Pope's climate push at odds with U.S. Catholic oil investments

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But this is what baffles me. He knows a lot of Latin and supposedly he spends some time making sure his Latin tweets come out precisely as he wants to some 375k followers, according to his Latinist, Msgr. Gallagher. Then shouldn’t he be just as serious, if not more so, with this encyclical?
I think the intent was to deliver the encyclical in the vernacular so that more people could understand it, for the same reasons the Mass is said in the vernacular. This is perhaps more understandable when one considers that Pope Francis began his priesthood as a Jesuit missionary among the very poor in Buenos Aires. He does not favor what he often calls ‘clericalism’ and believes that an important source of the faith is in the religiousity of the poor. As I’ve said, I’m not sure this pope can be understood without learning something of his background.
 
…I know that those who believe that what Laudato Si says about climate change and AGW is in itself a moral teaching misunderstand the encyclical, as do those who believe this is political.
Here, Thomas, is what I understanding about the moral teaching of Laudato Si’:
  1. If we knew that man-made global warming occurs, and why, and the ** Church is not saying here that the scientific question is settled, ** then we would be morally obliged to stop it, insofar as we can.
  2. We always have been morally obliged to stop polluting the environment insofar as we can without doing more harm to the common good. Not doing so could be immoral, depending on circumstances.
  3. The Church is not and can not prescribe the political and economic systems to employ in order to do our moral duty to protect the environment.
I don’t know what you mean when you say some believe Laudato Si’ is political. Perhaps you meant ideological? Everybody has there own ideology, including Pope Francis.
 
Here, Thomas, is what I understanding about the moral teaching of Laudato Si’:
  1. If we knew that man-made global warming occurs, and why, and the ** Church is not saying here that the scientific question is settled, ** then we would be morally obliged to stop it, insofar as we can.
  2. We always have been morally obliged to stop polluting the environment insofar as we can without doing more harm to the common good. Not doing so could be immoral, depending on circumstances.
  3. The Church is not and can not prescribe the political and economic systems to employ in order to do our moral duty to protect the environment.
I don’t know what you mean when you say some believe Laudato Si’ is political. Perhaps you meant ideological? Everybody has there own ideology, including Pope Francis.
In the quotation you provide, Pope Francis explains that we have always been morally obliged to stop polluting the environment, and if man-made global warming is occuring we would be obliged to stop it, insofar as we can. This is plain and clear language. The scientific issue might not be consided settled so long as a few scientists dispute the question, but what is by far the conclusion of science is that it is occurring. But set that aside for the moment.

As I have explained, paragraph 106-108 of Laudato Si provide a description of an epistological paradigm. The description provides an explanation of how this paradigm has resulted in sinful behavior by viewing both humans and nature as objects. But this is hardly limited to climate change and AGW. I have tried as best I can to explain this, and at a point either one gets it or one does not.

Look through the comments on this thread and find the reference to “Barack Hussein Obama, the leader of the anti-scientific POLITICAL left” and then tell me you don’t know what I mean when I say some believe Laudato Si is political. Also look at your own post, #17, where to my comment where I said Laudato Si “concerns morality and not politics”. Here is your reply: “You understand neither Catholic social teaching nor Laudato Si which says just the opposite of your statement.” Is this not to say *Laudato Si * is about politics and not morality? What is important is that I said I don’t think the encyclical can be understood when viewed through the prism of ideology.

When you say that Pope Francis has his own ideology, it only illustrates your lack of a clear understanding of this pope. I am sorry to have to say it, but it does. His firm objection to any ideology in Catholicism or Church teaching is central to his belief and to his teaching.

I don’t even know what it is you dispute other than it surely seems you do not want to view AGW as resulting from immoral behavior. If climate change and AGW do not exist, then I am even more puzzled by your comments.
 
I think the intent was to deliver the encyclical in the vernacular so that more people could understand it, for the same reasons the Mass is said in the vernacular.
With due respect, I don’t think you understand the concept. Being a Jesuit has nothing to do with it.

When the new Mass was promulgated, there were attempts to discredit the Mass by comparing the English translations of those in the handmissals with the ICEL’s. Some even questioned the validity of the New Mass and its “new” Gloria, Credo, etc.The thing is, that these prayers were never really changed, not when you compared the Latin. Same principle can be applied here. Where Latin uses terminology like oportet sit or some jussive subjunctive, sometimes it’s translated as “should” and sometimes as “must” or some other English model (type) verb (ought to, may, requires, can, is to be, etc.) Thus one can’t compare the vernacular translations in analyzing a document or comparing it to a previous one. It’s fine to try to understand it but it must be accepted knowing that it may have imperfections in the vernacular. NO translation is infallible.

