By Sibu SOCCOM
SIBU — On a beautiful Saturday morning on 2 September 2023, the Creation Justice Ministry of Sacred Heart Cathedral organised the “pouring of Enzymes” to help revitalise the drainage system around the Bukit Asset area, along the neighbourhood of Sacred Heart Cathedral.
This has become an annual activity of the community of Sacred Heart Cathedral where parishioners come together and play their part in caring for their home, a sign of synodality in action, a small community walking and journeying together to make Sibu a better place.
A Mass was celebrated to commemorate this Season of Care of Creation as it marked the fourth year of PROTEC Campaign “Protect our Earth, Protect our Children”. Bishop Joseph Hii, the president of the Episcopal Commission of Creation Justice of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei launched the region-wide campaign with the theme, “Cut Fuel Consumption”.
In synodality with Bishop Joseph Hii to celebrate the Mass and launch this occasion were Vicar General Msgr Fr Michael Lee, Rector of Sacred Heart Cathedral Fr Philip Hu, Rector of St Mary of Divine Mercy Fr Paul Chee, Ecclesiastical Assistant of Diocesan Commission for Creation Justice Fr Kihokolho Oniz, Assistant Parish Priest of Sacred Heart Cathedral Fr Edward Raymond and Capuchin Friar Fr Valentine Gompok. Representatives from all parishes of the Diocese of Sibu were also present.
In his homily, Bishop Joseph echoed the words of Pope Francis to join him in synodality in this Season of Care of Creation and put into practice in our daily lives, the call to take good care of Mother Earth, with special emphasis this year to cut fossil fuel consumption and in the process cut the carbon footprint.
He shared his reflection on the wisdom of the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI which questioned the kind of world we are living in, “what he called a world of alienation, suffering and death that he said has become a spiritual desert. There are so many kinds of deserts, poverty, hunger and thirst, abandonment, of loneliness, of destroyed love. Inside us lies emptiness of souls no longer aware of their dignity or the goal of human life. The external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast.”
There is War inside us. To bring upon harmony, he echoed the call of our pontiff for conversion, an ecological conversion so that we can realise the ecological mortal sin which humanity has committed against Mother Earth. Bishop Hii akined this self-destruction onto ourselves, which he lamented, is “suicidal”.
He encouraged all present to persevere in this difficult journey. “We need just one good man. One good heart which can change the world, which can transform this spiritual desert into life on earth so that Love, Justice and Peace may flow like a river” (Amos 5:18-27).
