The Ecological
Paradigm Shift of Pope Francis
Pope
Francis defines discernment thus:
Discernment is necessary not only at extraordinary
times when we need to resolve grave problems and make crucial decisions. It's a
means of spiritual combat for helping us to follow the Lord more faithfully. We
need at all times, to help us recognize God's timetable, lest we fail to heed
the promptings of his grace and disregard his invitation to grow. Often
discernment is exercised in small and apparently irrelevant things since
greatness of spirit is manifested in simple every day realities…I ask all Christians
not to omit, in dialogue with the Lord, a sincere daily "examination of
conscience." Discernment also enables us to recognize the concrete means
that the Lord provides in his mysterious and loving plan, to make us move
beyond mere good intentions.[1]
The
issues at stake are about the ecological and environmental crisis. These issues
are to be engaged with an outlook that is global but also within properly
contextualized outlooks: family life, poverty index, terrorism threats, social
structured injustices, and international peaceful relationships, control of
pollution, global warming phenomenon, and human trafficking networks. According
to Pope Francis, this has to set in time for many things to change the course,
direction, and trajectory, above all the human beings who are in charge of
rightful reading the signs of the times:
Many things have to change course, but it's we human
beings above all who need to change. If we lack an awareness of our common
origin, of our mutual belonging, and our future to be shared with everyone.
This basic awareness would enable the development of new convictions,
attitudes, and forms of life. A great cultural spiritual and educational
challenge stands before us, and it will demand that we set out the long path of
renewal.[2]
In
this research, we are venturing into scientific paradigms which are a
collection of texts, theories that have to be tested, tools that help in
problem-solving in given specific communities in understanding the world around
them, how all have to be engaged in defining the challenges and approaches
utilized to reach holistic paradigm shift. This is also built up by S. Covey:
The word paradigm stems from the Greek word paradeigma, originally a scientific
term, but commonly used today to mean a perception, assumption theory, frame of
reference or lens through which you view the world. It’s like a map of a
territory or city. Inaccurate, it will make no difference how hard you try to
find your destination or how positively you think, you will stay lost. If accurate,
then diligence and attitude matter. But not until.[3]
While
on the other hand, J. Gardener states:
Most
ailing organizations have developed a functional blindness to their own
defects. They are not suffering because they cannot resolve their problems, but
because they cannot see their problems. The significant problems we face cannot
be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. If we
want to make minor incremental changes and improvements, work on practices,
behavior or attitudes. But if you want to make a significant quantum
improvement, work on paradigms.[4]
Man
has to get in touch with the environmental ecology once more and start singing
the love tones of nature as St. Francis could sing the Laudato Si’, for as tree branches swing themselves in praise of the
creator and praising themselves, birds of the air producing lovely song tunes,
sounds of the rivers and lakes whizzing, hissing of insects, reptiles, should
remind man of his responsibility of being a co-creator called to take care of
the garden of common home, cultivating and nurturing it.
Man
is called upon to grasp the pace and logic of creation. A man takes care of his
personal body, he should also realize that the same attitude and passion ought
to be rendered to the environmental ecology. Man is considered a gentleman on
the way he takes care of everything that is around him. This is what Pope
Benedict XVI calls the origin and rhythm of a love story between God and man.[5]
As
one gets himself into research on ecology as a science, we come across many
types of ecology that are packaged as political ideologies and controversies.
In this research, we shall not trend on those controversies or ideologies but
will help us to see where we are coming from.
It’s
from Germany that we come to unveil the term Oekologie that first appeared in 1860. The term was used by a
German biologist, E. Haeckel in 1866 to indicate the study of organism's
relation to the exterior surrounding world, that is, in a broad sense, the
study of the conditions of existence. He developed what has later termed
Haeckel's law of recapitulation according to the principle that ‘ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny', and
was first to draw up a genealogical tree relating the various orders of
animals. As a philosopher, he was exponent to monistic philosophy, which
postulated a totally materialistic view of life a unity and which he presented
as a necessary consequence of the theory of evolution.[6]
The
term ecologism is usually connected to ideologies which conflict with the
Catholic faith. It is, therefore, necessary to take caution to differentiate
between ecology as science versus ecologism as mere ideology. Today, we live in
the world where there is a propaganda promotion of almost everything in the
name of spirituality, in all sorts of branding and promotions, integrating
elements of pagan religions and traditions of global indigenous cultures with
an emerging scientific understanding of the universe.
The
Church has on several occasions has drawn attention to these problems and
advised vigilance on the part of the faithful.[7] As politics and economies take the center stage, some
political ideologies are advanced at the exclusion of some people and those who
advance those ideologies are usually funded by big international firms to cause
a mess in the ecological systems and structures. Those who are usually in the
receiving end in all these dramas are the poor.
This is clearly stated by Boff who puts the poor and the earth on the
same level of those being equally oppressed:
The existence of rich and poor in our societies is in
itself a form of ecological aggression. The rich consume too much, wastefully
and without thought for the present or future generations; they have set up a
technology of death to defend their privileged position, with nuclear chemical
arsenals that could, at worst, bring about biocide, ecocide and even genocide;
furthermore, they defend a production system whose inner logic makes it
predator of nature. The poor, the victims of the rich, consume less and, in
order to survive, live in unhealthy conditions, cut down forests, contaminate
waters and soil, kill rare animals and so on. With greater social justice they
would be able to operate better environmental justice.[8]
As
we come to the understanding of ecology and ecologism and its historical
development. One has to put in mind that ecology comes attached to political
ideologies. We have so many ecologies but all tied with political ideologies
and political correctness. Within the ecology, we find a system to be
manipulated and worse once it lands in the hands of politicians, they use it
for their political milestone. It often starts as something small and for the
common good of all, but in the long run, ends up as a tool for destruction.
