Hope with Creation
LYI Season of Creation 2025
“Creation Day”, also known as “Feast of Creation” or “World Day of Prayer for Creation”
Join us to celebrate “Creation Day”!
“Creation Day”, also known as “Feast of Creation” or “World Day of Prayer for Creation”, is an important Christian celebration that takes place annually on September 1st, or the following Sunday (which this year happens on September 7th).
Originally inspired by an ancient liturgical tradition of the Orthodox Church, in place since the 5th century, nearly all major denominations now join the annual observance, celebrating God as Creator and the great mystery of creation, while also inspiring us to care for the gift of the created world.
In our case as Catholics, it was Pope Francis who instituted it as a world day of prayer for the universal Catholic Church in 2015. An elaborate new video by the World Council of Churches summarizes the rich history and symbolism of the feast.
As we mark the 10th anniversary of both the world day of prayer and the Laudato Si’ encyclical, to celebrate Creation Day this day our Laudato Si Clubs, in Schools, Universities Parishes and communities will be engaed in a variety of activities ranging from interfaith conference as this day tresses its orgin in interfaith collaboration. As it happens, Pope Leo XIV recently gifted us the new “Creation Mass”, which enables us to celebrate Creation Day even more intentionally this year, around the altar. We too as Laudato Youth Initiative we happy to commemorate this day with a creation Mass on July 19th with our Laudato Si Club at Holy Cross Lake View S.S.S Jinja.
Besides being a moment to repent for our desecration of the gift of the created world and pray for its healing, the feast celebrates Creation as a foundational mystery of our Christian faith. In fact, as we also commemorate the 1700 years of Nicaea in 2025, Creation Day is an opportunity to celebrate the Creed’s proclamation of our faith in the Triune God as Creator – in “the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth”, in Christ “through [whom] all things were made”, and in the Holy Spirit, “the giver of life”.
We encourage everyone to join the online ecumenical prayer service on September 1st and celebrate the feast locally, as well as the larger Season of Creation. More details and useful resources are available at www.FeastOfCreation.com May this very special feast, the Feast of Creation, renew our commitment to bring to life the message of Laudato Si’ and truly honor God as Creator.
LYI Season of Creation 2024
To Hope and Act with Creation
We are back again to celebrate the season of Creation. For us, the season of creation is a time to renew our relationship with our Creator and celebrate the gift of creation while reflecting deeply on what is happening to our common home (LS 1) and enacting appropriate measures for action reflecting on the church’s theme for the year for the season of Creation. This year’s theme is “To hope and act with Creation”. For the Laudato Youth Initiative, it is time to witness the reality of Integral Ecology. The understanding that the ecological crisis is not simply a series of problems to be fixed, but rather is a symptom of something that goes much deeper. Pope Francis calls for an integral ecology that sees the interconnectedness of environmental, economic, political, social, cultural, and ethical issues.
As an African Catholic youth-led environmental initiative inspired by the encyclical Laudato Si, and the Social teachings of the Catholic Church, celebrating the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, with due regard to our local environmental East African needs and situations is crucial, this year we are going to celebrate it with the participation of all our clubs in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, People of God involved with our youth: priests, men and women religious and the lay faithful in parishes, dioceses, schools, universities, and communities where Laudato Si Clubs exist but also with our online social media community that will have an opportunity to learn about what is happening for this season in our Clubs. For this reason, we have tasked our club patrons and club presidents to make a personal commitment and lead by example to the clubs they lead thus also inspiring and tasking them to be more involved in uniting our people for action, prayer, and reflection, in cooperation with our partner John Paul II justice and peace center and all other like-minded organizations and individuals who may be willing to work with and share our model and inspiration, by arranging suitable ways of publicizing and celebrating the Day, so that this annual event will become a significant occasion for prayer, reflection, conversion and the adoption of appropriate lifestyles.
We often reflect on this day according to its purpose by uniting our Laudato Si clubs in schools, universities, communities, parishes, and dioceses to reaffirm their personal and Clubs’ (group) vocation to be stewards of creation, to thank God for the wonderful handiwork which he has entrusted to our care, and to implore his help for the protection of creation as well as his pardon for the sins committed against the world in which we live.
We all know September 1st is the day designated as a World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation by our Holy Father Pope Francis.
Our Laudato Si Club at Mountains of the moon University Marked it with an ecumenical tree planting event. Going around churches in the university niegbourhood distributiong and planting fruit trees with them. The event ended with planting more fruit trees on Campus.
Our Laudato Si club President was inivolved in the interfaith conference at Holy Cross Parish Konge Lukuli.
Brother Adolf attended attended the vaticans commissioning for theme of the year at the Vatican and later participated in the faith leaders conference to plan for the prolulgation of the day of prayer for creation. He has challenged us to step forward for action and encouraged us to keep raising awareness about the Feast of Creation and pave the way for it to become a liturgical solemnity.
Our Laudato Si Club at St. Andre Bassette Koch-Goma Gulu under the leadership of Mr. Alex has been chosen for this day’s activities because the theme of the year suits the needs of the people in the area. This Club is in the Archdiocese of Gulu in Northern Uganda. Gulu is one of the parts of our Country Uganda that needs hope and action in line with integral ecology. Both its people and the environment suffered injustices during the times of the Lord Resistance Army (LRA) War. Our people in Gulu need hope and the environment needs attention to recover what was lost. So this season of creation is our first activity.
It often comes out in the reflections of our Laudato Si club members at the parish who have realized that they did not only face two separate crises, one environmental and the other political and social, but rather are now faced with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. As a result, our strategies for a solution to this parish club demand an integrated approach to restoring peace of Heart and Mind, Healing the wounds and pains of the war victims, combating poverty and walking side by side with those in need, mentoring the youth, and at the same time protecting nature. It is such an economic and social ecology, and thus our participation in this year’s season of creation will embody the protection of the environment, storing hope, and praying for peace given an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it. Hear the Story they’re left to tell a story of a war that destroyed both humanity and creation.
Season of Creation 2023
This year we will unite around the theme, “Let Justice and Peace Flow.”
The Season of Creation is the annual Christian celebration to pray and respond together to the cry of Creation: the ecumenical family around the world unites to listen and care for our common home, the Oikos of God. The Season “Celebration” begins on 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ends on 4 October, the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology beloved by many Christian denominations. This year we will unite around the theme, “Let Justice and Peace Flow.”