In this Jubilee Year of Hope, as we mark the 10th Anniversary of the encyclical, Laudato Si, we have been pleased to support the efforts our diocese of Maitland-Newcastle is making to repair past damage to our environment.
On 24 May 2015, Pope Francis released his encyclical, Laudato Si, Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth. The subtitle, Care for our Common Home asked us to look at the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. (LS para 2).
This inspiring and courageous document had an impression not only on the Catholic Church and people of faith but on multitudes of people around the world.
Now ten years on it is necessary that we revisit this encyclical about the dangers facing the planet. In many ways, Pope Francis was disappointed that the responses to his plea for the world to listen to the Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor went unheeded.
Determined to have his message heard he wrote a sequel, entitled Laudate Deum where he said with the passage of time, I have realized that our responses have not been adequate. He went on to say it is indubitable that the impact of climate change will increasingly prejudice the lives and families of many persons.
Like so many individuals, organisations, parishes and dioceses, our Diocese is taking up the challenge to respond to what Pope Francis put before us. On this tenth anniversary, it is doing so through the Plant Hope with Red Cedar Trees project.
This project is giving people the opportunity to help heal the planet and give hope to others by planting one or more red cedar trees. Many groups assisted with this project. Thanks go to the Tighes Terrace Community Garden, St Benedict’s Inner Newcastle Catholic parish and the financial contribution of the Sisters of St Joseph, Lochinvar. Individuals, families, schools and community groups can access these free red cedar (Toona ciliata) trees through information available on the diocesan website.
It is appropriate that we respond by the planting of red cedars trees in this diocese, as those noble trees were once abundant in our Hunter Valley before European settlement. So prized were they for the beauty and quality of their timber, they were logged to near extinction.
A prayer service was held on 24 May to launch the Plant Hope with Red Cedar Trees project. Sr Margaret O’Sullivan represented the Sisters of St Joseph at the celebration.
Sr Maureen Salmon
