The Columbans are delighted to be launching the second season of its podcast, ‘Jubilee for the Earth’. The theme of this new season is: Biodiversity and Our Sacred Story.
The new podcast series launches on 31st August and explores the beauty of God’s biodiversity and the threats it faces. Each episode will explore biodiversity loss and a related issue like climate change, indigenous peoples and young people. The podcasts are an initiative of the Columban Working Group on Biodiversity, which has members in Australia, Britain, China, Hong Kong, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, and the USA. The series coincides with the Season of Creation 2022.
The Season of Creation is the time of year when the world’s 2.2 billion Christians are invited to pray and care for creation.
Jubilee for the Earth is about the beauty of God’s biodiversity and the threats it faces. Nature loss is accelerating at an unprecedented rate, with grave impacts for human wellbeing, and a million species face extinction. Each episode will explore biodiversity loss and a related issue like climate change, indigenous peoples, and young people.
Columbans see close-up the devastating impacts of diminished biodiversity, the collapse of ecosystems, and climate change on communities who contribute least to these problems and whose natural resources are exploited and destroyed for the benefit of others.
Columbans live in coastal communities suffering from sea-level rise, in deserts where communities live with water scarcity, and in communities suffering from massive logging and deforestation.
The podcasts will inform viewers in the lead-up to COP15, the United Nations conference on Biodiversity, which will take place in 7-19 December 2022 at Montreal, Canada.
The next United Nations Conference on Climate Change will take place in Egypt 6-18 November. It aims to build on previous goals from the Paris and Glasgow climate talks and pave the way for future ambition to effectively tackle the global challenge of climate change. Walk2COP27 starts on 22 September.
The 45-day virtual journey features 12 locally hosted town hall-hybrid meetings between Glasgow (COP26) and Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh (COP27), showcasing how climate change is impacting each location and the solutions that are being deployed.
The 12 locations are: Scotland, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. Campaigners can join these gatherings online, or in person. In the final week of the journey, the voices of all participants will be recorded and synthesised into a proclamation for the COP27 attendees.
And finally, ‘A Catholic Season of Creation’ resource for the Sundays of Year C – September/October 2022 – has been produced by Columban Fr Charles Rue in Australia. He says: “Inserting a ‘Season of Creation’ into the Catholic Liturgical Year during September is a structural way to help implement the Pope’s vision in Laudato Si’.”
“As a pastoral initiative, it challenges and stimulates believers to face the 21st century ecological crisis. The Eucharist is a privileged place to remember Laudato Si’ in prayer, loving all things on Earth as kin.”
We are helped to recognise that Earth is being abused and that poor people are the first to suffer. We pray to be responsible carers for the multiple gifts of Earth – our common home.