Join us to celebrate the Season of Creation in 2024 at our Catholic Earthcare Convocation!
We are called together during this convocation to ‘wonder’, ‘weave’ and ‘heal’ Earth and the whole of creation.
Gather online during Day 1 and 2 to engage in keynote presentations, workshops, discussions and spiritual experiences.
Day 3 gather together in diocesan hubs to transform learning into action. (There is an online option if you are unable to attend a hub)
For more information email catholicearthcare@caritas.org.au
View the Convocation Schedule (AEST)
About the Season of Creation (1 Sept - 4 Oct)
The Season of Creation is the annual ecumenical celebration of prayer and action for our common home. It is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and all creation through celebration, conversion, and commitment together.
The Season of Creation begins on September 1, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations.
Conference Schedule (AEST)
View the Convocation Schedule
Day 1- Thursday 12 Sept (Online)
WONDER
9 am – 3:30 pm (AEST)
- Keynote presentation
- Sector workshops for schools, parishes, diocese, organisations and religious orders
- General workshops
6 pm – 8 pm (AEST): Optional Joanna Macy experience
Day 2 - Friday 13 Sept (Online)
WEAVE
9 am – 3:30 pm (AEST)
- Keynote presentation
- Sector forums for schools, parishes, diocese, organisations and religious orders
- General workshops
6 pm – 8 pm (AEST): Optional Joanna Macy experience
Day 3 - Saturday 14 Sept (Diocesan Hub with Online option)
HEAL
10:30 am (AEST) onwards.
- Keynote presentation (online)
- Discussion
- Action
- Closing Liturgy or Mass
Locations include: Cairns, Brisbane, Maitland-Newcastle, Broken Bay, Sydney, Bathurst, Parramatta, Canberra-Goulburn, Sandhurst, Melbourne, Perth
FREE ONLINE Student Participation Day
Friday 13 September
Designed for secondary students/leaders to engage in:
- The Student Forum
- Workshops facilitated by Mercy Links
- Workshops facilitated by youth leaders
Joanna Macy Experience
“Everything is, as it were, a caress of God” LS:84
Come together to reflect on your relationship with Earth through a Joanna Macy experience.
Thursday 12 and Friday 13 September: 6 – 8pm AEST
This reflective process over two nights will offer you an invitation to warm up to gratitude; pain in the world; seeing with new eyes and going forth energised for whatever is ahead of us.
Hub Day - Saturday 14 September
For people able to travel to a diocesan hub, they will spend the day together beginning with an online keynote address before working together to care for creation. For people unable to travel to a hub, you are welcome to stay online for further learning and sharing.
Hub locations
(Information is correct at time of publication. Click on the map for more information about each hub.)
BRISBANE
Francis Rush Centre Hanly Room 196 Charlotte St Brisbane City QLD 4000
MAITLAND-NEWCASTLE
Diocesan Resource Centre 12 Tudor Street Newcastle West 2302
BATHURST
Murungidyal Eco-Hub: a home for Laudato Si' in the Diocese of Bathurst 1 Glasson St Blayney NSW
BROKEN BAY
St Anthony in the Fields Catholic Church 46 Myoora Rd Terrey Hills, NSW 2084
PARRAMATTA
Winbourne Edmund Rice Retreat and Conference Centre 1315 Mulgoa Rd Mulgoa NSW 2745
Conference Theme
Wonder
To gaze with awe and wonder at the gift of creation and to come to a deep awareness of the ‘signs of the times’.
Weave
To discern a path forward through story-telling and deep weaving with our communities.
Heal
To heal our relationship with creation and act within our communities for change.
Keynote Speakers
Day 1 - Sr. Ann-Maree O’Beirne RSM
Is a Sister of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea who has worked at the Rahamim Ecology Centre. PhD thesis entitled: Graced Encounters in the Community of Creation.
Day 2 - Pedro Walpole
Works in sustainable environment, community land management, and disaster risk reduction in Southeast Asia. He is the global coordinator for EcoJesuit, research director for the Environment Science for Social Change and the coordinator of the River Above Asia Oceania Ecclesial Network.
Day 3 - Sally Neaves
Is the Integral Ecology Animator of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea. She is also a permaculture teacher and is currently working on the ‘Slow the Flow Eugowra’ project.
Meet our Presenters
Bishop Vincent Long OFMConv DD
Chair of the Bishops' Commission for Social Justice, Service and Mission.
Professor Lisa Gibbs
Is a Professor for Public Health and Director of the Disaster, Climate and Adversity Unit at the Melbourne School of Population and Global health at the University of Melbourne.
Fr Peter Smith
Priest of the Archdiocese of Sydney and serving as the Promoter of Justice and Peace for the Archdiocese. Author of the article 'Laudato Si': Love of God, love of Neighbour, Love of Creation' and founding member of the Global Catholic Climate Network.
Sabrina Stevens
Kuku Yalanji and Yidinji woman, Caritas Australia's Youth Participation Coordinator and Youth Councilor on the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC).
Platinum Sponsors
Season of Creation Convocation Artwork by Claire Virgona
Claire Virgona is a passionate educator who graduated with the Master of Teaching (Secondary, Visual Art), completed via research, from the University of Melbourne in 2013. She obtained her Bachelor Fine Art(Hons) specialising in Photomedia and Glass, from Monash University in 2009. Claire is a practicing Photomedia artist who has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. She is currently teaching secondary Visual Art and Design at Mercy Regional College in Camperdown, Australia and was an Integral Ecology Fellow with the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy, Australia and Papua New Guinea in 2023.