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Apr 4, 2017

Pope Francis: What is Integral Human Development?

The Holy Father offered a beautiful catechesis today on what it means to be human

Pope Francis spoke to a gathering in the Vatican's Synod Hall today in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of Paul VI's encyclical Populorum Progressio. The pontiff used the occasion to not only underscore the unity across the decades in papal teachings. He also offered one of the most succinct and moving summaries of his priorities for the Church.

Playing of the word "to integrate”, a verb, he said, that is "very dear to me," Pope Francis drew definitive connections between Paul VI's encyclical and Laudato Si'. He also highlighted many of his pontificate's most powerful themes, such as his displeasure with disposability (of people and resources), as well as his desire to bring together disparate elements of the human condition.

"[H]uman life is like an orchestra that sounds good if the different instruments are in accord and follow a score shared by all," he said.

Today's address is a wonderful little mini-manifesto. While it will only take a few moments to read, you might ponder its implications for another fifty years.

Address of the Holy Father

Audience with the participants in the Convention organized by the Dicastery for...

Mar 28, 2017

Trump’s executive order: proving Pope Francis right

Laudato Si’ has a lot to say about President Trump’s nod to fossil fuels. But maybe not the way we're thinking.

“There are certain environmental issues where it is not easy to achieve a broad consensus. Here I would state once more that the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics. But I am concerned to encourage an honest and open debate so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good.” + Pope Francis, Laudato Si’, 188

President Donald Trump did again today: provoking rounds of applause in some corners and cries of despair in others. For those of us at environmental regulatory agencies, there was a lot of head shaking and head nodding as details of his executive order hit the wires.

Among other acts, the Presidential Executive Order on Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth strikes down a number of climate and energy-related executive orders signed by President Obama. It requires agency reviews of a selection of energy and emissions-related regulations, and, importantly, it demands that federal cost-benefit analyses follow 2003 standards set by the Office of Management and Budget, “which was issued after peer review and public comment and has been widely accepted for more than a decade as embodying the best practices for...

Mar 21, 2017

World Water Day: a matter of faith

The Church and the world stop to ponder, celebrate, and worry over the waters of our world

Then God said: Let the water under the sky be gathered into a single basin, so that the dry land may appear. And so it happened: the water under the sky was gathered into its basin, and the dry land appeared. God called the dry land “earth,” and the basin of water he called “sea.” God saw that it was good. …

Then God said: Let the water teem with an abundance of living creatures, and on the earth let birds fly beneath the dome of the sky.

God created the great sea monsters and all kinds of crawling living creatures with which the water teems, and all kinds of winged birds. God saw that it was good, and God blessed them, saying: Be fertile, multiply, and fill the water of the seas

Genesis 1:9-10, 20-22

In contrast to the great biblical revelation of the goodness of our world’s waters, and of all that lives in them, there is the tale of the human treatment of our oceans, bays, rivers, and all the little bodies of water that trickle here and there. This tale tells of dumping tons of plastic wastes...

Mar 16, 2017

The case for just transitions

For Catholics, protecting workers, families is critical when transitioning to renewable energy

The United States based Catholic Climate Covenant is tackling a critical issue on March 23rd with its free webinar “Just Transition: Shrinking our Carbon Footprint While Leaving No One Behind.” As the title tells us, the one-hour event will focus on the human impact of shifting away from fossil fuels.

“For the Catholic community, we need to always be 'both/and,'” said the organization’s executive director, Dan Misleh. “We need to both take care of our common home and those impacted by our efforts to conserve energy and deploy renewables. Catholic Climate Covenant offers this webinar to begin these important discussions.”

Misleh added that as Catholics “we know that striving for clean energy has to include caring for the workers being affected by shifts in energy policies. It’s just a part of who we are.”

Guided by the United States bishops

At its foundation, next week’s webinar follows the lead of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Their “Legislative Response to Climate Change” identifies three criteria that any morally acceptable greenhouse gas reduction or energy policy must satisfy.

First, it must “ease the burden on poor people.”

Second, it must “offer some relief for...

Mar 14, 2017

The eco-pope at year four

Pope Francis has supercharged his predecessor’s eco-teachings, but not everyone is on board

At the four-year anniversary of the pontificate of Pope Francis, there's much to celebrate, much to ponder, and a couple of concerns.

There were worries in the Catholic eco-sphere when Benedict XVI, the Green Pope, announced his abdication of the papacy in 2013. Would the next pope continue his teaching on environmental protection? Would the Vatican continue its sustainability mission?

I was certain that Benedict’s predecessor wouldn’t disappoint us, but I didn’t expect the far-reaching impact of Pope Francis.

From his homily at the Mass of his installation, on the Feast of Saint Joseph, to Laudato Si’ and onward to this very day, Pope Francis has firmly engrained ecology within the life of Catholic Social Teaching.

Just a few months into his pontificate, Francis introduced what would become a central theme to his eco-teachings and his understanding of the global human condition. At his June 5th, 2013 General Audience, he spoke of the “culture of waste” in a way that seamlessly linked with his predecessors' teachings, and that would foreshadow the concept of integral ecology that two years later would take flight in Laudato Si’.

Then in November of that year he wove ecology...

Mar 2, 2017

Kicking off #Mercy2Earth

The convergence of Divine Mercy Sunday and Earth Day weekend offers much to ponder and pray for this Lent

As always one step ahead, the Global Catholic Climate Movement announced this week that this year's Lenten journey takes on special meaning with Earth Day landing squarely one day before the great Feast of Divine Mercy, celebrated the Sunday after Easter. This will make the weekend of April 22nd and 23rd a special time for Catholic ecologists—one we can begin preparing the way for right now.

According to the GCCM, #Mercy2Earth is a global campaign to encourage Catholics to reflect and act on Pope Francis’s September 1st 2016 message “Show Mercy to our Common Home.” The campaign is structured around Lent as a time of preparation and the weekend of Divine Mercy and Earth Day as a special time to act.

Midway between now and Divine Mercy Sunday is World Water Day, during which Catholics are being asked to fast in reparation of our social and ecological sins, and to “pray for ourselves and the ways that we have failed in caring for creation and for our neighbors.” Prayers that day will also be for world and local leaders, that they be graced with “the moral courage to protect our precious bodies...

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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.