On 1 September 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople "call[ed] upon the faithful to 'realize that the protection of the natural environment is the spiritual responsibility of each and every one of us....'" [4] Turning his attention to the youth, Patriarch Bartholomew said, quoted in part below [5]:
“Ecclesiastical instruction must instill in their souls a respect for creation as ‘very good’ [Genesis 1:26], encouraging them to advocate and advance creation care and protection, the liberating truth of simplicity and frugality, as well as the Eucharistic and ascetic ethos of sharing and sacrifice.”
The words "simplicity" and "frugality" contradict notions that are all too common throughout successive generations: "the bigger the better", "the more novel the gadgets the more desirable", "the more one owns the happier", forgetting that the earth is finite with limited natural resources.
The time to reverse the course of devastation brought about by vanity, greed, exploitation, insufficient abstention leading to over procreation and an over-populated world may already be too late.
Prayer days reminding people of Creation do not appear to be helping. Covid-19, as inconvenient as it is, has slowed down the world as it barrels itself toward oblivion.
[1] http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/letters/2015/documents/papa-francesco_20150806_lettera-giornata-cura-creato.html
[2] https://www.ucanews.com/news/pope-applauds-initiatives-ahead-of-world-day-of-prayer-for-creation/89350#
[3] https://www.oca.org/news/headline-news/september-1-the-day-of-prayer-for-creation
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
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