Eco-Congregation Ireland hosts Ireland’s first inter-church conference on the environment!

Over 140 delegates from across Ireland and Britain attended our inaugural conference on September 14th and 15th, 2012 – the first ever inter-church conference on the environment to take place on this island. The theme of the conference, which took place in Dromantine Retreat and Conference Centre, near Newry, Co Down, was “God’s Creation – Our Responsibility?”

Representatives attended from the European Christian Environmental Network, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland’s Environmental Issues Network, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, A Rocha, Christian Ecology Link, Operation Noah and Eco-Congregation Scotland.

In his opening address, “Is the Bible Green? Reading Scripture Ecologically”, Prof. David Horrell, Professor of New Testament Studies at the University of Exeter, suggested that, while the Bible did not offer a blueprint for creation or environmental ethics, passages like Psalms 19 and 104 and Job 38 helped generate a positive vision of the value, beauty and ultimate worth of the whole earth.

“Our contemporary context, with its pressing environmental challenges, suggests the need for a fresh reading of the Bible, and a reconfiguration of the Christian tradition,” he said. “Instead of focusing on humanity’s importance and future salvation, we might draw on certain biblical texts to stress how God has entered into covenant with the whole earth, calls the whole universe in all its diversity to praise, and promises to liberate the whole creation from suffering and decay.”

Prof. Stephen Williams, Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological College, Belfast, spoke about “The Theology of Creation”, including the difficult interpretation of the word ‘dominion’. He argued that if Creation was good and fit for purpose, then the command to have dominion was not to do with subjugation, but rather a responsibility to nurture.

In her lecture, “Listening to the Future: Listening to the Present”, Dr. Anne Primavesi, Fellow of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Study of Religion, Birkbeck College, University of London, focused on the need to cultivate unity. Describing militarism, fuelled by a climate of fear and insecurity, as the greatest threat to planetary resources today, she said there must be a political and military dimension for sustainability to be achieved.

Dr. Alastair McIntosh, Fellow of the Centre for Human Ecology, Glasgow, in his talk, “Money, Consumerism and the Spirituality of Our Times”, highlighted how consumerism fed off our insecurities, creating a sense of inadequacy and shame, which only increased our desire for more. The economy was no longer about satisfying needs; it was about generating wants.

Addressing the topic “A New Humanity: The Quest for Well-being in the 21st Century”, Rev. Peter-Owen Jones said he believed there would be a revolution against capitalism in the next 20 years and that it would need to be one that recognised that “all life is connected”. The Sussex-based vicar and author, who is well-known for his BBC series, Around the World in 80 Faiths and How to Live a Simple Life, said that a system that set each individual human being against each other was never going to engender a sense of communal, or individual, well-being. We could never have peace on earth until we made peace with the natural world. “Christianity needs urgently to embrace a bigger vision of peace on earth,” he said.

Almost 20 workshops were on offer during the weekend, with topics including ‘Media and the Environment’, ‘Ecology and the Economy’, ‘Ecology and the Eucharist’, ‘The Destruction of Biodiversity’, ‘Weather Matters’, ‘God’s Creation and Poetry’, ‘How to Become an Eco-Congregation’, ‘Climate Change and its Impact on Developing Countries’, ‘Awakening to the Spirituality of a New Earth Consciousness’, ‘Celtic Spirituality’, ‘Sustainable Living and Spirituality’, ‘Finance for a Fair Future’, ‘People, Place and Parish’, ‘Is Corporate Greed Forcing Us to Eat GM Food?’ and ‘Helping Children and Young People Nurture Respect for the Earth’.

Six trees were planted in the grounds of Dromantine by representatives of the different denominations and communities attending the conference.

Rev. Elaine Murray, the Church of Ireland representative on Eco-Congregation Ireland, read the following blessing:

Lord God,
Creator of life and Sustainer of seed and soil, of tree and flower,
You have created this world and all that lives in it.
It is to You that we come in this prayer of dedication and blessing,
For You are the giver of life and the sustainer of all that lives.
We come to you to dedicate these trees.
May they dig deep roots and grow wide branches to bear witness to your abundant love and grace made known in our community life.
We ask for your blessing upon these trees and upon us
That life might dwell and bear witness to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Through whom we pray.
Amen.

Agnes Coll rsm
South Central Province