Creation and Sustainability
In this section there are two articles on how we can preserve the health of our environment. The first 'Seven Themes of Ecological Responsibility' and the second is on Ecological Conversion. Discussion questions follow each.
1. Seven Themes for Ecological Responsibility
1. A sacramental view of the Universe.
In a sacramental view, nature's beauty and diversity reveal something about God. God is present and active in Creation, while also transcendent. "Faced with the glory of the Trinity in Creation, we must contemplate, sing, and rediscover awe," said Pope Saint John Paul II.
"Reverence for the Creator present and active in nature may serve as ground for environmental responsibility," wrote the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "For the very plants and animals, mountains and oceans, which in their loveliness and sublimity lift our minds to God, by their fragility and perishing likewise cry out, 'We have not made ourselves.' God brings them into being and sustains them in existence. It is to the Creator of the universe, then, that we are accountable for what we do or fail to do to preserve and care for the Earth and all its creatures... Dwelling in the presence of God, we begin to experience ourselves as part of Creation, as stewards within it, not separate from it."
2. A consistent respect for human life, which extends to respect for all Creation.
The Church approaches the care and protection of the environment from the point of view of the human person. Men and women are created in the image and likeness of God. Fostering and protecting human life and dignity, from conception to natural death, lies at the heart of the Church's social teachings. We now know that respect for human life and respect for nature are inextricably linked. According to Pope Saint Pope John Paul II, "Respect for life and for the dignity of the human person extends also to the rest of Creation, which is called to join man in praising God." Tragically, the reverse is also true: A lack of respect for human life extends also to the rest of Creation.
The womb is the most endangered human environment in the world today. Without life, there is no environment. The right to life precedes every other environmental issue.
3. A world view affirming the ethical significance of global interdependence and the common good.
Recent ecological concerns have heightened our awareness of just how interdependent our world is. According to Pope Saint John Paul II, "Today the ecological crisis has assumed such proportions as to be the responsibility of everyone... Its various aspects demonstrate the need for concerted efforts aimed at establishing duties and obligations that belong to individuals, peoples, states, and the international community."
In a sacramental view, nature's beauty and diversity reveal something about God. God is present and active in Creation, while also transcendent. "Faced with the glory of the Trinity in Creation, we must contemplate, sing, and rediscover awe," said Pope Saint John Paul II.
"Reverence for the Creator present and active in nature may serve as ground for environmental responsibility," wrote the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. "For the very plants and animals, mountains and oceans, which in their loveliness and sublimity lift our minds to God, by their fragility and perishing likewise cry out, 'We have not made ourselves.' God brings them into being and sustains them in existence. It is to the Creator of the universe, then, that we are accountable for what we do or fail to do to preserve and care for the Earth and all its creatures... Dwelling in the presence of God, we begin to experience ourselves as part of Creation, as stewards within it, not separate from it."
2. A consistent respect for human life, which extends to respect for all Creation.
The Church approaches the care and protection of the environment from the point of view of the human person. Men and women are created in the image and likeness of God. Fostering and protecting human life and dignity, from conception to natural death, lies at the heart of the Church's social teachings. We now know that respect for human life and respect for nature are inextricably linked. According to Pope Saint Pope John Paul II, "Respect for life and for the dignity of the human person extends also to the rest of Creation, which is called to join man in praising God." Tragically, the reverse is also true: A lack of respect for human life extends also to the rest of Creation.
The womb is the most endangered human environment in the world today. Without life, there is no environment. The right to life precedes every other environmental issue.
3. A world view affirming the ethical significance of global interdependence and the common good.
Recent ecological concerns have heightened our awareness of just how interdependent our world is. According to Pope Saint John Paul II, "Today the ecological crisis has assumed such proportions as to be the responsibility of everyone... Its various aspects demonstrate the need for concerted efforts aimed at establishing duties and obligations that belong to individuals, peoples, states, and the international community."
4. An ethics of solidarity promoting cooperation and a just structure of sharing in the world community -
We are all part of one human family - whatever our national, racial, religious, economic, or ideological differences. Solidarity is a firm and preserving determination to commit oneself to the common good, and a willingness to lose oneself for the sake of others, including future generations. "The ecological crisis," Pope Saint John Paul II had written, "reveals the urgent moral need for a new solidarity, especially in relations between the developing nations and those that are highly industrialized." Solidarity must take into consideration not only the needs of all peoples but also the protection of the environment in view of the good of all. All persons are called to a solidarity of universal dimensions that embraces all of Creation, entrusted to the care of all of us.