As
we learn more about the environmental and ecological crisis within this common
home, we cannot simply ignore the politics that is also being advanced in this
common home. The ecological and environmental crisis has political underlying
tones and once it gets mixed with politics without principles or education
without morals it ends up being a timing bomb in the making, ready to be
activated at the appointed time. All this will depend on our understanding of
the environment this common home is based and who are the key plays in the
fight against environmental degradation, what are their invested interest.
The term
‘environment’ leads us into the discussion of ecology and its various themes.
One can speak of the natural environment, which includes the physical
environment with its mineral resources, energy, water, air and so forth.[9] These
resources have to be clearly protected that the communities can learn to
protect and share resources rather than government putting them into corporate
hands.
Today
environmental destruction has taken different manifestations and revelation. We
are fighting environmental destruction but we buy and drink plastic bottled
water, we are all up in arms with international firms but we are the same
people cutting down trees for building our homes and producing tones and tones
of ecclesial documents from paper, which come from cut tress. There is lack of
transparency and accountability impacting on the human rights and ecological
abuses involved in their sourcing and production. We talk one thing but our
actions communicate something different. We have become unconcerned that we
have become at the same time complicit consumers of this business process. We
have all have become compromised into the conspiracy of silence.
Auer, states: “The environment is constituted by the whole
of our living conditions; therefore, not only “raw nature”, but also the
“living space created by man”.[10]This means that we have to go beyond the
ordinary understanding of term environment. There’s more to this than meet the
eye. We have to build the culture of getting back to the basics of knowing
where we are as in terms of the environment, what are doing that is helping us
build a just society but above all being just to nature a gift bestowed upon
man by God. If we are not conscious of where we are, not full of self-love, not
learnt to cry over our sins then we have not yet started living, for living
means being able to breathe the gift of life given by God. This gift now seems
to be polluted because the fresh air has been contaminated by the global
warming gases.
Cardinal Carlo
Maria Martini and Lombardy Episcopal Conference reject a materialists
understanding of the notion of environment:
The human environment
relationship… presents complex aspects…about which the Christian conscience is
called to seek, above all, an initial clarification. Reduced to its most
essential terms, Its question of man’s alteration of the biosphere, and
therefore of the resources which are necessary for life…Nonetheless, beyond,
beyond this small reality, environmental crisis can be and its spoken of not
only in terms of material resource availability, but also in terms of its
meaning and consequent spiritual values.[11]
Archbishop
Renato Martino proposes the following definition at the Rio Conference:
The word
environment itself means ‘that which surrounds.’ This very definition
postulates the existence of a center around which the environment exists. That
center is the human being, the only creature in this word who is not only
capable of being conscious of itself and of its surroundings, but its gifted
with the intelligence to explore, the sagacity to utilize, and its ultimately
responsible for its choices and the consequences of those choices. The
praiseworthy heightened awareness of the present generation of all components
of the environment, and the consequence efforts at preserving and protecting
them, rather than weakening the central position of the human being, accentuates
its role and responsibilities.[12]
In the
Encyclical Letter of Pope John Paul II Centesimus
Annus, the Pope provides an even more complete formula regarding the
definition of the environment, which goes against modern inclination to new
forms of paganism:
In addition to
irrational destruction of the natural environment, we must also mention the
more serious destruction of the human
environment, something which is by no means receiving the attention it
deserves. Although people are rightly worried- though much less than they
should be about preserving the natural habitats of the various animal species
threatened with extinction, because that realize that each of these species
makes its particular contribution to the balance of nature in general, too
little effort is made to safeguard the
moral conditions for authentic human ecology. Not only has God given the
earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for
which it was given to him, but man too is God’s gift to man. He must therefore
respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed. In this
context, mention should be made of the serious problems of the modern
urbanization, of the need for urban planning which is concerned with how people
are to alive, and of the attention which should be given to a ‘social ecology’
of work.[13]
[1] Francis, Apostolic Exhortation on the Call to Holiness in Today’s World, Gaudete et Exsultete, Liberia Editrice
Vaticana, Cittá del
Vaticano 2018,106.
[2] LS, n. 202.
[3] R.S. Covey,
The 8th Habit, from
Effectiveness to Greatness, Simon and Schuster London 2014, 19.
[4] R.S Covey,
The 8th Habit, from
Effectiveness to Greatness, 21.
[5] Pope Benedict xvi General
Audience, June 5, 2013; Jürgen
Moltmann,
et.al, La Terra Come Casa Comune, Crisi
Ecologica ed Etica Ambientale, Edizione Dehoniane, Bologna 2017, 23.
[6] P. Haffner,
Towards a Theology of the Environment,
Gracewing, Herefordshire 2008, 77.
[7] Cf. P. Haffner,
Towards a Theology of the Environment,
83.
[8] P. Haffner, Towards a Theology of the Environment,
87; L. Boff, Gaël Giraud – G. Costa, Curare MadreTerra, Commento all’enciclica Laudato Si’ di Papa Francesco,
Edizine Dehoniane, Bologna 2017, 23.
[9] Cf. P. Haffner, Towards Theology of the Environment, 88.
[10] Cf. P. Haffner, Towards a theology of the Environment,
88.
[11] P. Haffner, Towards a Theology of Environment, 89.
[12] P. Haffner, Towards a Theology of Environment, 90.
[13] John Paul
II, Encyclical Letter Centesimus Annus
(1 May 1991) in AAS 38(1991) 840-841.
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