Quotes on Ecology
Read The Columbia River Watershed: Caring for Creation and the Common Good, An International Pastoral Letter by the Catholic Bishops of the Region.
Origen (185-232)
“HEAR YE DEAF, and ye blind look up that ye may see.” Now the blind see, when they see the world and from the exceeding great beauty of the things created they contemplate the Creator corresponding in greatness and beauty to them; and when they see clearly “the invisible things of God Himself from the creation of the world, which are perceived through the things that are made;” that is, they see and understand with care and clearness.
-Commentary on Matthew
The Council of Ephesus (431)
FOR ALTHOUGH VISIBLE and a child in swaddling clothes, and even in the bosom of His Virgin Mother, He filled all creation as God.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J.
WE’RE NOT GOING TO SOLVE the environmental and climate crisis on the large scale. We’re going to solve it over and over again where ordinary people live and work. So I’m not at all discouraged when I hear about small steps. That’s what gives me hope. I recognize that large-scale efforts seem to be frustrated, but I don’t think that’s the main story.”
– Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J. assisted with writing Laudato Si
Cardinal Francis Arinze
POSITIVE EFFORTS HAVE TO CONTINUE to promote better mutual understanding and greater collaboration between people of differing religions or cultural backgrounds. Cultures and religions can collide. But they need not collide. Such a clash can be avoided. Indeed, humanity should go beyond avoiding a clash and promote harmony and collaboration.
There are many challenges and tasks which call for the collaboration of people from such varying backgrounds. Examples are greater justice in society, narrowing of the gap between rich and poor, promotion of peace, prevention of war, use of the goods of the earth, and ecological concerns.
-Reflections on the Day of Prayer at Assisi, 24 January, 2002
Monsignor Paul McPartlan
THE ECOLOGICAL PROBLEM needs a deep spiritual answer, not just a bit of conservation and recycling to solve it. We must renew our love for God if our broken relationships with one another and with creation are to be repaired.
– Our Sunday Visitor, 6/30/2017
Monsignor Charles M. Murphy
From his book, At Home on Earth: Foundations for a Catholic Ethic of the Environment, 1989
THE THESIS of [the book, At Home on Earth] is that the earth was created by God to be our home, as the Book of Genesis says it was, that we humans are “made of earth,” that we are by nature earthly creatures and that the earth, our home, has a future that we can responsibly determine…
A CHRISTIAN ETHIC, whether of the environment or of any other aspect of our life, must be based upon the values of the coming reign of God which Jesus preached. That reign encompasses not only personal salvation of individual believers but of society as well, the body and the soul, the heavens and the earth…
THE WORLD for the Christian is not an illusion but God’s own creation with a structure and a goodness that cannot be vitiated even by sin. The God of the creation and the God of the redemption are one, as the Creed professes: “I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and of earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary…” The Christian faith, then, is a decidedly “worldly” faith…
THE BOOK OF GENESIS … attests that it is by God’s will and design that the earth and everything that is in it have been made specifically to be our home, and that God has made us his surrogates in caring for it and tending it. “You have made us the masters over all your creatures,” Psalm 8 declares; “you have put everything under our feet.” We are invited by Genesis to delight with God in his creation and to find it “good.”
But even more than our home, according to Genesis, the earth was made to be the home of God. He is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. It is he who at the beginning walks in its gardens in the cool of the evening. It is he who enjoys his Sabbath rest after all things are made and who invites his creatures to join him in it. It is to him that the eyes of all his creatures hopefully look, and he gives them their food in due season; he opens his hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing. The beauty of the creation betrays traces of its Maker, for the “heavens declare the glory of God and all the firmament discloses his handiwork.” It was furthermore into this world that God’s creative Word became incarnated in Christ, the temple of his glory, so that through his Spirit the whole world might become his dwelling place once more.
In the past the development of science and the encouragement of human inventiveness were made possible by a religious belief in God’s transcendence from his creatures having their own “objectivity.” Similarly today, many believe, the religious belief in God’s immanence within his creation as his home – even more than it is ours – can have enormous impact upon our renewed sense of respect for the world and the setting of proper ethical limits upon its human use and manipulation. To be avoided, of course, is any blurring of the distinction between God and creation as in the old pantheist heresies…
THE MYSTERY HIDDEN from the ages that is now revealed is that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. It is a mystery that is expressed in the Eucharistic sacrament and is related to the sacramentality of the universe itself. These sacramental moments are anticipations, present signs of the kingdom’s coming…
ETHICS, as the tragic history of the world shows, does not arise out of logic but out of the religious imagination…
FOR THE RELIGIOUS person, in any age, nature is never just “nature” but retains a sacred quality as “creation,” something made and sustained by God. Nature as creation is a sacrament, a visible representation of God, to whom it ultimately belongs…
IT IS POSSIBLE … for Christians to discuss rationally the right ordering of nature with nonbelievers because nature apart from grace has its own rationality. But such rational discourse does not exhaust the full meaning of nature which must be seen, from the Christian viewpoint, as both created and redeemed by God. Nature is alive with its own life and with the life of God…
THE AUTHOR of the First Letter of Peter addressed his disparate flock and told them “once you were no people, but now you have become the people of God.” They were “no people” because they did not form one ethnic group as did Judaism of old. We moderns, or postmoderns, are “no people” for other reasons as well. In our greed, individualism, and selfishness, we, like the epistle’s “no people,” have a need, an even more urgent one, to acquire the virtues it regards as hallmarks of the Christian life: “brotherly and sisterly affection, kindness, and humblemindedness.” The letter concludes, “Above all, keep your love for one another at full strength… Be hospitable to one another without complaining. Whatever gift each of you may have received, use it in service to one another, like good stewards dispensing the grace of God in its varied forms… Indeed, all of you should wrap yourselves in the garment of humility towards each other because God sets his face against the arrogant but favors the humble.” How exotic this catalog of virtues. Yet they comprise not just a survival kit for continued life upon the earth. They are the first lights of the dawning kingdom of God.
