GREENER FAITH TOWARDS A GREENER CHURCH

1. Introduction

“Raise a glad cry, you heavens: the Lord has done this; shout you depths of the earth.
Break forth, you mountains, into song, you forest, with all your trees.
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, and shows his glory through Israel.”

Is. 44:23

Creation is a grand orchestra. God our Creator made the universe in creative order, beauty, and harmony that can be liken to a grand philharmonic orchestra. God sang the hymn of creation upon finishing his masterpiece and the whole creation sang with Him in the harmonious and melodious tune. This creation, considered by God as good, sang in unity and beauty in the orchestra of created wonders as God meant to be. However, as we take a good glimpse what is happening around us now, such unity and beauty is lost. The creative harmony somehow turned into a discordant and raucous. Mother Earth is singing a mournful song and cannot perform her symphony. Creation now cannot sing as one for man has lost his tune.

Indeed, Mother Earth is crying out but not of joyful praises and exultation instead she is weeping, wailing in lament and is sniveling a dirge. She is in anguished, weeping of the realities happening around her that strips her mantle of beauty, harmony and exploiting her. Oils spills, deforestation, reduction of ecological footprints, whale hunting, species extinction, soil erosions, poverty, racial enmity… all are sad stories and sad realities of ecological disaster happening around us. These are just a few of the ecological imbalances and man-made disasters that are transpiring before our very eyes and the list is unending. Everyday we see and hear of such gloomy realities of ecological exploitation that Mother Nature is enduring. It is sad to know that there is nobody to be blamed of these disharmony but man himself. Could we ever sing the hymn again together with all of creation and regain the melody that was lost?

1.1 Statement of the Problem

If we just look closely to the things happening around the globe, one realizes immediately that humanity has saddened the divine expectation. This exact reality of man who unhesitatingly exploited and humiliated the earth practically shows he had lost his memory of his part in the orchestra of the creation hymn. Instead of being its steward and protector, man practically plundered and adulterated Mother Earth and the whole ecosystem furthermore becoming her enemy. We basically, not learned to live in peace with animals, sky, mountain, ocean, and trees. We practically sinned against God and nature. This sin is a failure to accept our place in the scheme of things and it results in the displacement of others from the habitats that give them life. These ecological concerns which stresses on God's inclusive love for all His living creatures and indeed all of nature are now vulnerable and are oppressed. Now the whole creation sang a song of wretchedness and misery, calling for salvation and redemption.

With this, the constant call for an ecological conversion is but relevant and immediate. This is a call for ecological commitment with the insistence that respect for the integrity of creation is a moral issue. It is without a doubt that all of humanity is being called to such conversion; however, this “vocation” puts much weight on people of faith, especially to those whose faith embodies a belief in God as Creator of all things.

More significantly, harmony and respect to the integrity of creation is nothing but an important part of Christian faith. With this, is it therefore imperative that Christians should have a so-called “greener faith”, i.e. a faith that is being ecologically conscious and committed. Such faith does not develop overnight but instead a long journey, indeed a pilgrimage of faith becoming a greener one. The call for ecological conversion is therefore a guide and at the same time road in which we people of faith must travel. But what is this call all about? What is this road in which we must take in order to reach the so-called journey towards a “greener faith”? It is therefore the hope of this paper to look into this call for ecological conversion and give clarity of the way we must tread in order to reach the goal of bringing back the harmony and beauty in which God meant to be.

1.2 Scope and limitations

The call for care and concern for God’s creation is an ancient thing as biblical tradition would show us; however, the idea of eco-theology as a disciple is relatively new. All throughout human history, we saw people of different times, of different cultures and religious background stood up in defense of the integrity of creation. In her part, the Church also generated people with deep reverence and kinship towards the universe and of compassion and affection towards all the members of the cosmic and planetary community. We have in mind the figure par excellence of St. Francis of Assisi.

Undoubtedly, the movement of ecological conversion is far wider than the Church. It involves people from all kinds of ethnic, political and religious background. In this movement, Christians are called humbly take their stance alongside others, many whom have long led the way in ecological conviction and practice. However, the Church has its own specific task in this movement of conversion. It is called to witness to the God of Jesus Christ, and to this love for all earth creatures, for indeed, the whole Church is called to ecological conversion as we can see in the very life of St. Francis himself.

It is undeniable that there is a rich area for the historical study of the development of eco-theological thoughts in the Church; however this paper will limit its scope from the time of Vatican II till present. It will focus mainly on the eco-theological themes of the magisterial documents, papal decrees, and recent theological thoughts of some theologians who also dedicated their time in this field of theology. It will take a look of these documents, with the goal of drawing out theological themes which will help in the understanding of the theme ecological conversion and to interpret such in a language which will guide us in our journey towards a greener faith. This paper will not go through detailed discussion of the development of the different ecological themes of the magisterial or papal documents nor will it make critical analysis of theological positions of the Magisterium or of some theologians.

1.3 Methodology

Methodologically, I will start from by establishing the urgency of the matter by presenting the current ecological reality happening around us. The first chapter of this paper will present updated and recent reports of the actual ecological situation we are facing. This will explore and hopefully more or less will give a realistic picture on the current ecological situations, crisis, as well as current statistics regarding ecological events/phenomena happening around the world we live in.

Then the subsequent chapter will present ecclesial documents, papal writings, synodal, pastoral letters and others related Church documents concerning to eco-theology, eco-spirituality and official eco-theological position of the Magisterium. It will look into the challenges and church’s invitations with regards to ecology and Christian faith.

Chapter III would give an interpretation of such eco-theological themes presented in the preceding chapter, giving a more concrete and realistic guide for common Christians and its implication to our current context and life as a Church. Such implication will be express in the idea of the call of ecological conversion and the contextualization of this greener faith as being God’s steward of his creation. Moreover, it will give insights and practical guidelines on doing eco-praxis that our eco-theology is inviting us to do.

The last chapter will be the conclusion of the paper which will summarize the whole point of the paper then will present some of the challenges and some points of reflection for a Christian for today.



2. Our current ecological situation

The planet is sick. It is a fact. Our world is in a state of pervasive ecological decline. Ecological disasters both natural and man-made happening across the globe can be seen in the daily news in television, we read about it in the daily papers and browse it in the worldwide web. Almost anywhere, of any day we can get a global picture of what is happening around the world. Modern science and technological innovation helps in giving us a picture of the Earth as our shared home, an achievement of the twentieth century made for the human community. The human community of the twenty-first century can see Earth as a blue-green planet set against the darkness of interstellar space. This lead to the appreciation of earth’s beauty and hospitality of life, seeing ourselves as part of a global community, interconnected with other species and with the life systems of our planet.[1]

Every year since 1984 the Worldwatch Institute in the United States has published a report on the “State of the World”. Every year this state is more alarming. The WWF[2] began its Living Planet Reports in 1998 to show the state of the natural world and the impact of human activity upon it. Since then it have continuously refined and developed its measures of the state of the Earth. And it is not good news. The Earth is ill and in jeopardy.

Moreover, the whole global community is invited to do its share to help in the promotion social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, the main goal of the United Nations Organization (UNO). However, the efforts to defeat poverty and pursue sustainable development will be in vain if environmental degradation and natural resource depletion continue unabated. It is worth noting that around sixty years ago, the environment was not among the issues that were foremost in the minds of the founders of the United Nations. It was not until the UN General Assembly of 15 December 1975 that established the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which plays a key global role in trying to ensure that environmental concerns and activities are being integrated in the broader sustainable development framework. Now, environmental sustainability is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals endorsed by world leaders in the year 2000, and is increasingly a theme of all development strategies.

