Rome, 3 June 2021

Ahead of two UN summits, faith leaders from around the world are encouraging Christians and their institutions to begin planning now how they’ll celebrate the Season of Creation later this year.

Monsignor Bruno-Marie Duffé, Secretary for the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, recently invited all Catholics to join their Christian sisters and brothers in participating in the annual ecumenical celebration of prayer and action for our common home.

And in an intergenerational dialogue on Thursday, Anglican, Lutheran, and leaders from other Christian faiths challenged all Christians to amplify their creation care efforts during what could be a vital year for our common home.

In a letter, Duffé highlighted the potential good that Catholics and Christians can bring about during the Season of Creation, which starts 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.

The Season of Creation comes just before world leaders have opportunities to protect our common home for years to come.

Watch “A home for all?” Exploring the 2021 Season of Creation theme

 

In November, at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26), countries must announce their plans to meet the goals of the historic Paris climate agreement. At the UN Biodiversity Conference, scheduled for October in China, world leaders will have the opportunity to set meaningful and robust targets to protect our common home.

“This Season of Creation will also be a critical moment for Catholics to lift up the voices of the most vulnerable and advocate on their behalf ahead of two important summits,” Duffé wrote.

This year, the global Christian family is uniting around the theme, “A home for all? Renewing the Oikos of God.”

The Rev. Dr. Chad Rimmer, Chair of the Ecumenical Season of Creation Steering Committee and Program Executive for Lutheran Theology and Practice for the Lutheran World Federation, encouraged all Christians to use the season to take action and to truly create a home for all of creation.

“The Season of Creation theme focuses on the fact that the Earth belongs to God, and each beloved creature belongs to this common home (Psalm 24:1). The Greek word for ‘home’ is oikos. By rooting our theme in the concept of home, we point to the integral web of relationships that sustain the well-being of the Earth.

“We have to ensure a just home for all creatures for life on our planet to thrive, and that requires ecological, economic and technological solutions that are rooted in a faithful vision of justice for the dignity of every creature. We hope that this Season of Creation strengthens the ecumenical unity to care for creation in a way that ensures all creatures have a home to flourish and participate in renewing the oikos of God.”

Irene Sebastian, a youth representative of the Green Anglicans movement, shared how she and all people of faith can bring the theme to life during the month-long celebration.

“Home for all means a peaceful, sustainable, and humane existence for all creation,” she said.