–At Home on Earth: Foundations for a Catholic Ethic of the Environment, by Charles M. Murphy, The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1989 (an excellent book!)
THE DISPARITIES between human beings who live in squalor and those who have everything money can buy are glaring in a world brought closer together through amazing advances in communication. This great disparity denies social justice, leads to ecological tragedy, and most of all, creates a misperception of what the good life really is, which ultimately makes excessive consumption a religious question.
-Monsignor Charles Murphy is pastor of St. Pius X Church in Portland, Maine (1995), and author of the book, At Home on Earth: Foundations for a Catholic Ethic of the Environment.
Father Murphy is the director of the permanent diaconate for the Diocese of Portland, Maine and serves as consultant to the US Conference of Catholic Bishops committtee on catechetics. He was the dean and rector of the Pontifical North American College in Rome and was part of the editorial group working in Italy under then Cardinal Ratzinger (today Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) on the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He has served his diocese in ecumenical and educational capacities.
Angelus Silesius (1624-1677)
AS IN THE FLINT the fire, as in the seed the tree, so is God’s likeness hidden in everything I see.
-Quoted in Catholic Digest, July 2002
Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi c.s., speech at the “Climate and Health” 68th World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva, Switzerland (excerpts) May 24 or 25, 2015
The moral imperative to respect and protect nature is not a new topic for faith traditions. The Jewish and Christian Scriptures are replete with such exhortations, and most of the major religious traditions offer similar commandments. Man is not the owner of creation but its steward. In more recent times, the leadership of the Catholic Church has publicly and forcefully expressed concern about the damage to nature being caused by a privileged few, while the health and overall wellbeing of the vast majority of humans is being threatened through no fault of their own. Pope Benedict XVI, expressed such grave concern on this issue that he was popularly labeled as the “green Pope”. Pope Francis continued this tradition and has encouraged a more profound reflection on this global concern…
In this regard, on 28 April 2015, the Holy See exercised its convening capacity, to gather Religious Leaders, Political Leaders, Business Leaders, Scientists and Development Practitioners, at the Vatican, in a workshop on the theme: “Protect the Earth, Dignify Humanity: The Moral Dimensions of Climate Change and Sustainable Humanity.” … These religious leaders and technical experts left no further room for denial under the mistaken guise of so-called religious belief when they declared that human-induced climate change is a scientific reality. They acknowledged the “very vital role” played by religions through their affirmation of “the inherent dignity of every individual linked to the common good of all humanity” as well as “the beauty, wonder, and inherent goodness of the natural world.” They proclaimed as “our moral duty to respect rather than ravage the garden that is our home.” They noted the particular vulnerability experienced by poor and excluded people who are menaced by “dire threats from climate disruptions, including the increased frequency of droughts, extreme storms, heat waves, and rising sea levels.”
…I cannot end this brief intervention without emphasizing the special responsibility that must be assumed by those living in high-income countries to join in solidarity with the global human family as we attempt to repair the damage already done to our environment, prevent further degradation, and preserve the integral link between health and development. The citizens of wealthier countries cannot ignore but concretely express their solidarity with the poor, both at home and overseas. They have a special obligation to help their fellow men in developing countries to cope with climate change by mitigating its effects and by assisting with adaptation. There much evidence that shows how climate change can be devastating for health, especially among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Healthcare is foundational to integral human development and human flourishing. Allow me to conclude with these words of Pope Francis, whose insight is shared by Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus and most religions: “Creation is not a property, which we can rule over at will; or, even less, is the property of only a few: Creation is a gift, it is a wonderful gift that God has given us, so that we care for it and we use it for the benefit of all, always with great respect and gratitude.”
Justice in the World, 1971 Synod of Bishops (excerpts)
Justice and World Society
7. The world in which the Church lives and acts is held captive by a tremendous paradox. Never before have the forces working for bringing about a unified world society appeared so powerful and dynamic; they are rooted in the awareness of the full basic equality as well as of the human dignity of all. Since people are members of the same human family, they are indissolubly linked with one another in the one destiny of the whole world, in the responsibility for which they all share.
8. The new technological possibilities are based upon the unity of science, on the global and simultaneous character of communications and on the birth of an absolutely interdependent economic world. Moreover, people are beginning to grasp a new and more radical dimension of unity; for they perceive that their resources, as well as the precious treasures of air and water – without which there cannot be life – and the small delicate biosphere of the whole complex of all life on earth, are not infinite, but on the contrary must be saved and preserved as a unique patrimony belonging to all human beings.
9. The paradox lies in the fact that within this perspective of unity the forces of division and antagonism seem today to be increasing in strength. Ancient divisions between nations and empires, between races and classes, today possess new technological instruments of destruction. The arms race is a threat to our highest , which is life; it makes poor peoples and individuals yet more miserable, while making richer those already powerful; it creates a continuous danger of conflagration, and in the case of nuclear arms, it threatens to destroy all life from the face of the earth. At the same time new divisions are being born to separate people from their neighbors. Unless combated and overcome by social and political action, the influence of the new industrial and technological order favors the concentration of wealth, power and decision-making in the hands of a small public or private controlling group. Economic injustice and lack of social participation keep people from attaining their basic human ant civil rights.
