Life

Are we wreaking havoc on our common home?

The Season of Creation, marked by Christians around the world from next week, is an urgent call to restore the environment, says the Diocese of Down and Connor's Laudato Si' working group

SIGN OF THE TIMES: Ballywatticock's record-breaking reign as home to Northern Ireland's highest recorded temperature - 31.2C - was short-lived. Days later, Castlederg hit 31.3C. Picture by Mal McCann
SIGN OF THE TIMES: Ballywatticock's record-breaking reign as home to Northern Ireland's highest recorded temperature - 31.2C - was short-lived. Days later, Castlederg hit 31.3C. Picture by Mal McCann SIGN OF THE TIMES: Ballywatticock's record-breaking reign as home to Northern Ireland's highest recorded temperature - 31.2C - was short-lived. Days later, Castlederg hit 31.3C. Picture by Mal McCann

SUMMER 2021 has been a season with a difference, without doubt. We were both treated and challenged by our weather.

In July, Ballywatticock in Co Down recorded Northern Ireland's highest temperature, hitting 31.2C - a record broken just days later by the 31.3C experienced in Castlederg, Co Tyrone.

Meanwhile, people living in the Mournes battled wildfires. At the same time, the residents of Belleek and Garrison were inundated with floods. What extreme weather events in one corner of our tiny island.

Further afield, fire caused the evacuation of hundreds of people from the Greek island of Evia. Germany and Belgium experienced unprecedented flooding. Palatinate, a region in Germany, had more than a month's worth of rain in 24 hours.

Our planet - our common home - has experienced fire and floods in a very short time frame... and we humans have caused it.

Ecological disaster has unfolded in the Mourne Mountains this year following wildfires, including devastating blazes in April. Picture by Alan Lewis/PhotopressBelfast.co.uk
Ecological disaster has unfolded in the Mourne Mountains this year following wildfires, including devastating blazes in April. Picture by Alan Lewis/PhotopressBelfast.co.uk Ecological disaster has unfolded in the Mourne Mountains this year following wildfires, including devastating blazes in April. Picture by Alan Lewis/PhotopressBelfast.co.uk

The recent evidence provided in the UN report on climate change (August 9 2021) is irrefutable and challenges us to review how we live our lives on our beautiful earth.

Pope Francis, an outspoken advocate for the care of the planet, says in his ground-breaking encyclical, Laudato Si': "The deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet." (L. Si' 48).

The upcoming Season of Creation (September 1 to October 4), with its theme 'Restoring our Common Home' - taken from the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference - provides an excellent opportunity for us to start rectifying this outrage.

The Season of Creation is now part of the Christian calendar. Creation Time, as it is sometimes called, starts on September 1 and concludes, most appropriately, on the feast day of St Francis of Assisi on October 4.

Germany was among the countries to suffer when extreme rainfall deluged Europe in July. Picture by Rhein-Erft-Kreis via AP
Germany was among the countries to suffer when extreme rainfall deluged Europe in July. Picture by Rhein-Erft-Kreis via AP Germany was among the countries to suffer when extreme rainfall deluged Europe in July. Picture by Rhein-Erft-Kreis via AP

The timing of this season is apt as it coincides with the fruitfulness of harvest time and the leaves on the trees turning from green to red and brown - surely a time to celebrate the bounty, beauty and joy of creation.

Becoming aware, and taking notice, of the grandeur of creation during this season calls us to act to restore our common home.

In Laudato Si', with its subtitle "on care for our common home", Pope Francis says: "The entire material universe speaks of God's love, his boundless affection for us. Soil, water, mountains: everything is, as it were, a caress of God." (L. Si' 84).

By celebrating the Season of Creation and using Laudato Si' as a guide we can, without doubt, travel a path towards a heightened awareness and appreciation of God's greatest gift to us. After all, we are unlikely to want to damage something we hold precious.

During Creation Time, the global Christian family is called to awaken to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and with each other, and to encourage our parish communities to do the same, "for we know that things can change." (L. Si' 13).

In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si': On Care For Our Common Home, Pope Francis put environmental concerns at the centre of his agenda
In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si': On Care For Our Common Home, Pope Francis put environmental concerns at the centre of his agenda In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si': On Care For Our Common Home, Pope Francis put environmental concerns at the centre of his agenda

Pope Francis is acutely aware that the fate of the poor and the earth are intertwined. For example, when a catastrophic climatic event occurs, it is the poor who suffer most; yet they have done little to cause it.

During this wonderful season of hope for Christians across the world it must be remembered that, like so many other things, for change to happen, it must begin with 'me'.

As explorer and activist Robert Swan says: "The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it." The stark and troubling findings of the UN report on climate change reinforce the need for us to act for the common good and to restore our common home during this season of creation.

Major change is needed but we can all make a difference. For example, we can act now to make our voices heard by signing the 'Healthy Planet, Healthy People Petition' (thecatholicpetition.org).

And as the American activist Dorothy Day said, "No-one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do."

::The Diocese of Down and Connor will mark the opening of the Season of Creation with a liturgy in St Peter's Cathedral on Wednesday September 1 at 7pm with Fr Tim Bartlett providing the homily. The event can be joined online at church services.tv/stpeterscathedral.

Follow the diocese on social media for a series of daily posts from Laudato Si' and weekly video reflections.