By Arnold Neliba
NAIROBI, SEPTEMBER 26, 2023 (CISA)-The Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) has faulted uncoordinated response by different actors to the slow implementation of Laudato SI while calling for partnership with Government, academic institutions, civil society actors and stakeholders towards addressing environmental challenges.
Eight years since the launch of the Laudato Si encyclical of Pope Francis calling for a unified global action towards the “care of our common home”, the bishops are calling for a consolidated voice and dignity to the local communities who are “affected by the cry of the earth”.
“I invite you all to participate in the suggested action within the framework of the Laudato Si Action Platform. Individuals, families, Small Christian Communities, Parishes, dioceses and all Catholic institutions have a duty to undertake the proposed seven-year journey of integral ecology,” said Bishop John Oballa Owaa Chairman of KCCB’s Commission for Promotion of Integral Human Development (CPIHD).
In his opening address during a two-day workshop by the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences of Eastern Africa (AMECEA) on Laudato Si implementation guidelines dissemination from September 19 to 21, the Bishop of Ngong noted that the ecological problems facing the world today are caused by misuse of land and sea and their natural resources. With AMECEA’s guidelines for implementing Laudato Si in place, he is calling for individual, institutional and diocesan responsibility in caring for the earth.
“We must take a conscious decision to start afresh and commit to responding to the cry of the earth. Our lifestyle should not in any way aggravate or over-exploit the natural resources that our Mother Earth readily gives us for free,” he told priests, religious men and women, representatives of AMECEA secretariat and Catholic Justice and Peace Department executive secretaries and representatives from various Catholic institutions.
Laudato Si identifies seven priority areas: response to the cry of the earth, response to the cry of the poor, ecological economics, adoption of sustainable lifestyles, ecological education, ecological spirituality and community resilience and empowerment, as goals and action plans.
According to Bishop Oballa, there is a need to have “an honest conversation on care for our common home”.
