‘CLEANLINESS DRIVE’ by ‘Environment Commission of St Sebastian Church- Bendore
Mangaluru:It was decided to create a special department for ecology a few years ago in response to Pope Francis’ 2015 Encyclical Letter Laudato Si in which he exhorted all people of goodwill and to take care our planet. At the 79th Executive Committee meeting of CCBI, held at St Johns National Academy of Health Sciences in Bengaluru on 1 May 2018, the proposal to create an Environment Commission for Ecology was considered. The Bishops were aware of the urgency of responding to India’s environmental challenges and wanted to take a new approach to caring for and protecting the environment.
As a gesture of kindness, the Environment Commission of St Sebastian Church Bendur arrived at the Church premises on Sunday, April 24th at 7.30 a.m. to begin cleaning the area around Bendore Church, Bendore Bus Shelter and along the stretch of road from Bendore, Shivabagh, and Bendore, Kankanady. You should thank the Environment Commission of Bendore Church along with a few Lions Club of Kadri members for cleaning the affected areas.
It is a very good initiative put forth by Pope Francis, and locally here our Mangaluru Bishop Rev Dr Peter Paul Saldanha encouraged the Catholic faithful to keep the environment clean and make Mangaluru stay ‘Green and Clean’. It should be noted that the nature around us is a gift from God to us, hence it’s our bounden duty to protect it at all cost. Already, we are destroying nature’s beauty. We must stop this and encourage activities such as the Swachh Mangaluru Abhiyan/Swachh Bharat so that nature can be passed on to the next generation. We should be grateful to the Parish Priest of Bendore Church Fr Vincent Monteiro, and Sujith Noronha, the Convener for Environment Commission for their continued efforts in this area and urge the faithful to get involved in making Swachh Of Mangaluru a success.
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Cleanliness should be part of our daily lives. Cleanliness should be a part of our daily lives. Just as we clean our bodies with care, so should our surroundings. This Abhiyan will succeed if I feel like this house, this city, this environment is my own. Speaking to Team Mangalorean Fr Vincent Monteiro said, “Sound and clean environment is necessary to keep ourselves healthy and it is also our social commitment. Our duty is to keep our environment clean. Public awareness must be raised about cleanliness. We can create a clean and beautiful environment if citizens, NGOs, institutions, and Catholic Churches all work together. I am happy that our members of our Church Environment Commission have come forward and joined in this cleanliness drive to keep our City Clean”.
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While Pope Francis has demanded swift action to save the planet from environmental ruin, urging the faithful to hear the cry of the earth”and plunging the Catholic Church into political controversy over climate change, it is nice to note that the faithful of Bendore Church of Environment Commission have taken this step in the cleanliness drive. It is becoming increasingly difficult to save a planet that looks more and more like a huge pile of filth and could see unprecedented destruction of ecosystems in the next century. It is our duty to maintain a clean environment and keep Mangaluru green. This was done by members of Environment Commission.
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