By Catholic Sabah (Source: Darius Mariusius & others)
August 5 2022
THE Malaysian Catholic Church will celebrate the PROTEC Campaign, which has now come to its third year, in conjunction with the Season of Creation (SoC) 2022.
This is in response to Pope Francis’ call to ecological conversion through his Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si’.
Bishop Joseph Hii, President of the Episcopal Creation Justice Commission, in his letter dated June 27, urged the faithful of our dioceses to fully celebrate the Season of Creation and the PROTEC Campaign this year and succeeding years.
“We are living at a very critical time in human history which will determine whether or not current and future generations will have a viable planet to live on.
“There is no time to lose if we are to ‘save mankind from self-destruction’”, he said quoting Laudato Si’ 79, “May the Holy Spirit embolden us all to right and consistent action.”
The Creation Justice Commissions from the three arch/dioceses of Kota Kinabalu, Keningau and Sandakan, named Sabah CJC, are running this year’s PROTEC campaign.
“We are grateful to Archbishop John Wong (KK Archdiocese), Bishop Cornelius Piong (Keningau Diocese) and Bishop Julius Gitom (Sandakan Diocese) for kindly hosting/supporting these celebrations.
“We thank the three Creation Justice Commissions of the three arch/dioceses for taking the lead in jointly organizing the launch events and overseeing the promotion of PROTEC Year 3 for the full year.
“PROTEC Year 3 will be launched on 31 August in Kota Kinabalu with Holy Mass, followed by a series of events in Keningau,” said Bishop Hii.
Archbishop John Wong will launch the campaigns at 10.00 am at Sacred Heart Cathedral, Kota Kinabalu.
Among those who will be at the launching are Deepika Sing from India, Coordinator for Climate Change Desk of FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops Conference), Clare Westwood, Regional Director Episcopal CJC Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei and CJC representatives from the nine arch/dioceses of Malaysia.
Tentative programme for the 4-day event is as follows:
Aug 31 (Wed)
10:00 am Launching of PROTEC Y3 and SoC 2022 at CAC/SHC, Kota Kinabalu by Archbishop John Wong
5:00pm Sharing by Prof Dr Ramesh Boonratana (Pace Bene)
Sep 1 (Thurs)
8:00 am Mass for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (Pace Bene) by Bishop Joseph Hii
10:00 am Recollection by Fr Jojo Fung SJ (Nulu Sosopon, Keningau)
Sep 2 (Fri)
8:00 am Recollection by Fr Jojo Fung SJ (Nulu Sosopon, Keningau)
Sep 3 (Sat)
10:00 am Visit to Kinabalu Park (UNESCO World Heritage Site)
Sep 4 (Sun) Departure
The PROTEC Campaign will run from Sep 1 2022 – Aug 31 2023 with the theme ‘Stop Plastic Pollution’.
According to Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and major international environmental organizations, in less than three decades time, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean.
Over 300 million tonnes of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications. Some 11 million tonnes of plastic end up in the ocean every year.
During the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation in 2018, Pope Francis called for an end to plastic pollution, he said, “We cannot allow our seas and oceans to be littered by endless fields of floating plastic.” Creation is crying out!
In 2015, Pope Francis declared September 1 as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which concludes on October 4 with the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Ecology.
On this year’s Season of Creation, Pope Francis is inviting us to “Listen to the Voice of Creation”.
The innocent Creation is suffering due to our actions. We are living at a very critical time in human history which will determine whether or not current and future generations will have a viable planet to live on.
Pope Francis invites us to take advantage of the 2022 Season of Creation to “cultivate our ecological conversion” and to pray together in “the great cathedral of creation.”
He also speaks of the upcoming UN environment summits on climate and biodiversity and asks world leaders to take concrete actions, because “we are reaching ‘a breaking point’ and we must act now.”
Correction: The title and some information in this article were corrected due to error. The PROTEC campaign is initiated by Malaysian Church and thus is only celebrated in Malaysia, and not in Singapore and Brunei. Apology for the error. (As of 8 Aug 2022)
