Mollie's Mission - Catholic Society
Mollie's Mission took a trip to the first religious society of the year, Catholic Society.
LJMU Cath Soc combine resources and people to have a large meeting of LJMU, University of Liverpool and Hope students. Everyone was very welcoming and friendly. The students said that the best part about this society is having someone to go to whenever you feel lonely as this is like a family away from home. The only familiar thing about moving away from home and coming to Liverpool was their religion.
First, I got a tour of the St Philip Neri Church which although was very cold had some amazing pieces of art and history. We then started the session for the Cath Soc members along with some other volunteers who help with meetings and the church.
This session was based around how Cath Soc are working with CAFOD to help fight Climate Change. There was first a video from CAFOD explaining what they do, if you would like to know more check out their website - https://cafod.org.uk/
Hope, University of Liverpool and LJMU students all came together to debate the following questions.
(Do Christians have a duty to protect and look after the environment? Why?
The debates were great! The main points to come from question 1 were:
- People of faith understand why they need to look after the planet more as they understand the creation, which creates a different motivations to people who have no faith.
- Away from faiths and beliefs, it was debated that as we are the most intelligent life form, we can see the harm we do to the planet and are capable of making changes unlike other species
(How can we apply these readings? What do they mean for us?)
Cath Soc had taking 2 readings from the Bible Genesis 2-15 and Matthew 21, 21-32, and debated again what these mean. This debate brought up the following points
- We need to be responsible for the planet and not dominate it
- Actions are louder than words, meaning people who aren't religious may be doing better deeds than Christian
- We need to act as protectors and stewards of the earth
(How does the beauty of creation reflect and demonstrate God's goodness?)
The last questions had some different viewpoints. Some believed that:
- It showed Gods creativity
- Creation can show it but there are other ways to show God's greatness due to thinks such as suffering and survival of the fittest
- Intrinsic awe at natural beauties shows that there is something bigger than us
After the debates and conversations, Cath Soc then had Prayers for intercession where there were prayers for CAFOD.
If you want to join Cath Soc, check out their social media for the next meeting - https://www.facebook.com/groups/245346802189820/
