“Laudato Si’” Day in Exeter
On Saturday, 7th March, thirty-four parishioners and students gathered at the Exeter University Chaplaincy for a day of prayer and reflection. Inspired by Pope Francis’s famous letter on integral human ecology and the environment, Laudato Si’, we set out to discover how we can better care for one another and “Our Common Home.”
We took inspiration from our speakers. Canon Kristian Paver explored the themes of “Ecological Conversion” which simply means a change of heart. How we treat the Earth is a reflection of how we love God. He unpacked how social justice (helping the poor) and ecological justice (protecting nature) are two sides of the same coin and part of our responsibility and commission as Christians to act for the good of this world.
Kirsty Wright our head of property explored how our own Plymouth Diocese is working to make our church buildings more sustainable and eco-friendly.
During the day participants engaged with listening, reflecting, praying, planting seeds, sharing lunch and conversations about ways forward. This event was seen as a launch experience to hopefully grow new groups of action around our diocese. We leaned into the idea of encouraging parishes to take on the Live Simply campaign and also listened to suggestions and ideas of how we might make changes in our personal and community lives.
We very much look forward to hearing about what actions grow from this event. Already there will be a new Laudato Si group in Exeter who will be meeting for the first time on the 23rd of April and we know that others will be planting seeds of inspiration in their parishes too.
The talks that were held on the day will be turned into a future Caritas resource for parishes to explore this same inspiration for their own areas. You can listen to the talks by following these links:
Talk by Fr Kristian Pavor: https://youtu.be/0IZcN2Ucz_Q
Talk by Kirsty Wright, Head of Property: https://youtu.be/i3q-5QJpjVc
With special thanks to the Exeter chaplaincy, Andrew Blewett for his initiating this program and to all who attended.
If you have an idea for an event for your area, then please do get in touch with caritas@prcdtr.org.uk