5. An understanding of the universal purpose of created things, which requires equitable use of the Earth's resources
God has given the fruit of the earth to sustain the entire human family, including future generations. "The world is given to all, not only to the rich," said Pope Blessed Paul VI. The goods of the earth should be shared in a just and charitable manner.
In the words of Pope Saint John Paul II: It is manifestly unjust that a privileged few should continue to accumulate excess good, squandering available resources, while masses of people are living in conditions of misery at the very lowest level of subsistence. Today, the dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are contrary to the order of Creation, an order that is characterized by mutual interdependence.
We are all part of one human family - whatever our national, racial, religious, economic, or ideological differences. Solidarity is a firm and preserving determination to commit oneself to the common good, and a willingness to lose oneself for the sake of others, including future generations. "The ecological crisis," Pope Saint John Paul II had written, "reveals the urgent moral need for a new solidarity, especially in relations between the developing nations and those that are highly industrialized." Solidarity must take into consideration not only the needs of all peoples but also the protection of the environment in view of the good of all. All persons are called to a solidarity of universal dimensions that embraces all of Creation, entrusted to the care of all of us.
5. An understanding of the universal purpose of created things, which requires equitable use of the Earth's resources
God has given the fruit of the earth to sustain the entire human family, including future generations. "The world is given to all, not only to the rich," said Pope Blessed Paul VI. The goods of the earth should be shared in a just and charitable manner.
In the words of Pope Saint John Paul II: It is manifestly unjust that a privileged few should continue to accumulate excess good, squandering available resources, while masses of people are living in conditions of misery at the very lowest level of subsistence. Today, the dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are contrary to the order of Creation, an order that is characterized by mutual interdependence.
6. A special concern for the poor and vulnerable, which gives passion to the quest for an equitable and sustainable world
While the common good embraces all, those who are weak, vulnerable, and most in need deserve preferential concern. The ecological problem is intimately connected to justice for the poor. "The goods of the Earth, which in the divine plan should be a common patrimony," said Pope Saint John Paul II, "often risk becoming the monopoly of a few who often spoil it and, sometimes, destroy it, thereby creating a loss for all humanity." According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The option for the poor embedded in the Gospel and the Church's teachings makes us aware that the poor suffer most directly from environmental decline and have the least access to relief from their suffering."
Blessed Mother Teresa expressed the option for the poor well when she said, "Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me. Clear."
Our duty is not only to share our wealth, but also to promote the values, institutions, rights, and responsibilities that properly generate wealth, including: respect for life, liberty, appropriately- regulated free market economies, the just rule of law, and a safe and healthful environment.
7. A conception of authentic development, which offers a direction for progress that respects human dignity and the limits of material growth.
Much of the destruction of Creation is caused by sin, including the sins of greed, gluttony, envy, anger, pride, and sloth. These lead to rampant consumerism, haphazard development, social injustice, the indiscriminant application of technology, and environmental destruction.
Pope Saint Pope John Paul II had said, "In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and to grow, man consumes the resources of the Earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way... The mere accumulation of goods and services, even for the benefit of the majority, is not enough for the realization of human happiness."
Instead of limiting ourselves to "sustainable” development, Catholics strive for more: We strive for “authentic” development. Numerous social conditions impact our ability to realize our full human dignity and potential, including: the right to life from conception to natural death, freedom, clean air and water, shelter, health care, education, rewarding employment, the right to establish a family, a healthful environment, and the right to seek and to know God.
+ The above Seven Themes of Ecological Responsibility are based, in part, on the 1991 statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Renewing the Earth.
"Development cannot be limited to mere economic growth. In order to be authentic, it must be complete: integral, that is, it has to promote the good of every person and of the whole person." + Pope Blessed Paul VI, Populorum Pregressio
Discussion questions
Imagine you had to present an argument to the UN for sustainable living on planet.
1. As a group identify the three most important principles for sustainable living, and the three highest priorities for action.
2. Sketch out your arguments and present them to the whole class.
While the common good embraces all, those who are weak, vulnerable, and most in need deserve preferential concern. The ecological problem is intimately connected to justice for the poor. "The goods of the Earth, which in the divine plan should be a common patrimony," said Pope Saint John Paul II, "often risk becoming the monopoly of a few who often spoil it and, sometimes, destroy it, thereby creating a loss for all humanity." According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The option for the poor embedded in the Gospel and the Church's teachings makes us aware that the poor suffer most directly from environmental decline and have the least access to relief from their suffering."
