Dhaka (AsiaNews) - Archbishop Patrick D'Rozario, president of the Catholic Bishops 'Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB), has published a pastoral letter in Bangla to be distributed in very parish, providing a brief explanation of the main points in ‘Laudato si’’, Pope Francis’ encyclical about taking care of creation.
In doing so, the Catholic Church in Bangladesh will respond to the papal appeal to the world for a revolutionary change in lifestyle, as well as production and consumption of resources taken from mother earth.
In his missive, Mgr D’Rozario calls on Bangladeshi Catholics to follow the pope’s guidelines in an appropriate manner. He also orders priests to spread the Encyclical’s teachings among the faithful.
In conjunction with the pastoral letter, Dr Benedict Alo D'Rozario, executive director of Caritas Bangladesh, issued a statement, calling on the faithful to use less resources.
"Let us take an oath to love and take care of God’s creation,” the statement said. “Let us stop doing whatever harms the environment and God’s creation.”
What is more, "Each of us must read the archbishop’s pastoral letter, which talks about the pope’s encyclical,” Dr Alo D’Rozario added.
“We must pray that Francis’ message is applied and that social justice is achieved.” To reach those goals, the Caritas executive director suggests planting and caring for trees, as well consuming less water, energy and fuel.
Caritas Bangladesh has already launched various projects to care and protect the environment, like selling high quality seeds to poor farmers to improve their living conditions.
It also supports the most vulnerable groups, like children and the homeless, by handing out warm clothes in winter months and battling alcoholism among tribals through its rehabilitation programmes.