McDONAGH: 'Let us work together to make peace with our plane

[Oscar]

'Let us work together to make peace with our planet' UN head tells religious leaders

Fr. Seán McDonagh, SSC November 4, 2009

The town of Windsor celebrated the contribution of the Worlds Faiths to protecting the global environment at a unique event from November 2nd to November 4th 2009. The meeting was organized by The Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The contribution and greater involvement of religions in tackling environmental problems has now such a high priority in the United Nations that the Secretary General of The UN agreed to attend the meeting and address the participants. For his Excellency, Ban Ki-moon, this meant visiting Kabul first to sympathise with the relatives of the UN personnel who lost their lives recently shooting, before flying, through the night, to be present at the Windsor event.

At luncheon and celebration in the Waterloo Chamber of Windsor Castle, Ban Ki-Moon stood along side Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh who is patron of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Both honoured the Faith groups who have committed themselves to action plans “to protect the living planet”. Ban Ki-Moon called on religions to lobby for a successful outcome to the upcoming conference on Climate Change which will meet in December in Copenhagen. He stressed that we need to work together to make peace with our planet.

CAFOD and Operation Noah were thanked for their work to raise awareness on climate change. Other Christian groups singled out included the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for promoting eco-parishes and the Church of Norway for successfully lobbying its government to reduce carbon emissions; Catholic Earthcare Australia was mentioned for its education and advocacy work and Ed Wisbeh of the US Catholic Coalition on Climate Change talked of its work to get Catholic bodies to invest in renewable energy and educational establishments to educate about Catholic in pew about caring for creation.

Fr Sean McDonagh, the author of a number of books on Faith and Environment, spoke of Columban advocacy work in many parts of the world on water, rainforests, destruction of biodiversity, climate change, environmental migrants, mining and genetically modified food. On the educational front he pointed to the part-time MA in Ecology and Religion which has been running at the Columban Ecology Institute at Dalgan Park for the past 8 years.

Representatives from the world’s other major faiths – Baha’ism, Buddhism, Daoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism and Sikhism – also announced action plans. Sheikh Ali Gomma, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, spoke of an Islamic seven-year plan to address climate change, with a new organisation, the Muslim Association for Climate Change Action, being set up to implement it. The Hajj will be greened and plastic bottles banned. “It is a religious duty to safeguard our environment and advocate the importance of preserving it” he said.

Other initiatives ranged from Daoists installing solar power in temples, Hindus working to protect rivers, Buddhists establishing ecology centres in major monasteries, to Jews in the US promoting energy efficient buildings by 2015 and initiating eco-education programmes.

The Papal Nuncio to Britain, Archbishop Faustino Saenz Munoz was present and described the meeting as “very interesting” and “important”.

= = = = =

Video: Irish Archbishop and leading scientist speak on environment

http://www.indcatholicnews.com/
search.php?search=The+Cry+of+the+Earth&location=-1

In advance of the publication of the Irish Catholic Bishops' pastoral reflection: The Cry of the Earth, on 10 November, video interviews with Archbishop Dermot Clifford and Professor John Sweeney have been published on: www.catholicbishops.ie. Both interviews address important issues relating to our responsibility towards the environment.
Published Friday, October 30, 2009 6:41 pm