Fr Simon Sleeman OSB from Glenstal Abbey, Co Limerick has been a beekeeper for over 40 years. He is the monastery bee-keeper and writes a monthly Bee Blog in between caring for the monastery bees and beehives.
His blog is an inspiration and as well as being informative about the world of the bees, his writing ties in the spirituality of Laudato Si.
The Irish Catholic carried an article on his work with the bees:
‘At first he saw the bees as just honey producers, as a means to an end. “So, I looked at them very much as a utilitarian, something really not with their own intrinsic value which Pope Francis talks about again in Laudato Si’,” he said.
In his encyclical on the environment Pope Francis states: “Each organism, as a creature of God, is good and admirable in itself; the same is true of the harmonious ensemble of organisms existing in a defined space and functioning as a system. Although we are often not aware of it, we depend on these larger systems for our own existence.”
“We need only recall how ecosystems interact in dispersing carbon dioxide, purifying water, controlling illnesses and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste, and in many other ways which we overlook or simply ignore.”
Fr Simon says he is convinced of the ecological conversion the Pope discusses, in order for humanity to “walk on this earth with reverence and care, sharing it with others’.
You can read Fr Simon’s monthly bee blog here.
Read the Irish Times article: Ireland joins international group trying to protect bees.