Read “The Integrity of Creation and the Athabasca Oil Sands” 2009, by Luc Bouchard, Bishop of St. Paul in Alberta
Wisconsin Catholic Conference (USA)
Wisconsin is losing family farms at a rate of three or more a day. With the closing of each farm a building block of local civic life is removed, the rural economy is threatened, and farmland is placed in jeopardy of being converted to an alternate use…
Our faith tradition tells us that the economy is not a distant force, it is a creation of people and it should function to serve people, not the other way around. In agriculture, the concentration of land ownership and the unrelenting focus on the bottom line compromise the health and welfare of individuals and the community and environment in which they live.
Wisconsin’s Catholic bishops urge Catholics and others to evaluate agricultural policies in light of the following principles:
•Human dignity and the fundamental right to food. The economy is for the person, not the other way around. Food is fundamental to life and therefore government should hold those engaged in the production, processing and distribution of food accountable for meeting the needs of current and future generations.
•Just compensation. Farmers should receive a just compensation for their labor and government structures should insure that monopolistic practices do not threaten to shut out small-scale producers.
•Stewardship of creation. Farmers are entrusted with the earth’s bounty to provide for current and future generations. This requires that we consider not only economic gain, but also the environmental cost. Life is not a commodity. Our care for nature and for God’s creatures reflects our care for one another.
•Subsidiarity. Centralized ownership and centralized decision-making can undermine democratic participation. Ownership of the means of production, the land and the animals, should be broadly distributed to achieve social goods. Local owners are invested not only in the future of their property but in the health and future of their local community.
+ A Catholic Perspective on Agriculture. March 2001
Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi
If God disappears from the public square, our capacity to recognize the natural order, purpose, and the “good” begins to disappear.
+ September 2008 at a conference in Assisi
Ten Guiding Principles of the Environment
Presented by Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, at a congress on the theme “Ethics and the Environment” at the European University of Rome in 2005. These ten principles of environmental ethics are drawn from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. The Bishop was clear that these principles are not to be interpreted as replacing the Ten Commandments God gave to Moses.
1) The Bible lays out the fundamental moral principles of how to affront the ecological question. The human person, made in God’s image, is superior to all other earthly creatures, which must be used and cared for in a responsible way. Christ’s incarnation and his teachings testify to the value of nature: Nothing that exists in this world is outside the divine plan of creation and redemption.
2) The social teaching of the Church recalls two fundamental points. We should not reduce nature to a mere instrument to be manipulated and exploited. Nor should we make nature an absolute value, or put it above the dignity of the human person.
3) The question of the environment entails the whole planet, as it is a collective good. Our responsibility toward ecology extends to future generations.
4) It is necessary to confirm both the primacy of ethics and the rights of man over technology, thus preserving human dignity. The central point of reference for all scientific and technical applications must be respect for the human person, who in turn should treat the other created beings with respect.
5) Nature must not be regarded as a reality that is divine in itself; therefore, it is not removed from human action. It is, rather, a gift offered by our Creator to the human community, confided to human intelligence and moral responsibility. It follows, then, that it is not illicit to modify the ecosystem, so long as this is done within the context of a respect for its order and beauty, and taking into consideration the utility of every creature.
6) Ecological questions highlight the need to achieve a greater harmony both between measures designed to foment economic development and those directed to preserving the ecology, and between national and international policies. Economic development, moreover, needs to take into consideration the integrity and rhythm of nature, because natural resources are limited. And all economic activity that uses natural resources should also include the costs of safeguarding the environment into the calculations of the overall costs of its activity.
7) Concern for the environment means that we should actively work for the integral development of the poorest regions. The goods of this world have been created by God to be wisely used by all. These goods should be shared, in a just and charitable manner. The principle of the universal destiny of goods offers a fundamental orientation to deal with the complex relationship between ecology and poverty.
8) Collaboration, by means of worldwide agreements, backed up by international law, is necessary to protect the environment. Responsibility toward the environment needs to be implemented in an adequate way at the juridical level. These laws and agreements should be guided by the demands of the common good.
9) Lifestyles should be oriented according to the principles of sobriety, temperance and self-discipline, both at the personal and social levels. People need to escape from the consumer mentality and promote methods of production that respect the created order, as well as satisfying the basic needs of all. This change of lifestyle would be helped by a greater awareness of the interdependence between all the inhabitants of the earth.
10) A spiritual response must be given to environmental questions, inspired by the conviction that creation is a gift that God has placed in the hands of mankind, to be used responsibly and with loving care. People’s fundamental orientation toward the created world should be one of gratitude and thankfulness. The world, in fact, leads people back to the mystery of God who has created it and continues to sustain it. If God is forgotten, nature is emptied of its deepest meaning and left impoverished.
If, instead, nature is rediscovered in its role as something created, mankind can establish with it a relationship that takes into account its symbolic and mystical dimensions. This would open for mankind a path toward God, creator of the heavens and the earth.
Archbishop J. Francis Stafford
Without God, there can be no plan to creation. All is either by chance or necessity. For the Christian, all created beings have meaning; they are part of a grand symphony giving glory to the one triune God who out of love freely creates the world. But once God is excised, the symphony becomes discordant. The harmony unravels. The center does not hold.
+ Address to the International Congress on the Family in Lima, Peru, August 1994.
Archbishop Diarmuid Martin
I think that we must help to recover the harmony between humanity and the universe that God willed to give, at the moment of creation.
What is important is to favor ecological education, because we live in this world that God has given us and that, at times, has been destroyed by avarice and people’s sin.
