Cork parish gets a gold eco award for environmental work

A CORK parish with a history of environmental work has been presented with a prestigious award from Eco-Congregation Ireland (ECI).

Ballineaspaig was presented with a Gold Award — the highest ECI can bestow — on Sunday at the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Dennehys Cross, by Bishop Fintan Gavin, the Catholic bishop of Cork and Ross.

The parish received its first Eco Award in 2015, in recognition of its promotion of environmental awareness, commitment to social inclusion, and the parish’s connection with the developing world via Turkwel parish in Kenya.

ECI encourages churches of all denominations to take an eco approach to worship, lifestyle, property, and finance management, community outreach and contact with the developing world.

In June, 2021, Ballineaspaig celebrated gold status from ECI with a ceremony over Zoom because of Covid-19 restrictions.

However, secretary of the Faith in Action Group in Ballineaspaig, Clare McCutcheon, said the group was looking forward to yesterday’s 11am mass, where the award would formally be presented.

Ms McCutcheon said the accolade “means an awful lot” to the Faith in Action Group, which was established by a number of parishioners in 2000, who were inspired by a retreat by Fr Fachtna O’Driscoll, SMA.

Ballineaspaig became the first Fairtrade parish in the country in 2006. It also established links with Turkwel parish, fundraising €136,000 over three years for the construction of a maternity unit, kitchen, and fence.

“We applied to ECI for recognition as an eco parish in 2015 and became the first Catholic parish in the diocese to receive an Eco Award.

“This coincided with the publication of Laudato Si, by Pope Francis, which gave us the stimulus to intensify our promotion of environmental awareness and responsibility for planet Earth, our commitment to social inclusion, and our connection with the developing world,” the Faith in Action Group said.

Initiatives have also included workshops on recycling, composting, raised-bed planting, gardening, vegetarian cooking, the establishment of a mini wildflower garden in the ground of the Church of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, and the distribution of free flower and vegetable seeds to parishioners.

Sunday’s mass was followed by a tree-planting ceremony in the wildflower garden.