Yahweh's Garden

The first ever such service exuded joy on a beautiful fall day, where the animals and people gathered together to praise God, remember the stories of creation, bless the animals and the harvest and the children and expectant parents, and all those who do God's work with the land -- the farmers, gardeners, and wild lands and animals specialists, the foresters and tree planters. The youth, in Scripture readings and pageantry helped us celebrate, and then encouraged by words from John Paul II, we then, as adults, as forgiveness for all of creation and life that we have failed to care for as God asked us to. For a recap and photos, go to www.stpatrickofhudson.org and http://www.stpatrickofhudson.org/pictures.aspx IF you wish to organize this in your community, here is the template: Celebration of Creation and a Responsibility for LIFE Prayer Service Following the Model of St. Francis Held outdoors near St. Francis’s feast day. If it rains, we will have to do the blessings o...

This October 10, 2010, grassroots work party events will be held all around the world, networked through www.350.org to try to push for greater, more immediate actions to slow climate change. For myself, I looked around and felt the greatest immediate work that needed to be done in my community was to change hearts and minds to be ready to act. So I wrote a Christian prayer service, based in Scripture, celebrating life and calling all to responsibility and asking for help from the Holy Spirit. Connected to this, tn the online journal Minding Nature from the Center for Humans and Nature, there is an article (starting on page 35) by me entitled "Conservation and the Catholic Imagination" at http://www.humansandnature.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Minding-Nature-v3n2-August-2010.pdf. I hope it prompts some interesting discussions!

This year's hot temperatures along with all the other scientific date have proven that climate change is real and all who believe in a loving Creator who gave us this planet need to get to work. John Paul II said: When the ecological crisis is set within the broader context of the search for peace within society, we can understand better the importance of giving attention to what the earth and its atmosphere are telling us: namely, that there is an order in the universe which must be respected, and that the human person, endowed with the capability of choosing freely, has a grave responsibility to preserve this order for the well-being of future generations. I wish to repeat. The ecological crisis is a moral crisis! {emphasis is the pope’s own} It's time for all who treasure God's creation to join with others to call for national and international and individual actions to preserve it. Here's Bill McKibben's prophetic voice: We're Hot as Hell and We'r...

Forty years ago was the first Earth Day, when members of developed countries gathered to act in concern about the pollution and litter in their midst. We met, changed our ways and our laws, and triumphed over these challenges to some extent, thinking we finished the job. But we didn’t recreate ourselves from the inside out, from roots of faith and inner values, and we didn’t engage all of the world as partners or act as concerned for developing countries as for ourselves. Ecology is the study and art of communities (natural communities that include people), built on the premises of strength through diversity in a connected whole, complementarity and solidarity, where all participants are needed, and everyone has a niche of contribution, no matter what species or how rich or poor or marginalized, no matter a person’s sex or religion. It's a concept that demands that everyone feel connected, able to participate and change for the common good, and through this everyone benefits, not j...