I believe that, in face of the process of economic globalization, many people are asking themselves the question again about the idea of the common good, beginning with the fact of the real interdependence that exists in the world today. For example, what changes the climate in an area of the earth, through contamination – suffice it to think of Chernobyl – also has effects throughout the world. What happens to the economy in one part of the world, has an effect in other areas of the planet in questions like employment, and social and economic stability. Interdependence is a reality. A solidarity that corresponds to it must be constructed.”
+ Vatican Radio Interview, June 21, 2001.
Growth is important, but it must go hand in hand with justice, safeguarding of the environment, stability, and human and social benefits. The “global good” must be taken into account, that is, protection of workers and their families, social cohesion, and respect for the environment.
The Jubilee of the World of Agriculture calls us to re-consider the relationship between humanity and creation. We need a model of development based on solidarity. If it creates new exclusions, if it is based on economic exploitation, which uses the goods of the earth only for profit, it is not in keeping with God’s plan, which is a model of harmony and unity, because God created the universe for the good of all.
+ As Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, November 17, 2000
Three fundamental principles of sustainable development
Sustainable development, in fact, requires policies which aim at establishing an effective combination of three fundamental principles:
1.the unique dignity and the inalienable rights of every human person,
2.the unity of humankind, constituted as a single family, within which all of us share in responsibility and solidarity for others,
3.the unity of all creation, which serves the needs of humankind, but which can never be considered just as the personal property of some, but is rather entrusted in stewardship to humankind for the good of its present and future generations.
The challenge is to ensure the full advancement of all three principles. The fight for human rights, the quest for solidarity and development and our efforts to protect the integrity of creation must go hand in hand. We must forge a broad concept of sustainable development, understood as a charter for holistic, comprehensive human development which fosters at the same time a qualitative interaction between the fundamental needs of persons, the human family and the environment.
Sustainable development can be a path to foster harmony among human beings and between human beings and creation, a path to true peace.
+ L’Osservatore Romano, pp. 3 and 4, Vatican, October 17, 2001
Archbishop Renato Martino
VATICAN (CWN) – Speaking to a United Nations meeting on the environment and development, Archbishop Renato Martin – the Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN – argued that it is essential to protect the world’s air, water, and soil. He said that the Vatican approach to the question of development was governed by three basic principles, of which the first and foremost is respect for the central dignity of the human person.
The second basic principle, Archbishop Martino continued, is the common heritage of the world’s resources. Citing the teaching of Vatican II (in Gaudium et Spes) and Pope John Paul II, he pointed out that the fruits of God’s creation are intended to be used by all men in common. And the third principle is that all human persons have the right to pursue their own economic development.
From these basic principles, Martino continued, several ethical generalizations may be drawn. Developing countries should have the right to participate in the global economy; women should have the opportunity to share in the progress of their societies; access to information and technology should be widely shared; the policies of nations should be designed with an eye to the welfare of young people and future generations.
+ October 25, 1996
Perhaps We Need “A Third Revolution”
At the end of the last century, mankind looked back at its achievements of the last one hundred years and felt justifiably proud. It had unlocked the secrets of the atom and had split the nucleus to unleash its energy, it had discovered that the universe is expanding, that life’s architecture is based on a beautifully simple double helix of DNA and it had traveled to the moon not to conquer but to learn. We are entitled to a moment of reflection on God’s gift of the human intellect.
However, then came the realization that the same mankind that had understood the forces of nature had left out one of them: mankind itself had become a force of nature, so powerful as to be potentially capable of changing our world for centuries to come.
This force has brought about the greenhouse effect and the scientific community at large is now in broad agreement as to the implications of this man-enhanced phenomenon. Indeed, “there is a new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the last fifty years is attributed to human activities” and that coming changes will affects all aspects of the environment and societal well-being, especially for the poor, the vulnerable and the generations yet unborn. (IPCC; “Climate Change 2001, The Scientific Basis”, 2001)
The history of humanity has been punctuated by various sorts of revolutions. The first revolution occurred thousands of years ago, at the end of the last ice age, when mankind used “knowledge” to sow seeds and found a more stable and predictable source of food. The second revolution began almost three hundred years ago with the industrial revolution when “knowledge” was used to obtain energy, no longer from animals or the wind but from coal and steam. That engineering feat unleashed the build-up of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. More than one hundred years ago, the Swedish chemist S. Arrhenius warned that a doubling of carbon dioxide gas may have dire consequences for humankind and now that phenomenon has been recognized in its full dimension.
Nature required one million years to produce the amount of fossil fuel that humanity burns in only one year. The activities of twenty-five percent of the world’s population are responsible for almost seventy-five percent of the global emission of greenhouse gases.
Global warming [a.k.a. climate change], as it is popularly called, is global in scale. It recognizes no boundaries, no nationalities, no cultural divides. It is the great equalizer with unpleasant consequences.
Responses to such a phenomenon should reflect our interdependence and common responsibility for the present and the future of our planet, taking into account the important role that the virtue of prudence could play in addressing climate change. Prudence is intelligence applied to our actions through knowledge and wisdom and it is not merely a careful and safe approach to decisions, but rather a thoughtful and reasoned basis for taking or eluding action to attain a moral good and promote the achievement of common good (United States Catholic Bishops: Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good, June 2001).
Perhaps we need a “third revolution” in which we use our knowledge once again. Knowledge is a public good, one we can share with others without losing it. Knowledge will help us move from a model that is resource intensive to one that is knowledge intensive. Knowledge is an unlimited natural resource.
Instead of burning coal and wood, we must begin to burn knowledge so that finally the people of the world will count for more than they produce, that the human person will truly be the center of our concerns for sustainable development. We should not become a civilization that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
After his Angelus Message, on the eve of the Rio Conference on Environment and Development, Pope John Paul II shared thoughts that are as relevant even today and appropriate as we prepare for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, to be held in Johannesburg in September, 2002.
