Pope’s climate views press Catholic candidates

[phil19034]

catholicphilly.com/2015/06/news/national-news/bishops-urged-to-help-catholics-understand-upcoming-encyclical/

Bishops urged to help Catholics understand upcoming encyclical
BY CAROL ZIMMERMANN
Catholic News Service

ST. LOUIS (CNS) — A week before the anticipated release of Pope Francis’ encyclical on human ecology and the environment, the U.S. bishops were urged to help Catholics hear and understand it.

Pope Francis will challenge the assumptions of “both the left and the right” with the document, said Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

 

[phil19034]

But how many souls are in jeopardy for not protecting the environment?

I think the right question is how many souls are in jeopardy for destroying the environment.

Sin causes us to pollute. Is it morally neutral to pump hazardous chemical into the air? Is it morally neutral to decide to not clean up toxic spills because it’s cheaper to settle in court than clean up, is it morally neutral to hunt an animal species to extinction?

No

The truth is, our “throw away culture” is not good at all. The left wants to save the trees but kill children and elderly. The right wants to save the children but kill the trees.

There is a middle ground, which is the Catholic way.

It’s amazing how we don’t see greed motivating our politics on BOTH sides. People want abortion & euthanasia due to selfishness, which is a type of greed. Other people want to place economic policy above environmental policy, which ultimately is placing money before our responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation. This too is greed.

Whether or not climate change is directly man-made is ill-relevant, we know that pollution is man made. And polluting the environment is both sloth and greed, not caring and putting profits first.

There are LOTS of ills this world has today, and it’s good for the Pope to address all of them.

Note: I’m a Republican, but I’m Catholic first. The Pope will always have my loyalty and obedience before any American politician, even a fellow Republican.

God Bless and may The Lord grant us wisdom and understanding. Amen.

 

[Darryl1958]

The right does not want to kill trees. The right, similar to the left, want to live in houses, and lumber is a good way to build a house when there is an ample supply of trees as raw material.

 

[Vouthon]

I think the right question is how many souls are in jeopardy for destroying the environment.

Sin causes us to pollute. Is it morally neutral to pump hazardous chemical into the air? Is it morally neutral to decide to not clean up toxic spills because it’s cheaper to settle in court than clean up, is it morally neutral to hunt an animal species to extinction?

No

The truth is, our “throw away culture” is not good at all. The left wants to save the trees but kill children and elderly. The right wants to save the children but kill the trees.

There is a middle ground, which is the Catholic way.

It’s amazing how we don’t see greed motivating our politics on BOTH sides. People want abortion & euthanasia due to selfishness, which is a type of greed. Other people want to place economic policy above environmental policy, which ultimately is placing money before our responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation. This too is greed.

Whether or not climate change is directly man-made is ill-relevant, we know that pollution is man made. And polluting the environment is both sloth and greed, not caring and putting profits first.

There are LOTS of ills this world has today, and it’s good for the Pope to address all of them.

Note: I’m a Republican, but I’m Catholic first. The Pope will always have my loyalty and obedience before any American politician, even a fellow Republican.

God Bless and may The Lord grant us wisdom and understanding. Amen.

What a fantastic post :clapping:

Yes, we are all Catholics first before ‘Republican’, ‘Democrat,’ ‘Conservative’, ‘Liberal’ or any other political appellation.

 

[stinkcat_14]

Santorum is free to have his opinion. I am not sure why he thinks the rest of us should care about his opinion. I think that is a problem with most politicians. If they have an opinion, they seem to think the rest of us care what it is.

 

[Thorolfr]

There’s a story this morning in the British newspaper The Guardian:

Angry US republicans tell Pope Francis to ‘stick with his job and we’ll stick with ours’

Leading figures on the American right are launching a series of pre-emptive attacks on the pope before this week’s encyclical, hoping to prevent a mass conversion of the climate change deniers who have powered the corps of the conservative movement for more than a decade.

The prospect that the pope, from his perch at the pinnacle of the Catholic church, will exhort humanity to act on climate change as a moral imperative is a direct threat to a core belief of US conservatives. And conservatives – anxious to hang on to their flock – are lashing out.

“The pope ought to stay with his job, and we’ll stay with ours,” James Inhofe, the granddaddy of climate change deniers in the US Congress and chairman of the Senate environment and public works committee, said last week, after picking up an award at a climate sceptics’ conference.

Rick Santorum, a devout Catholic and a long-shot contender for the Republican nomination, told a Philadelphia radio station: “The church has gotten it wrong a few times on science, and I think we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists and focusing on what we’re good at, which is theology and morality.”

