‘We cannot be healthy if our planet isn’t healthy’ – Bishop Duffy

The bishop of Clogher has called on people to take action to save biodiversity, as after the pandemic “we cannot be healthy if the planet is not healthy”.

In a pastoral letter for the Season of Creation, Bishop Larry Duffy said Covid-19 has shown how “deeply connected everything is”, and “how vulnerable we are as human beings and how fragile is our world”.

Calling on people to examine lifestyles and to judge current practices, the bishop said that the crisis is also a social one: “We must integrate questions of social justice into debates on the environment.

“Questions such as human rights abuses, the religious intolerance, discrimination, racism, the attacks on the life of the unborn and the denial of the right to life – these are all part of what Pope Francis calls ‘colonising interests’ and ‘the throw-away culture’ underpinning our neglect of creation and the creator.”

Theme

The theme of the Season of Creation in Ireland is ‘cultivating hope’. Bishop Duffy said that “hope is found in action” and invited local parishes and individuals to undertake new ways of doing things in order to save biodiversity.

He suggested that each parish consider planting a native Irish tree during the Season of Creation, setting up a Laudato Si’ reading group or a care for creation group in light of this year’s anniversary for Laudato Si’.