“This important meeting – he said – sets out to examine in depth the relationship between protection of the environment and the development of peoples. These are problems which have, at their roots, a profound ethical dimension, and which involve, therefore, the human person, the center of creation, with those rights of freedom which derive from his dignity of being made in the image of God and with the duties which every person has towards the future generations.”
“I invite all to pray – he continued – with me that the high representatives of the various nations of the world…will be farseeing in their deliberations and will know how to orientate humanity along the path of solidarity with humankind and of responsibility in the common commitment to the protection of the earth which God has given us” (Pope John Paul II, Message before the Angelus, St. Peter’s Square, 31 May 1992).
Knowledge is the only true inexhaustible resource that assures a sustainable environment and development and…only knowledge, together with an ethical sense of our relationship with the environment, can help to guide our efforts today and for future generations.
+ Environment and sustainable development: Protecting of global climate for present and future generations of mankind, November 28, 2001
For environment … read Creation. The mastery of man over Creation must not be despotic or senseless. Man must cultivate and safeguard God’s Creation.
+ Quoted in The Guardian, Friday 27 April 2007.
Bolivian Bishops’ Conference
“Technical and economic progress has given many positive things to the Latin American people. Unfortunately it has still to reach most of the Latin American families, which still live in poverty… With progress also comes a culture of consumerism which creates false needs and expectations,” with the consequence of “making people prone to do almost anything to get material goods, leaving aside any ethical aspect.”
+ CWN, September 19, 1997
Catholic Bishops of the Philippines
We…know that the Earth will not be mocked. Even now nature is lashing back at us and taking its revenge. Though we try to squeeze more and more from our lands, they produce less food. The air in our cities is heavy with noxious fumes. Instead of bringing energy and life it caused bronchial illness. Our forests are almost gone, our rivers are almost empty, our springs and wells no longer sparkle with living water… Our lakes and estuaries are silting up. An out-of-sight, out-of-mind mentality flushes toxic waste and mine tailing into our rivers and seas in the mistaken belief that they can no longer harm us. Because the living world is interconnected, the poison is absorbed by marine organisms. We in turn are being gradually poisoned when we eat seafood.
We Filipino have a deep devotion to Mary. We turn to her for help and protection in time of need. We know that she is on the side of the poor and those who are rejected (Lk 1:52). Our new sensitivity to what is happening to our land also tells us that she is on the side of life. As a mother she is pained and saddened when she sees people destroy the integrity of creation through soil erosion, blast-fishing or poisoning land. Many know what the consequences of this destruction are. Therefore, as Mother of Life, she challenges us to abandon the pathway of death and return to the way of life.
Hildebert of Lavardin, Archbishop of Tours (1056-1133)
God is over all things, under all things, outside all things, within, but not enclosed, without, but not excluded…wholly without, embracing, wholly within, filling.
+ Quoted in We are Home: A Spirituality of the Environment, by Shannon Jung. 1993. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press
Catholic Bishops of the Appalachian Region (USA)
There is a saying in the region that “coal is king”. That’s not exactly right. The kings are those who control big coal, and the profits and power that come with it. Many of these kings don’t live in the region. The way of life which these corporate giants create is called by some “technological rationalization.” Its forces contain the promise of a better world, but too often its forces become perverted, hostile to the dignity of the earth and its people. Its destructive growth patterns pollute the air, foul the water, rape the land. The driving force behind this perversion is “maximization of profit”, a principle which too often converts itself into an idolatrous power. This power overwhelms the good intentions of good people. It forces them to compete brutally with one another. It pushes people into conspicuous consumptions and planned obsolescence. It delivers up control to a tiny minority, whose values then shape our social structures.
Bishop John Jukes, OFM Conv.
The ecological question, to which Christians and others have responded by proclaiming that mankind is simply a steward of this world, can be met only by including the vision of co-creator… Mankind is not established by God in this world to simply tend it, seeking to return to and preserve an original state of innocence and good order. The title of co-creator, which is part of the Christian vision of our relationship with God indicates a dynamic reality. God in his mercy and love for mankind has commissioned us to employ our intellects and wills in using and shaping this earth for the common utility and advance of the race. In so doing mankind offers testimony and praise to God especially by the service of fellow human beings. As Pope John Paul insists over and over again it is man who is the measure of creation. It is the service of man by man which is the guiding principle of the decisions and initiatives that are taken in the use of this world. Care must be taken to preserve and promote the moral and spiritual heritage of the human race. So it is from the basis of truth about the nature of man, his destiny with God, his dignity and purpose in this creation, which are the points of reference for decisions and enterprises which use and shape this creation.
The mortgaging or putting at risk of future generations of human beings is clearly contrary to the divine purpose of establishing mankind in this creation as co-creator. That risk extends not only to a matter of simple existence on this planet but also any risk which would tend to diminish the human spirit of being servant of the most high God especially through service of each other. Thus we see how a spirit of consumerism which is the simple unthought-out response to any human desire, especially for some passing profit, does not accord with the reality of being a co-creator. Similarly the employment of our powers of use and manipulation of material things to gain power over other human beings or to encourage immoral interventions especially in the destruction of human life, is an abnegation or misuse of the power given us by God.
The growth of a spirituality of work in the context of the rapid and vast expansion of human control over the forces of the natural world given us by God, is a matter which calls for a serious response from those who exercise leadership in Christian communities.
+ February 5, 2001, Whitehall College, Bishop’s Stortford
National Conference of Catholic Bishops (USA)
…our cooperation as stewards with God’s work of creation in general takes several forms… One of these is a profound reverence for the great gift of life, for our own lives and the lives of others, along with a readiness to spend ourselves serving all that preserves and enhances life. This reverence and readiness begin with opening one’s eyes to how precious the gift really is.
