Now is the time to start thinking about what your parish could do to celebrate the Season of Creation: Sep 1st through to Oct 4th.
Our Climate Crisis is a shared concern and one which needs to be reflected in our prayers, liturgies and parish community actions. We need to reflect on our role as co-creators: how sustainably, as individuals and as communities, are we living within our Common Home?
There are so many ways in which your parish could mark this Church Season. Here are a few ideas:
Prayers of the Faithful.
At a simple level you could ensure that parish masses include at least one Prayer of the Faithful that reflects the concerns and focus of this season. For initial ideas download these suggestions from the Season of Creation website.
Download Prayers of the Faithful ideasCreation Mass and action
Spend a bit more preparation time and organise Creation Celebration Mass.
CAFOD provide some detailed guidance for devising a Creation Mass. Download their compreshensive guide:
Organise a Prayer Novena
If you follow some of the other links in this article you will find lots of prayers that could be used as the basis for a novena about Climate Change.
The ‘God who Speaks to us’ team have put together such a Novena for Pentecost. Take a look and see if you could use it as a basis and adapt it for use in the Season of Creation.
Parliament in your Parish
Use CAFOD’s resources to organise a virtual meeting with your MP to express your parish community’s concerns about Climate Change. It’s much easier than you might think! (see the write up of the meeting with Alec Shelbrooke on page 4).
CAFOD, as usual, make it as easy as possible by providing some very detailed guidance and ideas – adapt them for your own circumstances
It may be a relatively new Season within the Church’s year – but that makes it all the more important that we should mark this across the diocese in some way. We wouldn’t dream of letting the Christmas or Easter season go by unremarked – it should be the same when it comes to reflecting, praying and taking action about our Common Home.
Failing all else – sign up to one of the two online liturgies that the Commission is organising during this season!