Helping parishes to prepare for this year's Season of Creation - Birmingham Justice and Peace Commission

The Season of Creation begins on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for Creation, and ends on October 4, the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi.

We hope to assist all parishes and catholic communities to celebrate this season by pointing to some resources. These are not exhaustive. It is worth visiting the Vatican website to read Monsignor Bruno-Marie Duffé’s invitation to participate. He is the Secretary, Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.

Much has happened since the last Season of Creation. We have had the Synod on the Amazon. Pope Francis issued his Apostolic Exhortation 'Querida Amazona' following the Synod. It is worth studying.

This year we are celebrating the fifth anniversary of the publication of 'Laudato Si’; On Care For Our Common Home'. The Vatican have published a further guide to help us on our journey towards an Ecological Conversion. It is entitled 'On the Path to Caring for the Common Home: Five Years after Laudato Si''.  It is an initiative of the Vatican’s department for Integral Human Development and is the product of an inter-departmental 'Table' on integral ecology established after Laudato Si’s publication in June 2015.

Pope Francis has also declared a special Year of Laudato Si, from 24 May 2020 to 24 May 2021.

The United Nations talks on the Climate, COP26, have been postponed until November 2021. Our country will still chair these proceedings. These will be the most significant talks since Paris 2015.

The whole world has been in the grip of the pandemic caused by Covid-19. Some parts of the world have coped in a better way than others, but this pandemic has shone a spotlight on the inequalities which exist in our own country and its various communities and also the huge inequalities in the world between rich and poor. As we begin, however tenuously, to recover from the effects of the pandemic, we must recognise opportunities to rebuild in a better way. A greener, more environmentally friendly future is possible. Making care for the poor, the most disadvantaged in our society and in the world a priority is possible.

We hope you will use the Season of Creation to reflect, to pray, and to act, so that we do achieve that ecological conversion that the Holy Father calls us to.

During the Season of Creation the Birmingham Justice and Peace Commission will host its annual Assembly online.