As world leaders conclude a failed meeting in Copenhagen that sought action on climate change, Catholic Religious across India started to popularize an “eco-spirituality” aimed at saving humans and the nature.

In the past month, the Conference of Religious India (CRI) conducted seminars in Visakhapatnam, Jagdalpur and New Delhi to help its members familiarize with the concept and practice of eco-spirituality.

Carmelite Father Oliver Inchody, director of CRI’s Social Concerns based in New Delhi, guided the campaign.

According to the Carmelite of Mary Immaculate priest, “eco-spirituality is equal to Gospel spirituality. The discourses in the Gospel are constructed to address the lifestyle and morality of the people of Jesus’ time,” he told the Nov. 15 seminar in Visakhapatnam.

The crux of the eco-spirituality questions the lifestyle of the modern society characterized by greed, unbridled love and wanton desire for pleasure, comfort and convenience, the priest told some 80 women and men Religious from various congregations working in Andhra Pradesh.

Sister Edwin, a participant, said the seminar enabled “us to review our religious spirituality and question the gap between the religious conventions, practices, their life style and the eco-spirituality.”

It made us become more “attuned to the rhythm of nature around us, to realize the closely knit relationship between man’s lifestyle and its adverse effects on his environment,” she noted.

Another seminar a Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh stressed the need of healthy environment for leading healthy life. “Cleaning surrounding helps us to remain healthy,” the priest told the seminar.

Father Inchody clarified the difference between wants and needs and regretted insensitivity toward the use of earth. He says one who cares for ecology would naturally grow in spirituality.

He detailed four attitudes that would help nature eco-spirituality. The first is to have respect and compassion for all and the second is to discover God’s presence in nature. The third is to resist consumerism to lead a simple life and the last is to have love for life and all things.

The CRI headquarters in New Delhi played host for another eco-spirituality seminar on Dec. 12 attended by 52 CRI major superiors from 13 congregations working in Delhi, Jalandhar, and Simla-Chandigarh dioceses.

CRI national secretary Bother Mani Mekkunnel and Father Inchody led the seminar that noted the world is passing through a serious ecological crisis and need for everyone to become aware of it.

With the audio-visual presentations, Father Inchody expertly exposed the need of re-conceiving the religious spirituality taking into account of the severity of the ecological problem, said a report about on the seminar.

Source: CRI/UCAN

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