God is not the one punishing us because our God is all-good and never wills evil on the creatures of His hands. We, human beings, are the ones inflicting punishment upon ourselves.” Above is the summation of the Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins in reaction to insinuations that most of the pains being faced by humanity was as a result of God’s wrath. On the contrary, the prelate made it quite clear that man himself is the source of the problems plaguing the world.
“We have, over time abused the environment: when we pollute the air through different activities and inventions. We degrade the land, the sea and the air by our exploitation of their resources but we do very little to replenish. Why are we surprised that viruses are generated and then they come back to haunt us?” In his homily last Sunday at the Cathedral to mark the 5th anniversary of the encyclical, Laudato Si, written by Pope Francis on the care of the earth, Archbishop Martins called for all to embrace ecological
conversion, “repent of our abuse of the environment, abuse of the earth, our Common Home.” He thanked the Nigerian Conservation Foundation for the wonderful advocacy work it is doing.
He also commended Dame Marie Fatayi-Williams and her team for spearheading the establishment of the Network of Young Catholic Carers for the Environment in Nigeria. Meanwhile, members of the NYCCEN have donated some cartons of palliatives to the less privileged to help cushion the effects of the COVID-19 on families. Making the presentation at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Archbishop Alfred Adewale Martins commended the group for the great work they have been doing in creating awareness on the need to make the earth a better place. “We hope that in this special year of the 5th anniversary of Laudato Si, the activities of (NYCCEN) will expand even more than it has and even go beyond the boundaries of our Archdiocese so that young people, all over the nation may learn the importance of taking care of the earth, our Common Home with all the seriousness that it deserves.”
