18th May Holy Name, Leeds: Climate Conversation

Madeline Woods is a ‘Step into the Gap’ volunteer for CAFOD and this weekend she will be helping the Live Simply’ group from the parish of Our Lady of Kirkstal, to host a Climate Conversation and activities, at Holy Name Church Hall, Cookridge from 2pm – 4pm.

The Live Simply group have invited Alex Sobel MP to meet children from the local catholic primary and secondary schools as well as members of the cubs, scouts and brownies groups. Families who attend the Children’s Liturgy sessions in all three churches in the parishes have also been invited. There will be organised activities for all ages, and a discussion about how we can all act to make our daily lives less damaging to the planet.

The event is targeted at those under the age of 15 and their families who would like to know more about how they can get involved to shape communities of the future, with lowered carbon emissions, sustainable renewable energy and reduced burden on our planet’s natural resources.

Madeline has recently returned from a CAFOD trip to Uganda and is keen to share her stories from her visit with the young people who will be attending.

 

“At this event, we will have an inter-generational discussion about how we can all act on climate change, both as individuals and collectively as a parish. Every effort we make to reduce our carbon emissions will have a positive impact for those living in the world’s poorest countries, who often feel the impact of climate change the worst.”

If you would like to attend, please email hnoffice.ourladyofkirkstall@dioceseofleeds.org.uk so we know how many people to expect.

What: Climate Conversation
Who: Alex Sobel MP Leeds North, Madeline Woods (CAFOD Gap Year Volunteer), Our lady of Kirkstal Live Simply group and parish members up to the age of 15 and their families.
Where: Holy Name Church Hall, 52 Otley Old Rd, Leeds LS16 6HW
When: Saturday 18th May, 2pm – 4pm
Why: To challenge and change the systems and structures that cause climate change, and poverty

If you are not able to attend, you can join St Urban’s parishioners on Sunday 19th May for their Creation Celebration, with guest speaker Bernard Balibuno CAFOD’s Country Representative for the Democratic Republic of Congo who will share updates on how our support to communities facing the impact of climate change makes a real difference. For more information about St Urban’s Creation Celebration please click here.

If you would like to know more about how you and your school or parish can get involved with CAFOD’s Our Common Home campaign click here.

 

Harrogate St Aelred’s Celebrate Creation with prayer, discussion and action

The parishioners of St Aelred’s church in Harrogate, with the support of their CAFOD group members, celebrated creation at their ‘Creation Celebration’ mass on Sunday 12th May.

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The church was decorated with images of flowers, butterflies, birds and insects and prayers and drawings adorned every pew in the building. It was a sight to see so much wonderful artwork on display from the children in the local primary school of the parish.

Bernadette Brodrick, on behalf of the CAFOD group invited me to their church originally to speak to the congregation about the new parish initiative ‘Hands On: Colombia’, and it was wonderful to hear that my visit was to be combined with a Creation Celebration mass.

I was also invited to visit the children’s liturgy group where the children used the prayers from the Creation Celebration mass and discussed ways we could all become Zero Heroes in our own homes and communities.

Young people from St Aelred’s using the grace dice to talk about Climate Change 

Everyone who attended the mass was encouraged to come along to the refreshments and short talk, climate quiz afterwards and sign the petition to ask the Prime Minister to do more to lower harmful carbon emissions by 2045. Parishioners used the grace dice as they enjoyed their food and discussed ideas about Climate Change, a younger members of the parish helped with the dice and petition signing.

The children and families at St Aelred’s were really keen to make sure, as a parish they get behind the Zero Hero initiative with the children, and also have pledged to do more to tackle Climate Change.

A member of the parish brought along fresh flowers from her garden to decorate the hall and also teach the children to make button holes and posies, a wonderful idea to reduce air miles of cut flowers bought from the supermarket.

If you would like to host a Creation Celebration in your parish, download your Leader’s Guide and let us know when it is, we would love to hear about it.

You can send your pictures to leeds@cafod.org.uk so we can share them on social media to encourage other parishes to get involved.

The next Creation Celebration mass will be held at St Urban’s Church, Headingley on Sunday 19th May

19th May St Urban’s Headingley Creation Mass

Today in the volunteering centre we were visited by Father Gerard, Parish Priest at St Urbans church in Headingley, Leeds. We helped Fr Gerard prepare for the upcoming creation mass on the 19th of May at St Urbans. We had a look at the Creation Mass Organiser’s Guide with Fr Gerard, it has ideas about the hymns, prayers and readings which reflect on protecting God’s creation.

As a communications volunteer for CAFOD, I am very interested in this because I have never seen a creation mass before and hope to come along. It would be great to meet other volunteers especially from other parishes who will hopefully be inspired to do this in their own church communities.

So, if you are a parish volunteer, and like me, you would like to see what a creation mass is all about please come along and join us at this creation mass celebration on Sunday the 19th of May at 10:30am and afterwards for refreshments and discussions about climate change. There will also be a opportunity to sign a petition to ask the UK government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to ‘net zero’ by 2045.

“We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.”

Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ #14

 

To organise your Creation Celebration, just follow these three steps:

>Step 1: Hold a Creation Mass to give special thanks for the gift of creation and pray for our common home

>Step 2: Fill in a petition to the Prime Minister calling for further, faster climate action

Step 3: Share food after your Mass and get your community talking about how we should respond to the climate crisis

 

For more information contact leeds@cafod.org.uk or call 0113 275 9302 to discuss your Creation Mass ideas with Bronagh