The “Time for Creation”

September 1^st World Day of Prayer for the care of Creation, will kick start a month full of initiatives for the protection of the environment and much more. Interview with Cecilia Dall’Oglio from the Global Catholic Climate Movement.

What do environmental issues and Ecumenism have in common? A lot, indeed an awful lot. It is enough to recall that in 1989 it was the patriarch of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, Dimitrios who gave the decisive impetus to the various Christian Churches to jointly declare September 1^stWorld Day of Prayer for the protection of Creation.

This year the anniversary is part of a year full of global actions for the climate, thanks also to the fast-movingaction of millions of young people who, with Greta Thunberg, have gotten organised, raising awareness and knockingon Parliament doors.

“Not only individuals but also our communities should ask themselves about the environmental sustainability of their activities,” says Luca Fiorani, physicist and international coordinator of EcoOne, a cultural movement inspired by the spirituality of the Focolare in dealing with environment issues. “And in order to begin to change mentality and adopt an ecological lifestyle, it is first necessary to be informed. I’m doing some of my own advertising I’ve just published a small book of less than 80 pages: “The (crazy) dream of Francis. A small (scientific) manual on integral ecology”. I take the reader by the hand through the key concepts of the encyclical Laudato Si’, the recent results of international negotiations on climate change and the most up-to-date scientific data on the state of the health of our planet”.

Luca Fiorani also explains that EcoOne has been collaborating with the Global Catholic Climate Movement for about ten years. Cecilia Dall’Oglio is responsible for the organization’s programs and we asked her some questions.

 – What motivatesyou personally, to be committed to the environment?

The desire not to abandon my brothers and sisters in the world who suffer for the same reasons as our Mother Earth suffers. The desire to give my contribution so that others can have the direct experience, which I was able to have, of meeting with witnesses of hope, of a living Church committed to social justice.

In the Laudato Si’ Pope Francis reminds us that “there are not two different crises, environmental and social, but a single socio-environmental crisis to be faced with “an integral approach to combat poverty, to restore dignity to the excluded and at the same time to care for nature” (LS 139). For more than twenty years I have been working with the FOCSIV to coordinate campaigns for social justice together with the offices of the CEI (Italian Episcopal Conference) and lay Catholic groups and I would like to recall in a special way our beloved MarcoAquini of the Focolare Movement. This announcement, this active resistance, must be truly effective and free the poor who cry out and for this reason I am happy now to take up the current challenge in the service of the Global Catholic Climate Movement of which the Focolare Movement is an active member.

– What is the “something more” that faith can bring to the environmental movement?

Faith is fundamental in bringing an integral ecological approach to environmentalissues. Ecological conversion and the adoption of new lifestyles are proposed for the fullness of joy, that “happy sobriety” of which the Instrumentum laboris of the Special Synod of the Amazon also speaks, the fullness of life, true freedom. All Christians are called to be custodians of God’s creation because “Living the vocation of being custodians of God’s work is an essential part of a virtuous existence, it is not something optional or even a secondary aspect of the Christian experience” (LS 217). The Global Catholic Climate Movement was established in 2015 to support Catholic communities around the world in responding to Pope Francis’ urgent appeal in the Laudato Si: to promote an ecological conversion at a spiritual level that leads to renewed lifestyles and the participation, alsoof Catholics, ingetting people involved in actions for climate justice.

– What is “Time of Creation” and what can each of us do to adhere to it?

The Time of Creation is a “favourable time”, a Kairos, during which we pray and act for the care of our common home. It occurs every year from September 1^st, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, to October 4^th, the feast of St. Francis, and is celebrated by thousands of Christians around the world. This year’s theme, “The Network of Life: Biodiversity as a Gift from God.” is closely linked to the Synod of Bishops for the PanAmazonia Region to be held next October. Thousands of Christians all over the world celebrate the time of creation by organizing events. The celebration guide and other tools in various languages are available on the Time of Creation website.

Thanks to the theme chosen for the celebrations, the events will permit our brothers and sisters in the Amazon to feel our closeness to them and to all those who suffer from the “extractive mentality” that is destroying not only the Amazon but all of Creation. They are therefore a clear sign of ecclesial communion and support in the Church’s journey towards the Synod.

Stefania Tanesini