Letter to Religious from Bishop John Arnold

Bishop John Arnold

DIOCESE OF SALFORD

Wardley Hall, Wardley Hall Road, Worsley, Manchester, M28 2ND

May 2020

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I write to you in this Easter season, when we celebrate our hope in the Risen Lord, in my capacity as spokesperson for the Environment for the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. I am conscious of how much we rely on your lives of prayer.

Pope Francis has been very direct in speaking of a change of epoch. The health crisis of Covid-19 is just one aspect of our present dilemma but the one which is most visibly affecting us all. The Holy Father emphasises how everything is inter-connected (L.S.138).

“… doomsday predictions can no longer be met with irony or disdain...our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes...The effects of the present imbalance can only be reduced by our decisive action, here and now.’(L.S. 161)

A planetary health check (2019) published by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) concluded that human society is at risk because of the decline of earth’s natural life-support systems. Recently, leading scientists made direct links between the Covid-19 pandemic and environmental destruction with the warning that further pandemics will be triggered unless contemporary lifestyles change.

The pandemic of Covid-19 could be a turning point in human history. In this crisis, we can heed the Holy Father’s call to ‘decisive action, here and now’. We can learn to live the ‘Integral Ecology’ to which Pope Francis calls us. We can respond to the Global Health Challenge by safeguarding our own health and caring for the health of our families, communities, and our common home by repairing the damage of climate change and environmental destruction. Of course, we cannot promote and sustain this decisive action without the underpinning of prayer.

Pope Francis has called us to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Encyclical Laudato Si with Laudato Si Week (16th May-24th May) and the Global Day of Prayer (24th May). The theme of the Week is ‘Everything is Connected’. In these days, I ask that you concentrate your prayer so that we may all practically respond, learning of the damage done to our common home, the harm inflicted on our brothers and sisters and how we may help to heal our world through an “ecological conversion”. Due to the Covid19 pandemic, many of the events will now take place online. We can also look forward to the Season of Creation (September 1- October 4) which Pope Francis has asked us to celebrate annually. This year's theme is 'The Web of Life' (http://seasonofcreation.org/)

I thank you for your prayer, which is so essential to the life of the Church, and for all that you do as “missionary disciples” and “ambassadors for Christ”.

+John Arnold

Tel 0161 794 2825 Fax 0161 727 8592

bishop@dioceseof salford.org.uk (bishop) marie.sartini@dioceseofsalford.org.uk (secretary)

Salford Roman Catholic Diocesan Trustees Registered Charity