Aside from its report which UNEP publishes annually, it also publishes an annual Geo Year Book which gives an overview of our changing environment every year. Here the picture that is painted by these publications is not getting any better either. Though it is clear that there is an expanding awareness on the importance of the care for the planet and the whole biosystem as can be seen by flourishing programs and initiatives, the sprouting of different environmental groups and institutions all related to environmental care, conservation and preservation, however, report shows more environmental crises and alarming situations are being noted compared to success stories.

2.1 Humanity’s Ecological Footprint

The Living Planet Report 2006 confirms that we are using the planet’s resources faster than they can be renewed – the latest data available (for 2003) indicate that humanity’s Ecological Footprint, our impact upon the planet, has more than tripled since 1961.[3] According to this report our footprint now exceeds the world’s ability to regenerate by about 25 per cent. The phrase "ecological footprint" is a metaphor used to depict the amount of land and water area a human population would hypothetically need to provide the resources required to support itself and to absorb its wastes, given prevailing technology.[4] This term is now widely used around the globe as an indicator of environmental sustainability. Ecological footprint analysis approximates the amount of ecologically productive land, sea and other water mass area required to sustain a population, manufacture a product, or undertake certain activities, by accounting the use of energy, food, water, building material and other consumables. The calculations used typically convert this into a measure of land area used in 'global hectares' (gha) per capita. It is a way of determining relative consumption for the purpose of educating people about their resource use and, sometimes, triggering them to alter their over-consumption. It can be combined with overpopulation concerns and stated as "the number of Earths it would take to support every human living exactly the way you do."

According to the Living Planet Report 2006, since the late 1980s, we have been in overshoot – the Ecological Footprint has exceeded the Earth’s biocapacity – as of 2003 by about 25 per cent. Effectively, the Earth’s regenerative capacity can no longer keep up with demand – people are turning resources into waste faster than nature can turn waste back into resources. In 2003 the global Ecological Footprint was 14.1 billion global hectares, or 2.2 global hectares per person (a global hectare is a hectare with world-average ability to produce resources and absorb wastes). The total supply of productive area, or biocapacity, in 2003 was 11.2 billion global hectares, or 1.8 global hectares per person.[5] There is an ecological deficit -0.4 global hectares (gha) per person.[6] Humanity’s footprint first grew larger than global biocapacity in the 1980s; this overshoot has been increasing every year since, with demand exceeding supply by about 25 per cent in 2003. This means that it took approximately a year and three months for the Earth to produce the ecological resources we used in that year.

Despite the fact that critics of “ecological footprinting” said that calculated footprints can be inaccurate due to simplifying assumptions, nevertheless, I believed that there is always some grain of truth in this reports. Whether it is accurate or not, there is always an observable negative decline in the report. Our Ecological footprints, accurate or not, show that humanity’s current lifestyles are not sustainable. Basing on this report that we have been exceeding the Earth’s ability to support our lifestyles for the past 20 years, and we need to stop. We must balance our consumption with the natural world’s capacity to regenerate and absorb our wastes. If we do not, we risk irreversible damage.

2.2 Loss of Biodiversity and Endangered Species

We also share the Earth with 51–10 million species or more. The Living Planet Index in its report shows a rapid and continuing loss of biodiversity. Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is the total number of genes, species, and ecosystems in a region and the variability between them.[7] Biodiversity makes life itself possible. Not only do plants and animals provide actual and potential sources for human medicines and food, biodiversity has additional benefits that reach far beyond straightforward economic evaluations of utility. Scientists have shown that rich and diverse ecosystems improve water quality, reduce flooding, and absorb and clean wastes. They are also more resistant to environmental shocks and quicker to recover than regions depleted of genetic and species diversity.

But around the world, plants and animals and the ecosystems that are their homes are being degraded or disappearing, largely as a result of human actions. Over the past 100 years, 20–50 percent of Earth’s original forest cover has been lost. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate that during the 1990s, the vast majority of primary tropical forests, in general the most diverse ecosystems on the planet, are disappearing at a rate probably exceeding 146,000 square kilometers each year—an area nearly the size of Nepal. The Central American dry tropical forests have practically disappeared. And in many countries, half or more of the mangroves (costal forests) have been cleared.

Timber operations, farms, pastures, and settlements have already claimed almost half of the world’s forests. Between the 1960s and 1990s, about 4.5 million square kilometers of the world’s tropical forest cover—20 percent— were cut or burned. Estimates of annual deforestation vary widely, from 50,000 to 170,000 square kilometers. Brazil reports a 13 percent drop in the rate of Amazon rainforest destruction in 2001, though the loss still topped 1.6 million hectares.[8] Total global forest cover, which now accounts for about a quarter of the planet’s land surface excluding Greenland and Antarctica, may have declined by as much as half since the dawn of agriculture. About 30 percent of surviving forest is seriously fragmented or otherwise degraded, and during the 1990s alone, global forest cover is estimated to have declined by more than 4 percent.

Such loses are particularly damaging since forests contain about half the Earth’s total biodiversity and have the highest species diversity of any ecosystem. Wetlands have also shrunk by 50 percent, and in some places only 10 percent of grasslands remain. Species loss is also increasing. About 24 percent of mammals (1,137 species) and 12 percent of birds (1,192 species) worldwide are currently under threat of extinction, and many species — the exact number is not known — have already disappeared.

The report shows that the populations of vertebrate species have declined by about one third since 1970. It only shows that human pressure is already threatening many of the biosphere’s assets. From 1970 to 2003 the populations of terrestrial, marine, and freshwater vertebrate species declined by 29 per cent. Specifically, the terrestrial species is down by 31 percent on average, the marine species declined by 27 percent and the freshwater species index declined by approximately 28 percent. Study says half of North America’s most biodiverse regions are degraded, and 235 mammal, reptile, bird, and amphibian species are now threatened. While scientists warn that precision mapping, satellite navigation, and other new fishing methods are decimating global fish populations.

Around the world, ornithologists are alarmed at bird population declines and are concerned about what they mean for the world’s ecosystems and our own future. In 2000, a study published by a global alliance of conservation groups called BirdLife International found that about 12 percent of the world’s 9,800 bird species are threatened with extinction within the next century and that in the near future an additional 8 percent may become threatened.[9] And according to the IUCN–World Conservation Union, about one quarter of the world’s mammals are now in danger of extinction. UN report says at these current rates of plant and animal extinction, Earth loses one potential major drug every two years.

