Each diocese in England and Wales has been asked to appoint an environmental lead to encourage a more balanced relationship between ourselves and the rest of God’s creation. Last November, Bishop Ralph asked Angela Powell and Columba Timmins to jointly work on this role for Hallam Diocese. By making contact with all the parishes and schools in the Diocese, they want to find a route to sharing prayers, ideas and initiatives that celebrate God’s Creation and encourage simpler livelihoods.
Cafod’s Live Simply programme provides a ready starting base, or a framework for developing efforts that are already underway. https://cafod.org.uk/Campaign/LiveSimply-award/LiveSimply-ideas. The Live Simply section on St. Joseph Dinnington’s website is well worth a look, with inspirational monthly suggestions for action. The actions for May are based on using water wisely. https://www.stjosephsdinnington.com/livesimply
Please share with us any ideas or efforts of your own – the mutual support is invaluable. Our email address is: [email protected]
This month: May 22nd -29th is Laudato Si week. The global Catholic Community celebrates Pope Francis’ encyclical explaining the link between our faith and care for Creation. Could it be marked in our liturgies through prayer and hymns? Here is a Rosary in honour of Mary put together by the Sisters of St. Joseph for Laudato Si week 2019. https://brentwoodcsj.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/EN-Rosary_-May-24th.pdf
The following gives an insight to the worldwide nature of Laudato Si week activity: https://laudatosiweek.org/events/
The Laudato Si movement provides a wealth of resources and contact with people from all over the world. It offers a Laudato Si Animators course to inspire people to share Care for Creation principles, and an Action Platform to help individuals, parishes or other religious institutions focus on a set of goals. See https://laudatosianimators.org/ and https://laudatosiactionplatform.org/about/
In Sheffield: Silent Climate vigils organized by Sheffield Christian Climate Alliance have begun on the first Thursday and third Monday of every month. The May vigils will be Thursday 5th 5-6pm outside Sheffield Hallam University, Howard St, and Monday 16th 12-1pm at the Town Hall steps. A quiet, prayerful way to witness Care for our Common Home.
May/June/July – Parishes across the diocese are invited to participate in a 7 step learning activity about how our broken global food system is leaving many people hungry and damaging our precious environment. CAFOD’s Fix the Food System is easy to use and suitable for groups of any size.
