{"id":25672,"date":"2010-06-30T07:54:57","date_gmt":"2010-06-30T11:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/06\/the-environment-shows-us-gods\/"},"modified":"2010-06-30T07:54:57","modified_gmt":"2010-06-30T11:54:57","slug":"the-environment-shows-us-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/2010\/06\/the-environment-shows-us-gods\/","title":{"rendered":"The environment shows us God’s creative activity –what ought to be our response?"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\"Antonio<\/a><\/p>\n

Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, president of the Pontifical
\nCouncil for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples<\/a>,
\npublished a letter today for World Tourism Day addressing the theme of “Tourism
\nand Biodiversity” as proposed by the World Tourism Organization; the theme of
\n“International Year for Biological Diversity” was adopted by the General
\nAssembly of the United Nations in 2006. As Archbishop Vegliò noted, “This
\nproclamation was born of the deep concern for ‘the social, economic,
\nenvironmental and cultural implications of the loss of biodiversity, including
\nnegative impacts on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and
\nstressing the necessity to adopt concrete measures in order to reverse it.'”<\/p>\n

This
\nparticular Council, according to the 1987 Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus<\/i>,
\nhas as its work the “pastoral solicitude of the Church to the particular needs
\nof those who have been forced to abandon their homeland, as well as to those
\nwho have none” (149) and “is committed to assuring that journeys undertaken for
\nreasons of piety, study or relaxation may aid in the moral and religious
\nformation of the faithful; It assists particular Churches so that all those who
\nare far from home may be given adequate pastoral assistance (151). It also
\noversees the Apostleship of the Sea.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The Church intensively cares for, is present to, the welfare
\nof her children, indeed, she wants the happiness of all peoples, regardless of people’s particulars. Why are these
\nparagraphs important to me and perhaps to you?  <\/span>Because Archbishop Vegliò focuses our attention on the
\ncreative action of God in making the world ex nihilo<\/i> and that He sustains us. I
\ndon’t believe the Church is being politically correct in advocating “green theology”
\nbecause it is fashionable. And, I don’t think it would be acceptable to be
\ndismissive of matters pertaining to the environment; whether we realize it or not, proper balance and respect for the environment is
\nnecessary for us today and in the future. This is why I think that dioceses, parishes, monasteries and school –in short, all constituencies– ought to incorporate in their pastoral programs a proper catechesis on various subjects that promote and develop an environmental perspective. Catholics ought to take charge in being environmentally sensitive
\nbecause of our fundamental belief that God is the creator of world, it is Scripturally well-founded, that God is the
\ncreator of us personally and because we care for all things that allow our
\nhumanity to thrive; and not least is the fact that all things are given for
\nsustaining our life and giving glory to God. In other words, we really can’t
\nopt out of caring for the environment and calling those who abuse the
\nenvironment on the micro and macro levels to be accountable. I wonder if one can argue that it is a mortal sin to abuse the environment. Respect for our biodiversity is not only a matter of faith and reason but our faith and good public order. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Vegliò shows us
\nthat the Church is providing leadership for an authentic environmental
\nperspective and goal that is truly human and humane. All our work should be
\nbalanced, reasonable and sustainable for the common good.<\/p>\n

Some pertinent paragraphs of Archbishop
\nVegliò’s letter follows:<\/p>\n

As Pope Benedict XVI points out in his Encyclical
\nletter Caritas in veritate<\/i>, “in nature, the believer recognizes the wonderful
\nresult of God’s creative activity, which we may use responsibly to satisfy our
\nlegitimate needs, material or otherwise, while respecting the intrinsic balance
\nof creation” (48) and whose use represents for us “a responsibility towards the
\npoor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole” (49). For
\nthis tourism must be respectful of the environment, looking to reach a perfect
\nharmony with creation, so as to guarantee the sustainability of the resources
\non which it depends, while not leading to irreversible ecological
\ntransformations.<\/p>\n

\"renegade<\/a><\/p>\n

Contact with nature is important and therefore tourism must
\nmake an effort to respect and value the beauty of creation, from the conviction
\nthat “many people experience peace and tranquility, renewal and
\nreinvigoration, when they come into close contact with the beauty and harmony
\nof nature. There exists a certain reciprocity: as we care for creation, we
\nrealize that God, through creation, cares for us” (Benedict XVI, World Day of
\nPeace 2010 message, 13).<\/p>\n

There is an element that makes even this effort more
\nimperative than ever. In the search for God, the human being discovers ways to
\nbring himself closer to the Mystery, which has creation as a starting point
\n(CCC 31). Nature and biological diversity speak to us of God Creator, He that
\nmakes himself present in His creation, “for from the greatness and the
\nbeauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen (Wis. 13:5),
\n“for the original source of beauty fashioned them.” (Wis. 13:3) This
\nis why the world, in its diversity, “presents itself before man’s eyes as
\nevidence of God, the place where his creative, providential and redemptive
\npower unfolds” (CSD 487) For this reason, tourism, bringing us closer to
\ncreation in its variety and wealth, can be an occasion to promote and increase
\nthe religious experience.<\/p>\n

All of this makes looking for a balance between
\ntourism and biological diversity, in which they mutually support each other,
\nurgent and necessary, so that economic development and environmental protection
\ndo not appear as opposed and incompatible elements, but rather that there is a
\ntendency to reconcile the demands of both (CSD 470).<\/o:p><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Archbishop Antonio Maria Vegliò, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples, published a letter today for World Tourism Day addressing the theme of “Tourism and Biodiversity” as proposed by the World Tourism Organization; the theme of “International Year for Biological Diversity” was adopted by the General Assembly of … Continue reading The environment shows us God’s creative activity –what ought to be our response?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[2158,2446,1799],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communio.stblogs.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}