Australian Bishops’ Committee for Justice, Development, and Peace
We believe that, however the universe came into being, however the human race began, God is the Creator of the universe and of the human race. In this belief we find the origins of our conviction that, as Christians, we have an ethical duty to respect the gifts of creation, to give thanks for them, and to use them in accord with the will of God, as best we can interpret.
The Church in the Dominican Republic
The nation cannot continue neglecting to preserve and improve the environment in which we live. No ecological imbalance continues without redress. Human sins against nature redound always to the detriment of humankind itself.It is not right that those who have greater resources, whether countries, cities, groups, or individuals, should lean toward excessive consumption which, in addition to being a provocative insult to the poor, is an evil misappropriation of natural resources necessary for the have-nots of the world.
The Church in Brazil
Creation is the dwelling of the life-giving Spirit of God, just as the Word dwells in the humanity of Jesus.
Consejo Episcopal LatinoAmericano
Once again we affirm that the consumptionist tendencies of the more developed nations must undergo a thorough revision. They must take into account the elementary needs of the poor peoples who constitute the majority of the world’s population.
Council of European Bishop’s Conferences
The urgent need for reconciliation – between industrialized and developing countries, between rich and poor within each country, and also between humankind and God’s creation as a whole impels the churches to encourage Christians to rethink their very way of life.
German Bishops’ Conference
A key concern of the German Bishops is the rate of technological growth and the still too “prevalent view that man can exploit nature without restraint and all things technically feasible should be put into practice.”
Polish Bishops
All man’s activity, as the activity of a responsible agent, has a moral dimension. Destruction of the environment harms the good of creation given to man by God the Creator as something indispensable for his life and his development. We have a duty to make good use of this gift in a spirit of gratitude and respect. The realization that this gift is destined for all men, that it is a common good, also gives rise to a corresponding duty with regard to others. We therefore need to realize that every action which ignores God’s rights over his world, as well as the rights of man bestowed upon him by the Creator, is in conflict with the commandment of love… We need to realize therefore that there can be a grave sin against the natural environment, one which weighs on our consciences, and which calls for grave responsibility towards God the Creator (2 May 1989).
Bishops of Alberta, Canada
• Genesis contains a clear and repeated message that creation, sun and stars, land and seas, animals and plants, is good in God’s eyes. All creation is called to give praise to God (Daniel 3:35-68). Humans, very much part of God’s creation, are created male and female in the image and likeness of God and have a special role and responsibility within creation. Humans are called to exercise dominion over the earth, a dominion of service, wisdom and love. Another Genesis passage describes the task of women and men to be one of “cultivating and caring for creation” (Genesis 2:15).
• Part of human sin has been to see ourselves as separate from the rest of creation, seeing the natural world only as a source of profit and personal gain. To overcome this sin, we need to affirm our place within the dynamic web of creation which supports and sustains all life.
• We can learn much from the spiritual tradition of our aboriginal brothers and sisters who celebrate our kinship with the rest of creation and seek to strengthen the sacred circle of all creation.
• Catholics see creation in a “sacramental” way. The abundance and beauty of God’s creation reveals to us something of the generosity of the Creator. God is present and speaks in the dynamic life forces of our universe and planet as well as in our own lives. Respect for life needs to include all creation.
• Catholic spirituality and sacramental practice are rooted in the belief that basic materials such as water, grain made into bread and grapes made into wine can communicate and convey God’s saving action into our midst.
• Ecological destruction and the loss of biodiversity obscure our ability to see and experience God and are an affront to the Creator. The fate of the natural world and human life are fully intertwined. Ecological destruction harms human life, and human social injustice inevitably has ecological consequences.
• As we look around us and read the “signs of the times”, we face a challenging time of crisis and opportunity. This is a time to make important decisions. In religious terms, this time is a call to conversion.
+ Celebrate Life: Care for Creation, 1998
Catholic Bishops of the Midwest (USA)
The way in which we relate to the land will affect the extent to which the land will continue to provide our sustenance and livelihood.+ Strangers and Guests
Catholic Bishops of the Columbia River Watershed (USA)
Respect for life needs to include all creation. This sacramental commons (earth) is not for humans alone. It is intended by God to provide for all of God’s creatures as they live in ecological relationship.
+ Pastoral Letter on the Columbia River – Draft, May 1999
• As persons created in the image of God and as stewards of creation (Genesis 1-2), we are challenged to both use and respect created things.
• There are many signs of the presence of God in this book of nature, signs that complement the understandings of God revealed in the pages of the Bible, both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures.
• We hold this land in trust for our present use, for future generations, and ultimately for God, from whom all good things come.
• One of the key concepts that applies to our entire discussion is simple respect. Industry must respect people and nature and take particular care to be cognizant of its impact on the common good. People must exercise a basic respect for one another, for God, for other creatures and for the environment. Individuals also need to respect the rights of others, including those engaged in agriculture, mining, forestry, and the like.
• We must become increasingly aware of the needs of people, our neighbors; of the sanctity of life, from conception to natural death; and of the integrated ecosystem whose benefits and complexities we share.
• We are called to relate to people as neighbors and to our shared place as our common home. We recognize our responsibility for this place, a sign of God’s creative power that is blessed by God’s presence.
• God, who alone can create, invites people to participate in divine creativity. Thus, humans have a unique role. In the physical universe, they alone are consciously able to be caretakers of creation. In the physical order, only humans, with the abilities granted to them, can understand creatures soaring in the heights or swimming in the depths, and can come to know the laws of biology, chemistry, and physics that influence creation. They are called to use these understandings to describe, celebrate, develop, and care for creation. They are created in the image and likeness of God and are commissioned as stewards of God’s created and beautiful universe.
