Abingdon: A parish response to Laudato Si'

Anne Dodd

Members of the Livesimply team at the Parish of Our Lady and St Edmund of Abingdon in Abingdon, Portsmouth Diocese, have written a series of short articles leading up to the Season of Creation for the diocesan e-newsletter. This is the first.

Laudato Si - Care for our Common Home is a call to everyone in the diocese by Pope Francis. This letter from the Pope was published five years ago now but is still largely unknown within Catholic parishes and congregations. The Laudato Si' Year announced by Pope Francis in May is a wonderful opportunity to help everyone of us in the diocese to see that a right relationship with the earth, our common home, is as much part of our faith as our relationship with God and with our neighbour. In Laudato Si' Pope Francis calls on everyone to change their way of life, to respond to "the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor."

There are lots of resources available to help us, as individuals and as parishes to do this. In the next few E-letters five contributors will signpost ways to help us all to respond to Laudato Si' and change our lives in response to its challenge.

There are three main websites to go to and explore for sources of help. The first is ( www.ourcommonhome.co.uk ). There are details there of Global Healing and Global Caring, film - based events for parish groups and individuals. They both inform, challenge and equip people to engage with Pope Francis' vital call to Care for Our Common Home. These excellent starting points have been produced by CaFE (Catholic Faith Exploration ) on behalf of the Bishops' Conference.

The second website to explore is that of the Global Catholic Climate Movement ( www.catholicclimatemovement.global ). This is a tremendous source of practical ideas, short videos, discussion group material and ways of turning Laudato Si' into action. There is a particularly good section on liturgical, prayer and spiritual resources.

The third website is The Journey to 2030 ( www.journeyto2030.org ) which also has an excellent round-up of resources which are also very good as ecumenical events and actions. There is, as the website says, much common ground in our common home.

Any or all of these websites gives each and everyone of us the tools to respond wholeheartedly to action as well as a deep inner conversion in the way we live.