CBCP expands diocesan ecology ‘desk’ to ‘ministry’

AMID growing concerns on environmental issues, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has agreed to expand the role of the Church in protecting Mother Nature by upgrading ecology desks in all dioceses and archdioceses into ecology ministries.

“We will elevate our ecology desks in all ecclesiastical jurisdictions into Integral Ecology Ministry,” a report of CBCP News quoted CBCP president Bishop Pablo Virgilio David as saying.

The report said the decision to make the care for the environment a priority pastoral concern was made during the recently held CBCP Plenary Assembly in Cagayan de Oro City.

It is important to make environmental issues a key part of social action efforts, even at the parish level, said Bishop Gerardo Alminaza, vice chair of the CBCP National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA).

“Ecology desk is just one small component of social action ministry while integral ecology ministry is even much broader in scope than social action work,” Alminaza said.

It was in 1991 during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines when the Church decided that ecology desks should be set up in diocesan social action centers. In 2015, Pope Francis issued an encyclical on ecology titled “Laudato Si,” which calls on everyone to “care for our common home.”