Parishioners are being urged to walk, cycle, bus or share a lift to church to help cut their carbon footprint.
The Church in Wales wants its congregations to reduce their reliance on the car to get to services as it marks Climate Change Week (12-18 March). And it hopes the experience will inspire many to change their transport habit for good.
The campaign is being supported by Bishop David Wilbourne, Assistant Bishop of Llandaff, a keen cyclist who regularly arrives at services on his bike, and will be biking to Llandaff Cathedral to preach at the 8 am, 9 am and 11 am services on Mothering Sunday, 18 March. He says: “I find cycling to church both gives me exercise and also an adrenalin rush which sharpens what I have to say and do at the service.”
“Most people live within walking or cycling distance of their church or know people they could share lifts with to get there. The trouble is that even though Sunday is for many a day of rest, when in theory they have all the time in the world to walk or cycle to church, in practice folk can find themselves a bit rushed, and so dive into the car to save a few precious minutes. This week gives everyone the chance to set out a few extra minutes earlier to save a precious world.
“I think we have moved away from seeing driving around in a car as a status symbol, although sometimes attitudes surprise me. Recently I cycled to a confirmation at a Cardiff church. Since it was a rainy day, I was wrapped up in waterproofs and was parking my bike in the church porch to let it dry off. A churchwarden stopped me and said, ‘You can’t park your bike there, son, we’ve got the bishop coming!’
“Climate Change Week is a chance for all of us to change our bad habits for the good of God’s creation. I hope as many people as possible will take up the challenge and that all churches will see this as an opportunity to think about their response to climate change and focus on it in their services and prayers.”
Meanwhile, churches can do a “green audit” to find out how environmentally-friendly they are.
Visitors to the Church and Environment website can tick a checklist to calculate how well they are doing – from recycling rubbish to serving Fair Trade coffee and making the graveyard a haven for wildlife.
They can also find ideas there to improve their score, find out about projects running in other parishes and download prayers and suggestions for services.
The website address is: www.churchandenvironment.org.uk
For more information about Climate Change Week visit: www.climateweek.com