• Stewardship is the traditional Christian expression of the role of people in relation to creation. Stewards, as caretakers for the things of God, are called to use wisely and distribute justly the goods of God’s earth to meet the needs of God’s children. They are to care for the earth as their home and as a beautiful revelation of the creativity, goodness, and love of God. Creation is a “book of nature” in whose living pages people can see signs of the Spirit of God present in the universe, yet separate from it.
• Creation provides the opportunity for spiritual contemplation because it is from God and reveals God.
• In the created universe we may perceive the brush strokes of a loving God. •Each portion of creation can be sign and revelation for the person of faith, a moment of grace revealing God’s presence to us.
• As the whole universe can be a source of blessing or revelation of God, so also the commons of a local place can be revelatory.
• The startling beauty of a snow-capped mountain or a colorful sunset, a river valley or a starlit night, the sight of a well-kept farm integrated with its surroundings or the free flight of a bird – all point beyond themselves to the Creator of the universe.
• As people have become more absorbed by material things and less conscious of spiritual and social relationships, consumerism has replaced compassion, and exploitation of the earth has replaced stewardship. There is a need for a spiritual conversion to a better and deeper sense of stewardship for God’s creation and responsibility for our communities.
• Those involved in the debate and decisions must consider scientific studies, community needs, and ecological impacts in making decisions which are ultimately political but which must stem from a spiritual and ethical base.
• The poor suffer more than other segments of the population from job loss, low wages, poor working conditions, and environmental degradation. The Church, in the spirit of Christ, exercises a preferential, but not exclusive, option for the poor; that is, we are called as a people to help them acquire justice, respect, and an inherent sense of dignity, and to participate in transforming economic and political structures to create a just society and a sustainable environment.
• The reign of God proclaimed by Jesus is present and yet to come. Signs of its presence are evident in people’s efforts to restore God’s creation and live in harmony with the earth and all creatures, and in struggles to promote justice in human communities.
• Lord, send out your Spirit and renew the minds and hearts of the people of the region so that, being renewed, they may cooperate with your Spirit and together renew the face of the earth.
World Synod of Bishops
Despite an increasing sensitivity to ecology, even the earth is suffering–perhaps as never before in human history – from climatic changes in the ecosystem, thus raising questions about the future of our planet. The degradation of the environment is a worrying concern. The Church takes it upon herself to give voice to the true aspirations of humanity in favor of an ecological balance which does not put at risk our earth and the whole creation made by the Creator’s hands and given to humanity as the abode of beauty and balance, a gift and basic resource of all human existence.
+ SYNOD OF BISHOPS, X ORDINARY GENERAL ASSEMBLY, THE BISHOP: SERVANT OF THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST FOR THE HOPE OF THE WORLD INTRUMENTUM LABORIS 2001 © The General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Although in general it is difficult to draw a line between what is needed for right use and what is demanded by prophetic witness, we must certainly keep firmly to this principle: our faith demands of us a certain sparingness in use, and the Church is obliged to live and administer its own goods in such a way that the Gospel is proclaimed to the poor. If instead the Church appears to be among the rich and the powerful of this world its credibility is diminished…
Such is the demand for resources and energy by the richer nations, whether capitalist or socialist, and such are the effects of dumping by them in the atmosphere and the sea that irreparable damage would be done to the essential elements of life on earth, such as air and water, if their high rates of consumption and pollution, which are constantly on the increase, were extended to the whole of humanity…
It is impossible to see what right the richer nations have to keep up their claim to increase their own material demands, if the consequence is either that others remain in misery or that the danger of destroying the very physical foundations of life on earth is precipitated. Those who are already rich are bound to accept a less material way of life, with less waste, in order to avoid the destruction of the heritage which they are obliged by absolute justice to share with all other members of the human race…
The entire creation has been groaning till now in an act of giving birth, as it waits for the glory of the children of God to be revealed (cf. Let Christians therefore be convinced that they will yet find the fruits of their own nature and effort cleansed of all impurities in the new earth which God is now preparing for them, and in which there will be the kingdom of justice and love, a kingdom which will be fully perfected when the Lord will come himself.
Hope in the coming kingdom is already beginning to take root in the hearts of people. The radical transformation of the world in the Paschal Mystery of the Lord gives full meaning to the efforts of people, and in particular of the young, to lessen injustice, violence and hatred and to advance all together in justice, freedom, kinship and love.
At the same time as it proclaims the Gospel of the Lord, its Redeemer and Savior, the Church calls on all, especially the poor, the oppressed and the afflicted, to cooperate with God to bring about liberation from every sin and to build a world which will reach the fullness of creation only when it becomes the work of people for people.
+ Justice in the World, 1971.
Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran
Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, has asked the members of the United Nations to remember that “the cause of the environment is the cause of man.
“The archbishop pointed out that 50 million people in the world are now homeless because of degraded environmental conditions in their homelands. These people must be a top priority in any effort to remedy environmental problems, he said. “Environmental questions cannot be reduced to technical issues,” he reasoned; “they must be considered from a human perspective.
“Environmental questions also have a spiritual dimension, Archbishop Tauran said, insofar as man is the steward of God’s creation. He said that to put the agreements of the Rio conference into place, world leaders would need to educate the population. This emphasis on education – a regular feature of Vatican interventions in the work of the United Nations – is required because, the archbishop said, “the atmosphere created by teaching and witness can form in young people a respect for nature, for economy in the use of resources, and for taking their part in protecting the gifts that are our resources.” (1997)
Archbishop Francisco Javier Errazuriz of Santiago
When asked about the ecology theme, the Archbishop praised the advance Chile has made in this aspect. But he also noted the error of many ecologists that “don’t reflect about what nature means as creation, and respect the lives of all species but that of human beings. That is being incoherent with themselves.”