Blessed Mother Teresa expressed the option for the poor well when she said, "Suffering today is because people are hoarding, not giving, not sharing. Jesus made it very clear. Whatever you do to the least of my brethren, you do it to me. Give a glass of water, you give it to me. Receive a little child, you receive me. Clear."
Our duty is not only to share our wealth, but also to promote the values, institutions, rights, and responsibilities that properly generate wealth, including: respect for life, liberty, appropriately- regulated free market economies, the just rule of law, and a safe and healthful environment.
7. A conception of authentic development, which offers a direction for progress that respects human dignity and the limits of material growth.
Much of the destruction of Creation is caused by sin, including the sins of greed, gluttony, envy, anger, pride, and sloth. These lead to rampant consumerism, haphazard development, social injustice, the indiscriminant application of technology, and environmental destruction.
Pope Saint Pope John Paul II had said, "In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and to grow, man consumes the resources of the Earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way... The mere accumulation of goods and services, even for the benefit of the majority, is not enough for the realization of human happiness."
Instead of limiting ourselves to "sustainable” development, Catholics strive for more: We strive for “authentic” development. Numerous social conditions impact our ability to realize our full human dignity and potential, including: the right to life from conception to natural death, freedom, clean air and water, shelter, health care, education, rewarding employment, the right to establish a family, a healthful environment, and the right to seek and to know God.
+ The above Seven Themes of Ecological Responsibility are based, in part, on the 1991 statement of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Renewing the Earth.
"Development cannot be limited to mere economic growth. In order to be authentic, it must be complete: integral, that is, it has to promote the good of every person and of the whole person." + Pope Blessed Paul VI, Populorum Pregressio
Discussion questions
Imagine you had to present an argument to the UN for sustainable living on planet.
1. As a group identify the three most important principles for sustainable living, and the three highest priorities for action.
2. Sketch out your arguments and present them to the whole class.
2. John Paul II (2001). The Ecological Conversion
In the hymn of praise just proclaimed (Psalm 148:1-5), the Psalmist convokes all creatures, calling them by name. Angels, the sun, moon, stars, and skies appear on high; 22 creatures move on earth, as many as the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, to indicate fullness and totality. The faithful is like "the shepherd of the being," namely, the one who leads all beings to God, inviting them to intone an "alleluia" of praise. The Psalm introduces us into what seems a cosmic temple, which has the heavens as apse and the regions of the world as naves, and in whose interior the choir of creatures sings to God.
This vision could be the representation both of a lost paradise as well as that of the promised paradise. In fact, the horizon of a heavenly universe, presented by Genesis (Chapter 2) at the very origins of the world, is placed by Isaiah (Chapter 11), and the Apocalypse (Chapters 21-22) at the end of history. Thus is seen the harmony of man with his fellow creatures, with creation and with God, which is the plan willed by the Creator. This plan was and is continually upset by human sin, which is inspired in an alternative plan, portrayed in the Book of Genesis itself (Chapters 3-11), which describes the affirmation of a progressive conflictual tension with God, with one’s fellow men, and even with nature.
This vision could be the representation both of a lost paradise as well as that of the promised paradise. In fact, the horizon of a heavenly universe, presented by Genesis (Chapter 2) at the very origins of the world, is placed by Isaiah (Chapter 11), and the Apocalypse (Chapters 21-22) at the end of history. Thus is seen the harmony of man with his fellow creatures, with creation and with God, which is the plan willed by the Creator. This plan was and is continually upset by human sin, which is inspired in an alternative plan, portrayed in the Book of Genesis itself (Chapters 3-11), which describes the affirmation of a progressive conflictual tension with God, with one’s fellow men, and even with nature.
The contrast between the two plans emerges clearly in the vocation to which, according to the Bible, humanity is called and in the consequences caused by his infidelity to that call. The human creature receives a mission of government over creation to make all its potential shine. It is a delegation attributed by the divine King at the very origins of creation, when man and woman, who are the "image of God" (Genesis 1:27), received the order to be fruitful, to multiply, to fill the earth, to subjugate it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and over every living being that crawls on the earth (see Genesis 1:28). St. Gregory of Nyssa, one of the three great Cappadocian Fathers, commented: "God made man in such a way that he could develop his function as king of the earth. Man was created in the image of him who governs the universe. Everything reveals that from the beginning his nature is marked by royalty. He is the living image who participates in his dignity in the perfection of the divine model" (De Hominis Opificio, 4: PG 44,136).
