On 4 December 2022, Bonnybrook Parish received the highest award for an eco-aware parish. This was granted by Eco Congregation Ireland and was presented to Sr. Margo and her team by Archbishop Dermot Farrell.
Eco Congregation Ireland (ECI) is a project of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting that encourages churches to adopt an eco-friendly approach to all aspects of church life.
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Our Path to becoming an eco-aware parish began when Pope Francis’s letter, Laudato Si’, became an issue for discussion at one of our Parish Pastoral Council meetings. It was agreed that care for creation become a specific ministry in the parish. Subsequently, a group of interested people gathered together and so the journey began.
Over the past four years small but significant steps were taken, and at each stage, a report of these activities sent to ECI. As a result, we received our first certificate, Awareness Certificate and then the Endeavour Certificate in March 2020.
Despite lockdown, work continued and on receiving our last application for the final audit, ECI informed us that we are now an eco-aware parish. The visit of the ECI assessors could not take place due to COVID 19 restrictions. However, as soon as circumstances allow, we look forward to welcoming the assessors to our Sunday liturgy. We know that their encouragement will confirm us in our desire to live as an eco-aware community, recalling Pope Francis’s statement:
“Love, overflowing with small gestures of mutual care, is also civic and political, and makes itself felt in every action that seeks to build a better world” (LS 231)