10. In the last twenty-five years a hope has spread through the human race that economic growth would bring about such a quantity of goods that it would be possible to feed the hungry at least with the crumbs falling from the table, but this has proved a vain hope in underdeveloped areas and in pockets of poverty in wealthier areas, because of the rapid growth of population and of the labor force, because of rural stagnation and the lack of agrarian reform, and because of the massive migratory flow to the cities, where the industries, even though endowed with huge sums of money, nevertheless provide so few jobs that not infrequently one worker in four is left unemployed. These stifling oppressions constantly give rise to great numbers of “marginal” persons, ill-fed, inhumanly housed, illiterate and deprived of political power as well as of the suitable means of acquiring responsibility and moral dignity.
11. Furthermore, 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.
12. The strong drive towards global unity, the unequal distribution which places decisions concerning three quarters of income, investment and trade in the hands of one third of the human race, namely the more highly developed part, the insufficiency of a merely economic progress, and the new recognition of the material limits of the biosphere – all this makes us aware of the fact that in today’s world new modes of understanding human dignity are arising.
Czech Bishops’ Conference
43. Man is part of the created world
Mankind in every generation is a part of the planetary ecosystem. This reality, expressed in the introductory chapters of the biblical message, is often neglected in historical, political, social and economic reflections. The Christian view emphasizes respect for creation. Social-economic systems, too, are rooted in the world of nature; they influence it and, at the same time, are influenced by it. Hence humanity must exercise caution in its economic activities and responsibly think through the impact which this activity can have on nature and the environment.It has been frequently suggested in this context that instead of permanent economic growth it is necessary to establish a dynamic balance between population numbers and a form of sustainable economic development, which would secure the adequate needs of the planet’s inhabitants.
44. Europe is growing old and the population dying off but it still has increasing demands on consumption
We can say in a somewhat simplified way that the population grows in countries in which consumption is not growing while consumption grows in countries in which the population is not growing. There are positive exceptions, such as Ireland, where both the population and consumption are growing, but also negative cases, such as some post-Soviet countries, in which both the population and consumption are decreasing.
This development is unbalanced and not permanently sustainable. In this sense the Czech Republic is part of Europe. We are growing old and without immigrants we are dying out. But our consumption demands are increasing all the time. The idea of permanent economic growth in terms of material wealth and consumption is typical of the Euro-American civilization. An economic system stemming from man’s desire to have more and more brings about growing production. As a result we face the exhaustion of non-renewable natural resources and the increasing pollution of nature. Over the past ten years the state of the environment in our country has improved in many respects, but the global danger has remained.
The Christian view is based on an understanding that all natural resources are precious gifts from God destined for all people; not only for our generation but also for generations that will come after us. A thoughtful approach towards the environment and frugality in material consumption belong to the basic elements of environmental ethics.
46. “Real socialism” was a less successful and not an environmentally-friendly variant of development
“Scientific Communism”, as an atheist ideology, considered man to be the master of history. It proclaimed that mankind had its fate in its hand and that it would build a paradise on Earth. Promises of a future age of abundance in terms of material consumption contrasted with the low economic effectiveness of the Communist system. The concept of socialist industrialization with the goals first to “catch up and overtake” and than to distribute “to everybody according to their needs” was only a more vulgar and less successful variant of a discredited (and we stress this!) Enlightenment idea about permanent progress. Owing to the discrepancy between the aspirations and the possibilities, the growth of consumption in an ineffective system was often sought at the cost of the environment. The socialist economy did not even have mechanisms which would allow it to asses natural resources objectively. Consequently the ongoing devastation of water, air, trees, soil and nature in general was economically invisible. Also the effect on the health of the population showed up with a delayed impact. Only after some years the level of consumption (with which we were dissatisfied) turned out to have been achieved only at the cost of environmental damage and gross inter-generation injustice; everything will be paid for by our children in the future.
47. Economic transformation has already partly redressed the damage caused to the environment. However increasing transport by road is becoming an environmental threat
A loss of eastern markets, changes in the industrial structure, an overall decrease in economic activities in the sectors which were particularly damaging nature with air pollution, and the decreasing agricultural production, all this on its own lowered the rate of pollution of our environment. Though we often complain about the decrease and restriction of production, it turned out to have its positive side.
However in the 1990’s a significant purposeful effort was directed towards the improvement of the environment. With the support of the European Union, and also from the proceeds of privatization, many useful environmental projects were carried out (the establishment of desulphurisation facilities, sewage disposal plants and eco-friendly methods of production). It is necessary to continue in this way and bring our standard up to the level of Western countries. It would not be wise to save on investment in environmental protection and improvement.
The countryside is particularly valuable. An intimate relation with the world of nature helps to cultivate the human soul. Measures supporting the maintenance of the cultural character of the landscape as well as those countering the depopulation of the countryside belong to the primary tasks of civilized politics.
Also in our country industrial activity and related consumption habits continue to overburden the environment. Hence it is necessary to seriously consider an introduction of “environmental taxes” with the aim to include into the user cost of road transport and other nature polluting activities the full costs of their negative environmental impact. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would most likely be different if it incorporated various kinds of these external costs which, at present, have to be born by citizens, while they remain “invisible” for business calculations.
