“Laudato Si” group

The name “Laudato Si” is the name of Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical about Care for our Common Home – the Earth. In it the Pope speaks of the interconnectedness of all things. As Christians we are encouraged to love one another, but caring for each other is inseparable from care for the Earth, and generations to come will live with the consequences of our treatment of the Earth today.

We of the Nundah-Banyo Parish want to take the Pope’s call to action to the heart of our faith and life, and help our church live out the ethos of caring for creation. So how can we care for the Earth? The below table indicates our Laudato Si committee’s focus areas and current actions. To grow our action list, we need more volunteers! Currently we meet virtually every 2 months for an hour, though we may meet in-person at the Parish Office in the future. According to his/her own capabilities and time demands, every committee member is investigating various actions.

If joining the committee interests you, please reach-out to our contacts below.

Contacts:

Bernadette Wrafter : Hugored98@gmail.com
Pia Wrafter: piawrafter@hotmail.com

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Soft plastics

Focus Area	Action to date	Future Action
Celebrating Laudato Si in Liturgy	Promoting the “Season of Creation” during the month of September; ·         Inclusion of prayers for our environment during Sunday mass ·         Giving seedlings to parishioners	We’d welcome your ideas!
Promoting environmental awareness amongst Parishioners	Weekly/fortnightly “Green Corner” updates in the Parish Newsletter ·         Facebook posts promoting sustainability and “Green Corner” content	Create a Laudato Si section on the Parish Website
Parish energy consumption	Completed cost analysis of switching electricity providers to 100% carbon offset electricity ·         Currently supporting analysis of purchasing solar panels for Parish Office	Contact the Archdiocese to discuss region-wide adoption of 100% carbon offset electricity
Parish water consumption	Supporting purchase and installation of a water tank at new Parish Office	We’d welcome your ideas!
Parish waste generation	Identified several options for composting organic waste generated by the Parish ·         Identified several options for improving sustainability of morning teas / Parish food events, particularly with respect to cutlery and plates	Contact school community to see if Parish can support school’s vermicomposting or if the school and Parish wish to combine compostable matter for processing by external party ·         Implement sustainability actions for morning teas, once they begin again!