Meet Gopal Patel, committed environmental advocate who is elevating the relevance and power of faith to help address the world’s challenges through his new initiative FutureFaith. Gopal previously founded the Hindu environmental organization, Bhumi Global, and has been mobilizing faith communities in support of climate and environmental goals for over fifteen years. Based in the New York metropolitan area (specifically, New Jersey), Gopal formerly served as co-chair of the United Nations Multi-faith Advisory Council and has served as advisor to numerous organizations as he works to bring faith voices to policy tables around the world.

In October, Pope Francis published his third encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (Brothers and Sisters All). For those not versed in papal encyclicals, they're significant communications from the Pope on particular aspects of Catholic doctrine, though they may speak to a broader audience than just Catholics. This Pope’s previous encyclical, Laudato si’, is a widely-read, profound, and pioneering statement on the ravages of climate change and our need to act, which has inspired numerous new initiatives and collaborations.

But an encyclical about brotherhood honestly sounded a little mundane to me. I sat back and started skimming, expecting a prophetic but predictable exhortation to love and neighborliness. By the end, I was quite literally at the edge of my seat, reading and re-reading portions. This wasn't prophetic, it was something better: real, relevant and actionable.

I ventured out for a walk today to break the isolation and passed by a neighbor’s house with two colorful, seemingly child-created signs in the window. They read: “The world is still beautiful,” and “We can do hard things.” I almost burst into tears.

Social innovation has developed largely as a secular field despite its deep historic roots in people and communities of faith that have quietly and creatively responded to human and societal needs over centuries. It is essential that the faith sector take a place at the table because of the many assets it brings to the goal of solving our world's most pressing problems. Here are a few:

Understanding available assets is the first step to opening up new opportunities for innovation. Technology continually makes mapping of such assets easier at scale, putting critical data at our fingertips. And speaking of scale, the Catholic Church is one of the largest private landowners in the world. Recognizing the latent potential in this massive resource, Molly Burhans is leveraging new technology to map the land assets of the Catholic Church and create new ways to channel them for social good. Read more about her bold work in this article from The Boston Globe.

Crisis migration caused by violence and persecution has sparked a wave of new ideas and approaches as the world seeks to respond to the challenge of a growing global population of forcibly displaced persons and refugees - over 65 million persons according to UNHCR. This story from the National Catholic Reporter discusses a recent report released by FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities), which looks at how Catholic groups are using social innovation approaches to address this challenge. The report illustrates how a 2,000-year-old institution like the Catholic Church can connect tradition with innovation to bring new ideas to bear on today's global challenges. Spoiler alert: Catholic sisters are driving much of the innovation.