From the Coalition

Blessed Pope John Paul II: Caring for God’s Creation

This past Sunday, May 1, Pope John Paul II was officially beatified in the final step before canonization into Sainthood.  To mark this joyous occasion, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change recalls that Pope John Paul II prophetically addressed climate change in both his 1990 and 1999 World Day of Peace Messages:

1990: The gradual depletion of the ozone layer and the related 'greenhouse effect' has now reached crisis proportions as a consequence of industrial growth, massive urban concentrations and vastly increased energy needs. Industrial waste, the burning of fossil fuels, unrestricted deforestation, the use of certain types of herbicides, coolants and propellants: all of these are known to harm the atmosphere and environment. The resulting meteorological and atmospheric changes range from damage to health to the possible future submersion of low-lying lands. #6

1999: The danger of serious damage to land and sea, and to the climate, flora and fauna, calls for a profound change in modern civilization's typical consumer life-style, particularly in the richer countries. #10

For more on the creation care legacy of Blessed Pope John Paul II, we invite you to browse “Pope John Paul II and the Environment” a compilation from the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Conservation Center. 

From Catholic Climate Ambassadors

Two New "Climate Change Ambassadors" Affirmed by Diocese of San Jose

The Diocese of San Jose recognizes and promotes two area Catholic Climate Ambassadors on its website:
Dr. Anthony Stawa and Lindsey Cromwell Kalkbrenner, members of our Catholic Green Initiative in the Diocese of San Jose have recently received training and commissioning to be among 24 national "Climate Change Ambassadors." 
Read more here.  Learn more about the Catholic Green Initiative in the Diocese of San Jose here. 
To contact a Catholic Climate Ambassador for an event in your region go here.

Story: From Schools

Northern Neighbors Polish Green Credentials

This week we bring you two stories of how Catholic schools in Canada are embracing Care for Creation in big ways!

Green Fair with Toronto-Area Catholic Schools
The first Scarborough Green Fair is taking place this weekend and it's a big one.
Originally developed by teachers, parents and students at St. Agatha's Catholic School, the event has grown to include Blessed Cardinal Newman High school, Jean Vanier Catholic Secondary School and is being presented in partnership with Live Green Toronto, Biodiversity Education and Awareness Network, Toronto and Region Conservation, Evergreen and Toronto Zoo. "We wanted to teach the students and the community the importance of the environment and how to take care of it," said Liza Tilander, one of the St. Agatha parents involved in the planning.  A lot of work has gone into planning the event to show people not only how they can be greener, but also why they should make greener choices.
Read more, and get ideas for planning your own school “green fair” here.

Catholic School Honored at Environmental Awards Breakfast
St. Andrew Catholic School in North Oakville, Ontario was recently honored at the Regional Chair’s Environmental Awards breakfast.  St. Andrew Catholic School has been awarded other recognition for its commitment to care for the environment:
St. Andrew has won numerous prestigious awards for environmental initiatives including Gold certification as one of Ontario’s eco-schools as well as the Halton Regional Chair Environmental Award.
St. Andrew Catholic School's story is also decribed in this article: "Environmental Education Woven into the Curriculum":
In the days leading up to Earth Hour on March 26 students at St. Andrew Catholic Elementary School in Oakville share their environmental success stories. Chiara English, 8, has been learning about the environment from the time she started kindergarten at St. Andrew.
Learn more about how St. Andrew Catholic School is working to care for God’s good gift of Creation, including an “Eco-News” section in each monthly Newsletter.

From a Coalition Member: NCRLC

For Reflection: "The 'Good' and the Environment"

In a recent article for Coalition member National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Father Bud Grant, Assistant Professor of Theology at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, considers the questions:

+What makes environmental ethics peculiarly Christian?
+What makes this Christian environmental ethic uniquely Catholic?
+And now finally, how can this Catholic Christian environmental ethic of sacramental redistributive suffering manifest itself in our nation’s rural communities and farms?

Fr. Grant especially considers the role of sacrifice in caring for God’s Creation, and concludes:
To do and pursue good necessitates suffering motivated by love. Specifically, it requires that the yoke of suffering shift from the earth and the marginalized to those of us who have reaped the bounty of excess. This is no doomsday vision, no gloomy punishment. The suffering of Christ is redemptive and ends, not in death, but resurrection. So too ours…happiness, perfection, the good, is found not by avoiding sacrifice, but through it.
Read the entire article here.