Aug 28 2021
KUALA LUMPUR – The month of September will see the commencement of two campaigns – PROTEC 2 and Season of Creation – in line with the Laudato Si’ Action Platform.
The Protect Our Earth, Protect Our Children (PROTEC) Campaign Year 2 is aimed at creating awareness on the ecological cost of meat and dairy consumption and food wastage.
Themed Cut down meat, dairy and food waste, PROTEC 2 will be launched together with Season of Creation 2021 by Rt Rev Bernard Paul, Bishop of Malacca-Johore Diocese on August 31.
PROTEC, which was initiated last year by the Catholic Bishops of Malaysia under the auspices of the Episcopal Commission for Creation Justice of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei (ECCJMSB), is a five-year campaign which commenced on September 1, 2020 and will end on August 31, 2025.
The PROTEC 2 campaign calls upon parishes, church organisations/offices/houses of formation and all the faithful in Malaysia to adopt the following practices:
–Eat less meat, seafood and dairy
–Eat more local plant-based food
— Stop wasting food
— Pray for and with all creation daily
The Season of Creation spans five weeks between the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (September 1) and the feast day of St Francis of Assisi (October 4).
This time for creation offers, in the words of Pope Francis, “individual believers and communities a fitting opportunity to reaffirm their personal vocation as stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which He has entrusted to our care, and to implore His help for the protection of creation, as well as to seek His pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.” The theme for 2021 is A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God.
In June this year, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei issued a statement signed by its President, Bishop Sebastian Francis, and the President of ECCJMSB, Bishop Joseph Hii, calling upon “all the faithful in all our dioceses to celebrate fully the Season of Creation and the PROTEC Campaign this year and in succeeding years, to love all creation 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.”
In conjunction with the two campaigns, the ECCJSSB has lined up a series of talks to raise understanding on the climate emergency and Pope Francis’ call for ecological conversion. These talks will show how the current industrial food system is hurting the planet and how each of us has the power to save creation through our daily choices.
To join the talks, log onto: https://forms.gle/ dt5UwGr3YxBhS2Eh7
All are invited to participate in the online Eucharistic celebration and launch of PROTEC 2 and Season of Creation on August 31 at 10.00am via: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=bwdVRpC9mN0 –Herald Malaysia