48. The preservation and improvement of the environment as a source of new jobs
New branches of industry and new services aimed at preserving and maintaining the environment are emerging at present; they include sorting, liquidation and recycling of waste, air filtration and containing exhaust fumes, water revitalization, and recultivation of degraded farming land. Environmental taxes have been a well tested tool in other countries; they penalize pollution and, at the same time, create financial sources for remedial measures. Such programs which stimulate related research and development, can also alleviate unemployment since a great deal of this work can be done by less qualified workers.
However economic restructuring, which would help to save the environment, also requires a change in the way of thinking of consumers, including politicians. It is dismaying that proposals submitted by environmental experts in our country are still seen as a “disruptive campaign”. It appears that even in the struggle for a healthy environment we need what we call a “conversion”. The champion and agent of such an “ecological conversion” can be only a responsible citizen. Also the Churches have their irreplaceable role in environmental education, to which they are led by a number of biblical impulses.
49. The economy of voluntary frugality, and the culture of service and giving
The economy, as a substantial part of human activities, cannot develop without involving respect for man in his or her inner substance, that is, as a person created in the image of God, who is One and in the Trinity. This reality is the basis of the fact that human nature is relational. The basis of human existence is “to be for somebody”, to be in a relationship with somebody with the aim to seek unity among people, the ideal model of which is given in God.
On the journey towards new environmental ethics, towards a culture of service and solidarity of sharing, it is necessary in time, but voluntarily, to adopt a new system of values in which we abandon the exclusive emphasis on quantitative, material growth. Instead, the quality of life aiming towards spiritual values and transcendence would be accorded priority. Such a new system of values would be able to support a sustainable economic development. Also it would be congenial towards a number of other values: the quality of the environment, health, friendship, strong families, associations of common interest and meaningful service for fellow citizens.
The New Testament, in particular the example of Jesus’ life and his commandment of love, exemplifies this system of values. We can draw inspiration for environmentally friendly behavior, as well as for a search for a new quality of human life from it. “For man is the source, the center, and the purpose of all economic and social life.” (Gaudium et spes, 63). At the same time man is also “homo religiosus” or man with a relationship with God and his neighbor. This is why economic relations cannot be deprived of their religious content. On the contrary, only in a religious context can they find their full meaning.
One of the remarkable personalities and examples worth following is Saint Francis of Assisi, the apostle of poverty, voluntary modesty, and love for all living, as well as for inanimate creatures. We hope that “peace and good” will rule on our sister – mother Earth – only if humility and voluntary frugality germinates in our hearts.
+ Peace and Good, letter on social issues in the Czech Republic for public discussion, November 17, 2000
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Pacific
There is a growing realization that there are limits to available resources, and that there is a need to respect the integrity and cycles of nature and to take them into account when planning for development, rather than sacrificing them in favor of economic or political gains which are merely short-term or advantageous to only a few.
Minnesota Catholic Conference (USA)
In this final year before the new millennium, we reflect on the fullness of God’s creation and give thanks for the bounty of the land and natural resources of Minnesota. Ours is a state with fertile areas ranging from the Red River Valley of the North through the valleys of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers to the Blue Earth River in the South. We are blessed with rich soil and clean water. Generations of Minnesota farmers have tilled this land to provide a healthy sustenance for themselves and for hundreds of rural communities. These gifts are a support to all of Minnesota binding us together in a web of life.
But Minnesota’s web of life is threatened. Our clean air, fresh water and rich soil are being tainted. Thousands of farmers on small and medium size farms are forced to leave the land, no longer receiving an adequate income to compensate them for labor and cost of production. Some of our rural communities are dying. These changes have moral and ethical implications, which cannot be ignored. As religious leaders, we call on the people of Minnesota to reflect on what is happening to our land, our farmers and our rural communities. We invite all Minnesotans to meet the challenge of our stewardship of God’s gift of creation.
It is not crop failure alone that forces the closure of small farms, but faulty policy decisions favoring large agri-business operations concentrating both land and means of production into the hands of fewer and fewer while taking control out of the local community. The shift toward large animal confinement operations in rural Minnesota raises serious concerns for the quality of land, water, and air in our state. The continued overuse of chemicals and the lack of land stewardship adversely affect both environment and health.
Pope John Paul II has challenged Catholics throughout the world to highlight justice and peace in this final year of preparation for the millennium. This preparation calls us to pray, reflect and dialog on what justice demands for our rural brothers and sisters. As participants in a democracy, we must also bring to those who form public policy the call for both justice and stewardship.
The Church offers several principles to help us in this dialog and to guide policy decision-makers. We call on our tradition of respecting the life and dignity of the human person, promoting the common good, practicing stewardship of the land and expressing a preferential option for the poor.
•Ultimately, the test of any agricultural policy is its concern for human life and dignity. The good of people is always first.
•Human dignity demands just compensation of farmers and rural people for their labor and capital expenses.
•The preferential option for the poor urges that we judge policies concerning rural communities by how they affect the least among us. The “poor” today includes many people living in our rural communities, not only because they are economically poor, but because they are among the least powerful and their way of life is marginalized, ignored or easily forgotten.
Finally, we ask public policies that
•Ensure farmers a just income that adequately compensates them for their labor and cost of production;
•Promote sustainable agriculture practices;
•Restrict vertical integration practices which place ownership and control of production, processing and marketing operations outside of the local community;
•Protect and preserve agricultural land;
•Create opportunities for beginning farmers;
•Support health care access, education, jobs, housing and other services in rural areas.
Farming is about production. It is also about people and a way of life. As we have stated on many occasions, the bottom line in economic justice is people – not the dollar. The rights of those on the land and in farming communities demand just policy that respects the dignity of their work. The rights of all demand stewardship of land and environment.”
