The parish of St. Benedict’s in Garforth was one of the first 20 parishes in the country to receive a LiveSimply award in 2016. However, the award does not mark the end of working to live simply, live sustainably and live in solidarity with the world’s poor. One of their major actions was the creation of a flower and vegetable garden on part of parish land and the cultivation of that, and the sharing of the fruits, has continued to this day. However, since Covid, the parish had not really taken any new initiatives around LiveSimply.
The Faith, Justice & Action group in the parish decided they wanted to renew peoples’ interest in both the LiveSimply principles and in Laudato Si more generally. They decided to hold a parish ‘Celebration of Creation’ event on 15 September during the Season of Creation.
The shape of the event was that it took place immediately following the 10:30 Sunday Mass celebration and continued through to 2:30pm. It seemed like nearly everyone at mass continued on into the parish hall afterwards to take part in the event – it was certainly very crowded in there!
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There were all sorts of activities that were especially aimed at younger parishioners. The person providing animal face painting was so popular that she wasn’t able to look up until nearly the end of the event. Other activities included colouring in outline shapes of butterflies, hanging a climate action pledge onto a tree, guessing the number of worms in some composting soil and making and painting things out of clay. The group had also arranged for a company to come in with various animals that people could look at up close and some could be handled. St Benedict’s Primary School were also very involved, with all classes producing fantastic work about God’s wonderful creation.
It was encouraging to see so many people come along and join in the celebration. No doubt some of this was down to the childrens’ activities and a shared lunch and free refreshments. It was also helped by encouragement from the parish priest, Fr Henry Longbottom, in the weeks leading up to it and a strong sermon about the imperatives of Laudato Si on the Sunday of the event itself. This was supplemented by having a colourful display in the porch area so that everyone was aware that the celebration was coming up.
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