The Season of Creation coincides with the start of springtime in Australia. It is a time of intense focus on the environment so that we become attentive to the “cry of creation” and the “cry of the poor”. Creation is “crying” because for too long humanity has misused the gift of nature. Humanity is awakening to the need to be far better stewards and caretakers of the natural world that has been gifted to us by God because creation is the manifestation of the love of God.

During the Season of Creation, we are also compelled to listen to and hear the “cry of the poor”. This is the case because the poor are the people most affected by environmental issues such as climate change, deforestation, over-fishing, and pollution.

In responding to and participating in the Season of Creation, we at St Pat’s have been raising awareness of the need for an “ecological conversion” – that is, we are called to be mindful of our interactions with the natural world and to play our part in sustainable use of its resources. One way of committing the St Pat’s community to the process of ecological conversion is for each individual to pursue at least one action that addresses repair and care of the environment. Using the words of the song “From Little Things, Big Things Grow”, each person’s actions, no matter how small, can contribute to making big changes.

To this end, each individual in each year group during Chapel has been asked to commit to an action that shows care for the environment. The girls have written their action onto a leaf and these have been placed on the altar of our College Chapel as a sign of prayerful commitment to carrying out the action on a daily basis.

Angelo Gattone - Mission Coordinator