‘Glorious’ celebration kicks off Season of Creation in Down and Connor

The Diocese of Down and Connor enjoyed “glorious” music and a “jubilant atmosphere” at an event marking the beginning of the Season of Creation in Belfast.

The liturgy for the beginning of the Season of Creation in the diocese took place in St Peter’s Cathedral on Wednesday, September 1.

Paula McKeown of Living Church in the diocese told The Irish Catholic that parishes are actively engaging with the Season of Creation which Pope Francis established.

“The diocese established a new Laudato Si’ working group and a key priority was to make sure that the Season of Creation was marked across the diocese and we were delighted to do this with an event in St Peter’s Cathedral,” Ms McKeown said.

“There was a great online following and it has encouraged parishes to take up their own initiatives such as a beach clean in Newcastle, Co. Down and the parish of Ardkeen is going to have a bulb planting day and transform their grounds for the spring on September 18.”

Ms McKeown added that all of the plants used to decorate the cathedral for the event are being replanted in the Laudato Si’ garden in the parish of Ballymena.

“It was an evening of glorious music and Fr Eugene and Fr Martin O’Hagan led the cathedral in ‘How Great Thou Art’ and there was a real jubilant atmosphere,” she said.

“During Covid a lot of us turned to nature as a space of comfort and solace and we also became acutely aware of our interconnectedness globally and the fact that we actually have a Christian duty to care for the Earth that God has given us so there was a real need for this even to happen so that we all understand our role in stewardship of the Earth.”

The Season of Creation is marked from September 1 to October 4 (Feast of St Francis of Assisi) and celebrates the joy of creation as well as encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the natural environment.

The theme for the Season of Creation 2021 is ‘Restoring Our Common Home’. During this season people are asked to join together to celebrate and protect creation through prayer, reflection and action. The global Christian family is called to awaken to the need to heal their relationship with creation and with each other and to encourage parish communities to do the same.

Catholics have been urged to sign the Healthy Planet Healthy People’ petition (http://www.thecatholicpetition.org/) as a key action for this year’s Season of Creation. The petition has been endorsed by the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development in the hope that millions of Catholics will raise their voices in the public sphere in the run up to UN conferences on climate change including the COP15 which will focus on biodiversity and is due to take place in China in mid-October and COP24 on climate change which is due to take place in Glasgow from October 31 to November 12.