Eco-Congregation Ireland was delighted to accept an invitation from Trócaire and the Archdiocese of Dublin to provide a stand and bring the Climate Justice Candle to the Conference entitled ‘Parishes Caring for Creation’ in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Blanchardstown, on Friday 24th November. When the date came, the brutal stabbings and violence on the streets in Dublin on the previous afternoon overshadowed the joy of being in community again, at our first in-person conference since the pandemic. Leadership in prayer was an important support in finding courage to do the work that was planned.
Our team of four were kept constantly busy with enquiries from parishes interested in beginning creation care projects and updates from friends of ECI on their recent successes – solar panels, air curtains, biodiversity gardens and more. The Climate Justice Candle was familiar to many and a source of an encouraging number of enquiries from congregations where it had not yet visited.
The conference speakers provided passionate calls to action in every aspect of personal, public and church life. The messages of Laudato Si and the recent Laudate Deum were reiterated, we were updated us on the science, we heard from a recent meeting with Pope Francis that he is under no illusion about the ironies of COP 28 and determined to bring a strong message there in person, we were encouraged to make creation care a way of life.
The afternoon workshops provided guidance on the practical aspects of realising the vision. Energy audits, funding applications, sourcing quotes, planting for pollinators, mobilising volunteer teams were among the topics covered.
The day finished with a time of reflection and we packed up our Candle, ready for its next journey. It will light prayers during dark days in December and remind us to keep believing that together we can make change can happen.
‘And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs —
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.’
Gerard Manley Hopkins. God’s Grandeur
Fran Brady, Quaker representative on the ECI committee has provided a report on the conference which you can read here.
