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Powerful U.S. Bishops/United Methodist Church Statement Marks Earth Day

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and the United Methodist Church (UMC) marked Earth Day 2012 with the release a joint statement on the Eucharist and the environment.  The statement, Heaven and Earth are Full of Your Glory, affirms that both Methodists and Catholics believe their celebration of the Eucharist helps them to see God’s glory in all of creation and therefore leads to greater care for the environment.
Read entire statement here.

Timeless USCCB Energy Policy Statement Offers Guidance for Today

Did you know that 31 years ago this month, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Social Development and World Peace (now called the Committee for Justice Peace and Human Development) issued a statement on energy?  In the midst of the energy crisis or that time, the bishops of that committee approved what continues to be a very prophetic and highly relevant statement on a variety of issues concerning the extraction, production, use of fossil fuel energy and the hope for renewable sources of energy.  In an era of climate change and current ongoing debates about our energy choices, we highly recommend that you read this document and apply its teaching to these debates.  To read the document online, click here.

Facing Climate Change Seriously

In response to the on-going moral and ethical challenges of climate change, both America Magazine and Commonweal Magazine featured climate change as the cover story in their respective current issues.  In Climate for Change: What the Church Can Do About Global Warming, Xavier theology professor Elizabeth Groppe considers the moral dimensions of climate change and how the Catholic Church can serve as a catalyst for change which more fully cares for God’s Creation and the poor.  As Groppe says, Our imperiled planet needs the distinctive paschal witness that the Catholic community can offer.  In Commonweal‘s article, “Global Suicide Pact:” Why Don’t We Take Climate Change Seriously? , Creighton theology professor Richard W. Miller maintains that [w]e have a moral responsibility to join together in our communities—universities, hospitals, parishes, dioceses—and communicate to our elected leaders (and to businesses that fund opposition to climate legislation) that we do not intend to be complicit, through silence, in the mass death of human populations and the mass extinction of species.

Climate Impacts Hitting Africans Hard

As scientists have been saying, Africa will be particularly hard-hit by climate change.  Their sober predictions are today being felt in the Horn of Africa.  U.S. Catholic reports that dramatically changing and unpredictable weather patterns create food stresses and climate change-induced drought is forcing farmers to abandon centuries-long practices defined by distinct agricultural seasons.  In light of these food challenges,  [t]he Ethiopian Catholic Church has convened regional meetings on climate change and has worked with its partners such as [Coalition member] Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Church’s Caritas network to initiate humanitarian projects focused on food security.  A recent Catholic News Service story helps personalize the struggles of many in Africa experiencing the impacts of climate change.

Catholic Groups Applaud Final Mercury Rule

Just before Christmas, members of the Coalition, including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Catholic Health Association of the United States (CHA)  and Franciscan Action Network (FAN), joined the National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Environmental Network in applauding the Environmental Protection Agency’s final rule on reducing mercury and other toxic emissions from coal and oil burning power plants. They highlighted its importance in pro-life terms.  Health experts say it will dramatically reduce toxic exposure to pre-born children and prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths, 4,700 heart attacks, and 130,000 childhood asthma attacks each year. A statement in support of the new rule came from Bishop Blaire (of Stockton and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development) .

Pope Urges International Agreement on Climate Change

On Nov. 25, Pope Benedict XVI addressed delegates of 194 countries gathering in Durban, South Africa for the latest round of international climate change negotiations. He urged that they reach a strong global agreement to address the challenge of climate change: I hope that all members of the international community can agree on a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrisome and complex phenomenon, keeping in mind the needs of the poorest populations and of future generations. Click here for the Catholic News Service (CNS) story.

Bishop Blaire Calls for Stewardship and Human Dignity

(Nov. 9, 2011) In a speech to an ecumenical gathering in Louisville, Kentucky, Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, CA and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, addressed the Christian vocation to cultivate and care for God’s good gift of Creation, by reducing our consumption and our carbon footprint in order to ease the effects of climate change on the world’s poorest people.  In doing so, Bishop Blaire identified how this commitment connects to Catholic concerns for human life and human dignity: People of faith bring a unique and important message: about the care of God’s creation, about those most vulnerable to environmental injustice.  Read Bishop Blaire’s entire statement here.  See coverage by Catholic News Service (scroll down to “People” story).

