We are gathered here today in the spirit of peace for the good of all human beings and for the care of creation. At this moment in history, at the beginning of the third millennium, we are saddened to see the daily suffering of a great number of people from violence, starvation, poverty and disease. We are also concerned about the negative consequences for humanity and for all creation resulting from the degradation of some basic natural resources such as water, air and land, brought about by an economic and technological progress which does not recognize and take into account its limits. … Read more »… À suivre »
For years, the Canadian churches have made care for the Earth an integral aspect of their justice work. There is no greater threat to our collective future than the destruction of the ecosystems upon which all life is dependent. Caring for Creation is a spiritual commitment to God that is not optional in our faith.
The Canadian government’s Clean Air Act announced on October 19 as the centerpiece of its so-called “Made in Canada” Green Plan for Canada lacks the vision and courage to seriously tackle climate change. … Read more »… À suivre »
Les Églises du Canada ont depuis des années fait du soin de la Terre une dimension intégrale de leur travail de promotion de la justice. Il n’est pas de plus grande menace pesant sur notre avenir commun que la destruction des écosystèmes dont dépend toute vie. Prendre soin de la création est un engagement spirituel envers Dieu que notre foi ne rend pas optionnel.
La Loi sur la qualité de l’air qu’annonçait le gouvernement canadien le 19 octobre, en faisant la pièce maîtresse de son soi-disant Plan vert « fait au Canada », manque de vision et de courage. Elle ne peut pas s’attaquer avec force au problème des changements climatiques. … Read more »… À suivre »
KAIROS wants you to turn off your lights for an hour at 8 pm on Saturday, March 29!
Why? Because our use of fossil fuels -symbolized here by a light bulb- is contributing to global climate change. In 2007, the people of Sydney, Australia, decided that they could send a powerful message for change by turning off all their lights at the same time. More than 2 million citizens and businesses did so. Now, the World Wildlife Fund is taking Sydney’s history-making moment global by encouraging people, businesses, and communities all over the world to turn off their lights and demand action on climate change.
KAIROS asks you, your church, and your community to join in this global effort as part of your commitment to the Re-Energize: Time For A Carbon Sabbath campaign. Use this time to reflect on your use of fossil fuels and their connections not just to climate change but to human rights and conflict as well. Build community around these issues. Advocate with local and federal governments to change their policies and practices related to fossil fuels. … Read more »… À suivre »
Notre dépendance à l`égard de pétrole tue des personnes et la planète… parfois à petit feu par la dégradation progressive de l’air que nous respirons et des écosystèmes dont nous dépendons toutes et tous, et parfois rapidement à la suite des nombreuses violations des droits humains et des conflits liés au contrôle et à l’usage de l’énergie fossile. Y-a-t-il des alternatives?
Oui! KAIROS – initiatives œcuméniques canadiennes pour la justice pense qu’il est temps que nous réexaminions, à titre individuel et comme societé, notre dépendance à l’égard des combustibles fossiles. Joignez-vous à notre campagne d’action Repenser l’énergie : Il Est Temps de Prendre un Congé Sabbatique de Carbone et servez-vous de notre site Internet pour découvrir comment il vous est possible de changer vous-même, de changer votre milieu et d’aider à changer le monde en repensant tous et toutes ensemble de l’énergie! … Read more »… À suivre »
In a pastoral letter to the faithful in his diocese, Roman Catholic Bishop Luc Bouchard of St. Paul in Alberta, Canada decried that “the integrity of creation in the Athabasca Oil Sands” – the largest reservoir of crude bitumen in the world and the largest of three major oil sands deposits in Alberta – “is clearly being sacrificed for economic gain.”
