Has Laudato si changed you as a Catholic?

[Emeraldlady]

I know that I’m not the only formerly conservative Catholic who has had a profound evolution because of Pope Francis urgent emphasis on environmental theology. I know that’s true through the witness of others on Catholic forums over the last few years.

As a traditional farming clan, though we were never affected directly by the radical greenies, they basically made us anti green by default and thus we went along merrily with the conservative line.

Now as I discuss the issue with the sound Catholic direction due to Pope Francis, I’m being constantly surprised with how catholic/universal and familiar this position is to me. That my behaviour and attitudes are not insulated from a global ecology, is so resonant with my identity with the Communion of Saints and the effect of my sins in the economy of salvation.

I haven’t joined extinction rebellion or believe that Greta is the primary voice of environmental wisdom, but I do believe that there are many scientists and experts without an agenda that make the same correlations without the doomsday caveat. I do believe that corporate greed and mindless consumerism are responsible for too much denial.

Laudato si has brought a spiritual illumination to my spirituality. Has anyone else on this forum experienced that?

 

[1Lord1Faith]

Spiritual illumination is always nice. I’m happy for you. Maybe I should read it. I’ve probably only read a paragraph or few out of context.

 

[StudentMI]

No it hasn’t changed me as a Catholic.

 

[Kobayashi-Maru]

While I appreciate the call to be more aware and vigilant of the need to “tend the garden” and being a good steward of God’s creation, I had a healthy awareness of sustainability already.

The document does a good job defining the problem, but is disappointingly lacking in specific actionable items. It is all self-policing without guidance. To many my actions don’t go far enough, while many others would consider me a tree hugger. So what is the measure of what is good enough.

 

[blackforest]

While I appreciate the call to be more aware and vigilant of the need to “tend the garden” and being a good steward of God’s creation, I had a healthy awareness of sustainability already.

This was more or less my response. For me, Laudato Si wasn’t so much transformative and revolutionary as it was validating.

The document does a good job defining the problem, but is disappointingly lacking in specific actionable items.

That’s how much of Catholic doctrine works - giving us guiding principles while leaving us with the prudential judgment on how to live them out. With that comes the caveat of many Catholics using “prudential judgment” as an excuse either to not do a dang thing or, worse still, completely go against the precepts. And that may rightfully be your concern.

But policy-making can be such a complex arena that it’s good to allow us to try new ideas and adjust accordingly for unintended consequences. In laywoman’s terms, I’m trying to say that “wiggle room” can be a good thing. It allows for the Church to hold onto timeless teachings while providing some elasticity for time, culture, and advances in knowledge.

 

[Crocus]

I like the paragraph on the family, remembering my own kids when little, diligently sorting “the recycles.” It’s a small start to the larger issues that the encyclical is about, the way we honor God and love our neighbor, and hold each other to account.

1. Ecological education can take place in a variety of settings: at school, in families, in the media, in catechesis and elsewhere. Good education plants seeds when we are young, and these continue to bear fruit throughout life. Here, though, I would stress the great importance of the family, which is “the place in which life – the gift of God – can be properly welcomed and protected against the many attacks to which it is exposed, and can develop in accordance with what constitutes authentic human growth. In the face of the so-called culture of death, the family is the heart of the culture of life”. In the family we first learn how to show love and respect for life; we are taught the proper use of things, order and cleanliness, respect for the local ecosystem and care for all creatures. In the family we receive an integral education, which enables us to grow harmoniously in personal maturity. In the family we learn to ask without demanding, to say “thank you” as an expression of genuine gratitude for what we have been given, to control our aggressivity and greed, and to ask forgiveness when we have caused harm. These simple gestures of heartfelt courtesy help to create a culture of shared life and respect for our surroundings.

 

[MiserereMeiDei]

I was told to only read books by people whose first names were St.

I’ve never read it, so it can’t have made a change. I’m sure if anything applies to me I’ll get it in a homily, parish bulletin or diocesan news at some point.

 

[Emeraldlady]

The document does a good job defining the problem, but is disappointingly lacking in specific actionable items. It is all self-policing without guidance. To many my actions don’t go far enough, while many others would consider me a tree hugger. So what is the measure of what is good enough.

We’ve always tried to grapple with Church teaching in this way. What does pre-marital chastity mean? What does marital chastity mean? What does greed entail? What does pride entail? What does anger entail? and on and on. Either the answer is ‘whatever you want it to mean’ or that we must be deeply involved in seeking Christlike behaviours and values. From reading Scripture it’s not a mystery how Christ lived. He was globally focused well before that even became a thing.

 

[Emeraldlady]

I was told to only read books by people whose first names were St.

I’ve never read it, so it can’t have made a change. I’m sure if anything applies to me I’ll get it in a homily, parish bulletin or diocesan news at some point.

Is that true? You’ve never read anything from anyone other than the Saints. Not even the Popes? I suggest you have been given extremely bad advice!

 

[MiserereMeiDei]

It’s called a joke. It’s one of those terrible things we Yanks do. It is, however, the advice of Fr. John A. Hardon. I never thought he meant to avoid reading papal encyclicals though.

