Greening Redemption
04.02.2009
A few years back I wrote about two hundred years of Catholic attitudes to the environment in Australia. When doing my research it was a privilege to hear the stories of many contemporary Catholics who told of how commitment to environmental care became integral to their faith.
To use the phrase of Pope John Paul II, they had undergone an 'ecological conversion'. For some it was a gradual process. For others it was like 'being knocked from my horse in St Paul fashion'. However, every one of them had a story of first hand contact with nature which was important for them – a back yard veggie patch, bush walks, science field trips or managing the farm. These experiences were starting points which led them to live more in harmony with the Creator's Earth and importantly, to relate to God in a new way. They were converted.
A modern Catholic spiritual journey not only embraces the natural world but revels in the mystery it reveals. When launching Catholic Earthcare Australia, Archbishop John Bathesby of Brisbane said, "The entire life of Christians is an exploration into Christ. Each generation pushes back ever so slightly the envelope of His mystery…One of the most significant developments in Catholic understanding of the Christian mission in more recent times is its embrace of creation in all its beauty and vitality."
We are familiar with the Scriptural passages about God as Creator, the Earth belonging to God, praise for the beauty of nature and the like. A less familiar Scriptural teaching for us is that nature witnesses to God's wisdom embedded in the Earth: If you would learn more, ask the cattle, seek information from the birds of the air. (Job 12:7, 38:2). Justice and compassion towards Earth itself flows from this wisdom tradition and relate directly to the justice and compassion brought by Jesus the Redeemer.
Father Denis Edwards is part of the Adelaide-based Earth Bible team. Writing over two decades he has plumbed the depths of our Catholic Tradition to detail in particular how each of the three persons in the Blessed Trinity is close to us as they act in creation. St Thomas Aquinas said that nature's diversity helps display the fullness of God's own self.
Faith grows and deepens; a new response to creation is opening a new chapter in the evolving Catholic story. The environmental movement is a sign of the times to which we respond. The Church guided by the Holy Spirit is being sent on a new stage of mission. Pope Bendict VI invites us to let our hearts be 'stretched'.
Embracing the mystery of God immanent in Earth may be a shock for us and may truly mean ecological conversion. But Pope John Paul II, in a speech to Agriculturalists on 11 November 2000, said, "Within the movement of nature, tranquil and silent but rich in life, there continues to palpitate the original delight of the Creator."
Fr Charles Rue worked in Korea and Jamaica. He works in the areas of justice, peace and ecology.