+ Church News, 1999
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales
Christians believe that God is the creator of all things, visible and invisible. Every corner of creation is sustained by God’s creative will; the laws of nature, including the laws of human nature, are laws made by God. There is no part of creation, therefore, that cannot be examined with the eye of faith, the better to understand its relation to the rest and its ultimate purposes.
The Church recognizes that care for the environment is part of care for the common good – the environment is one of the ‘common goods’ which are the shared responsibility of the human race. We have to reject some of the easy assumptions of an earlier stage of industrialization, such as that the human race, because God had given it dominion over the world, had an unlimited freedom to despoil the natural environment for its own purposes. Those who feel moved to a loving care for the internal balances of nature are responding to a deep religious instinct implanted within them by God. Their intuition tells them that the human race takes its place on this planet as a gift and privilege, and needs to cultivate what the new Catechism of the Catholic Church calls a “religious respect for the integrity of creation” (paragraph 2415).
Our environmental “common goods” are not only available for careful use and enjoyment today, but are held in trust for the use and enjoyment of future generations. Public authorities must never treat them as having no intrinsic worth, nor commercial concerns see them merely as sources of profit or loss. Regarded in those terms, the environment is a great repository of natural wealth, belonging to all humanity, present and future, freely and equally. Because of this environmental mortgage that the future holds over the present, none of this natural wealth can be owned outright, as if nobody but the owner had any say in its disposal. Each generation takes the natural environment on loan, and must return it after use in as good or better condition as when it was first borrowed.
In recent years one of the prime duties of public authorities has become the careful conservation of this environmental dimension of the ‘common good’. Damage to the environment is no respecter of frontiers, and damage done by one generation has the capacity to damage future generations.
+ The Common Good and the Catholic Church’s Social Teaching, 1996
Catholic Bishops of Northern Mexico
We must rethink our attitudes toward the forests… Greed has been pushing forest exploitation… Social and environmental costs include the drying of the springs, expanding desertification, forcing village people to emigrate to the cities or the U. S., increasing summer temperatures, and forcing water rationing in cities. The village life which the forest used to nourish has been virtually destroyed… Lumber companies with no vision of the future have been insensitive to the needs of the people. They have placed economic incentives before all else, and have created a ‘circle of corruption’ which filters into all parts of rural life. If we do not stop the devastating logic of this vicious circle, it will drag us to our deaths…
The protection of the forests requires urgent measures… The forest is not mere food for industry… The forest is a giver of life for its inhabitants. For these reasons we appeal to the conscience of everyone and urge all Christians to take responsibility for preserving the life on this planet that God has entrusted to our care. All of this makes it our obligation to…denounce the ecological devastation we are witnessing…
+ April 2000 Pastoral Letter
Most Rev. James T. McHugh, Bishop of Camden
…protecting the environment protects the common good of humanity – now and for untold centuries to come. And the common good supersedes individual comfort and convenience, for when the common good is ignored or denied, the good of the individual is likewise endangered… God entrusted all creation to the man and woman. We inherit the goods of creation and the responsibility of stewardship. We must pass on all that is good to generations to come.
Bishop Stephen Fumio Hamao (Japan)
Work for peace will be effective if all men become aware of their deep connection with nature, especially with all living beings. Man must not only dominate nature, but also seek harmony with it and admire in it the beauty, wisdom, and love of the Creator. Thus men will be freed of their frenzy for possessions and domination and will become artisans for peace.+ L’Osservatore Romano, October 10, 1983
Catholic Bishops of Appalachia (USA)
The sustainable and hopeful path sees Appalachia as a community of life, in which people and land are woven together as part of Earth’s vibrant creativity, in turn revealing God’s own creativity.
In the vision of this path,
• the mountain forests are sacred cathedrals, the holy dwelling of abundant life-forms which all need each other, including us humans, with all revealing God’s awesome majesty and tender embrace;
• empty mines are sacred wombs of Earth, opening pathways to underground rivers and to life-giving aquifers, in turn running beneath many states, and needing to be kept pure and clean as God’s holy waters;
• and the people are God’s co-creators, called to form sustainable communities, and to develop sustainable livelihoods, all in sacred creative communion with land and forest and water and air, indeed with all Earth’s holy creatures.
It is this alternative path, we believe, which John Paul II described as the true path of the future, and rightly called “a culture of life”.
As we seek the path of sustainable community based on the oneness of land and people, it is helpful to remember that all creation is itself creative, for it reveals the creative word of God. It is not itself the incarnate word like Jesus, and it is not itself God. But all creation is nonetheless a revelation of God to us. Thus the Bible declares:
The heavens proclaim your wonders, O Lord, and your faithfulness, in the assembly of the holy ones… Yours are the heavens, and yours is the earth: the world and its fullness you have founded… Justice and judgement are the foundation of your throne; kindness and truth go before you (Psalm 89: 6, 12, 15).
As Chapter 1 of Genesis tells us, God “said” that the water and the land, and the plants and the animals, and finally we humans, should all appear, and so we did.Thus the water and the land, and the plants and the animals, and we humans too, are all expressions and revelations of God’s word of creation.
All creation, including ourselves, truly speaks the beauty and goodness of God. All creation truly shows the loving face of the Creator. Further, within this creation, we humans, both women and men, are a special revelation, for we are created in God’s own image.
