On 1 September, 2026 members of the diocesan Laudato Si’ group, the Blayney Eco Hub Committee, education leaders, parishioners from Blayney, and people from across the region, including local politician Andrew Gee MP, gathered at the Blayney Eco Hub. Also present were many who had helped to establish and restore the Eco Hub.

Students from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Blayney, and MacKillop College joined school leaders from across the area, including Holy Family School. Sisters of Mercy and representatives of other religious orders were also present, alongside those committed to caring for our common home.

The gathering was facilitated by Sally Neaves. During the gathering, Bishop Michael McKenna launched the Diocesan Tree Protection Plan as the Church began the Season of Creation.

The plan provides a practical framework to help the Diocese protect trees, care for the environment and deepen its commitment to the care of creation.

Below is an edited version of Bishop McKenna’s homily for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

 

The Tree Protection Plan we are launching today puts into action our good intentions about caring for our common home; and can encourage us to explore other ways to do what we can where we have the responsibility and the opportunity to act.

St John Paul II, in his message for the 1990 World Day of Peace, urged Christians to realize that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith.

In Laudato si’, Pope Francis taught that in the Jewish-Christian tradition, the word “creation” has a broader meaning than “nature”, for it has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance. Nature is usually seen as a system which can be studied, understood and controlled, whereas creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion.

The divinely inspired poetry of the Book of Genesis orients us to an understanding of our place as humans in God’s work. Firstly, we are part of creation, formed from the dust of the earth, not apart from it. Secondly, though, we are unique: Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness.

 This uniqueness brings with it a responsibility to care for creation. To recognise it as the home we share in common means practising justice towards those with whom we share it: in this generation and the next and the next.

 So, in his message for this year’s World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, Pope Leo has reaffirmed the teaching of his predecessors that care for our common home belongs together with our work for justice and peace.

 We entrust our modest offerings today, like loaves and fishes, to God who will take them up and bring creation out of decay into glory.

       With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.