Embracing Unity: Laudato Si’ and Our Interconnected World

1. Faith and Our Climate Uniting Generations Dennis Patrick O’HaraFaculty of TheologyUniversity of St. Michael’s College Laudato Si On the Care of Our Common Home: An Overview

2. Laudato Si’ – Praise Be to You • 184 pages • Introduction • 6 Chapters • 2 Prayers • an Encyclical • high level of authority • highly anticipated • wide consultation

3. What’s new or especially emphasized • intercommunion among Divine – human – rest of creation • humans are part of creation, not separate from it • social & eco justice are linked • strong causal link between suffering of poor & suffering of poor Earth • intrinsic value of each creature • overconsumption is a primary cause of climate change • need a radical change of culture • political & economic leaders have not done enough

4. 1. intercommunion among Divine – human – rest of creation “…human life is grounded in three fundamental and closely intertwined relationships: with God, with our neighbour and with the earth itself. According to the Bible, these three vital relationships have been broken, both outwardly and within us. This rupture is sin. The harmony between the Creator, humanity and creation as a whole was disrupted by our presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations.” (66)

5. 2. humans are part of creation, not separate from it “…as part of the universe, called into being by one Father, all of us are linked by unseen bonds and together form a kind of universal family, a sublime communion which fills us with a sacred, affectionate and humble respect. …‘God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement cry of the poor and the cry of Earth’.” (89; Evangelii Gaudium, 215)

6. 2. humans are part of creation, not separate from it • social & eco justice are linked • “we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.” (49)

7. 2. humans are part of creation, not separate from it • strong causal link between suffering of human poor and the poor Earth • “A true ‘ecological debt’ exists, particularly between the global north and south, connected to commercial imbalances with effects on the environment…. (51) The foreign debt of poor countries has become a way of controlling them, yet this is not the case where ecological debt is concerned. … The developed countries ought to help pay this debt by significantly limiting their consumption of non-renewable energy and by assisting poorer countries to support policies and programmes of sustainable development. … We must continue to be aware that, regarding climate change, there are differentiated responsibilities.” (52)

8. 3. intrinsic value of each creature • “different creatures … have an intrinsic value independent of their usefulness. Each organism, as a creature of God, is good and admirable in itself; the same is true of the harmonious ensemble of organisms existing in a defined space and functioning as a system.” (140) • “The ultimate purpose of other creatures is not to be found in us. Rather, all creatures are moving forward with us and through us towards a common point of arrival, which is God, in that transcendent fullness where the risen Christ embraces and illumines all things.” (83)

9. 4. overconsumption is a primary cause of climate change We have “a throwaway culture which affects the excluded just as it quickly reduces things to rubbish. … We have not yet managed to adopt a circular model of production capable of preserving resources for present and future generations, while limiting as much as possible the use of non-renewable resources, moderating their consumption, maximizing their efficient use, reusing and recycling them.” (22)

10. 5. need a radical change of culture “The problem is that we still lack the culture needed to confront this crisis. We lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths and meeting the needs of the present with concern for all and without prejudice towards coming generations.” (53) “A strategy for real change calls for rethinking processes in their entirety, for it is not enough to include a few superficial ecological considerations while failing to question the logic which underlies present-day culture. A healthy politics needs to be able to take up this challenge.” (197)

11. 6. political & economic leaders have not done enough “We lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths and meeting the needs of the present with concern for all and without prejudice towards coming generations. The establishment of a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems has become indispensable….” (53) “It is remarkable how weak international political responses have been.” (54)