Season of Creation 2021  The Season of Creation has a special significance for the Catholic Church, particularly since Pope Francis established 1st September as an annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. The Season of Creation or Creation Time, is marked throughout the Christian world from 1 September to 4 October (Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi) and celebrates the joy of creation as well as encouraging awareness-raising initiatives to protect the natural environment.    The theme for the Season of Creation 2021 is ‘Restoring Our Common Home’. During this season we are asked to join together to celebrate creation and protect our common home through prayer, reflection and action. The global Christian family is called to awaken to the urgent need to heal our relationships with creation and with each other and to encourage our parish communities to do the same, “for we know that things can change!” (Laudato Si’, 13). This year we celebrate this season mindful of the fact that our world continues to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic as well as a devastating climate and biodiversity crisis. We look towards two UN Conferences in the Autumn, COP15 (on Biodiversity, due to take place in China) and COP24 (on climate change, Glasgow) in the hope that world leaders take the urgent action that is needed to Restore Our Common Home. Catholics are urged to sign the “Healthy Planet Healthy People” petition as a key action for this year’s Season of Creation. This petition has been endorsed by the Vatican Dicastery for Integral Human Development in the hope that millions of Catholics will raise their voices in the public sphere to help Restore Our Common Home in the run up to these vital UN Conferences.     Archbishop Dermot Farrell publishes pastoral letter on the climate crisis  “Faith and science are not opponents; in a truly Christian view, faith and reason—Fides et ratio—go hand in hand”  Archbishop Farrell  This pastoral letter, which I have titled, The Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor, approaches the climate catastrophe from the perspective of faith. That is not to say, it excludes the insights and contributions of the natural sciences. On the contrary, healthy faith takes on board what God says through creation (see Dei Verbum §3). Faith and science are not opponents; in a truly Christian view, faith and reason—fides et ratio—go hand in hand. God reveals himself through the world. That is the heart of our Catholic faith. Scientists have issued a “code red” not just for the environment, but for humanity itself. God now calls us, individually and collectively, to work for the good of the planet and the good of all. Let us not fool ourselves: there can be no enduring response to the cry of the earth without responding to the need for justice and dignity.   The Cry of the Earth, the Cry of the Poor now available in Veritas bookshops