An AsiaNews report looks at how the Catholic archdiocese of Mumbai is turning a Lenten carbon fast into permanent environmental practice. Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus Allwyn D'Silva spoke at a Vatican event marking five years of the Laudato Si' Action Platform, with COP31 in Antalya approaching. He described parish projects including solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and a ban on single-use plastics at Holy Family in Chakala and St John the Baptist in Thane. The archdiocese held a meeting of over 100 people to draft a common ecological plan for 125 parishes, and is pushing experienced parishes to mentor neighbors. D'Silva also connected the work to Mumbai's exposure to floods, mangrove loss, and extreme heat, which hit low-income households hardest. The key challenge, as he frames it, is institutional continuity: ecological work tied to one person tends to disappear when that person leaves. The Laudato Si' Action Platform is being used as a framework to make these commitments stick beyond individual volunteers or parish priests.
