Linking ecology and religion

How can science and faith enhance each other? For more than thirty years, Fr Sean McDonagh, Columban missionary priest and environmental advocate has been writing about the ecological crisis, urging us in the Church to make the connections with our faith.  


Fr McDonagh has set up a Masters in Religion and Ecology at All Hallows College, Dublin City University. Part of the course involves a week in the Burren National Park - unique because of its limestone geological formation and resultant vegetation. Columban representatives from around the globe, as well as Irish locals, were led by Fr Sean and Dr John Feehan, well known Irish environmental scientist, on an intensive sensory, intellectual and spiritual experience in this wildly beautiful place. Not only did they walk the landscape, observe the geology, archaeology, biology and agriculture, study flora and fauna and listen to stories, they also shared prayer and celebration.

"We discovered that flowers are not made for us – they’re made for insects," exclaimed Cathriona Russell, one of the Irish participants.

Like Cathriona, most of us who live in cities don’t think about these things. We have become disconnected from nature. Our faith too is often disconnected from nature. Dr John Feehan explained that through science, "We are trying to become a little less inadequate in our encounter with what is, that is with God." He added, "Religion and science are different ways of approaching the same thing - revelation of what is! Each species is a unique realisation of living possibility, an aspect of the real-isation of God."

"I have an extremely limited knowledge of science", said Anne Lanyon from the Columban Mission Institute. "Looking at flowers and moths under the microscope opened my eyes to a greater appreciation of the meaning of Jesus, Incarnation of God in the world and the presence of the Holy Spirit. Trying to understand the bigger story of the evolution of the Universe made me think about our place as humans in the whole scheme of things. For too long, we have acted as though the world is here just for us, without consideration of our impact on the rest of Creation. The Earth is suffering and it makes me sad for the future of my grandchildren. No wonder Pope John Paul II coined the phrase 'ecological conversion'!"

Anne Lanyon is the Coordinator of the Columban Mission Institute, Centre for Peace, Ecology and Justice in Sydney, NSW.

Watch the 10-part series of reflections on ecology and faith - presented by the Columban Mission Institute. This video series looks at the link between ecology and religion and features participants from a week-long immersion program in the Burren National Park.

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