Concerning Care
Of Creation
Fr. Patrick Foley, T.O.R.
�
Hello one and
all! I hope that this little update finds you doing well and
enjoying your summer! A couple of months ago I was asked to share
with the community on the activities that I have been engaged in
concerning care of creation. To begin with, my passion and concern
for the environment has roots that stretch back to my days in the
military. Part of my training involved learning to survive off of
the land. This training developed within me a deeper sense of just
how dependent we are on the environment for our livelihood.
Additionally, during my last semester of theology studies at the
Oblate School of Theology I began studying the role that faith and
theology play in caring for creation. My involvement in the care of
creation �movement� officially began in October of last year when I
was contacted by Robin Linde, the coordinator for the St.
Paul/Minneapolis Archdiocesan Global Warming Action Team (an
initiative started by the Archdiocesan Office of Social Justice with
the support of Archbishop Harry Flynn). Robin had heard from one of
the parishioners of St. Gerard�s that I was preaching on the issue
of climate change and she asked if I would be willing to be on a
radio program intended to discuss the role of faith in caring for
creation. I happily agreed to do this and on October 29th
I was a guest on a program entitled, �Considering Faith, Common
Ground for the Common Good: Faithful to the Environment.�
Two months later Robin contacted me
and asked if I would be interested in speaking to members of the
Minnesota State Legislature at an unprecedented legislative forum
being convened by the Governor on climate change. Once again I
agreed to do this. However, I also came to the conclusion that I had
better start doing some further reading and research on the issue of
faith and the environment in preparation for this event! Hence I
began a fairly intensive review of the contemporary theological
approach to the environment (referred to as �theology of nature�,
�environmental theology�, or �eco-theology�). About a week before
the scheduled meeting with the members of the Legislature,
Archbishop Flynn was invited and agreed to address the assembly and
therefore I was let off the hook! However, I still was invited to be
in attendance and sat in the Minnesota House Chamber as Archbishop
Flynn, a Lutheran Bishop, an Arctic explorer, and several reputable
ecologists sounded the alarm with regard to global warming. As a
result of my research in the area of environmental theology, I
expressed to Robin my desire to draft a covenant with creation and
to post it electronically. I was inspired to do this namely by the
fact that while I have come across a number of authors who have
discussed the need to covenant with creation, I haven�t encountered
an actual covenant (the
Earth Charter
comes fairly close). After Robin agreed to this idea I intensified
my research and was able to solicit the expertise and feedback of
Mike Byron, Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Paul Seminary,
John Haught, Professor of Theology at Georgetown University (and a
leading author in the area of eco-theology), and Kelly Nemeck, O.M.I.
(theologian and author). These persons contributed considerably in
helping me to formulate the text. I finished the covenant about two
months ago and have presented it at the Basilica of St. Mary (where
I also had the opportunity to preach at all the masses on May 5th
and 6th
on caring for creation) and here at St. Gerard�s. In addition to
this I recently presented the covenant in San Antonio at the Oblate
School of Theology�s Summer Institute on �Preserving the Integrity
of Creation.� If any of you would like an electronic or paper copy,
just let me know. The covenant itself is one page in length. The
remainder of the document establishes a foundation for the covenant
in scripture, tradition (the sacramental and social teaching
traditions), and contemporary approaches to environmental theology.
The document includes endnotes for further reading.�
�The above
activities and the reading and writing that I have done on the issue
of caring for creation has personally convinced me that we as a
human community stand at an historical and environmental crossroads
the likes of which we have never before encountered. Regardless of
whether one wishes to acknowledge global warming or not, it is
becoming nearly impossible to deny that something is amuck with our
environment and the human relationship with the environment.
However, in spite of the many �doom and gloom� prognostications, I
view our current environmental crises as an hour of great
opportunity. As much as I have received criticism for my convictions
and views, I have received even greater support and have great hope
fueled by the many persons of differing backgrounds uniting together
on this issue: from Archbishop Flynn who referred to care of
creation as a moral issue to the Minnesota State Legislators who
promised to pass legislation mitigating the effects of Global
Warming to everyday persons like myself who are striving to be
�humans who also happen to consume� instead of �consumers who also
happen to be human.� Where we place the
emphasis is entirely
up to us and has radical implications for the earth. Above all, I
believe that we as Franciscans have a legacy of a regard for
creation that can truly forge a path to a new relationship between
ourselves, Mother Earth, and all of our sister and brother
creatures, both human and non-human alike.
��
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