+ Statement on the Farm Crisis, circa 1999.
On a planet conflicted over environmental issues, the Catholic tradition insists that we show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation. Care for the earth is not just an earth day slogan, it is a requirement of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation. This environmental challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions which cannot be ignored.
+ Minnesota Catholic Conference website, 2001
Catholic Bishops of Northern Italy
The fundamental misunderstanding that threatens the relationship between man and the resources of the earth has been denounced in a concise and penetrating manner by the Sermon on the Mount. Here the attention of the disciples is called to the model of life offered by the birds of the sky and the lilies of the field.
Every human being has the fundamental right to live in an environment suitable to his health and well being.
A suitable habitat for human life is certainly not the “virgin forest” nor is it any other ecosystem achieved solely through the forces of nature. The appropriate setting can only be a civilized habitation built through the work of man. The real challenge is not to preserve nature from the work of civilization, but to design civilization with an appropriate quality so that it verifies and maintains the balance of nature… Even more fundamental, the appropriate quality of this work must stem from listening to the voice of the earth: for the earth has a voice. This voice speaks a language which re-echoes the very Word of God.
Indiana Catholic Conference (USA)
Catholics have a sacramental vision of the universe. Water, oils, bread and wine are channels through which the grace of God is communicated to us. But that is a superlative moment in a more general vision: all creation we see as the work of God, and the universe reveals to us the glory of its Creator. Thus reverence for life and for the vast universe we’ve come to know is a fundamental Christian moral attitude.
In past and current socio-political debates in our country – abortion, child-care, quality of life for the marginalized, capital punishment, euthanasia – Catholics have worked out and clearly presented to our fellow citizens a consistent ethic based on the inviolable dignity of each and every human being on this planet. What we need to do now is extend a similar dignity to all God’s creatures and to the whole Earth. Our ethic for the twenty-first century – our Jubilee ethic – must incorporate respect for all life.
The scriptural preferential option for the poor is likewise involved in ecological issues. The poor suffer twice. They suffer from the problems – pollution seems to get cleaned up, or is prevented in the first place, where the privileged live – and the poor suffer from the alleged solutions which others apply to those problems. Fair treatment, meaning justice, of people and of the environment are connected, for “the poor” now includes other species of life. Moreover, it has been a basic principle of Catholic social justice for many years that the Earth and its resources are a common heritage for all the inhabitants of our planet.
The basic attitude that we must adopt is reverence for an order in creation that doesn’t come from us but from the Creator of the heavens and the earth. In Catholic moral theology and philosophy this has been the starting point of natural law ethics for centuries, but we need to expand this reverence, and this humility, to a broader range of application beyond respect for other people.
The variety of forms of God’s creatures – biodiversity – is one of the gifts of the Creator that we must cherish. The Fathers and the theologians of the Church were convinced that the diversity of creatures was essential to show forth the glory of God: no creature can adequately reveal God to us but the great variety of created beings does better at this than any single species. Thus, if we cause the extinction of a species, we are diminishing the glory of the Creator.
The encyclicals of three recent Popes – John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul II – have all reminded us of the principle of the universal purpose of the goods of the Earth. The common good is global! In commerce and politics humanity has finally learned economic and ecological interdependence, but we have not yet learned the moral lesson that the Creator intended the resources of the Earth for the nourishment and flourishing of all people, and indeed of all life on Earth.
To be even more explicit, the poor and the marginalized demand special attention, the Gospel’s “preferential option for the poor”. The ecological crisis is clearly a moral crisis, and that necessarily means, for followers of Jesus, that justice and love must be joined to scientific know-how in resolving any and all problems.
What we need to develop in more specific form is a holistic ethic of care for the Earth for the twenty-first century that joins together the demands of ecological stewardship, social justice, and world peace.
We need to pray. Celebrate the goodness of the Creator and of creation in our liturgies. Mourn the hurts that we have inflicted on the Earth and its inhabitants. Beg for the gifts of the Spirit – for knowledge and wisdom about what to do, and for the new heart that will give us the will to change what needs to be changed in order to heal the Earth and to do justice.
After, yes after, learning and praying, we need to act – to join voices, talents, and forces on behalf of social and environmental justice. In keeping with the attitude of reverence for God’s work that has run all through this message, our appeal is made with full confidence in the presence of God’s Spirit guiding us and working with us in these endeavors. In this confidence, we pray…Send forth thy Spirit, Lord And renew the face of the earth.
+ Care for the Earth
Catholic Bishops of New Mexico (USA)
The moral challenge begins with recalling the vocation we were given as human beings at the beginning of Creation. Genesis 1.26 tells us that God created humankind to “have dominion” over all creation. However, the use of “dominion” in Genesis does not imply unrestrained exploitation; rather it is a term describing a “representative” and how that person is to behave on behalf of the One who sends the representative. We are God’s representatives. Therefore we are to treat nature as the Creator would, not for our own selfish consumption but for the good of all creation.
The first step in responding to this mounting crisis is to reclaim our vocation as responsible caretakers of the earth, its living and natural resources. The parables of Jesus indicate quite clearly that we will be called to give an accounting on how we have managed our stewardship responsibilities.
The second step comes from another part of the creation story (Gen 2. 15) where humans are made in the image and likeness of God. This part of the story suggest that we are brought into being to continue the creative work of God, enhancing this place we call home. In addition to representing God’s creative love for the earth, humankind is also responsible for ensuring that nature continues to thrive as God intended.