2.3 Ecosystem Change: Climatic Change

According to the UN GEO 2007 Report, following the ongoing trend since the late 1980, 2006 was the sixth warmest year since the records began in 1880. Global average temperature climbed to 14.52 degrees Celsius in 2002, supplanting 2001 as the second hottest year since recordkeeping began in the late 1800s, according to the Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Other centers of climate analysis, using roughly the same network of land and sea temperature gauges, also rank 2002 as second only to 1998 in warmth, and find that the nine warmest years have occurred since 1990.[10] According to US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) study, the world’s temperature had increase by about 0.2 °C per decade in the past 30 years, reaching the warmest level since the end of the last ice age nearly 12,000 years ago. It is now within 1°C of the maximum temperature of the past million years, threatening dangerous climate change based on the likely effect of sea level rise and species loss. Study finds that the global ice melt rate has more than doubled since 1988 and could raise sea levels by 27 centimeters by 2100.[11]

Certain forms of pollution are altering the global chemical cycles that “regulate” key ecosystem processes. Annual carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion reached a record 6.55 billion tons in 2001, driving the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide to 370.9 parts per million, the highest level it has reached in at least 420,000 years, and probably in 20 million years. Because carbon dioxide traps heat, its increasing concentration is likely to provoke rapid climate change.[12]

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases its State of the Artic report last 17 November 2006, highlighting continued warming in the Artic. On the average, global temperatures have been steadily warming for decades but the Artic appears to be warming twice as fast as the rest of the world. Just last year, it was reported that some 3,250 square kilometers of Antarctica’s Larsen B ice shelf collapse as regional temperatures warm.[13]
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the sea level will rise 9–88 centimeters in the next 100 years, with a mid-estimate rise of 50 centimeters. This translates into 5 millimeters per year—two to four times faster than during the twentieth century.

2.4 World’s Hydrosphere

The world’s ocean which provides us with 100 million tons of sea food, which also regulates the earth climates and is rich in salt and minerals are now being polluted. Protecting the marine environment depends to a large extent on addressing water management issues inland, where more than 80 per cent of marine pollution originates. Coastal and marine ecosystems, which provide a wide range of goods and services of significant economic and social value, are under growing pressure. Thirty-eight per cent of the world’s population lives along a narrow fringe of coastal land, and 70 per cent of megacities with populations over 8 million are located on the coast. In some countries as much as 90 per cent of sewage is dumped untreated directly into the sea.[14] UNEP reported that last July 2006, when the fuel depot of a power plant was struck during hostilities in Lebanon, an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 tons of fuel oil spilled into the Mediterranean and contaminated the Lebanese and Syrian coastlines.[15]

Coral reefs, the world’s most diverse aquatic ecosystems, are suffering the effects of overfishing, pollution, the spread of epidemic disease, and rising sea surface temperatures that many experts link to climate change. By the end of 2000, 27 percent of the world’s coral reefs were thought to be severely damaged, up from just 10 percent in 1992. Survey finds that bleaching at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef in 2002 may be the worst on record, affecting up to 60 percent of reefs. Throughout the oceans, overfishing is taking an ever greater toll: some 60 percent of the world’s marine fisheries are now being exploited at or beyond capacity—an invitation to extensive ecological disruption.

These environment crises and disaster transpiring around the globe gives us a clear picture of the “health” status of Earth. Indeed, our home planet is sick and as report would say this community of life is not getting any better and success stories are not heard often. The environmental picture given is not pessimism but rather should motivate us to be aware of these issues, look at it closely, contemplatively reflecting it with the hope of giving critical judgments leading to concrete action.

3. The Greening the Church: Eco-THEOLOGY OF Vatican II and beyond

The Magisterium underscores human responsibility for the preservation of a sound and healthy environment for all.
- Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church 465

The recognition of the presence of the divine in human history is the very foundation of the faith of the people of God. The Holy Scripture tells us that God created this world by beginning with the solemn words: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;”[16] that He loves His world and is pleased with it;[17] and that He created man and woman in His image and charged them to be stewards of His creation.[18] God, who created our world, loves life and wishes to share this life with every creature.

Moreover, in our profession of faith we confess that God the Father almighty is “Creator of heaven and earth,”[19] “of all that is seen and unseen.”[20] By contemplating on creation, Christian theology teaches that the human person using his faculties is capable of knowing the existence of a personal God who is Creator of all things. The First Vatican Council defined this by stating: “The same Holy Mother Church holds and that God, the source and end of all things, can be known with certainty from the things that were created, through the natural light of human reason, for ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”[21]

Indisputably, the heart of the Christian tradition has to do with a God who gives the divine self to us in Christ and the Spirit. It is a message of redemption and hope that cannot be abandoned by the Church but is always to be proclaimed in new ways in new times. This carries within itself potential for being critically reinterpreted in an authentic ecological theology for the twenty first century.

Creation is therefore the foundation of “all God’s saving plans,” the beginning of the history of salvation that culminates in Christ.[22] The whole creation, nature, the work of God's creative action, is not a dangerous adversary. It is God who made all things, and with regards to each create reality God saw that it was good, God placed man. Only man and woman, among all creatures, were made by God in his own image. The Lord entrusted all of creation to their responsibility, charging them to care for its harmony and development. This special bond with God explains the privileged position of our first parents in the order of creation.

It is in this light that the Holy Mother Church develops eco-theology and all her teachings regarding the environmental issues and concerns. The Catholic Church, like other Christian denominations (as well as other religions) became especially conscious of and concerned about Earth’s environmental crisis in the last several decades of the twentieth century. The Church began to consider more seriously the nature of Earth’s totality as God’s creation. This consideration lead to a recovery of the Christian tradition’s affirmation that all creation is “good”, both intrinsically as God's and instrumentally as a provider for human needs. It is also inspired efforts to use that affirmation in practical political and pastoral ways to transform perspectives on and practices towards the environment towards our local Christian communities and all “people of good will.”

Though, we can see a trend within the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church that the environmental question is often considered of only recent concern.[23] However, looking back to the time of the Second Vatican Council we can find in its documents the solid roots of a formal and informal teaching concerning care for the environment that has consistently grown over the years. [24] The Catholic Church’s shift in perception about the nature of Nature can be seen in the change in environmental attitudes in Church documents from the time of the Second Vatican Council through the beginning of the twenty first century. From the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium of November 1964 to the Venice Declaration of June 2002, the message has been the same: we have a moral obligation to care for the environment, to respect all of God's creation and to assure that its goods are equitably shared with all.

It is also notable that the change in papal and the bishop’s ideas often was preceded and accompanied by development in lay Catholic thought on the environment. Catholic academics and activist analyses of the state of Earth and proposals for environmental respect and responsibilities stimulated and become incorporated into “official” Catholic environmental teaching.[25] This paradigm shift brought about by Vatican II served also as a spring board for regional, national and local bishop’s conferences to take a closer look at the environmental issues and concerns happening around them and try to come up with some theology reflection and concrete responds to these environment crisis that confront them here and now.

Indeed, the Church has developed further the theology of creation hinted at the Vatican II, thereby enhancing the Church ad Intra, internally among the catholic faithful; and has related that theology to the needs of the people of God in their concreted ecological contexts, thereby engaging the Church ad Extra, with the world beyond the Church’s institution, intellectual, religious and community confines.[26] Here we can see that with the community of creation, we human beings are made in the image of God in a sense that we are part of creation that has come to personhood, that we are invited into interpersonal relationship with God in grace, and we are called to graceful relationship with our fellow creatures.

Peoples of all faiths and members of faith-based and secular environmental organizations are responding to this graceful relationship creation by addressing current and urgent global environmental crisis and this response includes specific consideration and contribution of the Catholic Church.

