ETHIOPIA: Catholic Secretariat prays for all creation
By Makeda Yohannes, CBCE Communications and Public Relation Officer
Staff of the Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat commemorated world day of prayer for creation by getting together to pray and discuss on how each and every one of us could contribute to the care of all creation.
Mr. Bekele Moges, Executive Director of the Ethiopian Catholic Church Social and Development Commission (Caritas Ethiopia) said, “The get-together should go beyond discussion and we should all make a pact to make changes in our life to play our part in the protection of our common home.”
“Every action that we take in our daily life from the plastic bags we use for shopping to our choice of type of bulb we use in our homes and the amount of paper we print in our office has an effect in the environment. There is no small contribution, we must put the environment in consideration before we make the smallest decision and that way we can play a small part in protecting our mother earth,” he further said.
A highlight from the Encyclical letter of the Holy Father Pope Francis, Laudato Si, was also presented by Mr. Abel Mussie from the ECS Pastoral Department. In the presentation Mr. Abel explained the cry of mother earth for help and gave some practical examples from Ethiopia to stress on the need for immediate reaction from each and every individual.
ECS staff discussed on how they can incorporate environmental protection in the projects they implement throughout the country and further added that there is a need for creating awareness about the severity of the situation. They said everyone can play a role by passing on the message to their neighbours and people they meet on different occasions to make a tangible difference.
The event was concluded with a prayer for creation and the prayer for peace as well as praying the Angelus when the midday bell rang. Laudato Si has been translated into local language, Amharic and distributed to readers and it is expected that it will soon be translated into other local languages.
∽End∽
