Ellen Teague reported for The Tablet on our ‘Living Laudato Si’ zoom evening:

“On Monday evening day Westminster Justice and Peace and CAFOD Westminster organised a zoom meeting of around 60 activists in the diocese who have been inspired by Laudato Si’. Livesimply parishes in Cockfosters, Hitchen, New Barnet and Pimlico described initiatives ranging from Walk to Church Sundays, becoming fair trade parishes, planting a garden for bees, to parishioners making a Laudato Si’ pledge to live more simply and placing livesimply tips weekly in the parish newsletter. 

Fr Richard Nesbitt of White City Parish described a ‘Care for Creation’ fair held in a local park, and a pet blessing which included seven dogs, a cat and a pig! Clips from the Bishop’s Conference film resources of ‘Global Healing’ and ‘Global Caring’ were shown. Tony Sheen of CAFOD advertised the current CAFOD emergency appeal and a petition calling for the debts of the poorest countries to be cancelled as they cope with the coronavirus emergency.”

Read Ellen’s full round up of news from around the Dioceses for The Tablet

More on Laudato Si’ Week 2020

https://vimeo.com/419857346

Read the Encyclical in full on the Vatican Website – Laudato Si’ 2015

Today marks the beginning of Laudato Si’ Week, a time of refection and activity to mark the 5th anniversary since the publication of Pope Francis’ encyclical in 2015.

In this time of pandemic, we have become ever more aware of the fragility of our lives and the fragility of our planet. We have not done enough in the last five years to halt the destruction of the ecosystem that sustains us and so the Pope has renewed his urgent call to the Faithful to return to this document and other sources to step up our efforts to protect and preserve our environment. All life on earth depends on the decisions we make in the next few years about how we want to relate to the natural world.

The central insight of Pope Francis is that to end our injustice to the planet, we must end injustices among ourselves:

“Today … we have to realise that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” (LS 49)

To start the week we warmly encourage you to return to the text, pick up a copy of Laudato Si’ or read it online and take its message to heart.

Laudato Si’ – On the Care of our Common Home (2015)

There is still time to save our beautiful world.

Join us on Monday 18th March, 7.30-8.30pm for a Living Laudato Si’ Evening