05 September 2019, The Tablet
Church can expose ‘sins against the planet’
There is no Planet B, to which
the human race could migrate to escape the reeking rubbish tip that
Planet Earth is slowly but surely becoming. It is that which justifies
the use of words like “crisis” and “emergency” to describe the present
global trends, and their increasing currency may be a sign that the
message is starting to sink in. It is a moral message, and therefore it
is beholden on those principally concerned with morality, religious
bodies particularly, to respond with a sufficient degree of urgency,
insight and realism.
Pope Francis signposted the way with his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’. The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have now issued a statement on the global climate crisis, largely a summary of Laudato Si’, which is a welcome response though not exactly an urgent one. Cafod, the Catholic bishops’ lead agency on climate change matters, has added its name to an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from various similar bodies, asking for a doubling in the level of government investment in environmental protection to a rate of £42 billion a year for the next three years. These are deeply political issues.
If there is a valid criticism of the bishops’ statement apart from the delay, it is its lack of specificity. Individuals and church groups including parishes need clear practical advice. They also need to hear the message week by week: parish sermons on topics within the Catholic Social Teaching tradition are fairly uncommon, possibly due to Vatican II’s insistence that preachers should concentrate on expounding the scriptural readings at Mass that day. A revised lectionary with greater relevance to green issues would help, as would lectures on such issues in seminaries when future priests are trained.
So would a fresh look at moral theology. Is there such a thing as a sin against the planet? Laudato Si’ implies there is. The buying of a new car, for instance, is a moral choice, now that low-polluting electric vehicles are widely available. The bishops talk of the need to develop a green spirituality, which deeply understands God’s Creation in its wholeness. If the salvation of the planet from depredation demands a wholescale internal conversion of the heart by its human inhabitants, as they imply, they might be demanding more than is realistically possible.
It would be truer to say that the necessary condition is the political will to act. Given the fallenness of the human condition, financial incentives to protect the environment will be a necessary spur to action. Scrappage schemes for old cars – and indeed for diesels – would help to clean up the air; cheaper rail fares would attract cars off the road; airlines could be forced to sponsor new forests, to offset the greenhouse gases they generate and to be added to the cost of each ticket.
The aim has to be to create a state of public opinion where all politicians know that saving the planet is high on the list of priorities of their constituents. Church bodies can help generate that consensus. Not to do so when they can would surely be a “sin against the planet”. A sin which could, in every sense, be mortal.
Pope Francis signposted the way with his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’. The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have now issued a statement on the global climate crisis, largely a summary of Laudato Si’, which is a welcome response though not exactly an urgent one. Cafod, the Catholic bishops’ lead agency on climate change matters, has added its name to an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer from various similar bodies, asking for a doubling in the level of government investment in environmental protection to a rate of £42 billion a year for the next three years. These are deeply political issues.
If there is a valid criticism of the bishops’ statement apart from the delay, it is its lack of specificity. Individuals and church groups including parishes need clear practical advice. They also need to hear the message week by week: parish sermons on topics within the Catholic Social Teaching tradition are fairly uncommon, possibly due to Vatican II’s insistence that preachers should concentrate on expounding the scriptural readings at Mass that day. A revised lectionary with greater relevance to green issues would help, as would lectures on such issues in seminaries when future priests are trained.
So would a fresh look at moral theology. Is there such a thing as a sin against the planet? Laudato Si’ implies there is. The buying of a new car, for instance, is a moral choice, now that low-polluting electric vehicles are widely available. The bishops talk of the need to develop a green spirituality, which deeply understands God’s Creation in its wholeness. If the salvation of the planet from depredation demands a wholescale internal conversion of the heart by its human inhabitants, as they imply, they might be demanding more than is realistically possible.
It would be truer to say that the necessary condition is the political will to act. Given the fallenness of the human condition, financial incentives to protect the environment will be a necessary spur to action. Scrappage schemes for old cars – and indeed for diesels – would help to clean up the air; cheaper rail fares would attract cars off the road; airlines could be forced to sponsor new forests, to offset the greenhouse gases they generate and to be added to the cost of each ticket.
The aim has to be to create a state of public opinion where all politicians know that saving the planet is high on the list of priorities of their constituents. Church bodies can help generate that consensus. Not to do so when they can would surely be a “sin against the planet”. A sin which could, in every sense, be mortal.
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