 

[po18guy]

I was essentially taught the stewardship of the earth by my father, who had no particular religion. A true conservative extends that conservative nature to, well, nature.

 

[TheLittleLady]

I was raised to know it was a Christian’s duty to be good stewards of the earth.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I’m happy for you, but environmental issues have been a constant theme in US society since the 1970s and we have been doing all kinds of things since then such as turning off lights, recycling, picking up trash, not using pesticides (resulting ultimately in bed bugs making a comeback for a while although I think they managed to develop something else to zap them) etc. There’s also been tons of legislation going towards energy efficiency of one sort or another, with varying degrees of usefulness. Wind power generation generates clean energy but harms bird populations, and electric cars are great for the air but bad in terms of having to dispose of the battery packs.

So, no, Laudato si didn’t have any particular effect on me. It seems like it’s stating obvious truths that most of us in my generation learned from childhood onwards. I have to remind myself that it might actually be a wake-up call to the rest of the world who didn’t grow up in the 1970s doing antipollution projects for the science fair.

I was essentially taught the stewardship of the earth by my father, who had no particular religion. A true conservative extends that conservative nature to, well, nature .

I would say a whole generation of people learned these principles from their parents who relied on farming, hunting, or fishing for all or part of the family’s food or income.

I am an animal person and it’s always a little touchy dealing with hunters, but the fact is that responsible, ethical hunters are behind a huge number of conservation initiatives for wildlife and lands alike. They respect the land and want to make sure there will continue to be animals to hunt.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

While I appreciate the call to be more aware and vigilant of the need to “tend the garden” and being a good steward of God’s creation, I had a healthy awareness of sustainability already.

The document does a good job defining the problem, but is disappointingly lacking in specific actionable items. It is all self-policing without guidance. To many my actions don’t go far enough, while many others would consider me a tree hugger. So what is the measure of what is good enough.

You need to think of it as a high level policy document, and use your own conscience to determine what actual actions you personally can and should take.

The Catholic Church doesn’t hand out black letter rule books on most subjects. I realize this is frustrating to some people, but I appreciate being allowed to figure this stuff out myself.

 

[blackforest]

You’re on Catholic Answers Forums, not Conservative Answers Forums. Your faith necessarily comes first. Have you read Laudato Si?

 

[TheLittleLady]

“Give a hoot, don’t pollute”

 

[po18guy]

Rather! CAF is Contrary Answers Forums. I though t the Church was a big tent?
There are some folks who find error even in quoting the catechism…

As to Laudatio Si, I read the preface and noted that it seemed to be preoccupied with justifying itself. If I already do more for/less harm to the environment than the average progressive, let’s say, what else can I do? Recycling good, right? Lotsa’ that. Re-using also good. whenever I can. Driving one low emission vehicle and the other a hybrid.

I don’t want to be a bad Catholic.

 

[CRV]

“Has Laudato si changed you as a Catholic?” Short answer - No.

I was aware of sins against the earth before this came out in 2015.

 

[Emeraldlady]

Spiritual illumination is always nice. I’m happy for you. Maybe I should read it. I’ve probably only read a paragraph or few out of context.

Here are some of the stirring paragraphs…

“Living our vocation to be protectors of God’s handiwork is essential to a life of virtue; it is not an optional or a secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”

“The time has come to pay renewed attention to reality and the limits it imposes; this in turn is the condition for a more sound and fruitful development of individuals and society.”

“If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously.”

“We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it. We have had enough of immorality and the mockery of ethics, goodness, faith and honesty. It is time to acknowledge that light-hearted superficiality has done us no good. When the foundations of social life are corroded, what ensues are battles over conflicting interests, new forms of violence and brutality, and obstacles to the growth of a genuine culture of care for the environment.”

“Today, however, 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.”

“the earth herself, burdened and laid waste, is among the most abandoned and maltreated of our poor; she “groans in travail” (Rom 8:22). We have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth (cf. Gen 2:7); our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters.”

“If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple. If we want to bring about deep change, we need to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our behaviour. Our efforts at education will be inadequate and ineffectual unless we strive to promote a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society and our relationship with nature. Otherwise, the paradigm of consumerism will continue to advance, with the help of the media and the highly effective workings of the market.”

 

[Emeraldlady]

While I appreciate the call to be more aware and vigilant of the need to “tend the garden” and being a good steward of God’s creation, I had a healthy awareness of sustainability already.

The document does a good job defining the problem, but is disappointingly lacking in specific actionable items. It is all self-policing without guidance. To many my actions don’t go far enough, while many others would consider me a tree hugger. So what is the measure of what is good enough.

It wasn’t meant to be an instruction list per se, but a call to a different mindset and intimate relationship between human beings and the earth. A return to that kind of relationship that was pretty universal to the first nations that occupied lands outside of Europe. They viewed the earth as part of their family and treated it as sacred in their use of its fruits. As Pope Francis says in LS, we have to ask ourselves how effective as educators of future generations can we be without a return to that kind of familial intimacy with the earth.