To be created in God’s own image means that we are called to care in love for our precious Earth, as if Earth were God’s own garden, just as God cares in love for all creation. In seeking a culture of life rather than death, let us take a moment to reflect more on God’s revelation in creation. Let us reflect on the story of Appalachia, of its mountains and forests in relation to our own human presence.
+ At Home in the Web of Life: A Pastoral Message on Sustainable Communities in Appalachia
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops
What is to be said about ecological destruction? The unbridled search for quick industrial gain is devastating natural resources which should be for the common good of all humanity. The many recent examples of environmental devastation make it impossible for government leaders to ignore their responsibility in safeguarding our common heritage. Corporations cannot be allowed to make the financial bottom line their excuse for overlooking the negative deficits they are creating with respect to land, water, subsoil, air and other resources that are essential to all humanity and for each person and community. To the participants of the Summit of the Americas we address the same challenge as conveyed in the recent message on the common good to the members of the Parliament of Canada: “Since current production and consumption are so highly concentrated among the wealthy, the present model of development not only excludes the majority of this and future generations, but is exploitative and destructive of many forms of life on earth. The principle of the common good must today be enlarged not only to accept the stewardship of the earth, but to include all forms of creation.”
+ Permanent Council, April 4, 2001
STATEMENT BY CARD. PIETRO PAROLIN, SECRETARY OF STATE DURING THE UN SUMMIT ON CLIMATE, New York, Tuesday, 23 September 2014
Mr. Secretary General,
I am pleased to convey the cordial greetings of His Holiness Pope Francis to all those here present for this important Summit, which has gathered together high governmental and civil officials, as well as leaders from the private sector and civil society, in order to identify significant initiatives that will address the concerning phenomenon of climate change. It is well known that climate change raises not only scientific, environmental and socio-economic considerations, but also and above all ethical and moral ones, because it affects everyone, in particular the poorest among us, those who are most exposed to its effects.
For this reason, the Holy See has often stressed that there is a moral imperative to act, for we all bear the responsibility to protect and to value creation for the good of this and future generations. Pope Francis, from the beginning of his Pontificate, has underlined the importance of “protecting our environment, which all too often, instead of using for the good, we exploit greedily, to one another’s detriment” (Address to the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, 22 March 2013).
The scientific consensus is rather consistent and it is that, since the second half of the last century, warming of the climate system is unequivocal. It is a very serious problem which, as I said, has grave consequences for the most vulnerable sectors of society and, clearly, for future generations.
Numerous scientific studies, moreover, have emphasized that human inaction in the face of such a problem carries great risks and socio-economic costs. This is due to the fact that its principal cause seems to be the increase of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere due to human activity. Faced with these risks and costs, prudence must prevail, which requires thoughtful deliberations based on an accurate analysis of the impact our actions will have on the future. This requires a great political and economic commitment on the part of the international community, to which the Holy See wishes to make its own contribution, being aware that “the gift of knowledge helps us not to fall into attitudes of excess or error. The first lies in the risk of considering ourselves the masters of creation. Creation is not some possession that we can lord over for own pleasure; nor, even less, is it the property of only some people, the few: creation is a gift, it is the marvelous gift that God has given us, so that we will take care of it and harness it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude” (Pope Francis, General Audience, 21 May 2014).
Mr. Secretary General,
The long debate on climate change, which gave rise in 1992 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and its subsequent implementation, shows how complex this issue is. Since then until our own day, much has changed: the dynamics of international relations have given life to changing geopolitical contexts, while the scientific and informational technologies have become extremely refined.
A principle element which has emerged from the more than thirty years of study on the phenomenon of global warming is the increasing awareness that the entire international community is part of one interdependent human family. The decisions and behaviours of one of the members of this family have profound consequences for the others; there are no political frontiers, barriers or walls behind which we can hide to protect one member from another against the effects of global warming. There is no room for the globalization of indifference, the economy of exclusion or the throwaway culture so often denounced by Pope Francis (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 52, 53, 59).
In the actions undertaken to counter global warming we have too often seen the predominance of special interests or so-called “free-riders” over the common good; we have too often noted a certain suspicion or lack of trust on the part of States, as well as on the part of other participants. However, if we really wish to be effective, we must implement a collective response based on a culture of solidarity, encounter and dialogue, which should be at the basis of normal interactions within every family and which requires the full, responsible and dedicated collaboration of all, according to their possibilities and circumstances.
In this regard, it seems opportune to recall a concept which was also developed within the forum of the United Nations, that is, the responsibility to protect. States have a common responsibility to protect the world climate by means of mitigation and adaptation measure, as well as by sharing technologies and “know-how”. But above all they have a shared responsibility to protect our planet and the human family, ensuring present and future generations have the possibility of living in a safe and worthy environment. The technological and operational bases needed to facilitate this mutual responsibility are already available or within our reach. We have the capacity to start and strengthen a true and beneficial process which will irrigate, as it were, through adaptation and mitigation activities, the field of economic and technological innovation where it is possible to cultivate two interconnected objectives: combating poverty and easing the effects of climate change.
Market forces alone, especially when deprived of a suitable ethical direction, however, cannot resolve the interdependent crisis concerning global warming, poverty and exclusion. The greatest challenge lies in the sphere of human values and human dignity; questions which regard the human dignity of individuals and of peoples are not able to be reduced to mere technical problems. In this sense, climate change becomes a question of justice, respect and equity, a question which must awaken our consciences.
Mr. Secretary General,
The ethical motivations behind every complex political decision must be clear. At present, this means consolidating a profound and far-sighted revision of models of development and lifestyles, in order to correct their numerous dysfunctions and deviations (cf. Benedict XVI, Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, 32). This is also needed due to the many crises which present society is living in economic, financial, social, cultural and ethical contexts.
