Our Province has created a ministry focus on ecology in response to the cry of the poor and the cry of the earth whose voices can be heard in the growing awareness of climate change and its consequences.
As a Province, we strive to live a simple and sustainable lifestyle, challenging ourselves to reduce, reuse and recycle. We live out our ecological commitment through prayer, ethical investment, practical action, education and collaboration.
In line with the Gospel, our Constitutions and Laudate Si. The Ecology Team ‘raise awareness of, and strengthen the practical commitment of the Province to the ‘care of our common home’, a term used by Pope Francis to invite all people on the planet to care for the earth and to consider the kind of world we want to leave for future generations.
The work of this team has focussed on our Province’s Provincial Assembly Resolution to ‘take urgent steps to draw up a
Province Climate Change Policy and Strategy calling us to Ecological conversion’.
This team began (and continues) its work by creating and sharing reflective material to deepen our understanding of the spirituality of Laudate Si and to celebrate the season of creation.
The team is a resource for
Province Leadership, our local communities and projects supporting a regular review of current practices and encouraging new initiatives.
The team also promotes collaborative action and networking with other people and organisations committed to the defence and care of our common home.
Pope Francis in Laudate Deum mentions that the most effective solutions will come from political solutions at the national and international level. However, he states that every little initiative we take positively contributes to change. There are no lasting changes without cultural changes and no cultural changes without personal changes. Our actions however small, Pope Francis notes, are bringing about transformation.
As a Province, we commit ourselves to this journey of ecological conversion, through small practical actions and collaboration with national and international movements working for transformation.