3.1 The Second Vatican Council

At the time of Vatican II, there was little consciousness in the Church or in the broader society of a developing ecological crisis. The Second Vatican Council did consider, from an anthropocentric perspective, a few environment-related issues, such as a just distribution of the Earth’s goods, neighbor-regard and intergeneration responsibility. This limitation might have been expected from the institutional Church in a time when there was no substantial and extensive global consideration neither of environmental problems, nor of the benefits and needs of diverse creatures in interrelated ecosystems. The Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes for example, focused on issues of family, culture, human dignity and human community, socioeconomic life, politics, peace and international community relations – not on any specific environmental issue. Concern for an environmental crisis and advocacy of respect for the integrity of creation, terms taken as given today, were not part of the consciousness neither of the conciliar fathers nor of the broader human community during those times. The Vatican II Council’s perspective proceeded from the then-existing basic Christian attitude towards creation: it is a hierarchically structures pyramid with humanity atop as its ruler in God's image, exercising dominion over Earth and being the ultimate and appropriate beneficiary of Earth’s good, which were provided by the Creator to serve humanity. The human responsibility to foster an equitable distribution of Earth’s good was advocated also. The union of anthropocentrism and social concerns would be the foundation for, but not restrict the further development of Catholic environmental teaching.

The Council Fathers did not address environmental issues specifically, directly and forcefully because they did not have an extensive historical basis from which to draw insights about the responsibility for creation, and they lacked the resources with which to address ecological issues. However, a careful reading of Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes, and a conscientious extrapolation of their ideas on the role of the Church in relation to the world and to the Spirit, reveal historical precedents, insights, and potential practices used later to address and attempt to alleviate ongoing ecological crisis.[27]

The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium[28] made references to a series of biblical texts concerning the redemption not only of the human person but also of all creation and clearly states that the value of all creation in its own right. Also the council declared that human person should learn the deepest meaning and the value of all creation, and how to relate to it to the praise of God and work to see that created goods are more fittingly distributed among men. [29] These words present in seminal forms the bases for the Church’s later formulations of the two pillars of environmental teachings: respect for earth and the biotic community (the community of life)[30] as God's creations; and provisions of steps to ensure that from the goods of creation human needs would be met as people worked together for the common good.

Moreover, the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes also stressed that created things had their own laws and values, adding that the human person must learn them. All people bear the heavy responsibility of completing the work of creation. Believers, no matter what their religion, have moreover “always recognized the voice and the revelation of God in the language of creatures” [31]. Furthermore, the document states that humankind “can and should increasingly consolidate its control over creation;” that “all things on earth should be related to man as their center and crown;” and that “man created in God's image, received a mandate to subject to himself the earth and all that it contains.”[32]

In this anthropocentric view, “man” at the pinnacle of creation has the right to dominate, the right to “subject to himself” or “to subdue” all other creatures. However, subjection of creatures is limited: it does not allow subjection of human beings; in fact, people should not neglect the welfare of members of the human community. The right to “subdue” then is qualified: “man” has the mandate to subject the earth and all in it, but is to use the mandate to build up the world, in part to care for other people. The focus remains anthropocentric, but it is an extended anthropocentrism: “man” should be concerned about the well-being of all human.

Following the thoughts of Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes reiterated that God had destined the goods of the earth for all, and they must be distributed in a way “regulated by justice and accompanied by charity.”[33] Here it is clear that care for the Earth goes still further. The human person can and indeed must, love the goods of God's creation. These short but highly significant references in major conciliar document of the Second Vatican Council constituted a solid theoretical framework for the Church as it started more consciously and consistently to address the growing environmental crisis.

3.2 Aftermaths of Vatican II and the Teachings of Pope Paul VI

After the second Vatican Council, Pope Paul VI convoked the Second Post-Conciliar Synod of Bishops to address the question of Justice in the World.[34] In the final document of the synod still carried the thought of the Church concerning care for the environment, noting that people were beginning “to gasp the new and more radical dimension of unity”, that of their shared environment. The resources of the Earth, as well as air and water, are not infinite but rather must be conserved as a unique patrimony of all humanity. The new recognition of the material limits of the biosphere, of unequal distribution of goods and of other modern phenomena proper to highly develop part of the world had led to the awareness that “in today’s world new modes of understanding human dignity are arising.[35] This statement establishes a significant link between human dignity, care for the environment and sustainable development. After Vatican II, Pope Paul VI profoundly deepened the Churches teaching on ecology, more significantly, on one his general audience, he linked ecological concern and care for the environment as a moral issue.[36] In his apostolic letter Octogesima Adveneins,[37] the tone became more urgent. People were suddenly becoming aware that by an ill-considered exploitation of nature, they risked destroying it. And so together with others Christians must assume responsibility for a destiny that is now shared by all. [38]

The Message of Pope Paul VI to the Stockholm Conference on Human Environment[39] openly discussed concrete ecological problems with can be rightly considered a highly significant statement outlining the Church’s concern for the environment.[40] Pope Paul VI did not just deepened key concepts of the Social Teachings of the Church but also with decided clarity applied them to one of the most serious problems of his time.

3.3 Pope John Paul II: Greening the Faith

Pope John Paul II contribution to the teaching of the Church on environmental concern is both comprehensive and highly differentiated. During the early years of his pontificate, the thought of John Paul II concerning the environment became increasingly specific. He repeatedly stressed that care for the environment is a moral obligation closely related to a person’s relationship both to God and to the natural world.

In his first papal Encyclical Redemptoris Hominis considered as generally practical, had care for the environment as one of the first social questions the he addresses. In Redemptoris Hominis,[41] John Paul II carefully relates the fundamental doctrines of creation and redemption to the present-day environmental problems. The encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis,[42] conveys also the urgency about the need to care for the environment if peoples of the earth are to enjoy true development. In his encyclical Laborem Exercens,[43] John Paul II considers that the correct understanding of human work as an essential to a proper relationship of the human person to the rest of creation.

On January 1, 1990, Pope John Paul II issued a “Word Day of Peace” statement focused on the environment: Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all Creation.[44] In that message, John Paul II lamented a lack of due respect for nature and the plundering of natural resources and declared that faced with the wide spread destruction of the environment, people everywhere are coming to understand that we cannot continue to use the goods of the Earth as we have in the past.[45]

He asserted that issues on ecosystem balance and promotion is an intergenerational responsibility, that the earth is a common heritage for the benefit of all and made emphasis on the urgency in an education in ecological responsibility.[46] He established clear links between ecology and economics; that the right to a safe environment must be included in an Updated Charter of Human Rights and pointed out the environmental devastation brought by war.[47]

Moreover, the most significant statement in this message is that Pope John Paul II declared that environmental concern are not an addition to what it means to be a follower of Christ: “Christians, in particular, realized that their responsibility with creation and their duty towards nature and the Creator are essential part of their faith.” John Paul II indicated that care for creation is not an optional attitude and activity for Christians, to be engaged in or ignored as they choose, in their pursuit of a heavenly home; Christians must fulfill their responsibilities to God's creation while in their Earth home, therefore making care and concern for all of creation a serious obligation.[48]

The environmental issues are again taken up in his another great social encyclical Centesimus Annus.[49] Thought the focus of the encyclical is on modern social and economic concern, environmental care and concern are part of the serious considerations and stressed that the responsibility towards creation as a gift of God to man.[50] He is quick to notice the problems and threats of consumerism against the environment.

