The following is a quote from an article written by a Franciscan priest Daniel P. Horan published for Earth Day 2023:
“In his 2009 book The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the 21st Century, the late Passionist Fr. Thomas Berry reflected on Christians living in an age of climate catastrophe. Drawing from the rich wells of Scripture and tradition, Berry wrote that, today, “what is needed is a new spiritual, even mystical, communion with Earth, a true aesthetic of Earth, sensitivity to Earth’s needs, a valid economy of Earth. We need a way of designating the Earth-human world in its continuity and identity rather than exclusively by its discontinuity and difference. We especially need to recognize the numinous qualities of Earth.
“I was thinking of Berry because this Saturday, April 22, commemorates the 53rd Earth Day. Few contemporary figures in the Catholic tradition have so eloquently and directly called for a renewal of not just our thinking and practices around relating to the more-than-human world, but also a renewal in our spiritualities, or ways of relating to the transcendent, to God.
“The journey of deepening our spirituality beyond what concerns each of us as individuals or even as a species, toward recognizing a deeper interconnectedness and relationship we already share with the whole of creation, is what Pope John Paul II and Pope Francis, among others, have called “ecological conversion.” I cannot think of a better opportunity to pause and reflect on where each of us is on our journey of ecological conversion than Earth Day.”
I could not think of a better quote to begin this reflection for Earth Day 2023. Earth Day started over 50 years ago in 1970 in New York city and has been going every year since. Pope Francis has recognised its importance in raising awareness about the responsibility we share for saving our planet from destruction.
On Earth Day this year 2023, a few of us from the Clogher JPIC group spent the afternoon in the garden of a long-time friend, Brian Mac Domhnaill, who lives in Rockcorry, County Monaghan. We listened as he explained why and how he was converted to radically changing his approach to managing his garden. Although it was drizzling and many wildflowers had closed to protect their pollen and nectar, it was a lovely experience for all present.
Brian began rewilding his garden about five or six years ago. Until then he admits that, like most people, he managed his garden with a view to keeping it ‘tidy’; his lawn was cut every week to ten days and when they raised their heads the clocks of dandelions were put into a rubbish bin to prevent the seed germinating.
Then, one beautiful summer’s day, sitting outside on his pristine lawn, he noticed that he did not see or hear any bees or butterflies. He had created a desert for nature outside of the short periods when some of his flowering bushes attracted visitors. He realised that they were not coming because there were few wildflowers and few places for them to nest. It was his ‘road to Damascus’ moment, when he decided that it was time to let nature bloom and to get over his own obsessive tidiness.
He bought wildflower seeds, but decided against using them and, instead, to see what native flowers were already in the soil’s seedbank. The recovery is happening year on year as wildflowers such as orchids, ragged robin and greater stitchwort began to appear where they had never had a chance to grow. He refers to the process as ‘managed rewilding’ as he battles with the likes of ground elder, creeping buttercup and bindweed, which can swamp all other plant species.
Around the table in his kitchen , where we shared his own beautifully baked bread, he showed us a small sample of spring flowers that he had picked in his garden the previous evening. Included was a single Cuckooflower (Biolar Gréagán), a Lesser Celandine (Grán Arcáin), a Wood Anenome (Lus na Gaoithe), a Daisy (Nóinín), a Ransoms (Creamh), a bluebell (Coinnle Corra), a Primrose (Sabhairchín), a White Dead Nettle (Caochneantóg bán), a Red Dead Nettle (Caochneantóg dearg), a Wood Violet (Sailchurch luath), a Ground Ivy (Athair Lusa) and a cutting of flowering blackthorn (Draighean) and Willow (Sail). They made an absolutely beautiful posey. We agreed that we had often seen each of these – but had passed no remarks as they were just ‘wild flowers’. We are learning to look down and look around and to notice the beauty that is there already in the soil – Herb Robert, Bramble, Cowslip, Forget-me-nots, Water lilly and a host of wild herbs and flowers that follow the snowdrop in a mysterious, wonderful and even miraculous succession throughout the year.
Brian dug out a shallow pond that has attracted all kinds of little creatures and is abounding in life without human intervention. Frogs and their offspring, smooth newts, diving beetles, striders and a host of other insects feed on the rich vegetation and on each other. The wheel of life.
Long before he fell in love with wildflowers, Brian loved trees and had developed part of his garden as a woodland. He has planted many native Irish tree sapings; Oak, Mountain Ash, Birch, Wild cherry, Alder, Willow and Hawthorn, while others, such as Blackthorn, have been given leave to spread through parts of the garden. He has more recently begun saving seed from trees and propagating this to produce new saplings which he gives away to whoever wants to plant them (as he has limited space in his own garden).
He makes compost on a large scale, taking all of the vegetable, fruit peelings and coffee grinds from a delicatessen in nearby Cootehill. Everything is recycled and any organic cuttings are left in heaps as homes for wildlife. Over time, they compost, producing a rich, loamy soil. We touched and smelt this compost that had been produced from one such mound. What a smell!
So as we listened to Brian we learned a great deal about what one person can do to save our planet Earth – just by allowing nature to do its own thing, to trust it and to care for it, understanding that everything is connected.
As Brian ‘the re-wilding gardener’ told us – he cannot change the world on his own but he can light a candle and together with others doing small things they can make a difference. I know that I have been converted to join in the work of healing the Earth and I am now on the journey.
This is how hope for the future of our planet is kept alive -when people work together to bring about change –however small.
You may not be able to change the world on your own –but together with Brian -and all the others -you can make a difference. I think Pope Francis would be impressed.
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