Care of Our Common Home
The Care for Our Common Home Group was started in Our Lady’s parish in July 2016 as a response to the challenges of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, published in 2015, from whose English subtitle the group takes its name.
Pope Francis’ challenge is to the whole of the world, but especially to us Christians who recognise our precious planet as a gift from God to value and take care of.
Our aim as a group is to involve the parish in responding to Pope Francis in seeking to find ways of taking care of our planet for present and future generations, threatened as it is by climate change and the seemingly uncaring attitude of our ‘throwaway’ society.
We meet once a month in the Father Kelly Room at Our Lady's, Acomb: see the parish calendar for details.
Our objectives are to achieve the overall aim through actions in our parish and homes. Initially we wished to express our joy in God’s creation specifically through maintaining the parish gardens, encouraging birds and wildlife by installing bird boxes and planting insect-friendly flowers. We have plans for installing a beehive in the gardens in 2018. We also held a photographic competition for the parish on the theme of the beauty of God’s creation. We are in the process of conducting an energy survey of the parish.
We are a Fairtrade Parish, and in June 2017 the parish starting the process of becoming a Live Simply parish. Live Simply is a CAFOD scheme originating in the Church 20 years ago. In many ways Live Simply anticipated the challenges of Laudato Si, and seems to be an excellent way of responding to the encyclical in a realistic and understandable way by encouraging us to make changes in our lifestyle. It helps us to face our fears of the threats and dangers of catastrophic climate change in small ways. The start that the Care for Our Common Home Group has made in the parish fits in very well with the challenges of Live Simply.
The group is part of our parish's commitment to solidarity with the poor and marginalised.
Pope Francis’ challenge is to the whole of the world, but especially to us Christians who recognise our precious planet as a gift from God to value and take care of.
Our aim as a group is to involve the parish in responding to Pope Francis in seeking to find ways of taking care of our planet for present and future generations, threatened as it is by climate change and the seemingly uncaring attitude of our ‘throwaway’ society.
We meet once a month in the Father Kelly Room at Our Lady's, Acomb: see the parish calendar for details.
Our objectives are to achieve the overall aim through actions in our parish and homes. Initially we wished to express our joy in God’s creation specifically through maintaining the parish gardens, encouraging birds and wildlife by installing bird boxes and planting insect-friendly flowers. We have plans for installing a beehive in the gardens in 2018. We also held a photographic competition for the parish on the theme of the beauty of God’s creation. We are in the process of conducting an energy survey of the parish.
We are a Fairtrade Parish, and in June 2017 the parish starting the process of becoming a Live Simply parish. Live Simply is a CAFOD scheme originating in the Church 20 years ago. In many ways Live Simply anticipated the challenges of Laudato Si, and seems to be an excellent way of responding to the encyclical in a realistic and understandable way by encouraging us to make changes in our lifestyle. It helps us to face our fears of the threats and dangers of catastrophic climate change in small ways. The start that the Care for Our Common Home Group has made in the parish fits in very well with the challenges of Live Simply.
The group is part of our parish's commitment to solidarity with the poor and marginalised.