Beyond the traditional categorization of climate change as an environmental issue, it is clearly also a development issue; a poverty reduction, food security, economics, health, human rights, governance and equality issue. It is a Millennium Development Goal issue. (UN Millennium Campaign)
The accepted axiom is, as the climate changes so the world, too, will change in dramatic and sometimes undesirable ways. What does this often rapid change mean to Christians whose faith is intertwined with the glory and beauty of God’s creation, but challenged when that creation is corrupted and irreversibly altered? … Read more »… À suivre »
Faith communities throughout Canada believe they have a moral responsibility to address global warming. As a result, religious leaders have prepared a Canadian Interfaith Call for Leadership and Action on Climate Change. This is among the first times that such a broad interfaith effort at a faith leaders’ letter has been undertaken in Canada. … Read more »… À suivre »
We are united as Christian leaders in our concern for the well-being of our neighbours and of God’s good creation that provides life and livelihood for all God’s creatures. Daily we see and hear the evidence of a rapidly changing climate. Glaciers are disappearing, the polar ice cap is melting, and sea levels are rising. Incidents of pollution- created dead zones in seas and the ocean and toxic algae growth in water supplies are occurring with greater frequency. Most disturbingly, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is rising at an unprecedented rate. At the same time we also witness in too many instances how the earth’s natural beauty, a sign of God’s wonderful creativity, has been defiled by pollutants and waste.
Many have reacted to these changes with grief and anger. In their outrage some have understandably focused on the neglect and carelessness, both in private industry and in government regulation, that have contributed to these changes. However, an honest accounting requires a recognition that we all participate both as consumers and investors in economies that make intensive and insistent demands for energy. In addition, as citizens we have chosen to support or acquiesce in policies that shift the burdens of climate change to communities that are most vulnerable to its effects. People who are already challenged by poverty and by dislocation resulting from civil war or famine have limited resources for adapting to climate change’s effects. … Read more »… À suivre »
As hundreds of thousands of people flooded through the streets of New York City on 21 September in a march for action on climate change, 30 faith leaders representing nine religions signed their names to a statement calling for concrete actions to curb carbon emissions. The document was the centrepiece of an interfaith conference jointly hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), a body that includes 345 churches representing about 560 million Christians worldwide, and Religions for Peace, an interfaith coalition with members in more than 70 countries. Signatories hailed from 21 countries on six continents. “When in January I listened to the general secretary of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, calling the world’s heads of state for a summit on climate change, I thought we also have to get together as leaders of faith communities to offer our contributions,” said Rev. Dr Olav Fkyse Tveit, the WCC general secretary. Large changes require “deep and strong conviction” which, he said, can be found in the “beliefs, rituals, symbols, sacred texts and prayers of faith [that] give meaning and direction for a large portion of the world’s population.” … Read more »… À suivre »
Thousands of people are planning to embark on a pilgrimage of climate justice – either on foot or on bicycles – in many parts of the world. These faithful pilgrims, rooted in their religious beliefs, want to express solidarity with those affected by climate change – urging world leaders to produce a legally binding and universal agreement on the climate at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. These pilgrims, mostly from Europe and Africa, are mobilized by Christian organizations representing members of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Some will end their journey in Paris, uniting their voices with other faith actors at the COP 21 to be held from 30 November to 11 December 2015. “Paris is a milestone in our pilgrimage of climate justice,” said Dr Guillermo Kerber, WCC programme executive for Care for Creation and Climate Justice. “Yet Paris is not a destination. As people of faith, expected to offer a moral compass to climate dialogue, we need to strategize for 2016 and beyond,” he said. … Read more »… À suivre »
On Thursday, Pope Francis issued a powerful and timely encyclical on the environment, urging humanity to come to its senses and cease its reckless onslaught against God’s creation. He addressed this letter not only to his fellow Catholics, but to all people of the world, asking people of different religious traditions to unite in common purpose to save our planet.
As religious figures, we too accept the overwhelming scientific consensus that global warming comes from human activity, as we see no conflict between faith and reason.
