In 2015 Pope Francis instituted September 1^st to be a special day of prayer for creation. It marks the beginning of Creation Time that runs through to October 4^th, the feast of   St Francis of Assisi, patron of the environment. In Laudato Si’,  the  encyclical letter that he addressed to the whole world, Pope Francis says: “Let ours be a time remembered for the awakening of a new reverence for life, the firm resolve to achieve sustainability, the quickening of the struggle for justice and peace, and the joyful celebration of life” (para 207). But he also challenges each one of us, saying: “Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience. All of us can cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation”.

This year the day of prayer for creation is on a Sunday and we have an opportunity to reflect on Live Simply in the parish.

M McSherry 

For further tips see LiveSimply

‘The cry of the earth and the cry of the poor’

An introduction to Pope Francis’s encyclical, 

Laudato Sí’

In a recent riveting talk Peter Hampson explained how Laudato Si’ draws on Catholic teaching and theology to understand the crises in ecology, society and finance. Pope Francis raises some big challenges for us as nations, as churches, and as individuals. We will ask for the talk to be repeated in Spring – really not to be missed, especially as the encyclical is the basis for the LiveSimply award.

Peter focussed on the Pope’s words about climate change and pollution, water, biodiversity, the quality of life, social breakdown and global inequality. Many issues must be addressed by politicians but we each play our own part. From the pledges after our launch week-end 14 parishioners will only buy things they need and avoid special offers that lead to waste, 15 plan meals carefully to only buy the food we need, and 13 parishioners have promised to not ‘shop until you drop’. So much for Black Friday!