Yet, man’s lordship is not "absolute, but ministerial: it is a real reflection of the unique and infinite lordship of God. Hence man must exercise it with wisdom and love, sharing in the boundless wisdom and love of God" (Evangelium Vitae, No. 52). In biblical language, "to name" creatures (see Genesis 2:19-20) is the sign of this mission of knowledge and transformation of created reality. It is not the mission of an absolute and uncensurable master, but of a minister of the Kingdom of God, called to continue the work of the Creator, a work of life and peace. His responsibility, defined in the Book of Wisdom, is to govern "the world in holiness and justice" (Wisdom 9:3). However, if one looks at the regions of our planet, one realizes immediately that humanity has disappointed the divine expectation. Above all in our time, man has unhesitatingly devastated wooded plains and valleys, polluted the waters, deformed the earth’s habitat, made the air unbreathable, upset the hydrogeological and atmospheric systems, blighted green spaces, implemented uncontrolled forms of industrialization, humiliating—to use an image of Dante Alighieri (Paradiso, XXII, 151)—the earth, that flower-bed that is our dwelling.
It is necessary, therefore, to stimulate and sustain the "ecological conversion," which over these last decades has made humanity more sensitive when facing the catastrophe toward which it was moving. Man is no longer "minister" of the Creator. However, as an autonomous despot, he is understanding that he must finally stop before the abyss. "Another welcome sign is the growing attention being paid to the ’quality of life’ and to ’ecology’, especially in more developed societies, where people’s expectations are no longer concentrated so much on problems of survival as on the search for an overall improvement of living conditions" (Evangelium Vitae, 27). Therefore, not only is a "physical" ecology at stake, attentive to safeguarding the habitat of different living beings, but also a "human" ecology that will render the life of creatures more dignified, protecting the radical good of life in all its manifestations and preparing an environment for future generations that is closer to the plan of the Creator.
In this newfound harmony with nature and with themselves, men and women will once again walk in the garden of creation, seeking to make the goods of the earth available to all and not just to the privileged few, exactly as the biblical Jubilee suggested (see Leviticus 25:8-13,23). In the midst of those wonders we discover the voice of the Creator, transmitted by heaven and earth, day and night: a language "without words whose sound is heard," capable of crossing all frontiers (see Psalm 19 [18]:2-5). The Book of Wisdom, echoed by Paul, celebrates this presence of God in the universe, recalling that "from the greatness and beauty of creatures, by analogy, the Creator is contemplated" (Wisdom 13:5; see Romans 1:20). This is what the Jewish tradition of the Hasidim also sings: "You are wherever I go! You are wherever I stop ... wherever I turn, wherever I admire, only You, again You, always You" (M. Buber, I Racconti dei Chassidim, Milan 1979, p. 256).
General Audience Address, January 17, 2001. © Copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Source: http://conservation.catholic.org/index.htm
Discussion questions:
1. How does Pope John Paul II understand the line in Genesis 1:28 to "subdue" the earth and have "dominion" over the creatures?
2. "Humans are part of nature and so nothing we do can harm nature." Is there any truth to this? In groups discuss this statement. Present a summary of your discussion to whole class.
In this newfound harmony with nature and with themselves, men and women will once again walk in the garden of creation, seeking to make the goods of the earth available to all and not just to the privileged few, exactly as the biblical Jubilee suggested (see Leviticus 25:8-13,23). In the midst of those wonders we discover the voice of the Creator, transmitted by heaven and earth, day and night: a language "without words whose sound is heard," capable of crossing all frontiers (see Psalm 19 [18]:2-5). The Book of Wisdom, echoed by Paul, celebrates this presence of God in the universe, recalling that "from the greatness and beauty of creatures, by analogy, the Creator is contemplated" (Wisdom 13:5; see Romans 1:20). This is what the Jewish tradition of the Hasidim also sings: "You are wherever I go! You are wherever I stop ... wherever I turn, wherever I admire, only You, again You, always You" (M. Buber, I Racconti dei Chassidim, Milan 1979, p. 256).
General Audience Address, January 17, 2001. © Copyright Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Source: http://conservation.catholic.org/index.htm
Discussion questions:
1. How does Pope John Paul II understand the line in Genesis 1:28 to "subdue" the earth and have "dominion" over the creatures?
2. "Humans are part of nature and so nothing we do can harm nature." Is there any truth to this? In groups discuss this statement. Present a summary of your discussion to whole class.