The Environment
Season of Creation
Each year, Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation. This is an ecumenical season dedicated to prayer for the protection of creation and the promotion of sustainable lifestyles. It begins with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 1 September and continues until the Feast of St Francis of Assisi on 4 October. Read more…
Promoting Integral Ecology
Journeying Towards Care for our Common Home
Five years after Laudato Si’, the Vatican released a new 200 page document encouraging Catholics to put their faith into action to promote integral ecology and care for the earth. The document, Journey Towards Care for Our Common Home – Five Years After Laudato Si’ is inspired by the apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis, Laudato Si.
Care for our Common Home
Our faith tradition and the spiritual heritage of our ancient land calls us to care for all creation and to embrace the challenges of ethical and ecological stewardship.
As Deepdene & Balwyn and Camberwell Parishes, we value and accept our responsibility as ecological stewards to care for and protect the earth and all its contains. We recognise that our changing environment prompts us to adopt new ways of living, as Pope Francis highlights in his encyclical, Laudato Si: On the Care for our Common Home.
Across our parishes, we are committed to developing environmentally friendly and sustainable practices across all our ministries and business operations, and to maintaining a sustainability-aware culture at all times. We wish to build on the good work that is already underway in our parishes, such as reducing our paper, energy and water usage; implementing responsible waste management practices; increasing our recycling efforts; and enacting sustainable and ethical procurement practices.
Deepening our Knowledge and Spirituality for Ecological Justice
Books and Articles
Fox, Matthew, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth (1991)
Fox, Matthew, A Spirituality Named Compassion (1999)
McDonagh, Sean, The Greening Of The Church (1990)
Moe-Lobeda, Cynthia D, Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological – Economic Vocation (2013)
Danny Pilario, Priest in Philippines (reading time – ten minutes)
Short summary of the 10 key messages from Laudato Si by James Martin SJ
Prayers and Reflections
The Season of Creation website – this initiative is an international ecumenical undertaking of the Global Catholic Climate Movement.
Salt and Light Media: Creation and God saw that it was good…
PassWordTV: a short reflective prayer from Laudato Si (2:42 mins):
Websites and Webinars
Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Office for Social Justice – includes calendar, plan and action for the Season of Creation from 6 September – 4 October 2020
EarthBeat – A project of the National Catholic Reporter magazine – sign up for free weekly updates on ecological matters or check out the site for relevant articles on Laudato Si themes
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottowa, Canada – a selection of articles and a guide for dialogue with the key teachings and challenges of Laudato Si
Creation as God’s Love Story by MSC Priests Australia on Laudato Si (viewing time 1hr:52mins)