Peace & Justice Reflections

Catholic Social Teaching and Climate Change

By Brother Steve Herro, O. Praem.

June, 2008
In spring 2007, two friends and I viewed the film Amazing Grace.  Director Michael Apted and Writer Steven Knight dramatically present the twenty year battle (1787-1807) by member of Parliament William Wilberforce to outlaw the slave trade in the British Empire.  The film struck me in a number of ways, including the importance of perseverance in legislative advocacy; the slave trade wasn’t banned in one Parliamentary session and the congressional response to climate change will not be accomplished on one vote, either.

On May 21, 2008, Bishop Thomas Wenski, Chairman of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace declared that, “a central moral measure of climate change legislation is how it touches the poor and vulnerable….The real ‘inconvenient truth’ is that those who contribute least to climate change will be affected the most and have the least capacity to cope or escape.  The poor and vulnerable are most likely to pay the price of inaction or unwise actions.  We know from our everyday experience their lives, homes, children, and work are most at risk.” (see “Bishop Wenski Calls for Priority for the Poor in Senate Climate Change Debate,” www.usccb.org/comm/archives/2008/08-077.shtml).

Less than three weeks later, the United States Senate literally ended the debate on national climate change legislation for this year when it failed to bring the Climate Security Act, S. 3036, to a vote.  Wisconsin Senators Feingold and Kohl voted to end debate; 60 votes were needed to end debate and forward the bill, but the final tally was 48-36 (though six absent senators wrote in support of the bill).  In 2005, the Senate failed to advance a comprehensive climate change bill, 38-60; like the British Parliament’s decision to ban the slave trade, comprehensive climate change legislation will likely take multiple congressional sessions.

I realize that Catholics are divided on climate change.  Some pastors have restricted the showing of An Inconvenient Truth in their churches; after I alerted parishioners on a Wisconsin bill to limit carbon emissions, an email chided me for “…using the Catholic church to preach your own…politics,” and even my mother explains that God will take care of his created world, so why should we advocate for climate change control?  Indeed, the Dallas News reported on June 10 that support for environmental regulation by non-Latino Catholics has dropped from 60 percent in 2004 to 52 percent in 2008.  The issue invites civil dialogue in our parishes, Catholic schools, homes, and religious communities; there is no reason that differing viewpoints need to prevent discussion.

The Catholic Church and legislative advocates will not allow the discussion to die.  Our Bishops’ conference has invested a lot of resources in its Environmental Justice Program:  Caring for God’s Creation (www.usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/) and partners with the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change (www.catholicsandclimatechange.org).  Pope Benedict XVI  has been labeled “the first green pope” by the Worldwide Watch Institute. Last year, the Vatican installed solar panels on its 10,000-seat main auditorium building, and it arranged to reforest land in Hungary to offset Vatican City's carbon emissions, making it the world's first carbon-neutral state. And Benedict has repeatedly urged protection of the environment and action against poverty in a number of major addresses.

So, prepare for the long haul.  Engage your state and national officials on this issue and be aware of what this fall’s candidates are saying and not saying about climate change. Remember, it is not just being debated at the federal level but our own state legislature considered the Wisconsin Safe Climate Act last session and Gov. Doyle did establish the Governor’s Task Force on Global Warming.  Don’t let the length of the debate or the scientific complexity of climate change theory deter you from studying the issues and forming a Christian conscience.  For assistance in understanding the “science” behind the issue in “lay terms,” see the Environmental Defense League (www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=65), National Public Radio Climate Connections (www.npr.org/climateconnections), Pew Center on Global Climate Change (www.pewclimate.org), and Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org/global_warming).

In addition to the sources listed earlier, consider forming a JustFaith JustMatters group.  JustFaith’s JustMatters program provides an eight week format for 8-15 Christian adults to study its module, “God’s Creation Cries for Justice--Climate Change:  Impact and Response.”  St. Thomas More (Newton) and Sacred Heart (Appleton) ran the program in the past school year and the Norbertine Center for Spirituality will offer it this fall (for registration information, call 920-337-4315). For more information about starting your own JustMatters group on climate change, contact David Horvath, JustFaith Ministries, (502) 429-0865 x 227.  All JustFaith programming successfully integrates prayer, study, reflection and site visits with a cohort group of similarly committed Christians.