During the Earth Summit of June 1992 held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, though the Pope did not send a message to the conference, however, Archbishop Renato Martino represented the Vatican to the conference. During this conference the Holy See continued to insist on the centrality of the human person as regards both development and care for the environment, that responsibility to respect creation complements respect to human life; that the universe and the biotic community are a testimony to God's creative power, God's love and God's enduring presence; emphasized the link between concern of the environment and concern of the poor; obligations of stewardship for God’s creation and solidarity of universal dimensions and stating that people must live in harmony with God, with each other, and with creation itself.[51]

The years following the Rio Conference, Pope John Paul II made major papal Encyclicals and Apostolic Exhortations that continue to refer to the obligation to care for the environment. The encyclical Evangelium Vitae which speaks about life in all its dimensions includes care of the environment.[52] Ecological concerns and environmental ethics also find itself in the Encyclical Fides et Ratio.[53] While three Apostolic Exhortations dealt with environmental issues and concerns affecting vast and diverse regions as America[54], Oceania[55] and Asia.[56] The Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consacrata speaks about the relationship between evangelical poverty and care of the environment through simplicity of life and preferential love for the poor.[57]

On the opening of the new millennium, on the celebration of the Jubilee of the Year 2000, the Church calls for re-establishing right relationship, above all, those of the people to God. The great jubilee year was a reminder that the earth was a gift to be cared for and developed by the human persons who were to act not as owners but as strangers or sojourners.[58] And at the end of the Jubilee Year, Pope John Paul II issued another Apostolic Letter Novo Millennio Inuente in order to carry out the spirit of the Jubilee into the new millennium as an integral part of Christian life[59] and calls every Christian to respond and not remain indifferent to the prospect of an ecological crisis which is making vast areas of Earth uninhabitable and hostile to humanity. It is in this period that the Church took a look on the relationship of environmental concern and the agricultural world as well as the devastating effects to the environment brought about by war and internal conflict.

Another recent significant contribution of the Church in the new millennium is its participation to the 2002 Conference, World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. In this conference the Holy See submitted a paper which notes that the World Summit will address the three pillars of sustainable development i.e. the economic, the social and the environmental.[60] The Holy See recognizes in this assign of human solidarity on behalf of the common good which includes preservation of the earth’s resource and that care for the environment is indispensable for integral and sustainable development.

Another significant initiative during the pontificate of John Paul II is the joint document signed together with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I last June 10, 2002, now called the Venice Declaration. The Declaration invites all men and women of good will to ponder on the importance of acknowledging one’s responsibility towards self, other and towards creation. The document outlined some ethical goals with the hope that this would represent a solid basis for an environmental ethical code acceptable to a broad range of people.[61]
3.4 Pope Benedict XVI: Continuing the Ecological Legacy

In his message for the 2007 World Day of Peace[62], Pope Benedict XVI cited Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, reiterating the not only man’s peaceful relationship with the environment but also with responsibility towards his fellow human being. Pope Benedict XVI argued that alongside the ecology of nature also exists what he called a “human” ecology, which in turn demands a “social” ecology. This means for humanity to achieve real peace, there must be harmony between natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology. Experience shows that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice versa. It becomes more and more evident that there is an inseparable link between peace with creation and peace among men. Moreover, Pope Benedict XVI stressed that environmental destruction or the improper or selfish use of resource and/or the violent hoarding of the earth's resources cause grievances, conflicts and wars is a consequence of inhumane concept of development.

On the occasion of World Water Day last March 22, 2007, the Holy See sends a Message to Jacques Diouf, Director General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, giving its own reflection on the importance of Water for the human family. Pope Benedict XVI, quoting the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, reiterates that water is a common good and “the right to water, as all human rights, finds its basis in human dignity and not in any kind of merely quantitative assessment that considers water as a merely economic good. Without water, life is threatened. Therefore, the right to safe drinking water is a universal and inalienable right.[63] The papal message stated that this is "a moral and political imperative in a world that has levels of knowledge and technology capable of ending a scarcity of water." and that "We are all called to modify our way of life in an educational effort capable of returning the worth and respect merited by this common resource for humanity.

Another concrete response to the current environmental crisis happening around us is the Conference on Climate Change sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace last April 26-27, 2007 with the theme: “Climate Change and Development” participated by 80 scholars and experts from 20 countries. In his inaugural speech, Cardinal Renato Martino reiterated that humanity’s dominion over creation, willed by God, must nor be despotic or irresponsible rather must cultivate and guard the good of creation, i.e. cultivate to develop man, all of man, all men and underlines that environmental education is everyone’s responsibility, inasmuch as the environment is a collective good made for everyone.

As we take a look at the long journey of the development of thought and concern of the Church over the environment care and other ecological issue, it is without doubt we can say, that the Church, being a faithful witness to God the Father as Creator, the beginning and end of all thing, did her part in responding to the call to action. Indeed, the Church recognizes that care for the environment is an integral part of her faith and believe in God who is the source and beginning of all things.

4. Stewardship and the call for an Ecological conversion

As we have seen, as it transpires before our eyes, creation is on the brink of the abyss and just one false step, one wrong move and it will spell disaster for us today and for the generations yet to come. It is not being pessimistic but we have seen and continue to see all this environmental problems, and it is but urgent to do something since as time passes by environmental status and condition of Earth is not getting any better.

However, we can see that there is hope, it is not two late for us, and such hope we can very much appreciate in the Church especially from Vatican II and beyond. Being a faithful witness to the deposit of faith, and to the belief of God as Creator, she did her part in responding to the current environmental issues and problems arising here and now. Indeed, the Holy Mother Church, made her own reflections and did her part to bring about the integrity of God’s creation, it is us individual Christian to do our part also and act.

Human beings, believer or not, as individuals and as a familial community, are called to care for the Earth and all life. Of course, care does not mean to have charge over creation, but to be concerned about its well-being. To be conscious to the needs of creation I think would prompt people to formulate practical projects to meet them. As people of faith, especially as Christians, such responsibility is in the core of our faith. We are reminded that care for the environment is not an option.[64] In the Christian perspective, it forms an integral part of our personal live and of life in society. Each and every single person who believes in a God as the Creator and as source of all things is called to be a steward of this creation.

4.1 Stewardship: Relational Consciousness and Caring

The Catechism of the Catholic Church is clear in teaching about the role of man in relation to creation. It is a plan of God that man and woman have the vocation of subduing the Earth as his stewards. However, this sovereignty is not to be an arbitrary and destructive domination. Importantly, man and woman, made in the image of God the Creator are called to share God’s love and providence towards other creatures; hence their responsibility for the world as God has entrusted them.[65]

Natural resources are by nature destined for the common good of humanity past, present and future and its use cannot be detached from respect for moral imperatives. As well as man’s dominion over inanimate objects and other living beings granted by creator in the form of stewardship is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life for other people, and of the future generation to come; which requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.[66] But how do we really live this so called responsibility that God granted to us? How do we live this vocation of being stewards of God’s creation?

