Laudato Si’ Group

The Laudato Si’ Group has agreed that the way forward for our Parish to begin implementing Pope Francis’ and Bishop John’s request that we respond positively to the Pope’s letter Laudato Si is to work towards gaining CAFOD’s Live Simply Award.

As well as a means for progressing Laudato Si’, the award will bring together the many strands of our Parish groups so we can work as a community to live sustainably with creation and in solidarity with the poor.

Under these overlapping headings there is much we are already doing and much more we can do.  Some of it will engage environmentally-concerned individuals and families with outings to learn about wild flower meadows around Slaidburn or a visit to a farm at Rimington which provides educational opportunities for children.  The Yorkshire Dales National Park and Natural England have conservation sites.  Dale Head church (near Stocks Reservoir) and Horton-in-Ribblesdale church are best examples of conservation.

We can apply lessons learned. The old Catholic cemetery on Waddington Road is a potential conservation site. “Bob boxes” (for bats and birds) can be a learning vehicle. Children can sponsor a box to learn how they work and what they attract. We can encourage domestic Wildlife Gardening and develop the ground behind St Mary’s, Sabden and St Hubert’s, Dunsop Bridge. We can have practical foraging lessons as family days out.

At a personal level we can learn of products associated with environmental damage and serious labour exploitation. We can check the ethics of purchases and think Fairtrade. We can buy vegetables in season to avoid the expense of storage and transport. We have plenty of water but purification takes energy. In avoiding energy wastage and wastage of food, fuel and wastage generally, we live in solidarity with the poor. Pope Francis reminds us that “Not to share one’s wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs”. At a Parish level we will provide a list of things to do and products to avoid buying on ethical grounds.

To learn more and have your say, come to the Parish Centre on Wednesday, January 10th at 7.30 pm. Joe Howson and Mark Rotherham (Lee House Mission Awareness Centre) will talk about their environmental projects and Joseph Cooper will talk about their Live Simply Award plans and progress at St Wilfrid’s Parish, Preston.

Now is the time to put Laudato Si into action!

http://gregorydowling.com/review-accepting-disaster-joshuamehigan/?share=twitter Laudato Si Action Group.