Archbishop John Wong and Fr Russell Lawrine unveil banners, officially launching PROTEC 2 Campaign at Sacred Heart Cathedral Oct 4
By Catherine Wan/ Agnes Chai
Oct 7 2021
KOTA KINABALU – Every year from September 1 to October 4, known as the Season of Creation, the ecumenical Church unites for this worldwide celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home, Mother Earth.
Orthodox Christians have been marking the Season of Creation for decades. It started in 1989 when Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios I proclaimed Sep 1 a day of prayer for the environment.
Over time, the single day of prayer expanded to a full season. It has become a more ecumenical celebration among all Christians. As Christians round the globe, we share a common role as caretakers, or stewards of God’s creation because the human wellbeing is interwoven with its wellbeing.
In 2015, Pope Francis, after publishing his encyclical Laudato Si’ on Care for Our Common Home, formally added the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation to the Catholic calendar as an annual day of prayer. In 2019 he officially invited Catholics to celebrate the full season.
After spanning five weeks between the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (Sep 1) and the feast day of St Francis of Assisi (Oct 4), the Kota Kinabalu Archdiocese marked the close of the Season of Creation with Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Oct 4. At the same Mass, which was broadcasted live via YouTube, the Archdiocese launched the PROTEC Year 2 campaign.
The PROTEC 2 campaign, a five-year environmental campaign, calls on all the faithful to adopt these practices: 1) Eat less meat, fish and diary, 2) Eat more local plant-based food, 3) Stop wasting food, and 4) Pray for and with all creation daily.
KK prelate, Archbishop John Wong commended the joined efforts of the Creation Justice Commissions for initiating the environmental campaign, declaring that it is “timely not only in supporting the Season of Creation worldwide, but more so to relate it to the issue of poverty”.
He said “One of the serious consequences of the pandemic is the emergence of the “new poor” – people who have lost their jobs, businesses and savings in the pandemic. These, he believed, are signs of the time that are calling out for our response.
He added, “This campaign is our concrete way to show solidarity with families who have less food to eat on the table because of the pandemic. To cut down meat and dairy may not be applicable to many who cannot even afford the luxury of eating meat during these hard times. But everyone should at least try to stop wasting food.”
The Archbishop is convinced that the launching of the campaign on the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, who is the Patron Saint of Ecologists, is also a call to adopt the radical lifestyle of St Francis to live simply, walk humbly and act justly.
He attributed the call as Jesus’ personal invitation for us “to become a new creation, living a transformed lifestyle through an intimate relationship with Him” in order to be able to love all creations and adopt an ecological way of being and living in oneness with all created beings so that all life may flourish in our common home.
Last but not least, he cherished the hope that the campaign would contribute to the global efforts in translating Laudato Si’ into small practical but doable actions.
With the Archbishop were concelebrants Fr Russell Lawrine, the spiritual adviser of the Archdiocesan Creation Justice Commission (ACJC) and Fr Paul Lo, parish priest of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
After the final blessing of the Mass, a video clip on PROTEC Year 2 Campaign was shown to drive home the call to “Cut down meat, dairy and food waste”, at the same time highlighting the current industrial food systems and food wastages that are hurting the planet, and how our daily choices have the power to save creation.
Archbishop Wong and Fr Lawrine later unveiled the banners, which symbolically launched the PROTEC 2 Campaign, followed by another video clip on the “Pledge to Action”. Fourteen listed actions were rolled out as ways to pledge action during the year-long campaign to which all parishioners, church groups/organizations and religious were invited to participate.
As leaders of the local Church, Archbishop Wong, Fr Lo, Fr Lawrine and Sr Calista Saliun, head of ACJC, took the lead in signing the “Pledge to Action” to protect the environment. Similar pledge cards were distributed to those at the physical Mass, and would be given out to the faithful for their participation.
Archbishop Wong signs “Pledge to Action” at SHC Oct 4, with Sr Calista, Fr Paul and Fr Russell looking on