Catholic tradition has consistently seen the universe as God’s dwelling, and therefore affirms a sacramental dimension to it. Perhaps no one person better represents this tradition than St. Francis as illustrated in his Canticle of Praise: “Praise be my Lord for our mother the Earth, which sustains us and keeps us, and yields diverse fruits, and flowers of many colors, and grass.”
+ Pastoral Statement, May 18, 1998
Reflection on Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship (Excerpts), Most Rev. Thomas G. Wenski, Archbishop of Miami
…The Catholic should care deeply about an effective and efficient economic system that meets the needs of people as much as possible. Even so, the Church’s teaching in this area is concerned primarily with the degree to which that economic system is truly at the service of the human person, and the extent to which the economy creates conditions for us to thrive precisely as created daughters and sons, made in the image and likeness of a loving and merciful God. This is why a purely economic analysis of the worth of individuals, or collectivist ideas that leave aside the inherent dignity of the human person cannot fit in a Catholic world view…
In our care of creation, the Church is, not surprisingly, consistent. The Catholic conception of stewardship of the environment is also rooted in the dignity of the human person and his relationship with God. This relationship finds its origin for us, “in the beginning.” The book of Genesis is meant to draw us into God’s creative activity. We should reflect on the Holy Spirit moving mightily over the waters, and God setting into motion powerful and dynamic effects; from nothing—an idea we can’t even grasp—comes a great tidal wave of activity, an unfathomable but ordered, clearly ordered, creation. What must that have looked like, this incredible masterwork of motion and formation? Perhaps we will be granted a glimpse of it in the life hereafter.
The inspired Word found in Genesis should capture our attention on another point, too. As God ordered creation, set into motion the laws of nature and adorned the universe with diverse and stunning species, he made our first parents out of the very earth he would set them over as caretakers. Genesis 2:7 tells us that God formed Adam “out of the dust of the ground.” Adam’s body was intimately connected with the Earth. Though God was capable of making him from nothing, he chose to use the materials that he had already created as part of his earlier work to make the first human being. What should strike us about God’s choice here is that he intended a clear intertwining and interconnectedness of our physical well-being and the condition of the environment from which we we’re formed. This foundational concept ties our care for the world to our first moments in history, and we ought not neglect that our responsibilities originate here, at the dawn of time.
Our contemplation must not stop at this point, of course. Adam and Eve were not simply created things among many others. When God breathed the breath of life, something of his own spirit, into them, we learn that human beings, unlike other things, were “made in [his] image, after [his] likeness” (Gen 1:26). It is not by accident that scripture points us to a set-apart mode of creation, to an aspect of the human person that is exalted in the created order. When Adam and Eve were placed in the center of the garden, God saw that his work was very good, indeed.
Lest we doubt this, God provides us with a great charge, the basis for our understanding of our role in caring for what has been entrusted to us:
…“let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Gen 1:26-28).
At that moment we began to wrestle with concepts of stewardship and dominion. Human beings contended with the careful balance of developing the gifts of the natural order for human thriving with the preservation and protection of those gifts in responsible ways for the good of all people and future generations.
These themes are as important for us as they were for Adam and Eve, perhaps more so given the dimness with which we see our place in God’s plan after the Fall. In our work for an authentic stewardship of the earth, we must balance these key concepts rooted in our religious belief, in particular stewardship, dominion, and human ecology.
Stewardship can seem an elusive term these days. For the Catholic, it often evokes uncomfortable images of the collection basket and the bishop’s annual appeal. Still, we really must understand the ecological stewardship God intends for us in order to make our work meaningful. We connect with my earlier point that the Church cares about these matters precisely because the human person and his proper end are in the balance.
Stewardship implies a commission to care for something that is not our own. For every gift we receive, be it intellectual, physical, environmental, we are charged to look after it for the good of another. Primarily, all is a gift from God, for his glory and honor; we steward all on his behalf. Secondarily, the gifts entrusted to our care are for the good of human beings according to God’s plan, to be cultivated and used responsibly for the development of the human person toward his eternal reward.
A critical misunderstanding that can take our stewardship of any gift astray is the idea that the thing stewarded is nurtured for its own sake. In the case of money, focus on wealth for wealth’s sake has wrought evils, individual and communal, throughout the history of mankind, including poverty that cries out to God for justice. The same is true of power in public affairs. If not used for the common good, those governed typically pay the heavy price for the pursuit of unbridled power.
For our natural environment, we must resist any idea that the goods of the earth inhabit some disordered place above and apart from the human race. When we begin to see human beings as blight, as a force to be resisted rather than nurtured by our care of the environment, then we have upended God’s plan and his purpose in placingus at the center of his earthly creative action. Human beings may act in ways that critically wound our natural ecology, and we must combat these approaches. By placing nature above the good of the human person, however, we risk abandoning the project of changing hearts toward something greater.
Our stewardship should always seek out the divine reflection that dwells in us. God calls us to a particular balance; any good steward endeavors to act, as closely as possible, as his or her master would act in his place, at least if the steward hopes to keep his job. Pope Francis, in his General Audience of May 21 of this year, expressed it well: “Creation is not some possession that we can lord over for our 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.”
In this balance, dominion over the earth is not reckless development, but calls us most profoundly to responsible cultivation for the good of all. You and I should marvel that our Almighty God chose us to be “co-creators,” to be the means by which the raw resources found around us may be gathered together, nurtured and harnessed for the benefit of everybody. Of all the earthly creatures, only we have this clear role. The Catechism reflects on the magnitude of this relationship:
To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of “subduing” the earth and having dominion over it. God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. Though often unconscious collaborators with God’s will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become “God’s fellow workers” and co-workers for his kingdom (CCC, 307).
