INTERNATIONAL speakers will explore pressing questions of faith, spirituality and caring for creation during an online series being presented in Brisbane during September.
Archbishop Peter Loy Chong of Suva, Fiji, and United States theologian Franciscan Father Daniel Horan will be among those heading the line-up of speakers for a four-part series of one-hour online events.
Brisbane archdiocese is hosting the series to celebrate the 2020 Season of Creation (September 1 – October 4) during the Special Laudato Si’ Anniversary Year which Pope Francis declared for the fifth anniversary of his encyclical Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home).
The series kicks off with Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane and Archbishop Chong leading an online celebration for the World Day of Prayer for Care for Creation to launch the Season of Creation on September 1 (2-3pm).
They will be joined by young people from Fiji and Australia to pray and talk about how climate change challenges the peoples of the Pacific and what can be done to address this.
In Brisbane during the Season of Creation last year, Archbishop Coleridge and Archbishop Chong signed a joint statement in the spirit of Laudato Si’.
“We in Oceania are on the front line of climate change,” they said in the statement.
“Elsewhere it may seem a matter of scientific debate or a distant prospect, but for the peoples of the Pacific it is rapidly becoming a matter of life and death.
“That is why there is an urgency in our response to the Pope’s call for ‘ecological conversion’ and the action flowing from it.”
They said they were making “a joint commitment to listen to the voice of creation across the Pacific, seeking to hear the voice of the Creator”.
“We commit to acting upon what we hear – in the belief that we are not powerless but have been entrusted with the power of Easter faith which not only opens the eye and ear but also enables us to act so that humanity may find a way home to Paradise,” their statement said.
Archbishop Coleridge will participate with Fr Horan in another webinar, on September 11 (9-10am) on “Eucharist and Ecological Conversion”.
Fr Horan is Duns Scotus Chair of Spirituality at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
He and Archbishop Coleridge will discuss how our understanding of the Eucharist relates to our responsibility to hear the cries of the earth and the cries of the poor.
The third online event, on September 17 (7-8pm), will feature a community-based project, Maroonprint, aiming to build “a new vision for Queensland’s economic, social and environmental future”.
It will be led by the driver of Maroonprint, Queensland Community Alliance, which has Brisbane archdiocese as a founding member.
Maroonprint has been developed by churches, faith groups, trade unions, community organisations and ethnic associations.
“Laudato Si’ and the Maroonprint” will provide an overview of the project.
“Protecting the Platypus”, on September 23 (10.30-11.30am), will be presented by the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland.
Meanwhile, Catholic Earthcare Australia is hosting an online convocation, Bringing Our Hearts Together to Care for Our Common Home, from August 26 to September 30.
Speakers will include economist Ross Garnaut; chair of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Social Justice, Mission and Service Bishop Vincent Long; and Dr Sandie Cornish, of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s Office for Social Justice.
Wide-ranging topics will include “Being in relationship with our Mother Earth: formation of our hearts through eco-literacy”, “In relationship with God through formation of our heart”, “In relationship with our world’s financial, economic and political issues that underpin care for our common home” and “Investment that cares for our common home”, and an “International youth session”.
For information or to register go to: https://catholicearthcare.org.au/2020-convocation/
To register for Brisbane archdiocese’s Season of Creation online events go to:
| World Day of Prayer for Care for Creation, Season of Creation launch, September 1, 2-3pm: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vKV3I0yqTJORYFKRyI-MJA
| Eucharist and Integral Ecology, September 11, 9-10am: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_d1O-Ps1TQh6XD0MKbA9YnQ
| Laudato Si’ and the Maroonprint, September 17, 7-8pm: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GBgoZxTMTDK1wHDrTiRJQ
| Protecting the Platypus, September 23, 10.30-11.30am: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_RGrU48QlSmSxVcBgbDvvDA
