For the next three bulletins, I hope to walk with you through Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical Laudato Si, liter-ally, Praise to you, my Lord. It is an encyclical about the environment and our need to take care of it. I know what a few of you are thinking, Fr. Kevin has become a tree hugger. Well, sorta.
Here is how I look at the issue. Take a look at your home, your yard, your basement. If someone would leave a barrel of toxic waste on your porch, you would be concerned. You would want to protect your in-vestment, your home, your children. That is all that this is about. We need to be reasonable about our home, the earth. And there are people who are leaving it trashed.
Nothing in this world is indifferent to us.
With this line, the Pope walks us through sixty plus years of Catholic teaching. This is not some trendy top-ic, it is part of a long line of Catholic teaching including Pope John XXIII’s Pacem in Terris, to Pope Paul VI, to St. John Paul II, to Pope Benedict as they speak about care for our common home. John Paul II wrote: Authentic human development has a moral character. It presumes full respect for the human person, but it must also be concerned for the world around us and “take into account the nature of each being and of its mutual connection in an ordered system”.
Pope Francis recognizes that this is not just a Catholic thing, it is a human thing. He writes: These state-ments of the Popes echo the reflections of numerous scientists, philosophers, theologians and civic groups, all of which have enriched the Church’s thinking on these questions. Outside the Catholic Church, other Churches and Christian communities – and other religions as well – have expressed deep concern and of-fered valuable reflections on issues which all of us find disturbing.
The Pope does not suggest that we go back to the Stone Age, but that we find ways to protect our common home which includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change.
So often when we talk about these topics there seems to be not only a great divide, but there also seems little hope for solutions. Pope Francis does not despair, but he is also realistic. I encourage you to read this en-cyclical, pray about it, talk about it and ultimately act on it.
Think about the toxic barrel on your porch.
Father Kevin