In Genesis, God points out to Adam and Eve the seed-producing plant and fruit-producing tree, also with its seeds. Humans are to employ work, which they did not mind so much before the Fall, to help the things of creation reach greater levels of perfection for the benefit of the human race. It is true that this task became more difficult after we left the Garden, and that, even now, we are tempted by inclinations that cause us to devastate the richness of creation and squander the gifts meant to provide for our well-being. With grace and a view toward our proper duties as stewards of the dynamic treasures in our care, we can meet our responsibilities with joy and balance.
A word about the term “human ecology” as we transition from discussion of our theological roots to consideration of climate change and the proposed carbon emission standards. As many of you know, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, affectionately referred to as the “green Pope”, had much to say about the interconnectedness of the natural and human ecologies. We look forward to Pope Francis’ forthcoming encyclical which will continue the Church’s important thought in this area.
In Pope Benedict’s well-known Message on the 2010 World Day of Peace, he placed the environmental considerations of the day squarely within the richness of Catholic thought. Quoting, in part, from Caritas in Veritate, he wrote:
“The Church has a responsibility towards creation, and she considers it her duty to exercise that responsibility in public life, in order to protect earth, water and air as gifts of God the Creator meant for everyone, and above all to save mankind from the danger of self-destruction. The degradation of nature is closely linked to the cultural models shaping human coexistence: consequently, when ‘human ecology’ is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits.”
With this view in mind, we consider climate change generally, and the proposed carbon emission standards specifically. The Church is interested in these matters because of the tradition we just outlined, and because she is what Pope Benedict described as an “expert in humanity”, even if she is not a technical expert.
The climate is a good worthy of our study and protection. We know that humans do impact their environment, and can do so with devastating results if not acting with due regard for their activity. The degree of human effect on climate change is hotly debated and has now become, unfortunately, a politicized issue. But we must put aside this polarization in favor of approaches and solutions that serve the common good and preserve the precious gifts entrusted to us.
In writing about Saint John Paul II’s call for a renewed solidarity, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI wrote:
“[H]is appeal is all the more pressing today, in the face of signs of a growing crisis which it would be irresponsible not to take seriously. Can we remain indifferent before the problems associated with such realities as climate change, desertification, the deterioration and loss of productivity in vast agricultural areas, the pollution of rivers and aquifers, the loss of biodiversity, the increase of natural catastrophes and the deforestation of equatorial and tropical regions? Can we disregard the growing phenomenon of “environmental refugees,” people who are forced by the degradation of their natural habitat to forsake it – and often their possessions as well – in order to face the dangers and uncertainties of forced displacement? Can we remain impassive in the face of actual and potential conflicts involving access to natural resources? All these are issues with a profound impact on the exercise of human rights, such as the right to life, food, health and development.”
We cannot ignore the weight of scientific thought before us on climate change. There is no excuse for inaction in our stewardship given this. Our scientific knowledge changes, deepens and grows by the day. Our understanding of the human effects on climate will likewise increase. Still, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church points us to the virtue of prudence when approaching the question of our impact on the natural ecology, namely the “precautionary principle”, whereby policy-makers consider all the risks and alternatives in deciding when and how to act (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 469). While leaving room for deeper knowledge in the future, we must do what appears right today for the common good and the good of the human person, particularly those who are impacted most severely by climatological change, the poor.…
We are also reminded that action for the common good in these areas must be guided by the important principles offered by Catholic social teaching, so that regulation and solutions might truly serve the human person toward full flourishing…
+ Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, “Climate Change and Environmental Stewardship,” Origins Volume Number: 44, Issue Number: 23 (November 6, 2014): Pages 385-389.
Father Lawrence E. Mick
Excerpts from the book, “Liturgy and Ecology in Dialogue.” Although out of print, this book is highly recommended.
Worship in the Woods
MANY PEOPLE HAVE explained their absence from Christian worship on Sunday by insisting that they can worship better in the woods than in church. Of course, many of them don’t worship in the woods each Sunday either, but the point is still worth consideration. We need Christian worship for its fellowship and community. We are members of Christ’s body, so we need to worship together. But it remains true that many people can sense the presence of the Lord more easily in the midst of nature than in the midst of the worshiping assembly. While this might lead us to some healthy questioning about the state of our worship and our worship spaces, it may also be that even the best worship experience in the best worship space possible will never be as powerful for some people as the experience of God in nature.
This fact should not induce us to posit an opposition between finding God in nature and encountering the Lord in worship. The two experiences should be complementary rather than conflicting. To be aware of God in nature should lead us to praise the Lord with the Christian assembly in worship. And our experience of worship should make us more aware of God in all of creation. The relationship between ecology and worship is truly of mutual benefit.
Ecology as a Moral Issue
MORAL ISSUES HAVE always been a major part of Christian teaching and living and sacraments. In particular, the Catholic Church has continually insisted on the need for repentance and continuing conversion, turning away from sin and turning more fully to God. The sacrament of reconciliation is the most obvious expression of this belief, but it is not the only one. Baptism is celebrated “for the remission of sin,” and every Eucharist proclaims Christ’s triumph over sin through his death and resurrection. The penitential rite at the beginning of Mass and the sign of peace also attest to the continual human need for forgiveness and reconciliation. All the sacraments, in various ways, call for continuing conversion to Christ as the fundamental task of every Christian….
