Christ's answer to divisive climates

May I, for a moment, call your attention away from the Synod on the Family? Don't worry, I will be mentioning it below. For now I’d like to suggest that Catholic ecologists pay attention to Pope Francis’s recent warnings about the intentions of Satan. Yes, Satan.

If you haven’t already heard, the pontiff has a history of calling out our ancient enemy and he’s been doing it often these past few weeks.

In his homily last Friday, the Holy Father said that “we know—Jesus says clearly—that the devil always returns. Even at the end of life, he, Jesus, gives us an example of this.” Last month, on the Feast of the Archangels, he preached that Satan “presents things as if they were good, but his intention is destruction.”

So, you might ask, why all this talk of the demonic?

My guess is for two reasons: First, against the perception of many in the Catholic and mainstream media, Pope Francis is a pious, old-school cleric who actually believes in things like angels—the faithful and the fallen—and how they interact with the material world.

Secondly, the Holy Father holds the Chair of St. Peter in some of the most turbulent times since the 1960s. Not since the Second Vatican Council and the issuance of Humane Vitae has there been this current level of discord, most especially played out for the world this past week at the Synod on the Family.

It seems to me that all this aligns with one of the messages of Francis: that Satan seeks discord and division among Christ’s flock.

Mystics have warned of this similarly throughout the life of the Church. So had Christ. But Christ promised that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His bride, and so … fear not.

These warnings and that promise are important to the ecological arena, too. After all, there is great and dangerous discord among the faithful when it comes to ecological issues, most especially climate change.

You had certainly noticed after the UN Climate Summit last month—and the associated climate protests—that there was more than a little back and forth among Catholics about how the Church should be responding.

And you may remember that I posted on my own experiences of being taken to task by climate deniers, who were upset at my suggestion that the Church has something to contribute to climate change discussions.

Since then, there has been a flurry of other responses—which have subsided as commentators type feverishly about the synod, but they will return.

Take, for instance, Steve Jalsevac’s piece at Lifesitenews.com last month. It succinctly sums up the ecclesial camp horrified that anyone in the Church—even the pope!—should take climate change seriously. Mr. Jalsevac certainly denies the scientific evidence for anthropogenic climate change. He also writes that

Sadly, Catholic hierarchy, bishops’ conferences and even the Vatican have been entering into support of this movement and controversy which is far beyond their realm of competence. They see it a “social justice” issue, but the difficulty is in sorting out who is really telling the truth. It is noteworthy that the usual liberal, social justice minded Catholics who place the life and family issues as a low priority are usually the Catholics who are most into the global warming, bottled water, environmental issues and changing political structures agendas as their highest priorities.

While I don’t agree with everything in Mr. Jalsevac’s piece, he has a point that some Catholics who praise the Church for dealing with climate change would rather there be less talk of abortion and marriage.

Other voices wary of the Church’s involvement in climate change are especially concerned about language like this from Donna Schaper writing last month in advance of the People’s Climate March in the National Catholic Register:

Power will change its meaning and transcend the electrical. Real power is the power to make positive impact. Real power is the capacity to disrupt. There is a crucible and a cruciality to being a power.

You know you are a power by whether or not other people take you seriously. You know you are a power by what other people get away with saying about you or to you. Whether other people want to copy you or emigrate from you. Or by click testing: Did they read or share what you posted? Power shows up in buzz.

We in the climate movement are on our way to power, the kind that is much more equal and sustainable than what we have now in our diminished, fossilizing state.

[…]

If the march doesn’t work to achieve real power, we’ll just have to keep trying.

But of course real power comes only from God. As I wrote, also in anticipation of the People’s Climate March, the power of any march could easily become the misguided fervor of the crowd on Palm Sunday—and Ms. Schaper seems to prove my point.

But that gets us back to Pope Francis’s warnings of our ancient enemy. For just as Satan was inciting things during the final days of Jesus’s human ministry, so he is at work today seeking to divide what Christ calls together. Any issue will do. If he will be bold enough to sew division among bishops about the integrity of Christ’s teachings on marriage, he will most assuredly try with you and me over how, or if, the Church should respond to new forms of sin—like the environmental kinds.

The challenge to us all, then, is to follow Francis's exhortations. We must keep our hearts clean (i.e., regular confession) and open them to those who don’t agree with us. Unkind remarks and thoughts about a fellow Christian do not advance the cause of God. They threaten to entangle us in the machinations of demonic forces that seek to thwart His will.

Fraternal correction may take many forms. Hatred is not one of them.

And so especially in the very real-world of issues like dealing with climate change, we must listen to Christ, who offers us one of His more difficult teachings, but one that is sorely needed in this age of division and warming climates.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)

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About the Blog

Catholic Ecology posts my regular column in the Rhode Island Catholic, as well as scientific and theological commentary about the latest eco-news, both within and outside of the Catholic Church. What is contained herein is but one person's attempt to teach and defend the Church's teachings - ecological and otherwise. As such, I offer all contents of this blog for approval of the bishops of the Church. It is my hope that nothing herein will lead anyone astray from truth.