Jakarta (AsiaNews) - This Lent in Jakarta, which began yesterday with Ash Wednesday 13 February, Catholics will leave a "Go-green" footprint, dedicating the period to ecology and environmental conservation. Along with prayer, fasting and abstinence from meat and sweets, the faithful of the capital have also wanted to promote a "green" campaign through specific initiatives. The motto of Lent 2013, aims to encourage individuals and the communities to "be more faithful, more friendly and more compassionate" in view of Easter.
For Lent every diocese in the nation proposes a campaign for the faithful. In Jakarta the creator of the initiative is the Jesuit Fr. Andang Listyo Binawan, an expert in canon law and head of the Diocesan Commission on professional services, who appeals to the faithful, inviting them to "limit" the use of plastic and polystyrene.
The purpose of the environmental campaign is to share resources, contain costs and invest the money saved in charitable activities. It is not easy to find drinkable water, the priest said, because of the progressive "environmental damage" perpetrated by man. People "are starving, because the land is no longer fertile," in many cases because of damage caused by non-recyclable materials.
Fr. Binawan adds that environmental awareness is connected to the double-edged sensibilities of Christians, because the earth like man, is also the work of God "As a Catholic community - says the priest - we are expected to focus on one or two matters on which all parties are expected to participate with the hope that as snowballing effect, the movement could create more effective impacts to our social environment".