It is clear that stewardship is about caring, and the recognition that we care for what we value like clothes, car, house, family. But looking at it closely, principal to our caring are relationships – with family, friends, community, environment, even our selves and our peace of mind. Place it in another way, relationship is the root of stewardship.[67] It is argued however, that such correlation of stewardship to relationship implies both positive and negative meaning. Nonetheless, such dual aspect of relationship somehow gives an explanation, that notwithstanding man as stewards of creation, environmental problems is still on the rise, ascertaining that the relationship man had with other creatures is partly something negative. While stewardship does not abrogate man’s freedom, the answerability of human individuals conveys that they are ethically not free to treat the Earth just as they please; however the very absence of ethical limits to human transactions with nature are those that contributes to ecological disaster happening around us.[68]

Seen in this way, Christian should established a positive kind of stewardship, believing that this world belongs to God by creation, redemption and sustenance and for us implies caring management, not selfish exploitation, involves concerns for present and future generation. Since stewardship has been designated as an “anthropocentric ethic” it has a danger of making humanity a despot over nature. Good stewardship therefore requires ethic of environmental sensitivity, justice, truthfulness and compassion.[69]

Christian perceived humankind’s role to be stewards of other creatures as something relational. With this humans are called towards a relational consciousness with other creatures and are to integrate themselves to creation rather than a monarchic superiority over creation. Man and women being made in God’s image and likeness and sharing in God’s knowledge, must still realize that they are creatures among other creatures. Through them, creation becomes conscious of itself, and the mystery of its origin, which creation needs at every moment of its becoming, is reflected in this consciousness. Human being who has knowledge, are aware of the love which goes out to all creation and from which all creation lives, and from this awareness there grows in them a capacity for and obligation to their fellow human beings and their fellow creatures.[70] This relational consciousness makes people aware of the beauty and vitality of the entire natural world of which they are part. It stimulates a greater appreciation of all nature, a sense of kinship with all life, and an awareness of the presence of the divine in other creatures.[71] Human beings are called to see themselves as kin with other creatures in a community of God's creation. They are also called to use their human creativity, intelligence and wisdom to cultivate and take care of God's creation. Pope John Paul II highlighted the need of human responsibility in the attainment of balance of the ecosystem and the defense of the healthiness of the environment. He said that it is essential that this a kind of responsibility that must be open to new forms of solidarity, an open and comprehensive solidarity with all men and all peoples, founded on respect for life and the promotion of sufficient resources for the poorest and for future generations.[72]

Furthermore, one important point that a Christian should take a look at with regards to stewardship is that he has to see this with the reality of the incarnation. Lumen Gentium teaches that the whole of creation was redeemed.[73] It is in the incarnation of Jesus, in the Word made Flesh; God has embraced the whole web of life on Earth. In the light of his resurrection, Jesus is celebrated by the first Christians as the Word of God, the one in whom all things are created and all things are reconciled. Jesus can be seen as the self-transcendence of the evolving universe into God and seen also as the God's self communication to creation. Jesus is the event of salvation, because he is both God's self-bestowal to creation and the radical yes of creation to God.[74]

The Risen Christ is deeply centered in all creation and in his resurrection he renewed all of creation.[75] We are children of the Easter morn, as resurrection people we hold that idea that every living creature on earth has a profound relationship with the resurrected Lord. His loving touch heals our brokenness and fulfills all creation. So, to wantonly destroy any aspect of creation and to banish forever in the community of life is also to deface the image of Christ which is radiated through the world. Christians being good stewards of God's creation knows that Christ still suffers not only when people are denied of their rights and exploited but also when seas, rivers, lands and forest are abuse and desecrated.[76]

4.2 Ecological Conversion: the Call to a Decisive Change

In the Gospel of St. Mark, Jesus began his preaching with the words: “The reign of God is closed at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.” Jesus called for a change of heart, urging people to change the direction of their lives, away from the security and insufficiency of what they already knew and possessed, to the bright promised of the Reign of God embodied in his life and teaching. Conversion is based on the encounter with God's will, the acceptance of that will and the ability to judge what is going on in the world and in people’s lives on the basis of that will, expressed in the divine plan of the Reign of God.

The process of conversion is made up of an encounter with a new reality, the acceptance of the truth and value of that reality and the shaping of one’s life in accord to that truth. More often than not, the process of conversion is painful. It means leaving the world of the known, with all its advantages and disadvantages, and moving in the direction of a light which has begun to appear on the horizon. The call to conversion recognizes the presences of sinful and destructive ways in the world and the desire to move away from these to a constructive way of life.

Since the environmental issues and ecological disaster happening around us is giving us a dim picture of the future of our community of life, the call for an ecological conversion is more than ever relevant and urgent. Pope John Paul II insisted that respect for the integrity of creation is a moral issue[77] and with this introduced the importance of ecological conversion. While lamenting the fact that humanity has failed God in its abuse of the planet, he celebrates the beginning of a conversion to ecological awareness and action.[78]

This ecological conversion identifies our sinful way and destructive habits that leads to the disintegration of the community of God's creatures and moves to a change of heart away from this destructive and sinful ways to a conscious relationship with the whole community leading to concrete integration of God's creation. People of all walks of life are actually becoming increasingly sensitive to the catastrophe to which humanity is heading and so it is just right that the whole human family and not just people of faith is being called to such conversion. With this conversion, the original harmony would be rediscovered: the goods of the earth would be available to all, not just to the privileged few. Christians in particular are called to humbly take their stance alongside others, many of whom have long led the way in ecological conviction and practice. They are called to witness to the God of Jesus Christ, and to this God's love for all Earth’s creature. In a process, the whole Church itself is being called to this ecological conversion.

Undeniably, without a change, a deep conversion of all of us, it will be impossible to recover the power to respect Earth’s life and cooperate in its recovery, or at least defend what is left to us in nature. The first task of toward true conversion is to put away our pride and honestly admit that we are mistaken, that we have sinned against God and against our fellow creature. A real conversion means changing our awareness, attitude, decisions and will, so that there is a real change in our way of life. Another aspect to consider in this conversion is to experience moment by moment life’s bounding grace, gratefully receiving it and freely sharing this gift of God's grace in our lives. Grace, gratitude and free giving are resonance of love, notes in a single tune, compassion. This change of mind restores the damaged sensitivity of our being and lead us away from selfishness towards communion, from competition to cooperation, from plundering to giving freely, from covetousness to respect in our relationship with all creatures great and small.

Conversion also means loving and only those who know that they are loved are capable of loving themselves and other. Beginning to love means beginning to heal and healing means spreading ourselves infinitely wider, transcending our individual ego, our own little family, country, religious circle, outwards to embrace the great family of God's creation. True love is inclusive and heals us, moving us out of narrow point of view towards ever deeper and more inclusive communion, transcending frontiers so as to appreciate the riches of diversity of the world around us.

Lastly, being converted to love means beginning to share more and more the in the praises, adoration and communion of all creatures. Life and its continuation on Earth is only possible because it is a dynamic process of sharing, communing with others. This is the ecological dimension of incarnation, where in unites heaven and earth. Jesus whole life is this: sharing and sharing himself even in the face of death. And even after he rose from the dead, the disciple on the road to Emmaus recognized him in the breaking and sharing of bread.[79]

Jesus gave to us the Eucharist as a sign of communion, the sharing of his very life to us and the first Christians also understand that this communion fundamentally meant sharing, being life for one another. St. John tells us that Jesus saw His mission in this light: "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full"[80] Jesus is life sharing itself, resurrection and salvation. When people learn to share and share themselves, we will know what ecology of awareness means. The life of our Mother Earth depends on this change, the very conversion Jesus himself called us to do. And what happens to Earth will happen to earth’s children and the Reign of God is indeed at hand.

