Coventry Cathedral receives Eco Church Bronze award

At the core of Coventry Cathedral’s mission is reconciliation and this also includes reconciling with the Earth, which is why improving our sustainability and becoming an Eco Church is at the centre of our mission.

Eco Church was created by A Rocha UK, with the ambition to inspire and assist churches in embedding creation care throughout the whole of church life. We are delighted to announce we have achieved the Bronze Award, as we take positive steps to improving our sustainability and reconciling with the Earth.

Reverend Mary Gregory, Canon for Arts and Reconciliation said:

“We can think that reconciliation is only about human relationships – about bringing together people separated by conflict or misunderstanding. Yet human behaviour can also harm (or heal) the planet on which we live. There is a sense, then, that humanity needs to be reconciled to the earth; to repent of the excesses which have damaged the earth, and to learn to live more gently on it, in harmony with it. Coventry Cathedral is at the beginning of understanding how we can shape our life together to minimise our negative impact on the earth. This Eco Church Bronze Award is an important stage along the way; a marker of intent.”

One of the ways we started making steps was back in 2022 when we began a collaboration with the community garden Food Union, using funds from Coventry City of Culture, we created a brand-new garden outside the recently opened Sir John Laing Centre at Coventry Cathedral.

Named the Live & Dye Garden, our small Cathedral garden is an urban growing space in the city centre with a focus on plants that can be used for either medicinal purposes or can be harvested and used for dyes, inks and other design resources. Currently the Live and Dye Garden is open for visits on every first Thursday of the month and intermittent workshops and activities are also held in the space, as well as bringing more wildlife to the heart of our city.

We are now setting our sights on achieving the Silver Award, and look forward to sharing more updates in the future.