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Jun 5, 2011

Battle lines are drawn in Goa, India

News from India demonstrates how the Church relates ecological concerns and human dignity. The news is about concerns over damage being done by excessive mining in India’s smallest state of Goa.

From CathNewsIndia and the Times of India come stories about Fr Maverick Fernandes, the director of Council of Social Justice and Peace for the Church in Goa, India. From the CathNewsIndia story:

Excessive mining in Goa is proving to be a grave threat to the ecologically-sensitive Western Ghats, the church warned in its World Environment Day message June 4.
“Mining, deforestation and aggressive promotion of eco-tourism by the government was eating into Goa’s green cover,”said Father Maverick Fernandes in a statement.
“The contents of the proposed Goa State Forest Policy, 2011, require a serious overhaul as there are several fundamental issues,” he said.
“Goa’s forests are under attack due to iron and manganese ore minimg, indicating that among the greater threat to the entire Western Ghats is mining in Goa,” Fernandes said.
Notably, the Time of India quotes...
Jun 1, 2011

"He Ascended into Heaven . . ."

In celebrating the Feast of the Ascension, Catholics proclaim the great promise of Christ: Our final end, if it is to be with God, will not be as mere souls, but as souls reunited with our bodies—then glorified.


After all, to be human means to have a body and a soul. To be fully human in Christ does require us to choose being one or the other. Christ, the firstfruits, shows us His promise for the human race in his own Resurrection and Ascension: The reunification of body and soul, joined in perfection.

This is why we Catholics do not reject the material world. We don’t see it as something from which we must escape. From the beginning, the Church has fought tendencies that would spiritualize the faith. The material world means something, because God Himself brought it into existence.

For the Catholic ecologist, the Ascension is a time to reflect with renewed vigor the importance of creation, and our need to nurture and steward it.

As the opening prayer at the Vigil Mass said...
May 27, 2011

Moonlight becomes you

Nature is almost foolproof at boosting your mood and self-esteem. And, amazingly, it only takes five minutes.
So we read in this msn.com story, which covers a report by Professor Jules Pretty and colleagues at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. The story notes that Dr. Pretty’s work
analyzed findings from 10 separate studies that measured self-esteem and mood after people engaged in "green exercise": cycling, walking, running, gardening, farming, and water-based activities like fishing or sailing. In each of the studies, participants' self-esteem and mood were measured before and after the activities using a standard psychological test. The Essex researchers also assessed study variables such as exposure time outdoors, exercise intensity, type of green space (urban parks, rural setting, forest, and so forth), as well as subjects' age and mental-health status.
Regardless of what they were doing or where they were doing it, all subjects saw improvements in self-esteem and mood after exercising outdoors. People saw the greatest self-esteem changes while doing light-intensity exercise and after being outside for just five minutes. The biggest...
May 25, 2011

Joplin needs love, not debate

  After the Storm: St. Mary's Catholic Church, Joplin
From the Diocese of Springfield website.
Ecology is more about climate than it is about weather. And while nature has been vicious of late—leading some to speculate why—when a single weather event causes so much damage to so many, one must momentarily step away from the science and share in the suffering of the moment. This is what it means to be human.

Of course, many are using the recent tornado outbreaks (or floods, or droughts) as "proof" of climate change. But single events, or even a season's trends, is not what climate researchers look at. What they examine is the trends of many years—of decades and centuries.

But that's a discussion for another moment. For now, let us continue the millennia-old trend of the Church: Giving to those in need. Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy are needed now, not debate.

And...
May 22, 2011

Water and the fifth Sunday of Easter

Remembering our Baptism on this, the fifth Sunday of Easter, we also remember the need of water for all life, eternal and earthy.

Lord God almighty,

hear the prayers of your people:
we celebrate our creation and redemption.
Hear our prayers and bless this water
which gives fruitfulness to the fields,
and refreshment and cleansing to all.
You chose water to show your goodness
when you led your people to freedom
through the Red Sea
and satisfied their thirst in the desert
with water from the rock.
Water was the symbol used by the prophets
to foretell your new covenant with man.
You made the water of baptism holy
by Christ’s baptism in the Jordan:
by it you give us a new birth
and renew us in holiness.
May this water remind us of our baptism,
and let us share the joy
of all who have been baptized at Easter.
We ask this through Christ our Lord....
May 21, 2011

B16, space station astronauts make history

Faith, humanity, science and creation intersected today as Pope Benedict XVI became the first pontiff to speak to an international crew in outer space.

The Telegraph has a good take on the exchange. Here’s a portion:

"When we look up at the limitless heavens and meditate on the creation of it all, we are struck by the mysteries of His greatness. In the midst of your intense work and research, do you ever stop and reflect like this, perhaps even to say a prayer to the creator?"
Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori told him that he did, and floated a silver medallion coin in the weightlessness of space, given to him by the Pope prior to his launch from Florida aboard the shuttle Endeavour last week. The medallion depicts Michelangelo's Creation of Man. Astronaut Paolo Nespoli, who returns to Earth next week after five months on the ISS, will return the memento - which will have flown more than three million miles by the time it gets back to Earth - to the Vatican.
In a...

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About the Blog

Catholic Ecology posts my regular column in the Rhode Island Catholic, as well as scientific and theological commentary about the latest eco-news, both within and outside of the Catholic Church. What is contained herein is but one person's attempt to teach and defend the Church's teachings - ecological and otherwise. As such, I offer all contents of this blog for approval of the bishops of the Church. It is my hope that nothing herein will lead anyone astray from truth.