5. Conclusion: Reclaiming the dignity and salvation of Creation

Each year, on April 22nd we are reminded of how to better care for the environment and each other. This year’s 2007 Earth Day theme is “A Call for Action on Climate Change”. Unfortunately, since last year this time, our environmental climate has changed. The Earth is warmer, the weather system is in flux, and God’s creation is suffering. An ancient Jewish Midrash teaches that when God took Adam around the Garden of Eden and showed him its magnificence and splendor, God spoke to him saying, “If you destroy it, there is no one else besides you!” Those words ring mightily today, for the very future of life, as we know it is at stake. The environmental crisis, with the destruction that is wreaking our fragile, sacred Earth, has become the most profound religious issue of our times. Indeed, an urgent moral and spiritual issue for all peoples of our world. In our arrogance and greed, we are using up the earth’s nonrenewable resources and endangering our only home and this is not only a failure to care for God’s world but also a failure in our calling to love our neighbors. We are witnessing its impact right now, and we can for see the havoc it will wreak on the health and survival of further generations. We are destroying the birthright that we should be handing on to our children and their children’s children. If nothing changes we will leave to the generations after us an overheated, polluted planet, having destroyed nearly half of its species, with drastically different weather patterns and whole populations displaced by rising sea levels. As a result of ecological disaster, climate change and habitat destruction, a myriad of species now faces a silent genocide. Like Adam, we have been warned and cannot plead ignorance; like Adam, will we fail to heed God’s words?

There are no more doubts on our responsibilities and the conclusion is clear: we are the cause, and we are the solution and failure to act will one day in the history books be considered irresponsible and a grave sin. The environmental concerns and the deterioration we see all around us attempts to reflect the cry of all God's creature. It is already late in the day and so much damage has been done. No one can pinpoint the precise moment when the damage has become so irreversible that our living world will collapse and we are rapidly heading in that direction. As we look at what is happening before our eyes and think of the horrendous consequences for all community of life, we would do well to remember that God, who created this beautiful world, will hold us responsible for plundering it and leaving it desolate. So will future generations yet to come. There is an urgency about this issue which calls for immediate action.

Then again, we are reminded that our stewardship over creation is not absolute, but ministerial: it is a real reflection of the unique and infinite lordship of God. Hence we must exercise it with wisdom and love, sharing in the boundless wisdom and love of God. Our stewardship towards creation is the sign of this mission of knowledge and transformation of created reality. It is not the mission of an absolute and uncensurable master, but of a minister of the Kingdom of God, called to continue the work of the Creator, a work of life and peace. Our responsibility is to govern the world in holiness and justice; a mandate to relate ourselves and the totality of things to God who was to be acknowledged as the Lord and Creator of all. We could never truly glorify and worship God as our Creator if we cannot live in peace with the whole of creation.

It is clear that there is no other way but to look deep inside our very being and contemplate within ourselves our role in this community of life. Ecological conversion is in fact a prerequisite to this communion with the entire creation. The journey to ecological conversion is the journey of people of “green” faith. This journey constitutes basic changes in our minds and in the pattern of relationship with the whole universe and this change leads us towards the healing of Earth and the recovery of her ravaged dignity. We are now in a journey of healing and reclaiming the dignity of all of God's creature that was lost with the help of a new paradigm that calls for a new language, a new imaginations, a new politics, a new pedagogy, a new ethics and a new discovery of the sacred and a new spirituality. One of our main task is first to reclaim the sacred. This sacred is that quality of things and in things that in a comprehensive way completely takes hold of us, fascinates us, speaks to us of the depths of our being and gives the immediate experience of respect, fear and reverence. This sacred brings us from our exile and awakens us from our alienation, brings us back to the home that we left and we begin to love Earth, each thing in it, and the whole universe. An ecologically good life is grounded in recognition of the integrity of God’s creation. We have to be aware of value of all creatures in and for themselves, for one another, and for God, and their interconnectedness in a diverse whole that has unique value for God, together constitute this integrity of creation.

So going back to my question: Could we ever sing the hymn again together with all of creation and regain the melody that was lost? We do not have to look further to find the answer to such question, for just as I said before; it lies deep inside each and every one of us. This call of self-examination in the line of stewardship and our responsibility towards creation leading to a true and sincere ecological conversion will definitely help us regain our memory of the melody we lost. For such piece of music is deeply embedded in our very being for we are really part of the great symphony of creation. The only thing we have to do is to contemplate creation in our heart and listen to the beat and tune of the hymn of creation that is deeply enclosed within.

When God created everything from chaos, He essentially wrought salvation for His entire creation. Therefore, this hymn of creation is the song of our salvation. It is not new to us for we are part of it and it is part of us. Singing it again entails, the salvific work of God working again in creation. With this, we could still sing along with the entire world’s vanishing song; together with mother earth and father sky, with brother sun and sister moon, with our brother fauna and sister flora. By doing this, we are regaining the melody that was lost; and so doing our bigger part in the orchestra of creation in restoring the musical harmony that was meant to be. So let us sing our anthem in this journey towards a greener faith. Let us sing the creation hymn, let us sing the hymn of our salvation.



6. SElect BiBLIOGRAPHY

A. The Magisterium

Pope Paul VI. Apostolic Letter. Octogesima Adveniens. 14 May 1971.
_________. Message to the UN Conference on Human Environment addressed to Mr. Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the Conference, 1 June 1972.

Pope John Paul II. Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Hominis. 4 March 1979.
_________. Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens . 14 September 1981.
_________. Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis. 30 December 1987
_________. Message for the 1990 World Day of Peace, 8 December 1989.
_________. Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus. 1 May 1991.
_________. Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae. 25 March 1995.
_________. Address to participants in a convention on “The Environment and Health” (24 March 1997), 5: L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, 9 April 1997, p. 2.
_________. Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio. 14 September 1998.
_________. Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America. 22 January 1999.
_________. Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Asia. 6 November 1999.
_________. Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Oceania. 22 November 2001.
_________. Post- Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consacrata. 25 March 1996.
_________. Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente. 10 November 1994.
_________. Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Inuente. 6 January 2001.
Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the 2007 World Day of Peace.
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2004.
__________. From Stockholm to Johannesburg: An Historical Overview of the Concern of the Holy See for the Environment. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2002.
Justice in the World, Final Document of the Second Synod of Bishops. 30 November 1971.

B. Books

Edwards, Denis. Ecology at the Heart of Faith: The challenge of heart that leads to a new way of living on Earth. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2006.

Haffner, Paul M. Verso Una Teologia Dell’Ambiente: L’eredità Ecologica di Papa Giovanni Paolo II. Rome: Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, 2005.

Hart, John. What Are They Saying About Environmental Theology. New York: Paulist Press, 2004.

McDonagh, Sean. Why Are We Deaf To The Cry Of The Earth?. Dublin, Ireland: Veritas Publications, 2001.

Wackernagel, Michael and Rees, William. Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth. Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1996.


C. Articles and Journals

Attfield, Robin. “Environmental Sensitivity and Critiques of Stewardship.” in R.J. Berry (ed.). Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present. (New York: T & T Clark International, 2006) pp. 76-91.

Berry, R.J. Sam. “Stewardship: A Default Position?” in R.J. Berry (ed.). Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present. (New York: T & T Clark International, 2006) pp. 1-16.

Günter Altner, “The Community of Creation as a Community in Law. The New Contract between the Generations.” in J.B. Metz and E. Schillebeeckx, (eds.) Concilium: No Heaven without Earth. (St. Albans Place, London: SMC Press) 1991/4. pp. 54-64.

