Limerick bishop in climate change appeal
YOUNG people have a right to be angry over climate change, believes Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy.
He has asked for a public dedication of this Season of Creation to correct the “relentless wrongs” perpetuated against the environment over the last century and more.
Calling on the public to engage with the Season of Creation - a month-long global ecumenical celebration of prayer and action for ‘our common home’ lasting until October 4 - Bishop Leahy said that we are not doing enough collectively in response to this great climate crisis.
Bishop Leahy stated that the generations following us have a right to be frustrated by our lethargy in responding to a crises we see around us every day.
“I’m not sure in my time that the earth has ever cried louder than it is doing to us in 2023. Record temperatures, devastating floods, as we have seen from the desperately tragic events of late in Libya, hurricanes and so much more.
“Even here in Ireland where, despite all our desire to see more sun, the excessively high temperatures of two weeks ago and, indeed, the incessant rain that preceded them over previous weeks seemed out of the normal. We’ve even seen flooding last week in County Limerick so it’s very much impacting locally as well as globally.”
Bishop Leahy asked is the level of action needed being taken?
“The answer really is no. We have loads of targets for the years ahead but are we doing the work now to make sure we get there? As the businessman Warren Buffet said, someone is sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago. We need to plant our trees now and while we hear a lot about action, I think we all know that there’s not enough action.
“This is the Season of Creation, a time when world churches are calling us all to act to protect our common home, so I would urge everyone to take this month to think about what they individually can do and to demand from those who have the power to do more to wield it.”
Bishop Leahy said that the message about protecting our environment was also loud and clear at World Youth Day in Portugal last month when over 500,000 young people used their collective voice to demand more.
“I was privileged to be there and to see the energy of the young people, their dedication to getting this right. Pope Francis has made promoting environmental custodianship one of his core teachings and urged young people at World Youth Day to not accept the status quo.
“These young people have a right to be frustrated with previous generations. Information is power and we are fully informed of the damage that this and other generations have done yet are we sufficiently exercising our power to change it? As the Pope repeated to the young people at the World Youth Day, we need to recognise ‘the dramatic urgency of taking care of the common home’.
“Pope Francis commented also that we cannot settle for mere palliative measures or timid and ambiguous commitments, as it’s about taking responsibility for what, unfortunately, keeps being postponed, that is: the need to ‘redefine what we call progress and evolution.”
Bishop Leahy invited people to watch the film The Letter: A Message for Our Earth on YouTube.