FROM The Director

1981 Bishops' Energy Statement Continues to Offer Guidance

At some level, all environmental issues raise moral questions.  In April 1981, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Social Development and World Peace (now the Committee on Justice Peace and Human Development) recognized the moral questions surrounding fossil fuel extraction and use, nuclear energy, renewable energy, climate change and impacts of all of these issues on people in poverty at home and abroad.  To help guide Catholics in thinking about these issues in light of Catholic social teaching, they released, Reflections on the Energy Crisis. 

The bishops do not offer specific answers but rather raise important moral questions.  The statement remains a helpful guide in reflecting on these ongoing issues as well as new and more specific issues faced today including the Keystone XL Pipeline controversy, oil from tar sands, and the process of hydraulic fracturing to release natural gas in many places around the U.S.  To access the document, click here.

He has been raised!  Alleluia!  We pray that you fully celebrated the passion, death and glorious resurrection of our Savior and are renewed in spirit. 

Sirius Radio Interview with Director April 19

This Thursday, April 19 at 8:40 EST, I will join Fr. Dave Dwyer for a 20-minute conversation on the Busted Halo radio show.  Tune-in to SiriusXM Radio (The Catholic Channel - 129) to learn more about how the Coalition is reaching out to young adults.

FROM A DIOCESE

 San Jose Prepares for Earth Day

A few weeks ago we reported that the Diocese of San Jose's Bishop Patrick McGrath urged all Catholics to take and/or renew their commitment to the St. Francis Pledge for Earth Day (April 22) this year.  To encourage parishioners, the Diocese’s Catholic Green Initiative has produced a video in which Bishop McGrath discusses the Pledge:

[W]e have seen how environmental degradation and climate change are affecting God’s creation, including people here and all over the world.  This is a particular tragedy because it is the poorest and most vulnerable who suffer the worst—event though they have contributed the last to these problems. 

It is fitting that one earth day, April 22, we ask our parishioners to renew their commitment to the St. Francis Pledge.  Our Catholic social justice teaching impresses upon us that nature is not something to exploit; rather is God’s creation to preserve.  We are called to celebrate the splendor of God’s handiwork, to be good stewards of creation, and to safeguard the integrity of all that God has made.  Please prayerfully consider how you can join us in this important initiative.

FROM THE PHILIPPINES

Filipino Priest Wins Environmental Award

The Union of Catholic Asian News, reports that Fr. Gariguez, executive secretary of the National Secretariat for Social Action of the bishops’ conference in the Philippines . . . has won a Goldman Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for environmental campaigners.

Fr. Gariguez offered the prize to the Mangyan indigenous people of the province of Mindoro whose care for the Earth inspired him in his work.  Said Fr. Gariguez, For them nature is likened to a womb that sustains us with life. I come to understand that what is at stake in the campaign is the survival of the earth ecology, of which we are merely a part.

Fr. Gariguez also reiterated the Catholic position that the concerns of the poor and vulnerable should take precedence over corporate greed. Genuine development should prioritize the need to ensure ecological sustainability over market profitability. We should never sacrifice people and the environment for short-term benefit of the few.

Philippine Bishops and Ecological Repentance

In a moving article titled Repenting Our Ecological Sins, Fr. Reynaldo D. Raluto of the Diocese of Malaybalay (Philippines) writes that Deeply disturbed by the tragedy [of Tropical Storm “Sendong” that devastated the country in December 2011], a good number of Mindanao bishops and priests gathered in Cagayan de Oro City on Feb. 13-15, 2012, to prayerfully reflect on the theme: “Typhoon Sendong and its Challenges for Mindanao.”

Fr. Raluto points out that many of the ecological calamities today cannot be purely the natural consequences of an evolutionary world, as they are also partly anthropogenic and human-induced.  In light of this, Fr. Raluto invites readers to reflect on profound questions regarding human interaction with the non-human natural world: What factors might have contributed to the Sendong tragedy? What led us to that situation? More importantly, how can we correct the erroneous practices that have caused us ecological tragedies?

The article concludes that The Church’s position regarding ecology is based on the assumption—and hope—that many of the ecological damages “can still be halted” if only we take seriously our common responsibility. The Church embraces environmental cause, firmly convinced that technical solutions are not enough to solve the complex ecological problems. The Church considers the ecological crisis as “a moral issue” that must be addressed together with the more general moral crisis.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Solar Energy Utilized in Darfur Camps

Staff of Caritas Internationalis, a network of more than 165 Catholic relief and development organizations that work in over 200 countries around the world, recently shared how solar energy is helping to provide water to refugees in the war-torn county of Darfur:

As we enter Khamsadigay camp, which houses just under 20,000 people, we weave through narrow alleys between the temporary structures that people have slowly erected over the last eight or nine years . . . We are here to visit a solar powered water pump that provides 29 litres of water to each person living in the camp per day. It’s really quite amazing just how much water the camp has. They may suffer many challenges, but thanks to our local partner’s programme and the community’s commitment, water is definitely not one of them.

The story of solar energy in Darfur is exemplary of how de-centralized, renewable energy can simultaneously address humanitarian and environmental challenges.  To read the entire story click here. 

FROM THE WIRE

More Heat Records Breaking

The Associated Press reports that It's been so warm in the United States this year, especially in March, that national records weren't just broken, they were deep-fried.

Temperatures in the lower 48 states were 8.6 degrees above normal for March and 6 degrees higher than average for the first three months of the year, according to calculations by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. That far exceeds the old records.

AP says, [i]n March, at least 7,775 weather stations across the nation broke daily high temperature records and another 7,517 broke records for night-time heat. Combined, that's more high temperature records broken in one month than ever before.
Read the entire article here.