Educating Students about Catholic Social Teaching & Sustainability

(Oct. 13, 2011) The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change has launched significant resources for Catholic high school aged youth and for institutions of higher learning.  A six-session program Friending Planet Earth: Helping Youth Understand Solidarity & Sustainability in Light of Climate Change was produced in partnership with the Center for Ministry Development.  Schools that are engaged in projects making the connection between Catholic Social Teaching and sustainability may also apply for the St. Francis Care for Creation Award, offered in collaboration with the National Council of Catholic Women.  Catholic colleges and universities are invited to utilize Sustainability and Higher Education: A Toolkit for Mission Integration, to help them strengthen their commitments to  Catholic mission, to “cultivate and care for” (Genesis 2:15) God’s good gift of Creation, to link these efforts to impacts on poor people at home and abroad and to develop sustainable campus communities.

Feast of St. Francis: Opportunity for Action

On Tuesday, Oct. 4 the Catholic community celebrates everyone’s favorite Saint, Francis of Assisi.  St. Francis lived with the passion of Christ’s love.  He knew that human lives are interdependent with all of creation and with our neighbor and that when we honor all of creation we honor God. As the Feast of St. Francis nears, the Coalition and its many national partners are encouraging their members to take the St. Francis Pledge in honor of St. Francis and spread the word to others. Many resources are available to assist parishes, schools, and individuals to celebrate the Feast of St. Francis by promoting the St. Francis Pledge to care for creation and the poor.

New Toolkit for Colleges on Sustainability & Catholic Mission

(Sept. 6, 2011) As Catholic colleges and universities across the country begin a new school year, eight national Catholic organizations are publishing and promoting an exciting new resource, Sustainability and Catholic Higher Education: A Toolkit for Mission Integration.  This new resource will help schools strengthen ongoing commitments to  Catholic mission, to “cultivate and care for” (Genesis 2:15) God’s good gift of Creation,  to link these efforts to impacts on poor people at home and abroad and to develop sustainable campus communities.   Read more about it and all the co-sponsors in the Press Release here.  Download the Toolkit here.

Celebrate the Feast of St. Francis: Take the St. Francis Pledge

(Aug.2011) The Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is renewing its call for Catholics around the country to join the Catholic Climate Covenant by taking and registering the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor for the Feast of St. Francis, October 4, 2011.   Postcards have been sent urging every pastor, principal , youth and college campus minister to take the Pledge, highlighting new resources to aid in their success.  The step-by-step Catholic Parish and School Planning Guide to Take the St. Francis Pledge and many other updated resources are available on the new Feast of St. Francis Resources webpage to make your planning and educational efforts successful.

USCCB & CRS Call Budget Cuts “Morally Unacceptable”

(July 29, 2011)  Bishop Hubbard of the USCCB and Ken Hackett of Catholic Relief Services declared  “morally unacceptable, even deadly cuts to poverty-focused humanitarian and development assistance,”  in their letter  to the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee.  Click here for the letter on foreign operations appropriations and here for their letter encouraging a balanced approach to budget and debt negotiations.

Bishops Welcome EPA’s Rule to Cut Mercury

On June 20, Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton in his role as Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a letter  to the Environmental Protection Agency welcoming recently proposed and first-ever national standards to reduce mercury and other toxics from power plants. Read the press release from the USCCB.  To comment on the mercury rule, send here by August 2.

The St. Francis Care for Creation Award from NCCW

The National Council of Catholic Women, with the support of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, has launched the St. Francis Care for Creation Award that will recognize schools that put their faith into action to reduce their carbon footprint, care for the “least of these,” and raise the Catholic voice on behalf of the environment and the poor.  Activities must take place between May of 2011 and May of 2012.  NCCW hopes to award 15 schools in the 2011-2012 school year.  There is no fee to apply and applications are accepted on a rolling basis.  Learn more and apply for the St. Francis Care for Creation Award here.

Vatican Releases Major Climate Change Report

5/6/11  A working group of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, one of the oldest scientific institutes in the world, issued a sobering report on the impacts for humankind as a result of the global retreat of mountain glaciers as a result of human activity leading to climate change.  In their declaration, the working group calls, “on all people and nations to recognize the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and by changes in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and other land uses.”  Read summary here.   View entire report here.   Hear the Working Group co-chair, Veerabhadran Ramanathan interviewed by Coalition director, Dan Misleh.