Following on from the launch of a new diocesan environment strategy in February and the appointment of a new diocesan environment officer, a new non-residentiary Canon for Creation Care has been created and installed at Truro Cathedral.

In a service at the cathedral this weekend, Revd Elly Sheard was installed as the first Canon for Creation Care and took the Stall of St Aldhelm. Elly will head a new School of Creation Care at the cathedral alongside the Dean and will work closely with the new Environment Board which has been set up to oversee the new environment strategy across the Diocese of Truro.

Speak up

Cathedral Dean Roger Bush led the service which included a sermon by the Bishop of St Germans Hugh Nelson, who is responsible for the creation care work in the diocese. Bishop Hugh preached on the theme ‘Speak up’, one of the three priorities of the new strategy. In his sermon he said ‘We will speak up and tell of a good creation, of a just and fruitful future, of the call of Christ and of the unbreakable power of love. You can read Bishop Hugh’s full sermon here.

“Delighted”

Speaking after the service, Revd Canon Elly Sheard said: “I am delighted to have been made Canon for Creation Care with a remit to a ministry of Care for Creation both at Truro Cathedral and in the wider diocese.

“Having been deeply committed to the care of God’s creation throughout my adult life, I am thrilled to have the opportunity to make this commitment the major part of my ministry going forwards. Being installed, as I was, in the middle of the global eco-catastrophe that is the Covid-19 pandemic brought into sharp focus for me the challenges that God is calling us to address.

“In a socially distanced service I could not be ‘led to my stall’ by the Dean as is traditional, nor could there be anything other than a virtual congregation, as lockdown rules about mixing of choirs and congregations still apply. And having heard in our Old Testament lesson the story of Moses’ reluctance to speak to Pharoah on behalf of the enslaved people of Israel, Bishop Hugh’s sermon powerfully reminded us of our call – all of us, not just me – to speak up and to take action on behalf of God’s endangered creation.

“It was a wonderfully warm and exciting service of welcome and I am delighted to feel at home within the clergy team at the cathedral, but it was nevertheless with images of loss and urgency resonating in my heart that I become the Canon for Creation Care. And it is, I hope, with a consequent sense of the seriousness of the issues and of our God-given call to action now, that I take the first steps into my new role.”

If you would like to find out more or how you might answer God’s call in this area of Christian life and ministry email Revd Canon Elly at ellysheard@trurocathedral.org.uk

To find out more about the diocesan environment strategy or how you can get involved, visit the diocesan website here.