Care of the Earth moves higher on the Churches' Agenda

Sean McDonagh SSC

A Declaration on the Environment was signed in Venice in June 2002 by Pope John Paul II and the Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew. This is the latest indication that concern for the degradation of the planet is now firmly established as one of the Churches' major concerns in the contemporary world. The declaration came during a tour of the Adriatic Sea led by Patriarch Bartholomew I. Since 1997 Bartholomew, who has become known as the 'green' Patriarch, has led an annual environmental seminar. In 1997 he, and a number of religious leaders and scientists, took a boat trip on the Black Sea. The participants had direct experience, at first hand, the damage that humans are doing to the planet. This once rich sea has been devastated by agricultural and industrial waste, created locally, and draining in from the Danube during the past 50 years. The purpose of that floating seminar by Patriarch Bartholomew was to identify the environmental problems and signal to Christians that they have an important stewardship role to play in both healing and protecting the planet. It also underscores that solutions to environmental issues will only come when scientist, religious leaders and politicians work together to find solutions.

On the Catholic side it is important to put this latest document in a historical context. That way one realizes how far the Catholic Church has come on this issue during the past 20 years. In October this year we will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the opening of Vatican 11. Despite its great achievement in bringing the Catholic Church into the modem world and reconnecting us with the scriptures one cannot argue that the bishops understanding of the world was grounded in an ecological vision of reality. Sadly, the Council Fathers were not sensitive to the ecological crisis even though a scientist like Rachel Carson had raised serious questions about persistent and toxic chemicals like DDT in her book Silent Spring that was published in April 1962~ Maybe if there were

more women present that extraordinary oversight would not have happened! Many of the documents of Vatican II subscribe to a 'domination' theology. It assumes that the natural world exists exclusively for humankind's use.

Similarly, our social justice teaching has been excessively human-centered. Any fair commentator would acknowledge the role that Catholic social teaching has played in protecting human rights and promoting social justice within nations and in the international arena during the past 100 years. But, this tradition was blind to the reality of environmental destruction. Populorum Progressio, published in the late 1960s, still contains some of the best Catholic teaching on development. Sadly, it is silent about the negative impact of industrialization on the biosphere. In No. 25 it espouses the hubris of man-the-transformer when it resolutely states that the introduction of industry is necessary for economic growth and human development; it is a sign of development and contributes to it. By persistent work and the use of his intelligence man gradually wrests nature's secrets from her and finds a better application for her riches. The environment did not make an appearance in a social justice papal encyclical until 1988 when 3 paragraphs devoted to environmental degradation were inserted into Sollicitudo Rei Socialis at a late state in the drafting. The tension of attempting to drive a square plug into a round hole is evident in the final text. The ideas in the environmental section are at variance with the more exclusively human-centered concerns that are central to the rest of the encyclical.

In 1900 the first papal document devoted exclusively to the environmental crisis was published. It is called Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all Creation. It appeared on January 1st 1900. In No. 15 the Pope declares that for "Christians, in particular, their responsibility within creation and their duty towards nature and the Creator are an essential part of their faith. As a result they are conscious of a vast field of ecumenical and inter-religious cooperation opening up before them."  Unfortunately, very few Catholics, including clergy, have ever heard of this document. It is often said that Catholic social teaching is the Catholic Church's best kept secret. Teaching on the environment is even less well known.

On January 17th 2001 Pope John Paul II spoke even more stridently about the destruction that humankind have wreaked on planet earth, especially during the past 100 years. He said that "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, humilitating - to use an image of Dante Alighieri
- the earth, the flower-bed that is our dwelling". In the face of such a catalogue of potential disasters the Pope said that it was imperative to stimulate and sustain an "ecological conversion".

The Venice Declaration repeats many of these points. Justice and Peace is now always connected to environmental degradation. The first paragraph states that "we are saddened to see the daily suffering of a great number of people from violence, starvation, poverty and disease. We are also concerned about the negative consequences for humanity and for all creation resulting from the degradation of some basic natural resources such as water, air and land, brought about by an economic and technological progress which does not recognize and take into account its limits."

Another theme that is highlighted is the power and limits of science and technology. There is a clear awareness of the dark side of technology and consequently there is a caution not to develop technologies that might do harm to human life and the environment. We need to "use science and technology in a full and constructive way, which recognizing that the findings of science have always to be evaluated in the light of the centrality of the human person, of the common good, and of the inner purposes of creation". Those opposed to nuclear power and genetically engineered organisms will feel supported by this more nuanced understanding of the role of science and technology.

The document also insists that there will not be an improvement in lives of people and the planet unless ethical concerns are given as much weight as economic, political and technological ones. They state that the  "problem is not simply economic and technological; it is moral and spiritual".

Most agencies dealing with the environment in Ireland - County Councils, An Bórd Pleánala and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have no ethical policy and, to date, have not seen the need for one.

Finally, the document reiterates the teaching of the pope in Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all Creation. It calls people in the First World to turn away from our unjust and destructive consumer culture. "A solution at the economic and technological level can be found only if  we undergo, in the most radical way, an inner change of heart, which can lead to a change in lifestyle and of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production.

Both the content and frequency of teaching on the environment has increased dramatically in all the Christian Churches during the past 20 years. In many ways the World Council of Churches gave the lead in the 1980s when it developed its Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation model of combining concern for injustice among people, like Third World debt, with environmental concerns such as global warming.

One might ask is the message getting through to Christians and the wider society. Some times I wonder! The May-June 2002 edition of Wild Ireland carried a review of my latest book Why are we Deaf to the Cry of the Earth. The reviewer began her critique by saying, "When I read the back of  this book, I made a lot of assumptions, the most wrong-headed being that because the author is a Columban missionary priest, the book would not be of interest to me - that it must be about spirituality and, though I had to admit it, I guessed it would not have much to do with 'the real world.  I presumed it would be void of real facts on the environment or on global issues. I was wrong. This is an excellent introduction to many environmental issues both global and local..."

So, even though Christian teaching on the environment has improved dramatically in the past two decades we are not communicating this message to the world. A sympathetic reviewer, well versed in environmental issues felt that a church person had nothing useful to say on the environment. This means we have quite a task ahead of us in our efforts to share Christian teaching on the environment with others in a more creative way.

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