Our common YES to the protection of creation
The challenges for the protection of creation and an integral ecology are growing exponentially worldwide. On 2nd March 2024, the Together for Europe network has dedicated an entire day online to this topic. Professionals and activists from various Churches and Movements, from 9 European countries, spoke at the Seminar entitled: ‘Called to Unity – Towards an Ecology of Relationships’. An enthralling ‘journey’, in which the speakers in an atmosphere of increasing convergence presented their research and commitment to environmental protection, and then entered into dialogue with the many persons present in the ‘virtual hall’. Experiences already in place in many places and encouraging good practices, easily imitated, have highlighted the desire and commitment to respect and preserve creation for future generations. This unites us as Christians and easily connects us with others.
For our network it was time to deepen one of the ‘7 YESes’ with which we committed ourselves in 2007 at the big Stuttgart Manifestation. It states: “Let us say Yes to creation, by defending nature and the environment, gifts of God to be safeguarded with commitment that respects future generations.”
The inputs of this rich meeting were very interesting and informative. As an example, we quote two sentences from the contribution of Dr Stefania Papa[1]she emphasised “the network of complex and interdependent relationships between every living being and every element of nature, which, together, sustain life itself. These relationships are not unidirectional, but characterised by mutual exchanges of energy, matter and information”. While this creates harmony, there is also conflict, disruption. And it is precisely “this diversity of relationships, including both conflict and cooperation, that is fundamental to the functioning of ecosystems and to the continuous evolution of life on Earth, which is continually subject to new challenges”.
We are grateful to the speakers who allowed us to make their contributions available. You can download them at the bottom of this page.
During the Workshop, which was part of an EU-supported project, DialogUE, the European Grean Deal document was presented; this is an ambitious project in which the EU has developed some of the strictest environmental standards in the world. The contents of the Webinar and the answers of the participants to the questionnaires concerning this event will help to elaborate a KIT with concrete suggestions to the European Union. It will be delivered on 16th October 2024 to the European Institutions in Brussels, together with the results of the previous workshops on communication and social policies, held in 2023 and co-funded like the latter by the European Union.
The Team of the Secretariat of Together for Europe
Programme for Participants 2024 03 02 EN
Andre Galli – Green Fish, experience of a Christian ecological NGO 2024 03 02 EN
Catherine Devitt – Education for Faith-Consistent Investing, Experience FaithInvest 2024 03 02 EN
Gerhard Pross – Ecology of the heart 2024 03 02E EN
Jean Marc Ziade – Experience of an ‘Sustainable Hub’ 2024 03 02 EN
Lorna Gold – Commitment of Christian Churches in Europe to Care of Creation 2024 03 02 EN
Nicola Asproulis – Cosmic Personhood, from imago Dei to Imago mundi 2024 03 02 EN
Philip McDonagh – Considerations Article 17 TFEU and Green Deal 2024 03 02
Stefania Papa – Relationality in nature 2024 03 02 EN
You can review the event on YouTube>>
[1] Associate Professor of Ecology, Dept. of Environmental, Biological and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technologies, University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’, Italy
