By Catherine Livingston
The Live Simply Award is an exciting opportunity for Catholic communities – parishes, schools, religious orders and chaplaincies – to respond to Pope Francis’ invitation in Laudato Si “to work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”. In a nutshell he urges us as Catholics and Christians to face up to our responsibilities as part of Creation and to work together more responsibly to help save the planet.
Even before ‘Laudato Si’ was published in 2015, some of parishioners at St Vincent’s in Crookes, Sheffield had already been living out its message in various ways. Although the pandemic closed churches throughout the country, much thought was given to how we could still engage as a community and look after each other. After the church re-opened last summer, an open parish meeting was held and the main question became ‘How do we want to rebuild our community?’ Several people expressed an interest in continuing and developing ‘Live Simply’ ideas and so a working group of like-minded parishioners came about.
At our first meeting in November, we decided to check out the CAFOD Live Simply Award to give us more of a focus as a parish. We found out that we needed to register our interest with CAFOD, then form a plan of action under the following headings:
- Living Simply,
- Living Sustainably,
- Living in Solidarity with others.
What was great to see was that we were already ahead of ourselves with regard to energy use, recycling, and eco-friendly cleaning products. The plan was signed off by Fr Paddy and was accepted by CAFOD. It felt like a real achievement! Read the full article on The Hallam Bridge website
PRAYER
Loving God, Lord of heaven and earth, this earth, our home belongs to you.
Give us grace to love it as you do.
Give us courage to give ourselves, as you do, for the good of all people and all of your creation.
Strengthen us to stand, as you do, with the vulnerable poor.
Give us wisdom to know when we have enough, and the voice to say “enough” to all that harms creation and hurts the poorest.
This earth, our home, belongs to you.Amen
