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Apr 22, 2014

Earth Day and orthodoxy with B16

Image from Catholic World Report

Short but sweet:

My Earth Day post is news of my review in Catholic World Report of The Garden of God: Toward a Human Ecology (CUA Press, 2014).

It’s a joy to happen upon an old friend, to again hear his style of speaking and his way of engaging the world. When the old friend is Benedict XVI, however, things quickly move beyond the sentimental. So it goes with The Garden of God: Toward a Human Ecology(The Catholic University of America Press, 2014), a helpful compilation of Benedict XVI’s many, many statements about preserving life on earth.

Given that discussions of ecology polarize a great many along worldly ideological fault lines, one of the benefits of The Garden of God lies in remembering how Benedict XVI, like his predecessor, normalized the topic and maintained it within...
Apr 19, 2014

The silence—and newness—of Easter

We'll keep this brief.

The past six months have been busy ones for me, especially with taking care of my mom, who is now recovering from surgery (with things now looking good). The focus on her and a myriad of other obligations have keep me from posting for periods on this blog.

But with Easter comes renewal, and new beginnings, and new life. And during the Triduum, God has certainly been inspiring me with ideas of what this blog needs to offer in the coming months. So stay tuned.

I'd like to share one insight now about moments of silence during the past three days. That is, the silence of Holy Thursday and being with our Lord as he waits in the Garden of Gethsemane. The silence of Good Friday, when priests lay prostrate before the Cross. And the silence of Holy Saturday, as the words waits with eager expectation.

And now, the silence of the early Easter hours, when we prepare for Easter Mass or when we are basking in the joy of the Easter Vigil (or both).

God speaks to...

Apr 9, 2014

A climate toolkit for African youth

Allen Ottaro (far right) with colleagues.

Allen Ottaro of Kenya emailed with a happy update. Allen is a good friend and the executive director of Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (or “CYNESA”). Until December, he was the national coordinator of MAGiS Kenya. His email was about events that are resulting in a model educational program for Jesuit schools in Africa.

Events began last fall when Allen and colleagues met with the Alliance of Religions and Conservation, which offered funding for the initiative. The Alliance must have liked the program’s goal, which “is to enhance the knowledge, skills and engagement of young people in Jesuit institutions in Kenya, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, with respect to climate change, in the context of Catholic Social Teaching and the Ignatian Spirituality.”

Allen says that Jesuit schools were a natural fit given his previous work with the MAGiS program and existing relationships with the order.

Four pilot high schools have been chosen, said Allen. They are St. Aloysius Gonzaga High...

Apr 6, 2014

A Bishop’s Reflection: A forerunner to a Francis encyclical?

Photo from catholicenvironment.com

His Excellency Bishop Dominique Rey of the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, France, penned a pastoral letter that could very well be the forerunner of a papal encyclical on ecology.

Have you read it? I was given a copy for an upcoming review of another eco-publication (about a certain pontiff—more on that later). Having read Bishop Rey’s letter, I can’t keep silent. And anyone who reads it won’t either—or at least they shouldn’t.

The 2012 letter Peut-on etre Catho et Ecolo? Lettre sur l' ecologie ("Can One Be Catholic and Green? A Letter on Ecology") was re-published in 2013 by the Acton Institute as Catholicism, Ecology, and the Environment: A Bishop’s Reflection. No matter what title you give it, it lays a formidable and rather complete foundation for the Catholic engagement of ecology.

Let me restate that: The letter lays a formidable and rather complete foundation for the Catholic engagement of ecology.

(On a...

Mar 31, 2014

Noah and the Pope’s prayers

Vatican City, 31 March 2014 (VIS) – Pope Francis' universal prayer intention for April is: “That governments may foster the protection of creation and the just distribution of natural resources.”

I just returned from seeing the film Noah. I also just read the news of Pope Francis’s general prayer intentions for April. The protection of creation is a fitting intention for a month when many people around the world celebrate Earth Day.

Given all the controversy among Christians over Noah and its whimsical take on the Book of Genesis, the pope’s eco-intentions will certainly be compared to what many people are complaining about in the film.

Have you seen Noah? I wasn’t going to but given what everyone has been saying about an eco-centric plot I decided to spend an evening at the movies.

There’s much about Noah I’d like to deconstruct, criticize, correct, or praise, but for the purpose of this blog I’ll stick to its faith-based eco-messaging, which is a big part of the film.

(I will, however,...

Mar 18, 2014

"Damaging societies," one child at a time

Another research study is showing us what happens when children encounter neurotoxins. Gladly, its findings are making news. This is in large part because it underscores what previous efforts have already demonstrated: a good many chemicals that we produce in our industries and use at home are preventing normal, healthy lives for many of our children.

The paper, “Neurobehavioural effects of developmental toxicity” in the March 2014 edition of The Lancet Neurology is authored by Philippe Grandjean and Philip J Landrigan. Its summary tells us that

[n]eurodevelopmental disabilities, including autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, dyslexia, and other cognitive impairments, affect millions of children worldwide, and some diagnoses seem to be increasing in frequency. Industrial chemicals that injure the developing brain are among the known causes for this rise in prevalence. In 2006, we did a systematic review and identified five industrial chemicals as developmental neurotoxicants: lead, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, arsenic, and toluene. Since 2006, epidemiological studies have documented six additional developmental neurotoxicants—manganese, fluoride, chlorpyrifos, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, and the polybrominated diphenyl ethers. We postulate that even more neurotoxicants remain undiscovered.

In simple terms, our creativity in cobbling together this or that chemical...

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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.