A majority of Republicans in Congress deny the existence of climate change and oppose regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Among the ultra-conservative Tea Party set, climate change scepticism reaches epidemic proportions, about 80% of those on the far right, according to the Pew research centre. Only one of the nearly 20 Republicans running for president will acknowledge the danger of climate change, another long-shot contender, Lindsey Graham.

theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/13/climate-change-conservatives-catholic-teaching

 

[ishii]

Santorum is free to have his opinion. I am not sure why he thinks the rest of us should care about his opinion. I think that is a problem with most politicians. If they have an opinion, they seem to think the rest of us care what it is.

You don’t care about the opinions our elected leaders have on the issues?

For example, do you care about the opinion of the Republican president nominee as to the of Roe V Wade?

 

[stinkcat_14]

You don’t care about the opinions our elected leaders have on the issues?

He is not an elected leader. Second, we didn’t elect him to advise the pope.

For example, do you care about the opinion of the Republican president nominee as to the of Roe V Wade?

The issue is not abortion.

 

[MarkR]

A Catholic politician doing so publicly… Yes, is telling the Pope to “shove off”

The only reason for Santorum to do this is to distance himself from the Vatican, the same way JFK did.

I really wish Catholic politicians (Republican or Democrat; right or left) would stop distancing themselves from the Bishops and/or stop apologizing for their faith.

I really wish they would be Catholic first and for most.

So, suggesting that there are more important issues to deal with than the cult of “climate change” is heresy??–ISIS slaughtering Christians, Ireland voting in gay “marriage”, the 24/7 assault the Church and freedom of religion in general are under by Big “Kulture”, etc.?
Then I’m a “heretic” too. I think there are far more important issues to deal with than the “environment”–but I’m not a heretic! I have a right to question the pope’s judgment on anything not dealing with faith and morals. So does Santorum–so do you.

If the Pope says it’s going to rain, I’m not obligated to carry an umbrella. Unfortunately, this encyclical’s may be almost literally saying just that. We’re talking weather here.

 

[Thorolfr]

So, suggesting that there are more important issues to deal with than the cult of “climate change” is heresy??–ISIS slaughtering Christians, Ireland voting in gay “marriage”, the 24/7 assault the Church and freedom of religion in general is under by Big “Kulture”, etc.?
Then I’m a “heretic” too. I think there are far more important issues to deal with than the “environment”–but I’m not a heretic! I have a right to question the pope’s judgment on anything not dealing with faith and morals. So does Santorum–so do you.

If the Pope says it’s going to rain, I’m not obligated to carry an umbrella. Unfortunately, this encyclical’s may be almost literally saying just that. We’re talking weather here.

What makes you think that how we humans deal with climate change is not a moral issue? Climate change could have a catastrophic impact on life on this planet. Just for starters, as glaciers melt, rising oceans could wipe out huge cities along coasts all over the world and displace millions of people and the thawing of now frozen areas in arctic regions could release huge amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere.

 

[stinkcat_14]

What makes you think that how we humans deal with climate change is not a moral issue? Climate change could have a catastrophic impact on life on this planet. Just for starters, as glaciers melt, rising oceans could wipe out huge cities along coasts all over the world and displace millions of people and the thawing of now frozen areas in arctic regions could release huge amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere.

Climate change is a moral issue, just as the minimum wage is a moral issue. However, the facts of both are up for debate and are any proposed policy solutions.

 

[Darryl1958]

If the Church actively enters the political fray on the side of climate alarmists and the motley crew of leftists and socialists who use the environment as a ploy against a capitalist economy, rational Catholics who have given the issue sober second thought are not indebted to follow the crassly politically exhortations of their church.
The Catholic Faith is based in the Risen Christ, and not homage to Gaia or Marx.

 

[MarkR]

What makes you think that how we humans deal with climate change is not a moral issue? Climate change could have a catastrophic impact on life on this planet. Just for starters, as glaciers melt, rising oceans could wipe out huge cities along coasts all over the world and displace millions of people and the thawing of now frozen areas in arctic regions could release huge amounts of methane gas into the atmosphere.

Mars crashing into the earth could too. But it’s not happening. Neither is “Climate Change”. It’s not a moral issue if it’s not happening.

“Climate Change” (what happened to “Global Warming” btw?) is affecting no one. The things that I mentioned are–massively. What WILL affect peoples lives–the poor most of all–dramatically are the catastrophic regulations that will be imposed to deal with a phony crisis, which is both a Leftist power grab and a New Age Gaia type cult–the “Changelings”.

It’s a matter of a sense of proportion, which is the first element of sanity–real, live crises that are taking place in front of our eyes vs an unproven, increasingly discredited and debunked “theory” about something they’ve been telling us would wipe us out for that past 20 plus years and never does. You believe this because you WANT to believe this. The proof that it’s a hoax is out there, but you ignore it–purposely.

Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa (mostly Catholics). The Pope has more important things than the “environment” to deal with.

 

[stinkcat_14]

If the Church actively enters the political fray on the side of climate alarmists and the motley crew of leftists and socialists who use the environment as a ploy against a capitalist economy, rational Catholics who have given the issue sober second thought are not indebted to follow the crassly politically exhortations of their church.
The Catholic Faith is based in the Risen Christ, and not homage to Gaia or Marx.

One can certainly have a diversity of opinion on climate change and still be following the Risen Christ.

 

[lynnvinc]

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, a practicing Catholic, on Sunday defended his criticism ‎of Pope Francis for weighing in on global warming, saying “there are more pressing problems on Earth” for the pontiff to be tackling.

The former Pennsylvania senator on “Fox News Sunday” also argued that it’s more appropriate for him and other lawmakers than the pope to speak publicly on the issue because they make public policy decisions that affect American workers.

Those decisions, he said, include ones on ozone regulations, efforts to revitalize U.S. manufacturing and energy production and creating job opportunities.

foxnews.com/politics/2015/06/07/santorum-says-lawmakers-have-better-standing-than-pope-on-climate-change-issue

I can’t believe Santorum has decided to take this position.

Some people (like our pope) can multi-task and others cannot (apparently Santorum)

 

[Darryl1958]

One can certainly have a diversity of opinion on climate change and still be following the Risen Christ.

This is true.

 

[Thorolfr]

If the Church actively enters the political fray on the side of climate alarmists and the motley crew of leftists and socialists who use the environment as a ploy against a capitalist economy, rational Catholics who have given the issue sober second thought are not indebted to follow the crassly politically exhortations of their church.
The Catholic Faith is based in the Risen Christ, and not homage to Gaia or Marx.

Didn’t you know that Jesus was a socialist?

Acts 2: 44-47: And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

 

[ishii]

I think the right question is how many souls are in jeopardy for destroying the environment.

Sin causes us to pollute. Is it morally neutral to pump hazardous chemical into the air? Is it morally neutral to decide to not clean up toxic spills because it’s cheaper to settle in court than clean up, is it morally neutral to hunt an animal species to extinction?

No

The truth is, our “throw away culture” is not good at all. The left wants to save the trees but kill children and elderly. The right wants to save the children but kill the trees.

There is a middle ground, which is the Catholic way.

It’s amazing how we don’t see greed motivating our politics on BOTH sides. People want abortion & euthanasia due to selfishness, which is a type of greed. Other people want to place economic policy above environmental policy, which ultimately is placing money before our responsibility to be stewards of God’s creation. This too is greed.
Whether or not climate change is directly man-made is ill-relevant, we know that pollution is man made. And polluting the environment is both sloth and greed, not caring and putting profits first.

There are LOTS of ills this world has today, and it’s good for the Pope to address all of them.

Note: I’m a Republican, but I’m Catholic first. The Pope will always have my loyalty and obedience before any American politician, even a fellow Republican.

God Bless and may The Lord grant us wisdom and understanding. Amen.

I have bold underlined what I think are very lame strawmen arguments.

I am not sure that the left wants to kill children and the elderly. Nor does the right want to “kill the trees.” What a simplistic caricature. Moreover, which do you think is worse, logging to produce lumber and pulp for paper products, or allowing the killing of the unborn and elderly (through euthanasia) ? I would say what the left is doing is far worse, wouldn’t you? Yet, you act as though they are morally equivalent, both calling for the “catholic middle way.”

Finally, you say, “I am Catholic first, Republican second.” Good for you. So am I. But being catholic first does not mean that I have to accept the dubious science of man made global warming. The conservative view on the environment is that we need to balance both the needs of the economy (i.e. jobs, the livelihood of workers, etc) and the environment. For example, we shouldn’t place the spotted owl, or the snail darter above the needs of working families. Jobs for working families is more important than the habitat of the snail darter or spotted owl. This does not conflict with Catholic teaching. If you disagree, I challenge you to point out how it does.

Ishii

 

[ishii]

Didn’t you know that Jesus was a socialist?

Acts 2: 44-47: And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

Where does the passage reference the government?

 

[Darryl1958]

People who follow the practices of the first Christian communities join monasteries.

It is a complete pretense to make believe that socialism and Marxism are in any way authentic expressions of those first Christian communities.

Those Christians who want to emulate those first Christian communities by all means should join the ranks of brothers and sisters in the monasteries. This is a path that the Catholic Church has kept open for devout Christians since the very beginning.
Other than that, it is disingenuous to try to pass off a partisan political position as some kind of higher spiritual conversion.