Season of Creation 2026

takes place from Sept 1st and ends on Oct 4th with the Feast of St Francis of Assisi.

The theme is ‘Living Water’, taken from the prophet Ezekiel 47: 9,12 – a biblical vision of hope and ecological restoration. The living water flowing from God’s sanctuary heals land, water, biodiversity as well as fostering human responsibility towards the  whole of creation.

Season of Creation – Diocese of Kerry Brochure – 2026

Choose one Sunday during the season to mark Season of Creation in your parish. You might like to create a focal space in your church or grounds. Here are some resources – Sunday Mass celebration Season of Creation 2026

Season of Creation Events

  • Saturday Sept 19th in Millstreet Parish: Parish – Diocesan event in 1.30-3.30 Millstreet Church Grounds, Fáilte.
  • Sunday Sept 20th in St John’s, Tralee: Sunday 12 noon Mass 20 Sept followed by a visit to the garden and blessing of the upgraded pond.
  • Wednesday Sept 23rd in St John’s, Tralee: Talk on swifts 23 Sept 7.30pm ahead of the installation of a swift nesting box.
  • Saturday Sept 26/Sunday Sept 27 in Killorglin Parish – Vigil and 12 noon masses with speaker Fr Billy Hoyne OFM and, morning in their Laudato Si’ garden on Sat 26 with Fr Billy and Mary Kiernan, Transition Kerry
  • Sunday Oct 4th in St Brendan’s, Tralee @ 10am Mass for the Season of Creation (also on Radio Kerry)

The Season-of-Creation-prayer-2026  is on the back of the diocesan leaflet. Some parishes may wish to use this as a communion reflection. The leaflet gives practical suggestions for actions  based on water as well as biodiversity in general.

Holy God, whose Spirit hovered over the waters at the beginning, we gather as part of your community of all creation, thirsty for your grace. We give thanks for the gift of water, the veins of our common home, that sustains the cedar and the whale, the pasture and the city. We are grateful for the local waters that nourish our homelands and our fellow creatures. We give thanks that in your well-watered garden, every drop is a sacred testament to your love.

Yet, we confess that we have treated this gift as a mere commodity. We have choked the seas with our waste and watched the warming tides rise in judgment. We lament the cracked earth of the drought-stricken and the salty tears of the climate refugee. Melt our frozen hearts, O God, and let the waters of repentance flow.

Lord of all Life, you promised that wherever the river flows, everything shall live. Stir in us a calling to care for the waters — to protect the watershed, defend the rights of water, and honor the dignity of the thirsty. May your Word be a spring within us, gushing forth for the healing of the nations.

May God our Father who brought water from the rock sustain us in the desert. May Christ our Lord who is Living Water refresh us for the work of restoration. And may the Holy Spirit carry us on currents of grace until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amen.

Now as we pray for all affected by climate change around the world including here at home,  it is good that we can play some little part.

“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue:it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience”.  Laudato Si # 217

Please contact the Diocese of Kerry JPIC Committee if you have any queries or need help.

Email: pastoralcentre@dioceseofkerry.ie or phone 064- 6632644

Radio Kerry’s weekly Horizons programme and the daily Just a Thought reflections will highlight the Season of Creation throughout September.

This Season of Creation, everyone is invited to take one practical step:

conserve water,

support biodiversity,

attend a local event or help make their parish grounds a place where nature can flourish.

Small actions, undertaken together, can make a real difference.

 

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