Award for Cloughjordan's Eco-Congregation

At this year’s Cloughjordan Christmas market, a special event took place. A newly formed ecumenical group, Eco-Congregation Cloughjordan, received certificates marking their commitment to work together and link environmental issues and Christian faith.
We are all increasingly aware of the fragility of nature and know that our collective and personal behaviour must change to address the growing threat of Global Climate Change. Everyone in society has a role to play, including the faith communities.
Eco-Congregation Ireland are members of Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI), a project of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting. ECI encourages parishes and faith communities to take steps in four areas to become more environmentally aware and eco-friendly. These focus on issues that are Practical, Spiritual, Community focused and Global. The Cloughjordan initiative is a collaboration between the three local churches: Roman Catholic, Church Of Ireland and Methodist.
There are plans to have various events during 2020 (including a community event with speakers from Fairtrade Ireland) and other shared initiatives. These will focus on the issues above and allow for an application for full Eco-Congregation Certification by the end of 2020. Anyone interested in hearing more, please check out our Facebook page at “Eco-Congregation Cloughjordan”.
Receiving the awards were Fr Pat Greed of SS Michael and John, the Rev Terry Mitchell of St Kieran’s and the Rev Steven Foster of the Methodist Church in Cloughjordan. This is only the second ecumenical Eco-Congregation initiative in Ireland and is the first to have three churches working together