Cardinal Tobin calls for action, responsible stewardship of God’s creation
My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
In recent weeks, the smoky haze arising from nearly 150 wildfires burning outside Quebec, Canada coated much of the northeast of the United States including our four counties of northern New Jersey. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, this caused serious air quality issues here and as far south as northern Florida. In our part of the country, skies are darkening, and government officials are warning residents to stay inside and limit outdoor exposure as much as possible.
I am reminded of the prophetic warning of Pope Francis in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ (On Care for Our Common Home). In this letter, the Holy Father builds on the teaching of his predecessors (especially St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) and calls for a conversion of mind and heart regarding our attitude toward the environment. He also challenges us to act in ways that are both eco-friendly and committed to resolving the problems of human society.
Laudato Si’ is controversial. In many ways, it is a prophetic statement that is guaranteed to make everyone uncomfortable one way or another. “A true ecological approach always becomes a social approach,” Pope Francis insists. “We must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” (#49).
Although it is a prophetic statement with many challenges for us to consider, Laudato Si’ is also a song of hope and joy inspired by the “Canticle of the Sun” written by St. Francis of Assisi as a hymn of praise to the Lord of all creation. “Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures, especially Sir Brother Sun, who is the day and through whom you give us light. And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendor; and bears a likeness to you, Most High” (#87). Our world is confronted with serious challenges—social, political, economic and environmental—that the pope tells us are, in reality, one crisis of “integral ecology” (#137)
“We are not God” (#67), the Holy Father says. The Earth that we inhabit does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth. As we are reminded vividly on Ash Wednesday, we are dust. We come from the dust of the Earth, and every one of us will return to dust one day. In the meantime, we are called to be stewards of all God’s gifts, and this fundamental change of perspective from owner to steward changes everything.
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