Advent Newsletter
Editorial - Merry Christmas
Dear friends,
As always it has been a busy quarter. The Vatican has set up 2,400 solar panels on the roof of the great hall and Earthcare has set up a strategic, system-based integrated sustainability initiative. Skynews Australia is soon to present a story about the Vatican Solar Array and Earthcare’s work on ASSISI. This story will be profiled on our home page when it becomes available.
ASSISI is being piloted with five schools and their parishes, and I am delighted to announce that ASSISI will be piloted with a church organization and a congregation in 2009. Catholic Earthcare has developed collaborative partnerships with corporate, government and community groups to make it possible to deliver the best available learning processes and tools to enable communities to transform themselves. Why transform? Can’t we just put the technical solutions into place and change a few old habits? Of course this will help but if we don’t see the world through new lenses and engage with open hearts, minds and hands we are going to miss out on the joy of being co-creators, as God intended, on this truly beautiful planet.
I am delighted to be advocating for the protection of the Kimberley coast with Bishop Christopher Saunders, the Bishop of Broome. This is a complex issue because it involves developing an industrial plant on the pristine coastline. Giant gas tankers would likely be shipping gas to China and other countries navigating through whale calving waters. Such a development site would employ a few hundred people in construction but after that up to about 40 local people and the rest would be flown in and out. Housing affordability is already at record levels and social capital is being lost due to the high housing market. It is critical that all community voices are heard on this matter because it will change the integrity of the region forever. A worthwhile suggestion might be to pipe the oil and gas to the Pilbara where an industrial hub already exists. This way the awesome Kimberley coast can remain intact for all creation to enjoy.
Advent for me is about being open to the spirit of giving and feeling a great sense of joy. It is also a time to reflect on the year that has almost passed. 2008 has been a big year for me, personally as a new Mum, and as Director of Earthcare. I believe that I have achieved what I set out to do this year, which was to spend quality time with my son and reinvigorate Catholic Earthcare Australia. I achieved these goals by working part time and through hosting a WYD event, producing a new educational CD-Rom, Reefs of Revelation, and setting up a new sustainability initiative for the Catholic Church, ASSISI. I am really looking forward to spending a family Christmas together in our home in Sydney.
In 2009, I look forward to launching On Holy Ground in Victoria and Western Australia, training ASSISI facilitators to enable ASSISI to become available across all Diocese and releasing a new environmental education CD-Rom. I will also look forward to working with our new collaborative partners in the health and Indigenous sectors, developing our national network and enabling Catholic communities to embrace ecological sustainability.
Peace and joy be with you!
Jacqui Remond
ASSISI - What's the latest?
Catholic Earthcare’s Sustainability initiative, ASSISI (A Strategic, Systems based, Integrated Sustainability Initiative) is for schools, parishes, congregations and Catholic organisations and will encourage the formation of faith based learning communities that will rely on Catholic spirituality, principles and values to guide the communities’ responses to the sustainability challenges facing us all...more.
Prayer with Sister Monica
PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD
Advent Musings
Advent is a very significant season for us who would take care of Mother Earth in this time within our Southern Hemisphere ... Body/Spirit Reality. As mother whales and babies pods head for the rich banquet of southern seas, fruits and grains ripen for harvest and jacarandas rain blossoms on us, we are called to our liturgical reality...more
A Parish in Action - Our Lady of the Way, Kirribilli
Advent Evening at our Lady of the Way, Kirribilli
Stay Awake, Be Alert (Mark 13:37)
Relationships – how do we relate to one another, how do we relate to God’s unfolding Creation?
The actor Ed Asner once said…
We all moan and groan about the loss of the quality of life through the destruction of our Ecology, and yet each one of us, in our own little comfortable ways, contributes daily to that destruction. It’s time now to awaken in each one of us the respect and attention our beloved mother deserves.
As I read this Gospel I ask myself – Am I on my guard, have I stayed awake (alert!) so that I notice what is going on around me? I, like all of us, have been left in charge as a steward of God’s creation....more
School in Action - Rosary Primary School Watson
Rosary Primary School Watson switches to 100% green electricity at ‘no net cost’
Rosary Primary School, in Canberra’s northern suburbs, recently decided to take a stand on climate change and switch to 100% green electricity from ActewAGL. Although green electricity is charged 
at a premium to ‘black’ coal based electricity, Rosary has reduced its total use by over 20% through energy efficiency initiatives. This means that the total electricity bill is no higher than it would have been had the initiative not been undertaken...more.
Have a Merry Green Christmas: 10 ways to have a green Christmas
- Visit a Vinnies store and get a great bargain on clothing, books, toys & odds.
- Go to the Caritas website and "Change the world this Christmas, give the Gift of Life"
- Send an E Christmas Card.
- If you receive a Christmas card recycle it after Christmas.
- Use your children's drawing to wrap any gifts. It's the gift that keeps on giving!!!!
- Decorate a living tree in a pot.
- Find your creative side and make your Christmas decorations from odds & sodds from around the house.
- Use GreenPower to light up your house.
- Don't forget to recycle!
- Spending time with family and friends is a great way to celebrate Christmas and create memories that last far longer than any gift.
Catholic Earthcare Logo - The meaning behind the logo
The logo for Catholic Earthcare was created at the request of Colin Brown, former Director of Catholic Earthcare Australia, in 2002. The logo itself is a combination of symbols suggestive of 
nature, birth, life, death and rebirth: The deciduous tree - an image of nature’s regeneration of itself; the spiral - an immensely old and universal symbol of birth, death and rebirth; and the crucifix, a symbol of death and resurrection, representing, of course, the Catholic church and it’s involvement in the preservation of the environment. Lastly, the whole design is based on two intersecting circles, loosely suggestive of nature’s ‘cyclic’ elements.
The Artist
Nathan Simpson is the artist who created the Catholic Earthcare logo. Nathan Simpson is an Australian artist from the South Coast of New South Wales. His paintings and drawings are largely inspired by mythology, folk-lore and fairytales as well religious iconography and prehistoric, ancient and medieval art. (nathansimpson.com.au)
Have another look at...
Murray-Darling Basin Statement- The Gift of Water
The Gift of Water is a statement from Catholic Earthcare Australia endorsed by the Bishops of the Murray Darling Basin. "As Bishops we would like to add our voices to the numbers of landholders, scientists, community leaders, environmental groups and politicians in support of the rivers and all those trying to save them." Resources.
Photos: freefoto.com & istockphoto.com
