Bishop MacDaid & Clogher JPIC Group to Mark Year 1 of Pope’s ‘Laudato Si’

‘Caring for Our Common Home’ – the theme of Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical calling on all of us to address the climate and ecological crisis – will be the focus at a gathering commencing at 2pm on Saturday, 18 June at St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre, Monaghan and concluding with a tree planting ceremony at the Cathedral grounds. All are welcome to the event which is being organised by Clogher Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Group (JPIC)   

Bishop Liam MacDaid will be a speaker at the Clogher Diocesan Earth Day event

Bishop Liam MacDaid, ecologist Billy Flynn and author Nellie McLaughlin will be among those who will be speaking at the Clogher Earth Day Gathering. Coordinator of the JPIC Group Father Joseph McVeigh is hoping that the Clogher Earth Day will give renewed impetus in the Clogher Diocese to the message of the Pope in his Laudato Si encyclical concerning the link between the poverty in the world and environmental degradation and climate change. Last September Bishop MacDaid launched the Clogher Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation Group. The steering committee has members from both the Catholic Church and Church of Ireland in the Clogher Diocese.

Ecologist Billy Flynn will be guest speaker

The guest speaker at the event on Saturday, 18 June will be ecologist Billy Flynn who will speak about the importance of biodiversity in County Monaghan and the plan for Monaghan to become a ‘Biodiversity Town’. Billy is a County Monaghan based environmental consultant who has been a judge on the National Tidy Towns Competition and he has a particular interest in environmental sustainability.

The Clogher Earth Day gathering will be chaired by Nellie McLaughlin who is an author and a member of the steering committee of Clogher JPIC.  Nellie’s is a Mercy Sister based in Donegal. Her most recent book ‘Life’s Delicate Balance’ is a response to Laudato Si’. In it she says that this is “the time when, individually and collectively, we endeavour to  take to heart the challenging yet encouraging message of Laudato Si and continue the dialogue, exploring our oneness in the mystery of the unfolding universe, our common home”.

Nellie McLaughlin will chair the Earth Day Gathering

The event on Saturday, 18 June will conclude with a walk from St Joseph’s Pastoral Centre in Monaghan to the grounds of St Macartan’s Cathedral. Bishop Liam MacDaid will plant two rowan trees there to mark the occasion of the first anniversary of the publication of Laudato Si.

Fr Joseph McVeigh, Coordinator of Clogher JPIC

The coordinator of Clogher JPIC Father Joseph McVeigh has said that would like to see people from all over the Diocese of Clogher attending the event. Following the event he says that the Clogher JPIC Group would like to see each Parish engaging in the work of promoting the message of Laudato Si at parish level and undertaking initiatives that respond to the issues of fossil fuel triggered climate change, declining biodiversity and global poverty.  Further information on the event is available by telephone 086 8130296.

A list of events on in June can be found here