Mags Gargan
Cabra West Parish in Dublin and Ballinaspeaig Parish in Cork have both received an award from Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI) – a project of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting – for taking steps to ‘green’ their parishes in recent years.
Ballinaspeaig was the first church in Ireland to become a Fairtrade parish. It has held a number of events to promote environmental issues including a Lenten series, a Harvest Thanksgiving Celebration, events to mark World Environment Day and Earth Hour.
To mark the Year of Faith, parishioners were invited to gather in their communities for Masses celebrated outdoors in eight parish areas and the parish raises funds for its twin parish in Turkwell, Kenya towards well-boring, irrigation, solar panels and a health clinic.
Cabra West Parish has been celebrating Creation Time since 2008 by including ‘Care for the Earth’ in sermons, prayers of the faithful, hymns and communion reflections as well as including eco items in the parish newsletter. Children in the local national schools create posters, which are displayed in the church, and a Blessing of Pets and Animals is held on the Sunday nearest the Feast of St Francis.
An area of wasteland beside the priests’ houses has been transformed into a beautiful garden, which has encouraged parishioners to grow their own produce and last autumn a Harvest Mass was celebrated.
To find out more about Eco-Congregation Ireland, see www.ecocongregationireland.com