And, coming from the three great Abrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – we stand together on the need to be good stewards of the earth. All of our traditions affirm the inherent goodness of all creation, and the binding obligation on human beings to protect our common home, the planet that sustains us. The Hebrew Scriptures state clearly that the Earth belongs to God alone, and that we are merely sojourners – we do not have ownership on a permanent basis: the fruits of the earth belong to all, including the poor. This ancient teaching is affirmed by both Christianity and Islam. Christians also view the world through a sacramental lenses, believing that the redemption of Christ has in turn redeemed all of creation. And Islam can be thought of as a religion of nature, with 750 verses in the holy Qur’an speaking about our responsibility to the environment and our relationship with all creatures. Islam too recognizes that everything in the heavens and the earth belong to God, and that we are mere trustees and vice-regents. … Read more »… À suivre »
Joined in prayer, Christian churches around the world will again observe the ecumenical “Time for Creation” (1 September to 4 October), this year bolstered by Pope Francis’s recent proclamation of 1 September as the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.”
The movement toward a yearly commemoration of the biblical mandate to exercise stewardship over God’s creation (Genesis 1:26-28) first took shape following a 1 September 1989 encyclical from the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople in which he extended an invitation to “the entire Christian world to offer together with the Mother Church of Christ, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, every year on this date prayers and supplications to the Maker of all, both as thanksgiving for the great gift of creation and as petitions for its protection and salvation.”
The pastoral letter from Dimitrios continued, “At the same time we paternally urge, on the one hand, the faithful in the world to admonish themselves and their children to respect and protect the natural environment and, on the other hand, those who are entrusted with the responsibility of governing the nations to act without delay, taking all necessary measures for the protection and preservation of natural creation.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) and related ecumenical bodies have adopted a “Time for Creation” as an emphasis in the church year, running from the beginning of the Eastern Orthodox liturgical year on 1 September to the feast-day of Saint Francis of Assisi observed by the Roman Catholic Church on 4 October. This initiative arose directly from the Ecumenical Patriarch’s 1989 encyclical. … Read more »… À suivre »
In conjunction with the United Nations Sustainable Development summit, currently underway, Canadian faith leaders are calling for climate justice in Canada—for all Canadians, and for the world. Together they have endorsed the statement “On Promoting Climate Justice and Ending Poverty in Canada.”
“On the same day when Pope Francis spoke at the UN General Assembly, asking for renewed ambition from wealthy countries in efforts to reach a solid international commitment to lower greenhouse gas emissions, this statement echoes the need for Canada to act,” said Joe Gunn, Executive Director of Citizens for Public Justice (CPJ).
“In midst of a federal election campaign, climate challenges, ending poverty and responding with justice to Indigenous rights cannot be dismissed. These religious signatories are right to call us to greater respect for the common good.”
Read the 2015 joint statement of the Evangelical-Roman Catholic dialogue in Saskatoon, Called to Common Witness
The Petrine Ministry
Permanent link: https://ecumenism.net/?p=3473
As hundreds of thousands of people flooded through the streets of New York City on 21 September in a march for action on climate change, 30 faith leaders representing nine religions signed their names to a statement calling for concrete actions to curb carbon emissions. The 
Thousands of people are planning to embark on a pilgrimage of climate justice – either on foot or on bicycles – in many parts of the world. These faithful pilgrims, rooted in their religious beliefs, want to express solidarity with those affected by climate change – urging world leaders to produce a legally binding and universal agreement on the climate at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21) in Paris. These pilgrims, mostly from Europe and Africa, are mobilized by Christian organizations representing members of the 
On Thursday, Pope Francis issued a powerful and timely encyclical on the environment, urging humanity to come to its senses and cease its reckless onslaught against God’s creation. He addressed this letter not only to his fellow Catholics, but to all people of the world, asking people of different religious traditions to unite in common purpose to save our planet.
Joined in prayer, Christian churches around the world will again observe the ecumenical “Time for Creation” (1 September to 4 October), this year bolstered by Pope Francis’s recent proclamation of 1 September as the “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.”
In conjunction with the United Nations Sustainable Development summit, currently underway, Canadian faith leaders are calling for climate justice in Canada—for all Canadians, and for the world. Together they have endorsed the statement “On Promoting Climate Justice and Ending Poverty in Canada.”