The Season of Creation is an annual ecumenical celebration observed from September 1 to October 4, culminating on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. It invites Christians worldwide to pray, reflect, and act in care for our common home, Papatūānuku.
Care for our Common Home is an important strategic priority of Whānau Mercy Ministries. Our directors are tasked with upholding Whānau Mercy Ministry values including Kaitiakitanga, steawardship of our resources and whenua, as well as the mission and values of Mercy in Aotearoa New Zealand. These values of Mercy include a deep commitment to justice, compassion, and care for creation. The Season of Creation aligns directly with these values and offers a meaningful opportunity to:
- Deepen understanding of Mercy governance through the lens of Laudato Si’ and integral ecology, which Pope Francis described as essential to living a life of virtue.
- Model leadership by engaging in prayer, reflection and action that honours the interconnectedness of all life and the sacredness of creation.
- Strengthen relationships across our Mercy ministries looking to where your ministry could connect to another ministry, perhaps taking place in a shared initiative, or advocacy during the Season for Creation.
- Respond to the urgent call of our time: ecological degradation and climate injustice disproportionately affects the most vulnerable, those to whom Mercy ministries are called to serve.
Participation in the Season of Creation is not just symbolic it is a spiritual and ethical commitment. Our Care for the Common Home webinar coming up on August 26th would be a good place to start. We are also looking forward to the project of WMMT Trustee Charlotte Cummings who is looking at Care for the Common Home as part of her Mercy Emerging Leaders Fellowship Programme.
Pope Leo recently stated in regards to the Season of Creation:
In Christ, we too are seeds, and indeed, “seeds of peace and hope.” The prophet Isaiah tells us that the Spirit of God can make an arid and parched desert into a garden, a place of rest and serenity. In his words, “a spirit from on high will be poured out on us, and the wilderness will become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness will be peace, and the work of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Is32:15-18).
These words of the prophet will accompany the “Season of Creation,” an ecumenical initiative to be celebrated from 1 September to 4 October 2025. They remind us that, together with prayer, determination and concrete actions are necessary if this “caress of God” is to become visible to our world (cf.Laudato Si’, 84) His message is extraordinarily timely, given the evidence in various parts of the world that our earth is being ravaged. On all sides, injustice, violations of international law and the rights of peoples, grave inequalities and the greed that fuels them are spawning deforestation, pollution and the loss of biodiversity.
What are we being called to do as leaders of Mercy in Aotearoa New Zealand as we bring about the Kingdom of God?
You can find out more about Season of Creation here.
Download the Celebration Guide here.
Caritas NZ Season of Creation resources can be found here.
Caritas Social Justice Week Resources (September 7-13) can be found here.