Bishops From Around the World
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.
"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. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is the permanent observer of the Vatican at the United Nations in Geneva.
"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
"Sustainable development, in fact, requires policies which aim at establishing an effective combination of three fundamental principles:
- the unique dignity and the inalienable rights of every human person,
- the unity of humankind, constituted as a single family, within which all of us share in responsibility and solidarity for others,
- the unity of all of 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
VATICAN (CWN) -- Speaking to a United Nations meeting on the environment and
development, Archbishop Renato Martino-- 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, 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
"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
"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."
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
"There is a saying in the region [Appalachia] 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."
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
"...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."
"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 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."
"Creation is the dwelling of the life-giving Spirit of God, just as the Word dwells in the humanity of Jesus."
"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."
"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."
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."
"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).
"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
"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
"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 snowcapped 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."
"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. Rom 8:22). 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.
Vatican (CWN) -- 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)
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
"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
"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
"...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."
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
"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,
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 judgment 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
Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of This Land is Home to Me, from the Catholic
Bishops of Appalachia, Promulgated December 15, 1995. © 2000 Catholic
Committee of Appalachia
"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
Strong pressure groups from overseas, through their local representatives, tell us that the first thing Zimbabweans must do is to have fewer children. We keep hearing a very simple message: Have plenty of children and remain poor, cut down on children and be prosperous....We do not say "The more people, the better". The world population has grown within the last 150 years more than ever before in human history. In the last hundred years the population of Zimbabwe has increased at least tenfold. We may be lagging behind in building enough schools, hospitals, social services, workplaces, houses, means of transport etc. for all of them. But if people are our main concern, we will not say "Have fewer people". Fewer people will not build more houses, hospitals, schools. People are not so much a threat and a danger to the earth's resources. They are a resource themselves....We are told that our land cannot support our population by people who consume much greater amounts of energy, water, and most other resources than we do. From a global perspective, the developed nations have as much reason to question their excessive consumption as the developing nations have to ask how they can feed their people....The question is not one of production (Do we produce enough for all?) but of distribution (Who has access to what is being produced?)....We propose, instead of a population policy, a family policy, i.e. a campaign to restore family life, considering that the family is the heart of our culture, 'the basic unit of society' and the "domestic church".
--April 1997
Mother Nature
"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.
Human Irresponsibility
In the past year the Hearings on Poverty have highlighted the serious injustices perpetuated against poor people through the deterioration of the environment. We have learnt from people's submissions about the massive health problems millions of people are facing as a result of the dumping of hazardous waste next to their homes. Such waste is contaminating the air and poisoning water supplies.
We have learnt how overcrowding in poor restricted living conditions has resulted in the violation of nature in both rural and urban areas. Overgrazing the land and cutting down trees for energy and industrial purposes are some of the causes for our massive soil erosion. Workers in mines, industries and farms have become ill, some have even died as the result of exposure to chemicals.
While recognizing the increase in the number of homes that now have access to water and energy, we call for extra efforts to bring these resources to those communities who still lack them; and we appeal that all further development in the country be done in environmentally sustainable ways.
Communities in overpopulated urban and informal settlements some times live where air pollution is above acceptable international health standards. People become sick because there is no clean water, and because sewerage and waste management is still totally inadequate.
We Can Change
All damage to the environment is a grave problem which calls for prompt and creative response. Many interested groups and non-governmental organizations are committed to the task of drawing up and spreading information on environmental issues. They are working towards the development of responsible stewardship and appreciation of creation.
We are particularly pleased with the new policy on the environment which the government has adopted in the National Environmental Management Act, 1998. We believe this policy is a major step forward in achieving environmentally sustainable development.
We urge all the faithful to become familiar with the new legislation and with the Church's teaching on environment. We also encourage all to do whatever is possible to make these known to others: by organizing workshops, information sessions and talks, and through the use of liturgies and homilies.
We also call upon individuals, parishes, associations, dioceses, and especially youth movements to participate actively in the nationwide effort to ensure that principles and norms contained in the law and Church teaching are implemented.
Finally, we commend the work that is being carried out in the Church by individuals and groups already active in awareness campaigns inspired and/or commissioned by the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference. 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."
--Pastoral Statement on the Environmental Crisis, September 5, 1999
"The Montana Catholic Conference supports policies that:
Our respect for creation is a demonstration
of our reverence for God and respect for life itself. This is especially
true of air, land, and water--resources intimately connected with food
production.
We advocate the reduction of material goods consumption in
this country and the adoption of environmentally sound technological
alternatives to protect God's creation. Protecting the environment
protects the common good of humanity--now and for future generations."
--Montana Catholic Conference Website
"Respect for the integrity of creation
is a central component of Church teaching. "Use of
mineral, vegetable and animal resources cannot be divorced from respect for
moral imperatives." The integrity of the ecosystem within
which human life exists is vital to our very survival, to the well-being of
future generations, and to respect for the work of God.
Creation itself provides the primary source from which all
life flows. Within creation all life forms are interconnected. Our actions, the
things we use, the way we use them and the wastes we produce need to respect the
integrity of this creation. The Bible tells us in its account of the creation of
the world that "God saw that it was good."
It is also in keeping with the traditions of the Mãori of Aotearoa that we need
to respect the sacredness of creation, as partners in life with the earth, the
oceans, the lakes, the animal world, the mountains, the fish of the sea and the
birds in our forests and gardens. From such sources, balanced by the
infinite hand of God, we draw all life and nourishment. Without them we
face death."
--A Consistent Ethic of Life, April 17, 1997
"The story of creation in the book of Genesis shows the profound regard that God had for all the things he created. Genesis very simply states after each one of God's creations that 'it was good.'
The pinnacle of that creation is the human person -- man and woman, made in the image and likeness of God. To demonstrate how exalted their position was in the world order, Genesis states that 'Adam,' the first man, gave names to all the animals, a sign of the dominion that mankind possesses over other creatures. Dominion, by its very nature, means proper use and not misuse. In light of this, children must learn at an early age that the key perspective that should characterize their relationship to other created beings -- living and non-living -- is summed up in the word 'stewardship.'
Each of us is called to be a steward, or caretaker, of the many blessings God has given to us. These gifts have been provided for us by a loving God, and we are meant to use them wisely by placing them at the service of our fellow human beings and the overall common good.
With an understanding of this concept of stewardship, students will appreciate the fact that human dominion over other creatures is not absolute. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, this dominion 'is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation' (CCC 2415)....
Students must learn to appreciate the gifts of the environment as well as the responsibility that people have to protect and promote these gifts. Pope John Paul II applauded ecological concerns among other pro-life work in his encyclical letter Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life). Some environmental matters need little in the way of further focus or attention, because they are frequently covered by today's media. They include topics such as global warming, recycling, and resource conservation, to name a few.
The same attention, and even more, should be given to the preservation of the human race as the pinnacle of creation by God. Students must come to appreciate the real issues and arguments surrounding topics such as overpopulation, while at the same time respecting the Church's teaching regarding the sanctity of all human life and the difficulties associated with moral decisions that would involve forced sterilization and artificial contraception....
The proper balance, therefore, must be struck in any discussion of matters affecting ecology and the environment. Appreciation and indeed respect for all living things and the many blessings God has given us cannot ignore the prime gift, without which all the others would be impossible: the gift of human life."
--MORAL CONSIDERATIONS IN REVIEWING PUBLIC SCHOOL CURRICULA, Guidelines for Catholic Board Members, Parents and Teachers in Public Schools, December, 1995
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