Australian Catholic University experts in theology, liturgy, and ecology are supporting a global proposal to institute a new ecumenical liturgical feast to celebrate the mystery of creation.
The proposed Feast of Creation in Christ would align the Catholic Church and several Protestant Churches with the liturgical tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine Catholic rite, which marks September 1 as the Day of Creation and the beginning of the liturgical year.
The proposal has been endorsed by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I. Various churches are already seeking to embrace the new feast in 2025 to mark the 1700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council for the Christian Church, the Council of Nicaea.
Recommendations for a new liturgical Feast of Creation in Christ emerged at an ecumenical conference in Assisi, Italy in March 2024, attended online by ACU ecological theologian Jacqui Remond.
ACU liturgical studies expert Dr Jason McFarland and Dr Angela McCarthy of the University of Notre Dame Australia attended a second conference in Assisi in December 2024, held specifically for Catholics to consider the theological and liturgical questions around the proposed feast.
Ms Remond, a lecturer in Ecological Theology at ACU and co-founder of the global Laudato Si’ Movement, said the new feast would allow Christians to contemplate more deeply God’s act of creating heaven and earth.
She said an April 10 webinar for Australians, hosted by ACU, the Laudato Si’ Research Institute at the University of Oxford, and the Laudato Si’ Movement, would explore the theological, liturgical and pastoral implications of a newly proposed feast.
“We hope the webinar will generate dialogue and action at local church and national levels around the significance of a new feast celebrated by Australian Christian churches,” Ms Remond said.
Details and registrations: Webinar on the proposed Ecumenical Feast of Creation.
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Liturgists and ecology scholars exploring new ecumenical Feast of Creation (ACU)
