Bethlehem, 23 August, 2021 / 3:47 pm (ACI Africa).
Ahead of the month-long annual event dubbed Season of Creation, a South African Bishop has called on the people of God in the country to become aware of “ecological and social degradation” and take appropriate actions.
In his Pastoral Letter seen by ACI Africa Monday, August 23, Bishop Jan De Groef says ecological degradation is behind many challenges including flooding, drought and excessive heat.
Bishop Groef says one of the ways to respond to the ecological challenges “is to become aware of the situation of the ecological and social degradation we are experiencing.”
“It is not just a question of ecology but a question of how we, human beings, relate to nature and to one another,” the Bishop of South Africa’s Bethlehem Diocese says, and poses, “Do we see ourselves at the center of everything, which gives us a aright to do as we please and abuse both creation and our fellow human beings without impunity?”
He says in reference to Pope Francis’ Encyclical, Laudato Si’, “Today we cannot fail to recognize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach which must integrate questions of justice into discussions about the environment, in order to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”
