental delays, learning difficulties, and behavioral problems in children and increases serious health risks for adults.

“Taking decisive restorative action is a moral and religious imperative,” the EMC statement, Chicagoland Christians United for the Care of Creation Declaration, says.

“United in one Spirit, may we be compelled each day to become more than a people of parchment,” comments Bishop Robert Casey, former Vicar General of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. “May we become a people of action, putting into practice our praise of the God of all creation, and taking to heart the exhortation of James the Disciple.”

The group’s call to climate protection follows the World Council of Church’s 2022 “Call to Act Together” to address the “catastrophes arising directly from an irresponsible and broken relationship with creation that has led to ecological injustice and climate crisis.”

In 2023, the thirteen churches of Ecumenism Metro Chicago signed the Chicagoland Christians United for the Care of Creation Declaration, which declares that “taking decisive, restorative action is a moral and religious imperative” and “we humbly and urgently call all people to address this spiritual, ecological and existential threat to our common home.”

The Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty to address climate change, was adopted by 195 parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris, France, on Dec. 12, 2015. It became effective on Nov. 4, 2016. Its overarching goal is to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels” and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.”