Living Water in Southern Africa: From Prayer to Action this Season of Creation
Across Southern Africa, the 2026 Season of Creation invites Catholic communities to let faith, prayer, and ecological conversion flow into practical action for our common home.
Celebrated from 1 September to 4 October, this year’s Season carries the theme “Living Water”, drawing on the biblical image of water bringing renewal and life. Pope Leo XIV opened the Season by inviting Christians to unite prayer with action and become channels through which God’s living water can renew a wounded world.
Zambia: Living Water, renewable energy and a Church responding together
In Lusaka, Zambia, we brought together representatives from Church structures, religious communities, universities, civil society and Laudato Si’ Animators for a week-long programme focused on the transition to renewable energy and advocacy within Church structures.
The gathering began with Mass and the launch of the Season of Creation. Very Rev. Fr. Francis Mukosa, Secretary General of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, reflected on the significance of Living Water, particularly the importance of clean water as a source of life, justice, development and human dignity.
photo_62_2026-09-04_12-43-41.jpg
Caption: The Mass led by Very Rev. Fr. Francis Mukosa.
Participants moved from reflection on the climate crisis and the teachings of our faith to discussions on ecological conversion, fossil fuels, and the need for a just transition to renewable energy.
photo_66_2026-09-04_12-43-41.jpg
photo_35_2026-09-04_12-43-41.jpg
Caption: The participants of the in-person workshops
The programme also created space for relationship-building between Church institutions, civil society and other stakeholders. Participants subsequently established a network to continue engagement on renewable energy and climate justice beyond the workshop.
This is an important expression of the Season of Creation: prayer becomes a starting point for discernment, collaboration and action.
photo_37_2026-09-04_12-43-41.jpg
Caption: A full group photo of all the participants
South Africa: Bringing the Season into parish life
Across Southern Africa, Church leadership reinforced the call to celebrate the Season of Creation. Ahead of the Season, the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC) issued a pastoral letter calling on dioceses and the faithful across South Africa, Botswana and Eswatini to participate actively. The Bishops encouraged Catholic communities to integrate care for creation into prayer, reflection and practical action, strengthening the connection between faith, ecological conversion and our shared responsibility to care for our common home.
This invitation also reached the parish level, with local Catholic communities embracing the Season and creating opportunities for the faithful to reflect on their relationship with creation and translate that reflection into action.
Visit the link for more information: Website Link
In the Archdiocese of Cape Town, a dedicated Cape Town Living Water programme brought together Season of Creation events and initiatives across the city, creating opportunities for communities to explore the connections between faith, water, ecological justice and care for creation.
One initiative, “Living Water: Cape Town’s Sacred Heritage and Shared Future,” brought together more than 100 people at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Kalk Bay. Co-hosted with St James Catholic Church, the ecumenical gathering explored Cape Town’s water heritage and the connections between water, ecology, social justice and spirituality.
The Season was also embraced at parish level. St Mary of the Angels in Athlone, Cape Town, welcomed the Season of Creation, with community members joining their Parish Priest, Fr Nilesh Vaz, in marking this important time of prayer, reflection, and care for our common home.
Caption: Members of the community with their Parish Priest, Fr Nilesh Vaz
In Cape Town on 1 September, they launched the 2026 Season of Creation through an ecumenical service at the historic Groote Kerk, under this year’s theme, “Living Water.”
The gathering brought together Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, Reformed and Lutheran communities in prayer and reflection, demonstrating how creation care can provide common ground for Christians to respond together to the ecological challenges facing communities. Local ministers from across Cape Town helped lead the service. Green Anglicans
Most Rev. Dr Sithembele Sipuka, Catholic Archbishop of Cape Town and Chairperson of the South African Council of Churches, reflected on the meaning of Living Water and Christians’ responsibility to care for creation. He connected the theme with both the destructive consequences of environmental degradation and concerns about water scarcity closer to home in Cape Town. Green Anglicans
Archbishop Sipuka also drew on the Southern African principle of Ubuntu, challenging Christians to extend this understanding of interconnectedness beyond relationships between people to embrace the whole of creation. Green Anglicans
The choice of the Groote Kerk carried particular significance. The church, once associated with theological support for apartheid, has since become a space for reconciliation, hope and interfaith dialogue. Against this history, the launch offered a powerful image of transformation: a place once associated with division becoming a place from which a message of Living Water, unity and care for creation could flow. Green Anglicans
For the Church in Southern Africa, the gathering demonstrated that the Season of Creation is also an opportunity for ecumenical collaboration, bringing Christians together in prayer while encouraging a shared response to water, climate and ecological justice.
Read the original Green Anglicans story.
Br Benedict Ayodi OFM CAP, Africa Programs Advisor, joined Radio Veritas to discuss the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and the Season of Creation, helping listeners reflect on the Season’s spiritual meaning and Catholics’ responsibility to care for our common home.
Let Living Water continue to flow.
Experiences emerging from Zambia, South Africa, and communities elsewhere in Africa show different ways of responding, from episcopal leadership and parish participation to renewable energy advocacy, environmental communication, and practical community action.
Living Water reminds us that water never stays still. It flows, connects and gives life.