FROM THE Director

Celebrating Love

We did not publish the weekly e-mail newsletter last week since the primary editor, Dan DiLeo, was busy with wedding preparations!  The Coalition is happy to announce that Dan and Katie Corey were married in St. Louis on Friday, June 22, surrounded by family and friends.  The celebration was wonderful and it reminded me how mysterious and glorious it is to be in a committed relationship and where God delights in walking with those in love.  Please join us in congratulating Dan and Katie and wishing them many, many years exploring this wonderful mystery.

Rio+20 WRAP-UP

Catholic Church Engagement Before, During and After the Conference

The Rio+20 Conference (the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development), was held June 20-22 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  The conference brought together world leaders, along with thousands of participants from governments, the private sector, NGOs and other groups to discuss the future of environmental sustainability.  EcoJesuit offered extensive coverage of the Conference, and all are encouraged to visit their website.

Before the Conference

Catholic News Service reported how the Catholic Church was preparing to be a strong advocate at the conference and will bring in to focus key themes of Catholic social teaching and backed by the Church’s vast experience serving those most in need around the globe.  From Archbishop Francis Chullikatt the Vatican's apostolic nuncio and permanent observer to the United Nations, to Bernd Nilles, secretary-general of CIDSE, the international alliance of Catholic agencies, Catholic representatives were clear that sustainable development and economic progress must be characterized by a world of social and environmental justice, in which human rights are respected, in which policy and decision-making are transparent and inclusive, in which the economy serves people and respects the planet.’

Archbishop Chullikatt said if a new economic model is to be created at Rio+20, then it must be based on such principles as responsible production and consumption; promotion and sharing of the common good; access to primary goods (food, water, sanitation, education, health care); and the unity of the family.

Caritas Internationalis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew added their voices as well.  You are urged to read the Patriarch’s statement in full, as it is quite powerful. His conclusion: For many people, these issues [of environmental sustainability] are now a matter of life and death.  Unless those who represent the nations of the world can see beyond ideology and the surface of issues in order to make the necessary changes or corrections, nothing will happen.  The health and future of millions of people hangs in the balance.

During the Conference

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, president of the Commission of the Bishops Conference of the European Union (COMECE), urged world leaders to place the human person as the basis for sustainable development during the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.

EcoJesuit reports that one of the Conference’s side panels was organized by the Holy See Mission to the United Nations, Caritas Internationalis, Franciscans International, Catholic Relief Services, the Association of Volunteers in International Service and CIDSE (Catholic International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity) … The panel was preceded by the intervention of Cardinal Scherer, Special Envoy of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development and Archbishop of São Paulo.

Twenty international Catholic bishops joined dozens of CIDSE personnel and partners and signed a statement calling on nations and world leaders to recommit to sustainable development. 

The statement particularly addressed climate change, saying Climate change is rapidly advancing and we will not be able to undo it unless we act now. The poorest and most vulnerable people around the world are most affected, even though they are least responsible for its causes…More ambitious action must be taken, based on the principles at the core of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Learn more about CIDSE’s Climate Justice program here.

After the Conference

The final document produced by the Conference is entitled The Future We Want.  In response, the Caritas Internationalis Director of Policy and Advocacy said, Caritas welcomes that the fight against poverty is put at the forefront of all concerns for achieving sustainable development and that a ‘Common Vision’ starts with the commitment to free humanity from hunger and poverty. However, many of the important points mentioned throughout the document, related to poverty, remain declaratory in nature.

Progressio, the UK-based Catholic overseas development agency, sent a delegation to the Conference and Daniel Hale, head of the delegation, told Vatican Radio the document we have at the moment, to be fair, makes some good strides forward…but from my view and the Progressio point of view it really doesn’t do enough in terms of implementation.

According to Fr. Jose Ignacio Garcia, SJ of EcoJesuit, It’s a long 49-page text and will require more time to make a more detailed analysis.  Fr. Garcia offers a first glimpse of this document, highlighting some of the controversial points, and his analysis is available here. 

ECUMENICAL EFFORT

Evangelicals and Catholics Connect Human Life & Creation Care

In his 2010 Message to the Diplomatic Corps, Pope Benedict XVI “[H]ow can we separate, or even set at odds, the protection of the environment and the protection of human life, including the life of the unborn?”

The website, Catholic Ecology, is working to respond to this question and reports that a group of Christians from the Evangelical and Catholic traditions have developed [a] Joint Declaration on Life. Our goal is to build a bridge between those who seek to defend human life and those who seek to protect creation. The document is being sent to many for signing, and soon a website will be developed for wider distribution. But for now, read through the text and, if you're interested in signing it, email your name and affiliation to catholicecology@aol.com.

Read the entire Joint Declaration on Life and sign your name in support here.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Caritas Pakistan Addresses Climate Change

Caritas Pakistan, the humanitarian organization of Catholic Church in Pakistan, organized a one week campaign to combat climate change from May 29-June 05, 2012. Campaign activities included a poster competition among school children, tree planting, and training workshop organized by the Major Religious Superior’s Leadership Conference of Pakistan (MSLCP) for the religious community leaders to become “Climate Change Ambassadors”.

FROM AN ARCHDIOCESE

Virtue of Prudence in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

In the Spring & Summer 2012 newsletter (p. 4), Catholic Ottawa, John Dorner is pleased that [t]he Archdiocese of Ottawa takes seriously the need for strong and meaningful actions to respond to the climate crisis that continues to unfold.  Echoing the US bishops, Mr. Dorner says, We must respond to the concerns raised by the National Academy of Sciences which reports that approximately 97% of the most prominent climate science experts believe humans are causing global warming. If we wait for the resolution of all scientific uncertainty, we impose risk for harm on the poor and future generations, which is inconsistent with our moral obligation to serve as stewards of creation.

The article describes some of the Archdiocese’s creation care efforts including the promotion of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change’s St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor.  To learn more about what the Archdiocese of Ottawa is doing to Care for God’s Creation, visit the Environmental Stewardship section under Pastoral Services on [its] website: www.CatholicOttawa.ca.

FROM THE WIRE

The Orthodoxy of Catholic Ecology

In a thoughtful article, William L. Patenaude, a columnist for the Rhode Island Catholic and member of the Diocese of Providence's Committee for Evangelization, reflects on The Orthodoxy of Catholic Ecology.  He notes that Pope Benedict XVI’s [m]agisterial references to ecology are noteworthy because the subject appears to be a new species within Catholic social thought. This “newness”—and the unfortunate politicization of such issues as climate change and the use of fossil fuels—have led to confusion and more than a few heated debates about whether a good Catholic should be discussing ecology at all—and if so, how.

Patenaude’s logic prevails, however: given that Benedict XVI is a good Catholic, one can assume that his flock can also speak of ecological concerns from a foundation of revelation and magisterial teachings as well as scientific discoveries. Catholics throughout the Church’s ideological continuum can and should engage in ecological discourse because, in part, it is a topic that evangelizes, unites, and teaches what it means to be human.
Read the entire article here.