Neil Armstrong, astronaut.

Planet Earth
For millions of years meteors bombarded Earth making it grow bigger and hotter. She melted and turned herself inside out with her molten red lava spewing out into vast glowing seas. She cooled and her crust hardened. Steamy clouds cooled too, and condensed into water. The great rains began and Earth acquired its oceans.

The Emergence of Life
Earth is a privileged Planet, occupying a life-friendly orbit away from the Sun's scorching heat, yet close enough to avoid the icy cold of the outer Planets. Conditions become right for Earth to maintain an internal heat system and to recycle the atmosphere, water and even its crusty surface. Early in its existence molten rocks push up through cracks in the ocean floor. Lightning bolts zap the seas and solar radiation rains into its chemically rich waters.

Bits of carbon hook together into long chains and fold and loop into tiny slippery bubbles. The tiny bubbles begin to twist and turn of their own accord. (What actually gave the initial spark of life remains a mystery!) Tiny creatures emerge with the power to reproduce. These are the firstborn cells. All living things have these first cells as their biological ancestors. With the birth of these cells life enters the story of Earth.

Throughout the five billion years' history of Earth, living things interact and evolve in habitats called topsoil, grasslands, forests, swamps, deserts, rivers, lakes and oceans. Every living thing finds its home and sustenance within the limits of its habitat, and every stable and healthy habitat contributes to a stable and healthy Earth. The entire Earth is a community of interdependent habitats.

" ... there is more on our doorstep to wonder at, more to thrill us, than our short lives lived a hundred times over can appreciate."
John Feehan.

“… all things are connected. Whatever befalls the Earth befalls the sons and daughters of the Earth. Man does not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. What he does to the web he does to himself.”

Chief Seattle, 1854.

"The world is not so much a collection of objects as a community of subjects.”

Thomas Berry.

Humans are very recent arrivals in the Earth community. Africa was our original home from which we spread throughout the world. Living in small tribal groups, we adapt well to the bounty and severity of diverse climates and habitats. Touched by the grandeur and power of the natural world, we become conscious of belonging to an awesome Universe and celebrate our relationship with it in ritual and dance.


"We now realize that the Earth was once molten rock and now sings opera. "

Brian Swimme

Around the world today an increasing number of people are showing concern for the environment. This concern is expressed at different levels:

• For some people, concern develops from their personal experience, perhaps witnessing the destruction of a place they love, value and enjoy.

• For others this concern is expressed in their desire not to leave behind to their children and grandchildren a polluted Planet stripped of its natural resources.

• Increasing numbers are now expressing their concern, in their desire to integrate their religious faith with their appreciation of the natural world.

• The level of concern that is most profound, involves an understanding of Deep Ecology, which maintains that every being has intrinsic worth, and has a right to exist.

The unfolding story of the Universe brought into being a living Planet. For thousands of years human societies emerged and survived on this planet with its nurturing beauty, bounty and power. Now, however, humans are putting greater stress on the Earth. Our wars, pollution, ecological abuse, wasteful consumption, unjust economics and growing populations seriously degrade the Earth’s capacity to sustain life. Challenged by this critical situation, we are slowly realizing that our Planet urgently needs our care. We are coming to see that the Earth is a community to be celebrated, not a resource to be plundered. An ecological age is dawning in which humans are beginning to live with the web of life.

“All Institutions can be judged insofar as they accept, include and foster or otherwise reject, exclude or inhibit, a mutual enhancing relationship, with Earth." Thomas Berry

The New Story gives us Three Principles by which we can order our lives. These are also referred to as the Fundamental Laws of the Universe.

Diversity - Everything in creation is totally unique and different. Individual uniqueness is characteristic of every aspect of life on a large and small scale. In this we find Divine mystery — something most awesome and wonderful. Living this Principle requires that we celebrate difference.

Interiority refers to the innate potential of every single organism to grow, develop and blossom into its full potential. Everything and every person in existence has inner depths which we can never fully know or understand. Living this Principle requires that we approach people and all of creation with reverence.

Communion is the coming together of all things in mutual interdependence. Nothing attains its full potential without this interconnectedness. All creatures including human beings belong to the same genetic source, to the same Tree of Life. We share this Planet with millions of other creatures. We are made of the same stardust. Living this Principle requires that we walk humbly and gently on the Earth.

“Jesus of Nazareth offers us extraordinary insights into the nature and presence of the transcendent reality we Christians name as God. He offers life-giving insights about the manner of our relationship with God, with all of creation, and with each other. All of this must have significant impact on the way Christians try to influence society and decisions that affect the well-being of life on this planet. We who profess to be thoroughly Christian would do well to listen to and promote Jesus' message of salvation in ways that link it primarily with this world, not the world to come. Jesus could then be linked with a spirituality that affirms the incarnation of God's wisdom, love, and spirit in all of creation and in each of us.”
Michael Morwood


Brú na Cruinne comes into existence at a time when the life-systems of the Planet are endangered. Devastation is being brought about by an industrial mindset that sees Earth as devoid of spiritual meaning or divine presence. This brings a corresponding diminishment of soul, harming both our outer world and inner spirit. As the colour drains from the rainbow of life's extravagant diversity, our ears may strain to hear the Creator's song. It is in response to the magnitude of this crisis that Brú na Cruinne comes into existence.