In the midst of worship, we are frequently invited to admit our sinfulness and to recognize our need for forgiveness. We celebrate God’s great mercy, and in the light of the divine generosity in forgiving, we are set free to admit our need for healing, not because someone else made us do evil things, but because evil is part of our lives and finds a home in our hearts.
Until we are willing to recognize the sins that are involved in environmental destruction, we will have a very hard time confronting the evil that leads to this degradation of the environment. Every action that harms the ecology of the planet is ultimately a personal decision, and every decision is either in accord with or in violation of the will of God. Every decision human beings make is a moral decision; it is either an act of virtue or a sinful act.
Many of the human decisions and actions that degrade the environment are properly called sins. To pollute the air and water is a sin against the Creator and against all those who have a right to clean air and water. To contaminate the land with toxic chemicals is a sin against creation and against all those whose food comes from the land. To adopt farming practices that cause unnecessary erosion, to waste natural resources, to dump garbage in the oceans, and even to throw litter on the roadside and in the wilderness are all sinful actions.
So, too, sins of omission harm the environment: not recycling, not making provision for toxic and radioactive waste, not disposing of household chemicals properly, not voting for laws that will protect the environment. Our society needs to face honestly the sinfulness of the many ways we damage the environment. We need to ask for forgiveness and resolve not to continue living in this sinful manner…
When we learn to call sin by its true name and face the guilt of our actions, then we can begin to change our patterns of behavior and convert our lives to bring them into harmony with God’s will and thus into harmony with all of God’s creation. Allowing the liturgy to shape our recognition of the reality of evil within us as well as around us and learning to trust God’s forgiving love will enable us to be more honest about our sins against creation and against others who have a right to share in the goods of creation.
ULTIMATELY, A CHRISTIAN approach to ecology is based on the dual commandment of Christ: we are called to love God above all things and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Love of God requires respect for God’s gifts and for God’s will for creation, and love of neighbor requires justice, which prohibits selfish destruction of the environment without regard for those in need today or for the needs of future generations.
The Religious Experience
THE RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE, properly understood, provides the best foundation for a lasting ecological awareness… Far too often, those who espouse a greater ecological sensitivity find the struggle too hard and the quest too long to endure. It is all too common for people to get enthused about recycling and fighting pollution and stopping the cutting of the rain forests, but then to lose interest when things seem to change so little and the effort becomes difficult. The religious experience provides the lasting motivation to continue the effort because it finds God, the source of all meaning, in the midst of creation. The reverence we owe to God is linked to the reverence we show to the Creator’s work.
A Sense of Thanksgiving
TO THE EXTENT that we acquire a sense of wonder and awe at creation, we are naturally moved to give thanks to the One who created it all. An attitude of gratitude leads one to a more respectful response to creation.
Christian worship is fundamentally a response of thanksgiving. Worship is a response to what God has done and continues to do for us. The very term “Eucharist,” the primary Christian form of worship, means “thanksgiving.” The liturgy constantly leads us to offer thanks and praise to God for the gifts of creation and redemption. Participating regularly in this liturgy ought to gradually teach us to live constantly with a sense of profound gratitude. Each day our lives should be a thanksgiving day. If we acquire such a viewpoint, we are much more likely to care for creation as God’s gift and thus to avoid abuse of the environment.
Liturgy and Ecology
OUR WORSHIP IS a symbol of our life… To enter into a common act means to surrender individual desires and individual control in order to function as a community. Community always requires compromise and self-surrender, whether that community is the family, the neighborhood, the Church, the nation, or the world community. Respect for the individual is important, but the individual is also part of a community, and in worship the community is the principle actor.
An ecological mindset can help here if it teaches us that we are always linked to others in our environment and that we influence one another for good or for ill… Learning to worship as one assembly united in Christ is perhaps the biggest challenge facing the ongoing liturgical renewal. Learning to do so is important, however, both for worship and for other areas of our life. Facing our responsibilities to the common good and being willing to compromise our own desires for the sake of the community is essential to healthy human life. It is also clearly essential to action to preserve the environment of the planet…
The first gift that an ecological awareness brings to worship is simply the basic recognition that the environment in which we worship matters. Just as we are influenced in a thousand different ways by our links to the natural and man-made environment in which we live, so too our experience of worship is significantly influenced by a variety of factors in the worship environment…
Focusing on the connections between ecology and liturgy naturally raises the question of how our concern about the natural environment can be brought into the community’s worship. Great caution and sensitivity to the nature of liturgy are necessary here. There is a great temptation to “use” worship as a tool to promote political and social agenda…
The key is to understand how liturgy teaches and forms us. The liturgy is a very powerful teacher. The way we worship shapes who we are, both as individuals and as a people, but it does not accomplish this in a direct and heavy-handed fashion. The experience of worship shapes us much more subtly and gradually than a political speech or a classroom exercise. Because it works at a much deeper and more subtle level, the liturgy can form us more powerfully and more deeply than these other approaches.
The liturgy forms us by gradually shaping our attitudes and emotions toward basic realities of life. The experience of worship plants in our minds and hearts images of how life can be or, more accurately, how things really are in God’s sight. These images, planted repeatedly over time, begin to reshape our attitudes and thus to recast our emotions toward God, toward self, toward other people, and toward all creation. And once our emotions have changed, our behavior changes as well. This is the way worship fosters conversion, the gradual giving over of our whole life to God.
Liturgy and Ecology in Dialogue. 1997. The Liturgical Press. Collegeville, Minnesota, USA.