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The Fall 2011 edition of the journal Communio has a wonderful essay by Stratford and Léonie Caldecott. “Divine Touch: The Laying on of Hands” explores beautifully the place of the human body in salvation history.

The essay may eventually be online, but for now I will try to do it justice with a few quotes. I hope what I’ve selected shows how this work speaks volumes about the meaning of this day – the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God – and about ecology.

All religious traditions try to read the body symbolically, and the various schools of traditional medicine are based on imagined correspondences between each part of the body and some element or component of the universe at large. The human body is like a very dense, very complex poem. We know it is dense with meaning because it is made by and in the image of God. Our attempts to decipher it in the past may have been crude, but they were based on...

Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
R. Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord.
(Responsorial Psalm, 96: 1-2, 2-3, 11-12, 13, Midnight Mass)

This painting by Lorenzo Lotto (1480–1556) reminds us that Christ’s cross is not detached from His crib of hope. As the Christmas hymn refrains, God and sinners require reconciliation. And so today, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we celebrate the great moment when God came among us, visibly—born to Mary in poverty.

At Christmas—especially the powerful liturgies of Midnight Mass, from which I’ve just returned—the sinful nature of man is contrasted with the self-revealing humility and stunning love of our Creator. Indeed, while celebrating the birth of Christ, we cannot forget exactly why we sinners...

While I was busy with Christmas preparations and year-end parish and diocesan work, a few big news items came along that need to be acknowledged.

The happiest of news is that this week, the Holy Father accepted a miracle attributed to Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1880), placing her on the list for elevation to sainthood. Bl. Tekakwitha is the patron for all things ecological, and we are much in need of her intercession.

 I also came across insights on a growing environmental issue here in the US—one that, like what I'll be discussing below, has something to say about our need for a Savior. More on that in an upcoming post.

For now: Kudos to Archbishop Timothy Dolan for eloquently explaining the Holy Father’s ecological mindfulness. Here’s a sampling:
As the Holy Father teaches, just as disturbing the environment outside of us has dire consequences, so does contradicting the inner ecology of our very person harm ourselves and others.
Sadly, at the very time more and more people are realizing...
Published November 2011

In December 1958, Pope John XXIII denounced China’s treatment of Roman Catholics. At a consistory for the elevation of cardinals, the Holy Father noted, "For a long time Catholics throughout China have been living under the most difficult circumstances.

Missionaries, archbishops, and bishops have been accused of false crimes, thrown into prison, and finally sent into exile. Even bishops who are Chinese by birth have been put into places of confinement, and not a few have been expelled."

Little has changed in five decades. Last year, Father Bernardo Cervellera, an observer of relations between Rome and China, pointed to a number of troubling activities. He noted that in many ways "we are back in the 1950s.”

Also troubling are China’s ecological and public health issues. Massive levels of pollution continue to be a deadly byproduct of the nation’s hyper-industrialization, which has grown out of the West’s love of paying low, low prices.

When we add everything up, we soon realize that something is wrong with China. And so we ask ourselves, should we be enabling these...



Father, the image of the Virgin is found in the Church. Mary had a faith that your Spirit prepared and a love that never knew sin, for you kept her sinless from the first moment of her conception. Trace in our actions the lines of her love, in our hearts her readiness of faith. Prepare once again a world for your Son who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

First, I’d like to thank Ian from the Catholic Laboratory for interviewing me as part of his series on the Catholic engagement of science. Visit his site here and access the interview here. It was an honor to chat about the Catholic perspective of ecology for his listeners.

One topic discussed was, of course, climate change. Since recording this podcast, a few items on the topic have come to light that are worth sharing.

One is a recent study published by the United States Department of the Interior. It looks at how the natural world stores carbon. This is knowledge that may very well be helpful in understanding how we can live and work on Earth in better balance with the created order.

According to the Department of Interior:
“This report will give tools to the policymakers, land managers and the public to make sound decisions, such as whether to restore wetlands, harvest trees, develop agricultural lands, or consider no-till farming practices,” said [Deputy Secretary of the Interior David J.]...

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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.