Carrigaline Union received an award in recognition of its environmental endeavours during a climate justice event the parish co-hosted with Eco-Congregation Ireland on Friday 7th November.
The parish promotes recycling, composting and Fairtrade and the use of delph rather than disposable crockery and cutlery. In recent years bee-friendly hedging and fruit trees have been planted and the rectory garden is now used for growing vegetables as well as hosting parish picnics and barbecues.
Creation-themed services are held several times a year and the parish includes eco tips in its weekly pewsheet and contributes a ‘Green Matters’ section to the Cork, Cloyne and Ross diocesan magazine.
Members of the select vestry were delighted to receive the award. “Over the past two 
years, by making practical changes in our parish life, we have tried, as a community, to live more lightly on the earth and it means a lot to us to have our efforts recognised in this way by an organisation like Eco-Congregation Ireland,” said Rev Elaine Murray, Rector of Carrigaline Union.
“We feel that this award is only the beginning: we hope to continue to adjust our individual lives and the life of our congregation. We can continue to learn so much from the online resources available through Eco-Congregation and from other parishes who are also on this journey. We 
would heartily recommend the Eco-Congregation website’s many resources, if you feel that this is something that might benefit you and your church congregation.”
Presenting the award, ECI chairperson, the Ven Andrew Orr, said: “We heartily congratulate Carrigaline Union on receiving the latest Eco-Congregation award, which recognises the fantastic effort that the whole parish community has made in putting the environment at the forefront of what they do as a community and as individuals. We are delighted that they made such good use of our online resources and we hope that this will inspire other congregations to see what they can do in their local area.”
To find out more about Carrigaline Union’s eco initiatives, click here.