The Impact of Laudato Si on Our Lady of Remedies Parish

The issuance of Laudato Si one year ago, on June 18, 2015, was a major cause of celebration in Our Lady of Remedies Parish, also known as Malate Catholic Church. It was a cause of celebration because we found the Encyclical as a validation of all the efforts of the Parish for the last twenty years aimed at raising ecological awareness of the parish community and churchgoers as well.

The story of the Parish’s active involvement in this advocacy for the environment began in the mid-1990s when Malate Catholic Church initiated the celebration of the Feast of St. Francis on the Sunday nearest to October 4. The parish celebrated the day by blessing plants and animals during the Holy Mass, and having pets vaccinated or consulted with veterinarians. This is to serve as a gentle reminder for people to care for all of God’s creation and that man is connected with all creatures. This has become a tradition as it is carried annually to this day. Parishioners and churchgoers have enthusiastically participated in the blessing of their beloved pets – dogs, cats, rabbits, cubs, tarantulas, pythons, among others.
A year after the first St. Francis Day celebration, the program was expanded to include the theme of caring for creation in our traditional liturgical celebrations and practices. So we have started Creation Time, which begins on the first day of September and ends with the celebration of the Feast of St. Francis. During this Creation Month, creation themes are interwoven in parts of the Holy Mass. The Four Elements, Fire Air Water and Earth, are celebrated as the traditional sources of creation. Homilies and prayers of the faithful follow the theme. The celebration of the Season of Creation has also become an annual tradition.

We are thankful that last year, Pope Francis declared September 1 as a Day of Prayer for the Care for Creation.

Encouraged by the strong response from the community and mindful of the message in CBCP’s Pastoral Letter, “What is Happening to our Beautiful Land?”, the Malate Parish felt a deep need to further raise awareness about the environment and thus developed a Care for the Earth Ministry. For more than 10 years now, under the able leadership of priests and church volunteers, the Care for the Earth Ministry has been the prime mover in the dissemination of information on the protection of the environment and the spirituality of all of creation. The Ministry takes the lead during the Creation Month in September and all other celebrations where care for the earth should be emphasized. This includes the Earth Hour celebration in March, the Lenten Fast or Detoxification Program during the Holy Week where care for the human body is particularly emphasized, the Iwas- Paputoxic Campaign during Christmas and New Year festivities, which reminds everyone to avoid the use of harmful firecrackers. All of these parish-wide activities are supported by the Parish Pastoral Council.

Malate Parish has also introduced a module on the Story of Creation as part of its formation program and developed a theme called Moments of Creation telling the story of the birth of the atom, the birth of life, the birth of the human, the birth of human civilization, and the promise of the Ecozoic Era, that is when the human would undergo ecological conversion and participate In a new era, a new earth.

For its traditional devotions, Malate Parish has developed the Cosmic Rosary, a living rosary with reflections on the Joyful Mysteries from the point of view of the creation story. For this first Laudato Si Week celebration, Fr. John Leydon, our Spiritual Adviser on Education and Care for the Earth, also made a beautiful reflection on creation vis-a-vis the Glorious Mysteries.

Indeed, the Parish has transformed traditional practices to include programs, themes or modules designed to enhance awareness of God’s creation.

Moreover, for the practical application of our education about the environment and ecology, parish volunteers and parishioners have been invited to the Center for Ecozoic Living and Learning, or CELL as we fondly refer to it. Fr. Leydon was involved in setting up CELL in Silang, Cavite in 1998. CELL is an eco-spirituality center that propagates the New Story of Creations as ‘a framework for understanding our current crisis and forging a way forward for the future’. Life with the basic amenities, respect for animals and insects, plants and birds, peace and quiet, communing with nature, all of these one can experience in CELL which helps to appreciate creation.

As abovementioned, Laudato Si was a major cause of celebration in Malate Parish. This is evident by the way the Parish has responded to the celebration of the Encyclical’s first anniversary. During this Laudato Si Week, our parishioners, volunteers, and community led by the barangays have enthusiastically participated in a clean-up campaign in all the three Areas covered by the parish; business, academe, barangays, and church volunteers actively participated in a roundtable discussion on how to respond to the call for action of Laudato Si; and the invitation of the Parish for an interfaith dialogue on climate change and Laudato Si was well received and attended by representatives of other religions.



What is the impact of Laudato Si on Malate Parish?
We can honestly say that Laudato Si has affirmed the Parish’s position on the need for a deeper ecological awareness, a need for a change in lifestyle, a need for ecological conversion. Whereas before, the priests of our parish, led by Fr. John, with their passionate homilies to fight against the destruction of the earth and to fight against climate change, seemed like a voice in the wilderness, now no less than the Pope, thru this brave encyclical, has exhorted all peoples of the world towards ecological conversion.

Laudato Si calls for an environmental spirituality, and this has affirmed the formation programs and practices of the parish. Through all these events and activities, practiced and observed for the last two decades or so, a change in people’s sense of awareness of creation and the environment can be felt. Parishioners have actively participated and people speak from the heart about caring for the environment and how they can contribute to it.



In this regard, the impact of Laudato Si on Malate Parish is made even more significant by being cognizant of the indispensable role that our priests, members of the Missionary Society of St. Columban (MSSC), have played in this rising consciousness and growing respect and care for creation of the parish community. The Society’s advocacy to promote justice, peace, and the integrity of creation is manifested in the way it has worked in areas which suffer poverty, political unrest, and severe climate change problems. Malate Parish is doubly blessed by having a team of Columban fathers who have blazed the trail and laid the foundation for environmental education and awareness at a time when it was yet not in vogue. Definitely, the Care for the Earth program of the Parish has harnessed the strengths of our Columban priests while the SSC’s strong support for this advocacy has sustained the program through the years when care for creation and fighting against climate change was not yet a global agenda.

Affirmed by Laudato Si, the Parish is now even more committed towards a program that will deepen awareness of care for creation, and promote measures to mitigate climate change by actively espousing the use of renewable energy. In fact, it has opened the Laudato Si Week celebration on June 12 with the blessing of the solar panels installed on the rooftop of the newly restored Malate Church.

With the issuance of this Encyclical, there is no doubt that its message will continue to reawaken in our parish community a deep sense of awareness of what is true about being human and love for God’s creation. And we are certain that with Laudato Si, the reawakening and heightened awareness of our humanity will be, in the words of Laudato Si, “like a mist seeping gently beneath a closed door.” (LS # 112)

To quote Fr. Leydon, “Malate Parish used to be in the peripheries; now, we can say we are mainstream."

Thanks to Laudato Si! Thanks to Pope Francis!

*Acknowledgment: Excerpts and quotes from Fr. John Leydon at www.catholicclimatemovement.global

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