Office for Care of Creation
To promote a consistent ethic of life for the common good of humanity and our planet.
As part of our preparations for COP 26 in Glasgow and to help dioceses and parishes respond to the environmental crisis, the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland established an Office for the Care of Creation.
The Office’s immediate aim in 2021 was to give practical advice and guidance: helping dioceses and parishes assess their carbon footprint and discern how to work towards carbon neutrality.
Inspired by the delegation from the Dicastery for Integral Human Development, the Office seeks to promote the two documents issued by Pope Francis, Laudato si on the Care of our Common Home and more recently Laudate Deum, To all People of Goodwill on the Climate Crisis.
Care of Creation seeks to raise awareness amongst Catholics, other Christians and people of faith, and all people of good will, of a consistent ethic of life. All that is created by God reflects God’s dignity. All life from human beings to animals and plants should be accorded the dignity and respect which is its due. Care of Creation is not merely an ecological approach - our care for one another is intimately linked to our care for our planet. It is not by chance that the effects of climate change are borne by the most vulnerable people.
Care of Creation seeks to make real the Gospel of Life, a culture of life that challenges the exploitation of human life from the womb till natural death, that challenges the exploitation of all creatures and creation, from indefensible agricultural practices to the reckless pillaging of the resources of our planet for corporate profit.
Care of Creation seeks to defend and promote the common good. All that God created was good. The good of human life is inextricably linked to the destiny of all life and the future of our planet. To recognise, in other words, that human life is incomprehensible and unsustainable without other creatures. For “as part of the universe… all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect”. (LS 89/LD46)
As followers of Jesus Christ we have a particular responsibility to pay heed to the signs of our times and to pursue a lifestyle that fosters life and fights against death and decay. When we treat life whether it be human, animal or plant as an object for our own gratification and greed we lose sight of who we are. For when human beings claim to take God’s place, they become their own worst enemies. (LD 73)
GET INVOLVED (.pdf)
OCC - OVERVIEW (.pdf)
OCC - ENERGY SOLUTIONS ADVICE 2023 (.pdf)