How I help my parish become eco-responsible
A label
The Green Church label is an educational tool intended for parishes, works, movements, monasteries and Christian establishments to help them engage in the care of Creation, both prayerfully and practically. He was born in 2017, in Paris, in order to demonstrate the commitment of Churches of different faiths on the occasion of the COP21 meeting. Today, more than 700 parishes, convents and communities have chosen to use this tool to progress in eco-responsible practices.
A variation for all audiences
The label is not an end in itself, but a tool for encouragement and progress. Its level system makes it accessible to any structure, making it possible to evaluate its progress and discern the actions to be implemented, whether the ecological concern is emerging or already advanced. From now on, the label is available for associations, apostolic congregations, monasteries as well as for families, schools or youth groups.
A process
Like plant growth, the Green Church label proposes to progress, year after year, by taking several steps in the level of commitment. Once the Green Church association has been contacted, your group will be offered to make a “ecodiagnosis” all-round ecological practices of the community: from sorting waste to choosing the electricity supplier, from recycling candles to installing nest boxes in the presbytery garden! Then, every year, you will be able to launch initiatives to evolve in practices and mobilization. For example, the label allows you to go through five levels: “Grain de senevé” (registration stage); “Lilies of the fields” (ecodiagnostics); “Vine vine” (the gauges of at least two areas of the questionnaire exceed 50% and two others are at 25% or more); “Fig tree” (three minimum gauges exceed 50% and another 75%); “Cedar of Lebanon” (all gauges are above 75% and an action program is planned). To find out more: egliseverte.org
“A concrete process of conversion”, Father Éric Schneider, priest of the Saint-Bernard parish, in Bitche (Moselle)
“The method of the Green Church label, adopted since January 2018, allowed us to see in which areas we could improve together and make choices to move forward. Its strength is to offer a concrete conversion process which takes into account reality , while opening a multitude of small and large projects, which will make it possible to seriously prepare for the emergence of a new, more respectful “habitation” of the world. We have obtained the “Figuier” label, third level on a scale of five . Every year, we re-evaluate the eco-diagnosis in order to check if our actions are making us progress in the right direction. There is a great place to take, in a healthy and urgent apostolic creativity. We continue this path with humility, motivation and perseverance .”
