Marking the ‘Season of creation’

September is the start of the Season of Creation, a time of prayer and action for the care of creation that runs from September 1 to October 4. This season began with the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1, established by the Orthodox Church in 1989 and later adopted by the Catholic Church in 2015. It concludes on October 4, the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. 

To mark the Season of Creation this year we are suggesting a selection of material that might be of interest to our readers. We begin with an Irish perspective on Laudato Sí » offered by theologian Dermot Lane in his book Theology and Ecology in Dialogue » published by Messenger Publications in October 2020 to mark the 5th anniversary of Laudato Sí » Pope Francis’ encyclical on caring for the earth.

Dr Lane’s follow up book two years later, Nature Praising God » also published by Messenger Publications, explores the possibility of a new theology of nature in which earth-care is integral to Christian faith. He argues for the retrieval of the forgotten biblical insight that ‘nature praises God’ »

In an interview on the RNN Podcast Archive broadcast in 2018, Miriam Gormally talks to Jane Melle about the rise of the ‘Climate Pilgrim’ – Catholics inspired to live out the eco friendly message of Laudato Sí, to care for the earth, ‘our common home’.

Jane Melle is one such pilgrim who spent much of 2018 as the Project Co-ordinator of the Eco-Project at the World meeting of Families 2018.

As part of her pilgrimage, she completed a 1,000km walk from Italy to Poland walking to the UN Climate Talks in Katowice. On her journey she was joined by people from the Philippines, including survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest storm ever to make landfall which destroyed Tacloban city in November 2013, many of whom had lost their loved ones in that storm.

Jane explains to Miriam Gormally that these faces of real people, suffering the brutality of climate change, can help change the minds and hearts of people to a spiritual awakening to care for our earth. Click here to listen »

The Parish as Oasis: An Introduction to Practical Environmental Care » is the intriguing title of a book by Drs Ciara Murphy (pictured above) and Kevin Hargaden of the Irish Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, published by Messenger Publications in 2022.

In this interview with Pat Coyle of Irish Jesuit Communications, they explain the sense in which a parish can become an ‘oasis’ using a striking example of how churches are conceived and built in Ethiopia. And they outline some of the 20 practical proposals in their book which communities can engage in as part of ‘caring for the earth, our common home’.

They also address the issue of ‘climate despair’ where people feel so overwhelmed by the enormity of the environmental challenge facing the world that they actually end up doing nothing. That’s not an option they say, and emphasise the radical and sysytemic change that can come about as individuals and communities start making small changes together – for example giving up eating red meat even once a week.

One of their strong recommendations is that book clubs and parishes get the book and study it with a view to making collective changes in their personal lives and local community. The interview is as practical as the book and both Kevin and Ciara say they are available to visit and work with any groups who want to help save the earth for people now and for future generations. Click here to listen »

Staying with Ciara and Kevin, in a special episode of the Sons of Ignatius podcast broadcast last year, Niall Leahy SJ discusses with them the connection between Jesus and taking care of the environment. If Christians are to be ecologically responsible then the link between creation and Christ needs to be made very explicit. Click here to listen »