Summer is “a great time to organise something in your parish and share resources ahead of the Season of Creation”, Journey to 2030 said last week.
The lay-run project that supports the Church to respond to “the cry of the Earth and the poor” offered its “Building a Caring Community” resource, a tool for examining community mission through the lens of Laudato Si’ goals. And it highlighted a guide produced for the decarbonisation of parishes, saying “it serves as a useful starting point to make real and practical changes in your parish”.
This referenced an interfaith guidance document “Environment Stewardship in Places of Worship”, produced by the Laudato Si’ Centre in Salford Diocese, in collaboration with St. Mary’s University, Twickenham and the Laudato Si’ Research Institute, Campion Hall, Oxford. The project team worked with the University of Manchester to produce the guide, available to download on the centre’s website, which has been shared with other faiths.
An interfaith workshop to explore this guidance is being held this week in Manchester and builds on the commitments made to Pope Francis during a visit by faith and civic leaders from Greater Manchester in April 2023. That delegation was led by Bishop of Salford John Arnold and Anglican Dean of Manchester Rogers Govender, and also welcomed the Dean of Salford Cathedral, Canon Michael Jones and the head of environment for the Diocese of Salford, Dr Emma Gardner.
The Laudato Si’ Centre is currently assessing nominations received from primary and secondary schools across the diocese for its Laudato Si’ awards. A diocesan spokesperson told The Tablet: “We are delighted to see how well these awards have been received. They show a breadth of care and commitment for our common home by our young people. On display are initiatives such as the design and implementation of a 3D wildflower dispersal unit made completely out of bio plastic. We also have evidence of our young people dedicating their weekends to caring for the environment and leading gardening projects in their schools and local communities. These young people are leading by example and showing us all how we can put our faith into action to care for creation.”
The centre, which aims to make the Diocese of Salford a flagship for effective action on climate change, has had a busy June schedule. Staff have recently visited St Patrick’s Primary School in Oldham to help develop their prayer garden. “From feeding birds, to writing prayers and planting flowers, every child across the school took part and did at least one thing to support the environment,” the centre said. Two weeks ago, the centre welcomed primary schools from across Salford Diocese “to learn ways in which we can all be more sustainable, help fight climate change, and spread the message to everyone at school, home, and in our communities”.
The centre has also been working with Leeds Justice and Peace to grow and nurture gingko seeds that originate from the Hiroshima blast zone. Dr Gardner said: “We will take care of the gingko seeds and seedlings until they are strong enough to be planted across Leeds Diocese and will plant one at the Laudato Si’ Centre as a living statement for the work we do.”
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