The first dialogue session of Ilkoll Aħwa is taking place tonight with the theme chosen being ‘Safeguarding the environment’ and will be led by Fr Mark Ciantar, OFM.
The dialogue session will take place as St Helen’s Parish Hall, Birkirkara at 7pm and will be streamed live on Church.mt and on the Archdiocese of Malta’s Facebook page. For further information kindly contact [email protected].
Click here for more information about the other dialogue sessions.
Pope Francis will go down in history as the first pontiff of the Catholic Church to publish an encyclical in its entirety on the ‘care for our common home’, as he calls it. Although he states that he has not always had such an environmental awareness, today his teaching is an inspiration to many who are advocating to avoid a global catastrophe.
Together we will make a journey that will help us explore what the Pope says is necessary to experience ecological conversion, because – in his own words – living our vocation to be a guardian of God’s work is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience (Laudato Si’, 217).
About Fr Mark Ciantar
Mark Ciantar, OFM, is a Franciscan, actively involved in the promotion and actual practice of integral ecology as described in Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’. In 2007, his involvement in ministry to youth experiencing social difficulties led him to co-found ‘Dar Frate Jacoba’, a community that hosted such youth in a permaculture set-up. It was here that – practicing farming – he learned the value of sustainable agricultural practices not only for the well-being of our planet, but also for the holistic healing of the human person.
In response to a local situation where green spaces are disappearing at a very fast rate, together with a group of young people, Mark recently founded a non-governmental organization named ‘Inteko’, through which he offers initial and ongoing support to individuals or entities that seek to rehabilitate their fields or gardens as green and possibly food producing spaces.
Firmly believing that a sound education in ecological spirituality is able to give birth to a new civilization founded on the value of human fraternity, Inteko collaborates with a number of institutions in the organization of courses and similar initiatives that encourage greater contact with the natural world in a spirit of wonder, praise, joy and gratitude. Mark is also a member of the Interdiocesan Commission for the Environment.