Today's Parish | Ideas and Inspiration for Pastors, Parish Ministers, and Leaders

By Dan Misleh

When you hear about efforts to save the environment, what do you think of? Al Gore’s movie? The Sierra Club? A Hollywood star pushing the cause-of-the-day? Do you ever think of Catholic stewardship?

Stewardship for Catholics generally means giving what we have for the good of our parish community: our time, talent, and treasure. The quality of our parishes often depends on the quantity of all these gifts. But, as John Paul II said in his landmark statement, The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility, “A new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge which, rather than being downplayed, ought to be encouraged to develop into concrete programs and initiatives.”

Our future is at stake
The new ecological awareness is hard to escape these days. News about climate change is everywhere. Environmental threats from chemicals in our foods, cleaning products in our homes, and even biological and chemical weapons in this age of terrorism make it hard to avoid discussing the environment and the future of our children and our planet.

For Catholics, stewardship begins not with Earth Day but with Genesis. Care for creation is one of the seven principles of Catholic social teaching as outlined by the U.S. bishops. And although every parish acts on at least some of these principles in various ways—from pro-life month and serving the downtown soup kitchen to the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and Catholic Relief Services collections—too few parishes have “concrete programs and initiatives” that provide vehicles to care of creation.

Fortunately, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has just published a new resource on the environment and climate change: Faithful Stewards of God’s Creation: A Catholic Resource for Environmental Justice and Climate Change (usccbpublishing.org).

This resource is packed with everything a parish might need to begin to integrate stewardship of God’s creation into everyday parish life. From bulletin quotes to clip art and from liturgy suggestions and school and adult education curricula, this resource is a powerful tool that enables each of our parishes to jump-start our efforts in this area.

Practical steps you can take
Concerned about climate change? Here are some things you can do:

1. Have your local utility come and visit your parish to conduct an energy audit. Sometimes it is the least expensive remedies that have the most impact.
2. Change the rectory and parish office light bulbs to compact fluorescents.
3. More insulation and better weather stripping can hold in air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter. And then watch your energy bills drop.
4. Replace those old church hall refrigerators with ones that have EPA “energy star” ratings.

Make these changes known throughout the parish community and make them teachable moments. Encourage parish families to do the same in their homes. Have the school children sell compact fluorescent bulbs as a fundraiser. Use the USCCB resource to link these efforts to care of creation and stewardship in your teaching and preaching.

Take the next step Some parishes have gone beyond these efforts. Those affiliated with a Catholic Campaign for Human Development funded group are enabling low-income communities to have a voice in calling for clean up of toxic waste sites or resisting new landfills near their neighborhoods.

Overseas, Catholic Relief Services is recognizing that their emergency assistance and economic development efforts are being impacted by weather- related events linked to climate change such as prolonged heat waves and droughts or heavier rains and flooding. As climate change unfolds, relief and development agencies such as these will depend on our empathy and our generosity. Such connections can be highlighted on Sundays with a special collection.

More and more Catholics are genuinely concerned about environmental issues and climate change in particular. In the wise counsel of the U.S. bishops such concern should not mean that we have to choose sides or fight about solutions. Instead they offer three overriding principles that should guide our efforts:

• the promotion of the common good—the atmosphere belongs to everyone. We need to demonstrate solidarity by protecting the planetary commons;
• a priority concern for the poor— they will suffer the most from climate change, and a test of our faith is how well we protect their lives and promote their dignity;
• the practice of prudence (i.e., we don’t need to know everything before we act). (See Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence, and the Common Good, tinyurl.com/32udnj.)

These principles and the recovery of the full spirit of stewardship will provide a means to live our faith and protect God’s creation. TP

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In a March 2007 message to Congress about a Catholic approach to climate change, Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando and chairman of the USCCB’s committee on domestic policy outlined three key public policy priorities:

• Care for the poor and issues of equity. Because of their limited resources, poor people will experience most directly the possible harmful effects of climate change.
• Mitigating potential workforce displacement. Targeted assistance will be needed for displaced workers in energy sector industries.
• Technical and economic assistance to developing countries. U.S. leadership will be needed for the poorest countries as they develop their economies.

Ten things parishes can do to cut energy costs and lower emissions:

1. Replace old bulbs with efficient fluorescents.
2. Replace old appliances with Energy Star ones.
3. Lower your thermostat a few degrees in the winter and raise it a few in the summer.
4. Wrap your hot water heater; lower its temperature.
5. Have local utilities do an energy audit on your buildings.
6. Plant trees to absorb CO2.
7. Insulate wherever you can. Install new weather stripping around windows and doors.
8. Turn off lights when leaving a room.
9. Keep rooms dark in the summer and light in the winter.
10. Donate to an organization that promotes energy efficiency for low-income households.

*This article appeared in the October 2007 issue of Today’s Parish.

Dan Misleh

Dan Misleh is the executive director for The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.