Janetos, Anthony C. “Do We Still Need Nature? The Importance of Biological Diversity,” in Consequences. Vol. 3, No. 1 (1997) 8-10.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). GEO YEAR BOOK 2007. United Kingdom: SMI Distribution Services Ltd., 2007.

_________. UNEP in 2006 Report. 2006.

Worldwatch Institute. State of the World 2003: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress toward a Sustainable Society. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003.

_________. Vital Signs 2003. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003.

World Wildlife Fund for Nature. The Living Planet Report 2006. Cambridge: Banson Production. 2006.

[1] Denis Edwards, Ecology at the Heart of Faith: The challenge of heart that leads to a new way of living on Earth, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2006), p. 1.
[2] WWF (also known as World Wildlife Fund in the USA and Canada) is one of the world’s largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. see www.panda.org
[3] World Wildlife Fund for Nature, The Living Planet Report 2006, (Cambridge: Banson Production, 2006), 1.
[4] Michael Wackernagel and William Rees, Our Ecological Footprint: Reducing Human Impact on the Earth, (Gabriola Island, BC: New Society Publishers, 1996), p. 2.
[5] World Wildlife Fund for Nature, The Living Planet Report 2006, op.cit. p. 14.
[6] Ibid. p., 3.
[7] Anthony C. Janetos, “Do We Still Need Nature? The Importance of Biological Diversity,” in Consequences, vol. 3, no. 1 (1997), p. 9.
[8] Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2003: A Worldwatch Institute Report on Progress toward a Sustainable Society, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003). p. xxii.
[9] Worldwatch Institute, Vital Signs 2003, (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2003), p. 82.
[10] cf. UNEP, GEO YEAR BOOK 2007, (United Kingdom: SMI Distribution Services Ltd., 2007), op. cit., p. 2.
[11] Ibid.
[12] cf. Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2003, p. 5.
[13] cf. UNEP, GEO YEAR BOOK 2007, op. cit., p. 11.
[14] United Nations Environment Programme General Council, UNEP in 2006 Report, p. 56.
[15] Ibid., p. 64.
[16] cf. Genesis 1:1.
[17] cf. Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25 and 31.
[18] cf. Genesis 1:27-28.
[19] The Apostles Creed in ND 5.
[20] The Symbol of Nicaea in ND 7.
[21] Vatican I, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius on the Catholic Faith, Charter 2 “On Revelation” in ND 113.
[22] cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church 280.
[23] cf. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, From Stockholm to Johannesburg: An Historical Overview of the Concern of the Holy See for the Environment, (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2002), p. 9.
[24] John Hart, What Are They Saying About Environmental Theology, (New York: Paulist Press, 2004), p. 2.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Ibid., 3.
[27] Ibid., p. 8.
[28] cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 21 November 1964, Nos. 36, 41, 48.
[29] cf. LG 36 & 41.
[30] John Hart, op. cit. p. 8.
[31] cf. Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 7 December 1965, Nos. 34, 36, 37,57 & 69.
[32] cf. GS 34, 36.
[33] cf. GS 69.
[34] Justice in the World, Final Document of the Second Synod of Bishops, 30 November 1971.
[35] Ibid., Charter I. Paragraph.6.
[36] cf. Paul M. Haffner, Verso Una Teologia Dell’Ambiente: L’eredità Ecologica di Papa Giovanni Paolo II, (Rome: Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, 2005), p. 44.
[37] cf. Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Letter, Octogesima Adveniens, 14 May 1971, Nos. 9 & 21.
[38] cf. OA 21.
[39] Pope Paul VI, Message to the UN Conference on Human Environment addressed to Mr. Maurice Strong, Secretary General of the Conference, 1 June 1972.
[40] cf. Paul M. Haffner, op. cit., p. 45-46.
[41] cf. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Redemptoris Hominis, 4 March 1979, cf Nos. 8, 15, 16 passim.
[42] cf. Idem, Encyclical Letter Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 30 December 1987, cf. Nos.26, 29, 30, 34.
[43] cf. Idem, Encyclical Letter Laborem Exercens, 14 September 1981, cf. Nos. 4, 25.
[44] cf. Idem, Message for the 1990 World Day of Peace, 8 December 1989.
[45] Ibid., no. 1.
[46] Ibid., Nos, 6, 7, 8.
[47] Ibid., Nos. 9, 11, 12.
[48] Ibid., No. 16.
[49] Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus, 1 may 1991. cf. Nos. 37, 38, 40, 50.
[50] cf. Paul M. Haffner, op. cit., p. 55. cf. also in John Paul II, Centesimun Annus No. 37.
[51] cf. John Hart, op. cit., pp. 18-19.
[52] cf. Pope John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 25 March 1995. cf. Nos. 27, 35. 42.
[53] cf. Idem, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio, 14 September 1998. cf. Nos.92, 98, 104.
[54] cf. Idem, Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in America, 22 January 1999. cf. Nos. 20, 25.
[55] cf. Idem, Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Oceania, 22 November 2001. cf. Nos. 28, 31.
[56] cf. Idem, Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Asia, 6 November 1999. cf. No. 41.
[57] cf. Idem, Post- Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Vita Consacrata, 25 March 1996. cf. No. 90.
[58] cf. Idem, Apostolic Letter, Tertio Millennio Adveniente, 10 November 1994. cf. Nos. 6, 13, 46.
[59] cf. Idem, Apostolic Letter, Novo Millennio Inuente,, 6 January 2001. cf. No. 51.
[60] Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, From Stockholm to Johannesburg, op. cit., 72.
[61] Ibid., pp. 72-73.
[62] Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the 2007 World Day of Peace. cf. Nos. 8-9.
[63] cf. Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 485.
[64] cf Pope John Paul II, Message for 1990 World Day of Peace, No. 3.
[65] cf. CCC 373.
[66] cf. CCC 2415. also cf. CA 37-38.
[67] R.J. Sam Berry, “Stewardship: A Default Position?” in Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present, ed. R.J. Berry, (New York: T & T Clark International, 2006), p.1.
[68] Robin Attfield, “Environmental Sensitivity and Critiques of Stewardship” in Environmental Stewardship: Critical Perspectives – Past and Present, ed. R.J. Berry, (New York: T & T Clark International, 2006), p.77.
[69] Ibid. p. 79.
[70] Günter Altner, “The Community of Creation as a Community in Law. The New Contract between the Generations” in Concilium: No Heaven without Earth, J.B. Metz and E. Schillebeeckx, eds. (St. Albans Place, London: SMC Press) 1991/4. p. 54.
[71] John M. Hart, op. cit., p. 105.
[72] cf. Pope John Paul II, Address to participants in a convention on “The Environment and Health” (24 March 1997), 5: L’Osservatore Romano, English edition, 9 April 1997, p. 2.
[73] cf. LG 48.
[74] cf. Denis Edwards, op. cit. pp. 60-65.
[75] cf Pope John Paul II, Message for 1990 World Day of Peace, No. 4.
[76] Sean McDonagh, Why Are We Deaf To The Cry Of The Earth?, (Dublin, Ireland: Veritas Publications: 2001), pp. 47-49.
[77] cf. Pope John Paul II, Message for 1990 World Day of Peace, no. 15.
[78] cf. Idem, General Audience Address, 17 January 2001.
[79] cf. Luke 42:13-35.
[80] cf. John 10:10.