Caring for our planet

There are simple things people and organisations can do to better safeguard their local ecosystems. As part of the Catholic Earthcare process, an online audit tool is available so parishes, schools and families can monitor their ecological sustainability over weeks and months. Questions to consider come under three broad headings: People, Place and Practice.

The document states that, “Taking time to reflect on what you currently do is an important step in your ecological conversion and in the process of becoming an Earthcare Parish/Community.”

The certification process is about considering a range of aspects of parish/school/family life, assessing their sustainability and ecological impacts, and considering how they might respond.  

This audit tool includes some themes and questions designed to help parishes, schools and families to think in different ways about how they contribute to sustainability.

Each question aligns with one or more of the seven Laudato Si goals: Response to the Cry of the Earth; Response to the Cry of the Poor; Ecological Economics; Adoption of Sustainable Lifestyles; Ecological Education; and Ecological Spirituality.

Catholic Earthcare Australia, founded by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and a program of Caritas Australia, promotes understanding that ‘creation is sacred and must be protected and preserved for present and future generations.’

It is mandated through the activities of education, research and advocacy to give leadership in responding to Pope John Paul II’s call to “stimulate and sustain the ecological conversion” and is closely aligned with Laudato Si and Pope Francis’ invitation to Catholics to reflect, pray and take action to protect our common home.

Laudato Si Week was held from May 22 to 29.  Parishes acknowledged Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ “to hear the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor and to humbly place ourselves in communion with our common home.”

So why not get involved in Catholic Earthcare and play your part in looking after our common home?

More details from catholicearthcare@caritas.org.au or catholicearthcare.org.au

See Viewpoint on the following page.

 A Prayer for our Earth

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognise that we are profoundly united with every creature

as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

Amen 

Pope Francis Laudato Si

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