How green is my parish?

June 5 is an important day for all persons in our global village but especially for those of us committed to living the good news of peace and justice. World Environment Day was established by the United Nations' General Assembly in 1972 and has been commemorated in a different city each year with an international exposition throughout the week of June 6. This year Mexico hosts the events. World Environment Day is a vehicle through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.

The Franciscans are inviting all consecrated religious throughout the world not only to be aware of this day but to join in prayer with our brothers and sisters, friends and collaborators everywhere on this day.

Global warming is accepted as one of the key moral issues of our time. But this is not a question of our Church catching up with the carbon agenda. Global warming is more than an ethical issue. Behind it lie spiritual and theological realities which our Church once clearly understood.

Lent was green. Early mediaeval society, newly Christian, faced up the annual cycle of starvation and hunger for the poor - brought up by the "hunger gap" between depleted winter stores and new spring crops. The Church decreed that, for Lent everyone, rich and poor alike, must fast at near subsistence level to prevent the wealthy from living sumptuously while the poor starved. However late the spring, food stores would now have a chance of lasting and many more might survive.

It is hard to grasp how radical a step it was during the Roman Empire to change from being pagan to Christian. Roman society was indescribably violent, brutal and oppressive. It not only made the killing of criminals and enemies a public entertainment event but also made it an act of public worship - of human sacrifice to various of its many rival "good" and "bad" gods.

Rome deified state power, accepting no accountability. A slave society, it allowed masters to kill slaves almost at whim. Rome was power hungry but also divided by unimaginable disparities between rich and poor and between citizens, subjects and slaves. Without regard to the environment, Rome turned tributary nations into green baskets, taxing them excessively to ensure subjugation and poverty wiping them out in merciless acts of genocide should they be deemed a threat.

Against a background of such ruthlessness, those preparing for baptism were joining a non-violent community, a community that forbade attendance at circuses, military service, material acquisitiveness and magic, a community that forbade any association with the sexual depravity of some of the religious cults and that refused to acknowledge the divine status of the emperor.

But this community was also a school for living differently. It sought to bridge the gap between slave and free, male and female, citizen and foreigner, rich and poor, human beings and the rest of Creation. As a community it was committed to redistribution of the wealth of its members, particularly at its weekly Eucharist so that the poor could live with dignity and the rich and poor alike could more readily find the presence of their Saviour.

Creation was neither despised nor despoiled but respected as sacred and husbanded with the compassionate stewardship of a "good gardener". It believed in one God whose glory "fills all heaven and earth" and who is continually praised by every aspect of Creation including the weather (see Psalm 19 and 29 and also Daniel 3:51-90). A God whose nature people might begin to grasp by studying the created world around them (Rom1:20). The whole Creation is a sacrament revealing God.

This sense of nature seems to have receded. The phrase "eco-Catholicism" should be a tautology. As Christians we have lost much of our sense of the sacredness of nature leaving us hamstrung in taking on the moral and spiritual responsibilities required by the current environmental crisis.

Did our country have its environmental prophets? Was our Church prompt in time to be listened to? Did the Church build a supporting community? Being environmentally aware and making the right choices is difficult without a supporting community and without a parish committed to the same values. We all need to be part of a parish whose lifestyle and decision making expresses a spirituality of Creation. Parishes as parishes must take the "green agenda" seriously.

Worship is the prime focus of a parish from which the Church's life and mission flow. Does my parish include an act of commitment by the whole Church to care better for God's Creation? Are thankfulness and concern for God's Creation expressed in our worship? In our Church's prayers do we praise God the Creator, say sorry for the harm done to the environment, give thanks to God for the gift of Creation, pray for the healing of Creation?

Theology is concerned with giving and exploring a rational and orderly account of Christian belief, drawing on Biblical studies, Christian traditions and history, ethics and the context in which the Church is present. Is my parish exploring aspects of Creation/green theology? Does my parish have access to Christian environmental resources? Does my parish participate in or organises study/exploration events that include environmental issues? Does my parish include creation and environmental issues in its teaching or preaching programme?

If your parish undertakes youth work, review your existing activities and consider future possibilities. Hold a debate on environmental issues and personal responsibility. Develop Creation-care material to offer worship. Undertake a practical environmental/conservation project. Arrange rambles. Organise an environmentally-focused community event. Assess how environmentally-friendly the Church is and make recommendations for action.

More people attend church on a weekly basis than participate in any other voluntary body. Calendar Church publishes "green tips" in the Church magazine and local notice boards. Parishes can publish "green tips" in any of their magazines. Promote awareness through posters or information from environmental organisations. Encourage recycling by providing collection points or informing people of civic facilities.

Another way of taking action is to inform yourself and your community about the upcoming Copenhagen Conference in December ( http://en.cop.15ak ). This gathering of 189 major governments is the 15th such climate change conference aimed at combating greenhouse emissions. It will work towards a new global climate agreement (post-Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012) that incorporates all the countries of the world. How is my local Church engaging in these issues? Will I raise this issue? Where is the voice of my Church?

May all of us recognise that earth will only be our home as long as we learn to respect and care for the whole community of life and learn humility about our place in it.

What may seem like a small step can be a giant leap each day in our life of faith.