A new Catholic ecological committee held its first symposium in early December to find ways to activate environmental awareness in Korean parishes and develop an ecological liturgy.
They met to discuss and implement the Pope's encyclical Laudato Si, in which Pope Francis critiqued environmental degradation and climate change. Many have seen the need and moved differently to bring about change.
"Until now, the Catholic ecological movement was led by priests. Now it is time for all the faithful in Korea to show their voice as the 'green church,'" was the voice of one religious sister.
A liturgy professor at the Major Seminary said they can change parishioners' consciousness by inserting ecological themes in general prayer intercessions, adding ecology-related scripture readings, and composing hymns about preserving the environment.
This year's theme is 'Carbon Neutrality through Renewable Energy Conversion'. The selected Parish was recognized for its efforts to overcome the climate crisis and preserve the order of creation by building a solar power plant and supplying renewable energy in accordance with the spirit of 'Laudato Si'.
The climate crisis refers to a crisis common to all of humanity caused by greenhouse gases generated by humans' indiscriminate use of fossil fuels. These gases increase the Earth's temperature and damage the ecosystem and natural environment.
What is serious is that our country is going against the global trend of efforts to reduce greenhouse gases. Korea is taking the opposite path of responding properly to the climate crisis, such as indiscriminately developing new airports, building new coal-fired power plants, and promoting nuclear power.
In the midst of this, the winner of this year's Catholic Environment Award shows an example of responding to the climate crisis at the parish level. The parish has significantly reduced carbon emissions by installing solar power plants and improving energy efficiency. In addition, all parishioners have actively participated in ecological and environmental pastoral activities and have built solidarity with neighboring parishes and local communities beyond the parish.
Korea is not alone in slowing down the change process. Most of the world now accepts the issues involved with the climate crisis. However, misinformation and myths are still being spread, harming environmental progress in many areas.
We believe that Cheonan Parish's ecological repentance and activities can and should be spread to all parishes nationwide. If all parishes in the Korean Church actively take on this effort to protect our common home, we are confident that Korea would be an exemplary response to the climate crisis.
