Catania (Italy). On 11 September 2021 the young women and the Educating Community of “Laura – Eusebia” Housing Community of Nunziata di Mascali, Catania, of the Sicilian Province of Mother Maddalena Morano (ISI), met Sr. Maria Lucia Siragusa, Provincial Secretary and Animator of the Circle Laudato Si’ EtnaMain, that shared the topic of the Season of Creation 2021: “A home for all? Renew the oikos of God”.
Sr. Maria Lucia presented the symbol of the Temple of creation 2021, Abraham’s tent, sign of the ecumenical call to practice the care of creation as an act of radical hospitality, safeguarding a place for all the creatures, both human and non-human, in the common home, Oikos of God. The tent is a place of refuge, but also of openness, of dialogue, and of welcome for what risks becoming ‘waste’, of being placed on the margins of society, as happens to people or to some species of Creation that risk disappearing. The Time of Creation that is celebrated from 1 September to 4 October 2021, is a time especially dedicated to prayer and action for safeguarding the Common Home, which is increasingly in danger.
The 15 young women actively participated in the debate, expressing their opinions:
“I understood that the problem of pollution truly exists and one of the ways of reducing it is to think of the small actions we perform everyday so as not to waste, not to pollute, to take care of our planet because it is our home” (Giovanna).
Elena was struck by a video which states that the time we have left to save the Planet is about 15 years, and she becomes aware of the difficulties that her generation will have to face for the protection of the Planet.
From the sharing emerge some strategies to be implemented: reduce waste (with responsible behavior in the use of water, electricity, and our own means); drastically avoid the use of plastic; practice differentiated collection; give new life to objects by promoting recycling; build Abraham’s tent in the communities and spread the message of Laudato Si’.
In addition, the Petition was also presented and proposed “Healthy Planet, Healthy People”, promoted by the Catholic movement to exhort world leaders who will gather at Glasgow (United Kingdom) in November for the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP26) to explicitly recognize that human-induced climate change and biodiversity are part of the same crisis and to consider the need for urgent action to respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.
The meeting ended with the commitment of the participants to implement what emerged from the sharing and to promote an awareness campaign to safeguard the Planet, starting with small daily gestures.
Sr. Maria Lucia closed the encounter with the young women by taking up the image of the tent that represents the heart of each one called to welcome what in the world is rejected and/or could be lost and with the question, “Who do I want to welcome into my tent/heart?”
“We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all”.
(Pope Francis, LS 14)
