Marc Adami submitted this report.
The Whiteside Forum hosted Fr. Robert “Bud” Grant, PhD, an environmentalist, professor (at St. Ambrose University, Davenport IA), author, and Catholic Priest to speak to us on environmental ethics and environmental theology. Our meeting was held Thursday night, January 26, 2017, in the Program Room of the Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison Street, Morrison, IL. The event was open to the public and attended by about 26 people, of various faiths and no faith.
Fr. Bud based his talk and PowerPoint presentation on Pope Francis’s Encyclical on the Environment, Laudato Si, or “Praise be to you,” the first words of the Canticle of Creation. Written by St. Francis of Assisi, it most obviously inspires Pope Francis. The Encyclical is a way for the Pope to address Catholics and all people by the exercise of his teaching authority. It is not an infallible directive of faith, but a call to everyone to care for our common home, through relationship and dialogue. You can easily find and read the document on the internet.
Points of environmental ethics that were brought up and discussed are listed.
- There are various interpretations of “good.”
- Climate change is real, largely caused by human activity, and so advanced that we should do something about it.
- All creation (everything we can see and understand about our world and the universe) is interwoven and has the same intrinsic value.
- There is no “legitimate” debate in the scientific community about the causes of climate change or other environmental problems. There is political debate, driven by other issues and concerns, but not by science or faith.
- Those who suffer the effects of climate change or other environmental degradation are least responsible. Those who are most responsible suffer the least effect.
- Our Standard of Living vs. our Quality of Life. We can actually live better by consuming less.
- The economic system that concentrates wealth and power in the hands of less and less people is not sustainable.
Points of environmental theology that were brought up and discussed are listed:
- God created nature and man. To have a relationship with God, you must have a relationship with all people and all nature.
- Issues of morality and spirituality include care for the poor, the marginalized, and disadvantaged; care for future generations; care for nature, which is intrinsically valuable.
- The universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely. Hence, there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, mountain trail, dewdrop, in poor person’s face. A quote by the spiritual writer Ali al-Khawas says, “Prejudice should not have us criticize those who seek ecstasy in music or poetry. There is a subtle mystery in each of the movements and sounds of this world. The initiate will capture what is being said when the wind blows, the trees sway, water flows, flies buzz, doors creak, birds sing, or in the sound of strings or flutes, the sighs of the sick, the groans of the afflicted….”
- The book of Genesis contains, in their own symbolic and narrative language, profound teachings about human existence and its historical reality. They suggest that human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbor, and with the earth itself.
- We must forcefully reject the notion that our being created in God’s image and given dominion over the earth justifies absolute domination over other creatures.
Fr. Bud was as optimistic as an environmentalist could be, after both the Pope’s Environmental Encyclical and his address to the United Nations in New York, City and also on the international accord on climate change reached in Paris, France. With the election of our new President and his denial of climate change as a real threat, his optimism has turned to sorrow. Today, he copes with prayer (which is cheaper than psychotherapy) and the moral objective to work for the common good and to consume less.