About Us
Catholic Earthcare Australia was established by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in May, 2002 and received its present Mandate in May, 2003.
Photo: Bishop Toohey (Catholic Earthcare Australia chair) visiting the UK in 2007
As an agency of the Catholic Bishops Commission for Justice and Service, Catholic Earthcare Australia's mission is to help promote understanding among people that Creation is sacred and endangered, and must be protected and sustained for present and future generations yet unborn.
To play its part in helping protect the integrity of creation and the health of Earth's inhabitants and life supporting ecosystems, Catholic Earthcare Australia is mandated, through the activities of research, education, advocacy and outreach to give leadership in responding to Pope John Paul II 's call for an "ecological conversion" of the world's Catholics.
Responding to the call for "Ecological Conversion"
Since its formation Catholic Earthcare Australia has enthusiastically responded to the
late John Paul 11's call to "stimulate and sustain the
ecological conversion" within the Australian context.
Launches of Catholic Earthcare have taken place in all capital
cities of Australia and many regional and country towns.
Catholic Earthcare Australia has worked with many of the Australian bishops in producing,
launching and distributing Pastoral Letters and
Statements on Climate Change: Climate Change
- Our Responsibility to Sustain God's Earth; the
Murray-Darling River Basin The Gift of Water; the Great
Barrier Reef Let the Many Coastlands be Glad!; and the
Social Justice Sunday Statement A New Earth- The
Environmental Challenge.
The Garden Planet
To help promote the Bishop Conference's 'A New Earth - The Environmental Challenge', Catholic Earthcare Australia produced and distributed, to all Catholic schools, parishes and church agencies throughout Australia, the ecological video: 'The Garden Planet'. This video has also been used extensively in Europe and North America and has been converted into 5 other languages. A follow up video to 'The Garden Planet' is in production and should be ready for release mid 2007.
Resource Development
Many Catholic schools and colleges have sought the assistance of Catholic Earthcare Australia. Resources have been developed by Catholic Earthcare Australia to help schools celebrate World Environment Day, St Francis of Assisi Feast Day and the annual themes of the United Nation's International Year, namely, Fresh Water (2003), Rice and Food (2004), Micro credit (2005), Deserts and Desertification (2006) and Planet Earth (2008).
On Holy Ground
Catholic Earthcare Australia has recently completed the publication of On Holy Ground - An Ecological Vision for Catholic Education which has been distributed to all catholic schools in NSW and Queensland.
The general aim of the project is to encourage schools to 'radically lighten their ecological footprint and increase their spiritual one'.