There is a small group of committed people in the Derry Diocese that have formed a group called ‘Laudato Si’ in response to the encyclical of Pope Francis by that name. They have been meeting monthly for some time and had a launch of their group in Ardmore parish hall with the support of bishop Donal McKeown. They have set up a subgroup for education and raising awareness and a liturgical group that would inform parishes with helpful suggestions at regular intervals. They have tried to link in with other groups in Derry (e.g. Zero Waste and Save Our Sperrins) and have done some tree planting.
On Saturday 24th February the group had their first one-day workshop in Buncrana to raise awareness in Inishowen, hoping to repeat this elsewhere in the Derry diocese. They wrote to all the priests in parishes in Inishowen to ask them to encourage a few people in their parish or parish council to join them and also to advertise it in their bulletins. The group had ten participants with Noel Bradley as facilitator. Four came from Buncrana parish and four came as support from Derry from the ‘Laudato si’ group, one Dutch visitor and one from the rest of Inishowen. Everyone enjoyed the day and found it nourishing as well as challenging.
The group used a workshop method allowing for as much participation as possible. This consisted of a ritual with water, air, fire and clay, then short DVD clips on Gratitude, on ‘where we are now’ and the causes of the problem and possibilities now. All followed by discussion.
The Laudato Si Group hope to repeat this workshop in the rest of the Derry diocese by grouping some parishes. The parishes seem an ideal network to use. It was also hoped that this would be an ongoing education process for those that might be interested. Pope Francis calls for an ‘ecological conversion’ which is asking for something more than the conventional pious nod! Laudato si, Signore.
Contact Noel Bradley (laudatosisisignore2017@gmail.