Pope Francis has
designated Sept. 1, as the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation,
joining the Orthodox Church, which has had a concern for creation in
their calendar, from the 80s. The Peace Weekly editorial introduces the readers to some of our ecological problems. In the encyclical on the environment the pope said: "living our vocation to be protectors of God's handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience."
In inaugurating the day, the Pope said it will be a time to: "reaffirm our personal vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live."
We are not the top boss of creation-- God is. We have been created to take care of God's creation and to do this with responsibility. We need a healthy moral code and ecological spirituality. The pope calls this ecological repentance, and working for the common good.
The young people in Seoul are giving us a good example of what it means to have ecological repentance. It is to change our habits of consumption to environmentally friendly, and with an orientation to the common good. They are cutting out single use disposable items, and promoting the use of handkerchiefs to cut down on the use of paper towels. We should be leaders in this movement.
Seoul has a campaign to use handkerchiefs instead of paper towels or dryers, when using public toilets to conserve energy. Seoul Metropolitan Government has unplugged all hand-dryers. Using handkerchiefs instead of hand dryers or paper towels will save electricity and our forests. The editorial concludes by asking the readers to join the campaign.
