CCEE - CEC : TIME FOR CREATION - TEMPO PER LA CREAZIONE

Time for Creation – let’s Pray Together to Appreciate and Care for the Gift of Creation

Tempo per la Creazione - Preghiamo insieme per apprezzare e avere cura del dono della creazione

A common statement of Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE), Conference of European Churches (CEC) and European Christian Environmental Network (ECEN)

St. Gallen/Geneva, August 29, 2016

Respect, appreciation and contemplation of Creation are the common concern of Christian Churches. The Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC), on the occasion of the Day for Creation, call for common prayers and to strengthen ecumenical work to care for Creation. 

According to the Gospel, responsibility for the environment can never be detached from responsibility for other human beings: for our neighbour, for the poor, or the forgotten, all in a true spirit of solidarity and love. Respecting Creation means not only protecting and safeguarding the earth, water and other parts of the natural world. It is at the same time expressing respect for human beings who share those gifts and bear responsibility for them. Therefore, together with all Christians, we endeavour joyfully to witness Jesus Christ, «for in Him were created all things in heaven and on earth» (Col. 1, 16).

We remember Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s thought that the most urgent problem besetting our Churches is the way in which we live our Christian life in the face of contemporary cultural and social challenges. This means we must relate to each other within the context of the world we all live in. This is an original definition of “oikos”, meaning “the house”. The “common house” we care for, is made up of both the natural world and of human relationships.....

TIME FOR CREATION

TEMPO PER LA CREAZIONE