The Church of Ireland divests!

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Care for Creation - new growth in Ireland

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It is been quite a year for Care for Creation in Irish Churches, perhaps it could even be called a season of new growth. And it all came about because of two teenage girls speaking passionately. Tori and Isobella from Mullingar Parish in county Meath spoke for a few minutes at the Irish Churches Creation Care conference and captured the hearts of the audience and explained what creation care is all about.  You can see the moment below, Their project Lighten Our Darkness by Numbers is a youth-led response to climate change. They are educating church goers, engaging communities, building bridges to businesses, and enhancing biodiversity in church graveyards.   This short talk from the girls had a deep impact on the Archbishop of Armagh, and he spoke about it at his presidential address in General Synod.  Archbishop John McDowell said, We need to do what that group of young people from Westmeath are doing. That is, to work on ways of inspiring and equipping parishes t...
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Speech to General Synod 2022

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Photo from Stephen Spillane The support from the RCB to parishes, dioceses and cathedrals during the Covid-19 emergency was most welcome. It helped us worship in difficult at times. May I suggest we use this model of support to respond to other emergencies too. The World Health Organisation said in October last year that, “the single biggest health threat facing humanity” is Climate change. We must take decisive action. I want to thank the RCB for leading the way by divesting and supporting the Creation Care Conference in April.  But it is also up to every diocese, every parish, and every one of us to take action. We need a grassroots movement to transform our churches and our lives for a sustainable future. And church leaders, you might need to sow some fresh seed to help the grass roots grow. I think the RCB can support this movement by responding to the Climate Emergency, just as it did with Covid. For example, How many of you clergy have lived in a cold and draf...
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The inside story of how Presbyterians in Ireland Divested from Fossil Fuels

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It's been a while since I've updated this blog, life has been busy. But I want to capture my feeling and thoughts from over the last few months with some back-dated posts. Here goes... My goodness, they did it!  The Presbyterians followed the Church of Ireland's lead and also committed to full divestment from fossil fuels. This means they will move about £3m out of BP and Shell - wow! A press release on the news was published on the Presbyterian Church website.  Here are some quotes from it. 'Climate change is not only an environmental issue. Climate change is a poverty issue. It’s a hunger issue. It’s an issue of inequality and injustice.’ - Prof Katharine Hayhoe The church is adopting a 'divest and engage' strategy, which means dumping investments from companies that extract fossil fuels and engaging with large consumers of fossil fuels so that they set targets for Net-Zero emissions. Some of the mainstream press also picked up the story, for example   RTE Ne...
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