People of Faith get Political to Protect the Reef from Adani

Vigil for the Reef, St. John’s Cathedral, 373 Ann Street Brisbane

September 15, 7 to 9pm

People from the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Krishna Consciousness and Muslim faiths will gather in St John’s Anglican Cathedral to celebrate the gift of the Great Barrier Reef and to dedicate themselves to protecting it from climate change.

Dean of St John’s, The Very Rev’d Dr Peter Catt, said ‘People of faith see the planet as a gift. It is under threat. Not to act is to act. To keep silent is to give consent to the status quo.

Dean of Brisbane, the Very Rev'd Dr Peter Catt with St John's Cathedral sign

‘Should the Adani mine go ahead we will be tipping the balance towards catastrophic climate change and the Reef will almost certainly die as a result.

‘I welcome the comments made by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, this week acknowledging that climate change is a significant issue for our Pacific neighbours.

‘I call on him to give similar recognition to the fact that it is an issue for Australia as well.

‘The people of the Torres Strait Islands are already losing their land and market gardens, our farmers are being debilitated by a drying climate and the Reef is stressed to the point of being on life-support.

‘The Great Barrier Reef is a wonder of creation. The main cause of the awful recent bleaching has been warming oceans. And the main cause of climate change is burning coal and other fossil fuels. Clearly, no politician can be serious about protecting the Reef if they’re not clearly against building this massive new coal mine.

‘Scott Morrison, Annastacia Palaszczuk and their governments need to act now.

The event is being organised by the Queensland branch of the Australian Religious Response to Climate Change.

Media spokespeople

The Very Reverend Dr Peter Catt

Dean of St John’s Cathedral

0404 052 494

Sister Wendy Flannery

0439 771 692