Within this perspective, an authentic cultural shift is needed which reinforces our formative and educational efforts, above all in favour of the young, towards assuming a sense of responsibility for creation and integral human development of all people, present and future.
For its part, Vatican City State, though small, is undertaking significant efforts to reduce its consummation of fossil fuels, through diversification and energy efficiency projects. However, as the Holy See’s delegation at the COP-19 in Warsaw indicated, “talking about emission reductions is useless if we are not ready to change our lifestyle and the current dominant models of consumption and production”. The Holy See attaches great importance to the need to promote education in environmental responsibility, which also seeks to protect the moral conditions for an authentic human ecology. There are many Catholic educational institutions, as well as Bishops’ Conferences, dioceses, parishes and Catholic inspired NGOs committed to this work in the conviction that the deterioration of nature is directly linked to the culture which shapes human coexistence. Respect for environmental ecology is a condition of, and conditioned by, respect for human ecology in society.
Confronting seriously the problem of global warming requires not only strengthening, deepening and consolidating the political process on a global level, but also intensifying our commitment to a profound cultural renewal and a rediscovery of the fundamental values upon which a better future for the entire human family can be built. The Holy See commits itself to this end, so that, in this work, the international community may be guided by the ethical imperative to act, inspired by the principles of solidarity and the promotion of the common good, in the knowledge that “the dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies” (Evangelii Gaudium, 203).
Thank you.
The Cry of the Earth
Our home, planet earth, God’s creation, is an extraordinarily beautiful and fruitful place. It is appropriately called ‘the garden planet’ of the universe. We humans, with every other species, depend totally on the proper functioning of the planet for the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food that sustains us and the multiple other ways in which the earth supports us and every other creature. Though the earth appears very robust, we know that it can be quite fragile and that small changes, over time, can have enormous consequences for life…
The universal destination of goods requires a common effort to obtain for every person and for all peoples the conditions necessary for integral development, so that everyone can contribute to making a more humane and sustainable world.
+ The Cry of the Earth, A Call to Action for Climate Justice, A Pastoral Reflection on Climate Change by the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, 2014
“You Love All That Exists… All Things Are Yours, God, Lover of Life…”
The beauty and grandeur of nature touches each one of us. From panoramic vistas to the tiniest living form, nature is a constant source of wonder and awe. It is also a continuing revelation of the divine. Humans live within a vast community of life on earth. In the Jewish and Christian religious traditions, God is first described as the Creator who, as creation proceeded, “saw that it was good.” God’s love for all that exists was wondrously evident then, remains so now, and invites the active response of humankind.
+ A Pastoral Letter on the Christian Ecological Imperative from the Social Affairs Commission, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, October 4, 2003, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Reverence for Life
Both nature and humanity have been exquisitely created by God’s hands. Humans, animals and plants cooperate with each other and are linked to each other through a great interwoven ecosystem. It is a mysterious link. The present generation must not be allowed to use up the world’s resources and by its egoism and stupidity destroy living beings created by God. Human beings must take a new look at our relation to the environment and make a new start.
Each of us must correct our pride and comprehend the God-given balance of nature. We must recognize what it is that sustains us and know our limits. We need nature in order to live, to eat and to love…
God cares even for the flowers of the field, dressing each with beauty and loving it. To sense each creature singing the hymn of its existence is to live joyfully in God’s love and hope. When we become aware of the abundant richness of other creatures’ existence, our eyes are opened to an intuitive sense of God’s own existence. The human task is not to destroy the environment, but to cooperate with God in creating it. It is important that we continue to hope as we correct problems and engage in a calm dialogue in search of solutions.
+ Reverence for Life, A Message for the Twenty-First Century, from The Catholic Bishops Conference of Japan, January 1, 2001
We Stand in Wonder
Often we stand in wonder at the beauty and perfection of God’s creation, and marvel at the variety of forms in which life is expressed on earth. At the same time we become aware of how easily the delicate and complex system that allows life to continue can be damaged by irresponsible human intervention.
Scientists have been warning us for over thirty years of the rapid deterioration of the natural environment and of the impact this has on every living being. Our country is affected by the global environmental crisis. We now face the consequences of the economic development of the past which revolved around the exploitation of South African mineral and natural resources, with minimum concern for the environment. Environment is not only about landscapes and the survival of endangered animals, but it is also about the life of the people, the conditions in which women and men are living, working and recreating…
Everyone’s talents and involvement are needed to redress the damage caused by human abuse of God’s creation. This we must do because it is not just the beauty of the environment that is at stake here, but the survival of the human race and of creation entrusted to its stewardship.
+ SOUTHERN AFRICAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE, Pastoral Statement on the Environmental Crisis, September 5, 1999
Thomas Berry
WE CAN NO LONGER HEAR the voice of the rivers, the mountains, or the sea. The trees and meadows are no longer intimate modes of spirit presence. The world about us has become an “‘it” rather than a “thou.”
– “The Meadow Across the Creek,” in The Great Work, 17.
THE GREAT WORK, as we move into a new millennium, is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner.
– “The Great Work” in The Great Work, 3
THE PRESENT is not a time for desperation but for hopeful activity.
– “The Meadow Across the Creek,” in The Great Work, 19.
THE HUMAN IS neither an addendum nor an intrusion into the universe. We are quintessentially integral with the universe.
– “The Earth Story,” in The Great Work, 32.
Archbishop Dennis Schnurr
IN THIS AGE of radical secularism, scientism, and self-invention, we Catholics must boldly and lovingly proclaim the truth, goodness, and beauty of what it means to be human.”
– GCS Promulgation 2018