Environmental Group

The Environmental Group is part of the Vicariate for Caritas and the remit of the group is still being finalised but includes:

• Drafting a revised Environmental and Social Justice Policy for approval by the Board.
• Linking with the Guardians of Creation Project in Salford which is aimed at delivering the tools and know how to achieve sustainability within Catholic Dioceses.
• Advising the Board on implementing sustainability policies and actions at a Diocesan level.
• Working with schools and parishes to calculate the carbon footprint of our Diocese and assist with developing a plan to achieve carbon neutrality.
• Establishing and supporting a network of climate champions in our parishes to instigate sustainability projects and actions.
• Identifying, encouraging and promoting sustainable activities within our schools and parishes, sharing of good practice and examples.
• Promotion of appropriate resources and information on adopting sustainable life styles.
• Organising education and liturgical events to promote ecological spirituality and actions.

Laudato Si’ Week is a global event sponsored by the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and supported by the Global Catholic Climate Movement in collaboration with about 150 Catholic organizations.

Pope Francis invites Catholic communities around the world to participate in Laudato Si’ Week 2022.

The weeklong global event will mark the seventh anniversary of Pope Francis’ landmark encyclical on creation care and unite the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics to listen and respond to the cry of God’s creation.

Catholics will rejoice in the progress we have made in bringing Laudato Si’ to life, and intensify our efforts through the Vatican’s new Laudato Si’ Action Platform, which is empowering Catholic institutions, communities, and families to fully implement Laudato Si’.

Comprising nearly one-fifth of the world’s population organized in some 220,000 parishes worldwide, the Catholic Church can play a powerful role in solving the dual challenges of the climate emergency and ecological crisis.

The theme for the week is “Listening and Journeying Together.” The eight-day global event will be guided by the following quote from Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’: “Bringing the human family together to protect our common home” (LS 13).

Read the full statement here.

Laudato Si’ Animators receive the tools they need to lead their community to care for our common home Learn from world–renowned experts on the root causes of the climate crisis and the core messages of Laudato Si’.

Periodically Laudato Si’ Animators will share some topical articles, they will be made available here.

What’s wrong with the fashion trade?

A close look at the fashion trade gives us an overall view of human business practice in general, because the same problems and harms that are part of the fashion trade are standard for many of our human businesses. A model that has to change.

So, what is wrong with the fashion trade? The answer is that there is so much wrong that the Animators article about it has to encompass 4 sections, which will inform about human exploitation, animal cruelty, environmental harm and alternatives.

Read the full or shortened version of the article by clicking on the button opposite.

• Bishop Robert Byrne CO
• Fr Chris Hughes (Chair)
• Claire Hetherington (Primary Schools RE Advisor)
• Minnie Fraser (Property Surveyor and Environmental Lead)
• Chris Myers (Justice and Peace Co-ordinating Council)
• Deacon Richard Mclaughlin
• Mel Fransicso-Lawless (YMT)
• Hannah Bartlett (YMT, Secretary)
• Mark Maughan (CAFOD Community Participation Co-ordinator)

Theology Resources – Bishops’ Conference

Laudato Si’ Animators – Bishops’ Conference

Making your Parish Green – Bishops’ Conference

Saving Energy and Recycling at Home – Bishops’ Conference

Recycling and Saving Energy at Work – Bishops’ Conference

The Journey to 2030

Guardians of Creation Project – Diocese of Salford