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Ecology & Stewardship What Catholics Believe About the Environment
by Agneta Sutton
All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY publishers to the holy see
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Table of Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Biblical Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Ecology and Christian Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 The Teaching of John Paul II and Benedict XVI . . . . . 35 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
All rights reserved. First published 2012 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. Copyright © 2012 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society. ISBN: 978 1 86082 809 6 Front cover image: Man carrying heart globe by Alberto Ruggieri © Alberto Ruggieri/www.illustrationsource.com
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Introduction John Paul II and Benedict XVI, who both have taken up ecological concerns in their encyclicals and speeches, put their emphasis on the interconnectedness and value of all life. They do so while stressing the unique role of humans as covenanted caretakers with responsibilities before God for the care of the earth. The social encyclicals of John Paul II and Benedict XVI bear witness to the Catholic Church’s own brand of environmental thinking. Hers is an anthropocentric environmentalism that puts the emphasis on service and care rather than on domination. The Catholic Church calls for an attitude of reverence for creation. Castigating materialism and consumerism, the Church calls for love of God and neighbour expressed by generous concerns for the poor and future generations. Especially noteworthy is the intimate relationship John Paul II and Benedict XVI see between environmental ecology and what they call human ecology, that is, between proper care for creation and just order among humans. The environmental ecology of John Paul II and Benedict XVI is thus an integral part of the social teaching of the Church.
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Social doctrine As explained in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published by Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in 2004, what goes under the name of the ‘social doctrine’ of the Church are the modern writings on social issues starting with Pope Leo XIII’s Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum of 1891; and “the Church’s social doctrine finds its essential foundation in biblical revelation and in the tradition of the Church” (n. 74). Its focal concern is the just ordering of social relations. Foundational, then, is the Genesis understanding that humankind is created in the image of God, and thus that we are relational beings in the likeness of our triune God of love. Moreover, on the Genesis understanding, humans have a covenant relationship with God that entails a responsibility to care for the earth. To quote the Compendium of the Catechism, “dominion over the world requires the exercise of responsibility, it is not a freedom of arbitrary and selfish exploitation” (n. 113). Seen as a creature related to God in this way, the human person is a spiritual as well as corporeal creature. While our earthly existence is to be cherished, ultimately we are made for union with God. The special relationship between God and humans, signified by the Incarnation, that is, Jesus Christ becoming one of us, bestows on the human state a further dignity.
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Three principles From this understanding of the human person and of human dignity three main principles of the Church’s social doctrine are derived, as explained in the Compendium: the principle of the common good, the principle of subsidiarity, and the principle of solidarity (n. 160). Notably, the concept of the common good implies that the goods or riches of the earth were created for us all to share fairly and charitably (n. 171). This understanding is, however, tempered by the Church’s doctrine that by means of work, people can make part of the earth their own; and thus that work is the origin of individual property (n. 176). That said, it is noteworthy that this understanding, in turn, is tempered by what is called the “preferential option for the poor” (n. 182). In other words, the Church affirms a right to private property, but this right is not absolute: she subordinates it to the common good. As to the principle of subsidiarity, it tells us to show respect for individuals and for different peoples by giving them, or helping them to assume, as much responsibility for themselves, their society and their environment as possible. This is on the understanding that respect for human dignity requires nothing less. The principle of solidarity is founded on the understanding of humans as relational creatures. It represents a call for love of one’s neighbour. In a world
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of inequalities, it too implies a “preferential option for the poor”. Thus in our world of interdependence the principle of solidarity calls for restraint rather than greedy exploitation on the part of those who have much, so as not make matters worse for those who have little. Human ecology All three principles belong to the sphere of what John Paul II and Pope Benedict call human ecology. The concern of human ecology is the protection and promotion of human relationships, social as well as familial. That is, human ecology relates both to the public and private spheres of human relationships. Of course, human ecology also relates to our relationship with God. Hence, besides the three aforementioned principles, also fundamental for the papal thought on human ecology are the principles of the sanctity of human life and the sanctity of family and marriage. And like the first three, these last two principles are ultimately derived from the Christian understanding of our covenant relationship with and likeness to God. As John Paul II tells us in his Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae: “The Gospel of God’s love for man, the Gospel of the dignity of the person and the Gospel of life are a single and indivisible Gospel” (n. 2). Also, God the author of creation loves not only human life but everything he has created, in its due order and
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place. And so, since we are called to be God’s stewards caring for his creation, a proper relationship with God must mean a proper relationship with the whole of creation, not only with our human neighbours. Therefore, human and environmental ecology are inseparable. Indeed, they are in a sense one. Thus, if ecological concerns are voiced in many social encyclicals, the same is also true in many other magisterial documents. Environmental concerns, then, are discussed not only in social documents but also in other documents about interpersonal relations and about God’s salvific relationship with mankind.
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Biblical Background The Old Testament In the first book of the Hebraic Bible, which became the Christian Old Testament, the understanding that we humans are created in the image of God is linked to the concept of stewardship, and so to that of being a servant. A passage in the first book of Genesis, which tells us about the creation of man and woman in the image of God (Gn 1:27), is immediately followed by the passage that tells us about the divine blessing and the command that the first humans should be fruitful and “fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every thing that moves on the earth� (Gn 1:28). From the very first, the biblical account of our role in creation declares that we have a special position and stand in a special relationship to God and so to the rest of creation. Humans - and with or through us all living creatures - are placed in a covenant relationship with the Creator (Gn 9:7-8, 12). A mandate to care Created in the image of God, not only are humans more intelligent than other creatures, but they are capable of relating to one another in mutual recognition of each
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other as relational - and so as social and moral - beings. We are relational, as God, the triune God, is relational. In the second book of Genesis we are told that Adam, the archetypal human, was given the task of naming the other animals (Gn 2:19). This is a pointer to human uniqueness by comparison with other creatures, as well as indicating his responsibility for them (including the duty of care). Genesis also speaks of the human need for human companionship and the longing for mutual love and friendship (Gn 2:21-23). The story of Eve’s creation as Adam’s ‘helpmate’ is a pointer to our relational nature. That human beings also are the only earthly creatures who may consciously seek God or turn away from him, and who may consciously live in harmony or discord with God and neighbour, is made clear in the third book of Genesis. Humans are the only creatures who knowingly are subject to temptation and knowingly can fall victim to temptation and thus break laws and promises (Gn 3). Humans alone can alienate themselves from God and neighbour, and the handiwork of God. As John Paul II argues in Mulieris Dignitatem (1988), when they do so, they blur the image of God in creation. Unfortunately, from the very first, we marred the covenant relationship constituted by the gift of being created in the divine image as servants of God (n. 9). Alienating ourselves from God by not respecting divine order, we spoiled our likeness to God, the God of love.
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