That said, Italian is great if you’re going to compare operas. 👍

And one other thing. Pope Paul’s statement about the “smoke of Satan” was in Italian, never translated to Latin to make it official. Should it have been?
 
With due respect, I don’t think you understand the concept. Being a Jesuit has nothing to do with it.

When the new Mass was promulgated, there were attempts to discredit the Mass by comparing the English translations of those in the handmissals with the ICEL’s. Some even questioned the validity of the New Mass and its “new” Gloria, Credo, etc.The thing is, that these prayers were never really changed, not when you compared the Latin. Same principle can be applied here. Where Latin uses terminology like oportet sit or some jussive subjunctive, sometimes it’s translated as “should” and sometimes as “must” or some other English model (type) verb (ought to, may, requires, can, is to be, etc.) Thus one can’t compare the vernacular translations in analyzing a document or comparing it to a previous one. It’s fine to try to understand it but it must be accepted knowing that it may have imperfections in the vernacular. NO translation is infallible.

That said, Italian is great if you’re going to compare operas. 👍

And one other thing. Pope Paul’s statement about the “smoke of Satan” was in Italian, never translated to Latin to make it official. Should it have been?
Pro–

Also with all due respect, my comment did not have anything directly to do with either Vatican II or the Mass in the vernacular, nor was it to imply that Ladato Si did either. This was only a way of attempting to explain why the encyclical might be written in Italian (so it would be more understandable to the Italian people). To say that this might be more understanable if one considered that Pope Francis began his priesthood as a Jesuit missionary in Buenos Aires was no error. But it had nothing whatever to do with the Mass in the vernacular.

As a Jesuit missionary in Buenos Aires, the future Pope Francis worked among the poorest of the poor. His concern for the poor was great and remains so. It has influenced his beliefs about significant theological issues. Ladato Si very much concerns the poor. When Pope Francis addresses either crowds or individuals, he will likely use their own language if he can. He does this so the common people can more easily understand him, which would not likely be the case if Latin were used. I believe this was also the purpose for the use of Italian in Ladato Si. If one has learned something of the pope’s background, one will already know all this. One might fairly say his focus is from the bottom up and not from the top down.

How many would know the phrase “the preferential option for the poor”, its origin, its history, what it means and how and why it has long been a primary concern for Pope Francis? It is certainly incorporated into Ladato Si.

Ah, the smoke of Satan in Italian. Is it official? I think it is if Pope Francis says so. There are several good biographies of Pope Francis, and the one by Austen Ivereigh is excellent. If you haven’t already read it, I would recommend it. It explains all of this far better than I could. And the smoke of Satan said in Italian will become clear. (Pope Francis is known as not being particularly pleased by officialism, clericalism, the control by the Curia and that style of addressing Church concerns and issues.)

Anyway, I wish to take my leave from all this explaining. I thank you for your always civil comments and replies.
 
Now that I’ve explained that, will you please explain why we can’t fully understand Laudato Si’ if we don’t understand why the Pope chose to write it in Italian? That seems to be a non sequitur. Perhaps I’m missing your point.
It is a riddle, and it is better that you solve it yourself. :cool:
 
In the quotation you provide
There was no quotation in my post to which you are now responding.

, Pope Francis explains that we have always been morally obliged to stop polluting the environment, and if man-made global warming is occurring we would be obliged to stop it, insofar as we can.This is plain and clear language.
No, I said if we knew MAN-MADE global warming was occurring and why, then we would be obliged to stop it as best we could.

The scientific issue might not be considered settled so long as a few scientists dispute the question, but what is by far the conclusion of science is that it is occurring. But set that aside for the moment.
It can’t be put aside because it’s not what I or the Pope said, and it’s not true to begin with–there is no “conclusion of science” on the question, there is only an alleged consensus (which of course is not science) of many scientists on this, that and the other aspect of the question. catholicculture.org/commentary/otn.cfm?id=1076

As I have explained, paragraphs 106-108 of Laudato Si provide a description of an epistological paradigm. The description provides an explanation of how this paradigm has resulted in sinful behavior by viewing both humans and nature as objects. But this is hardly limited to climate change and AGW. I have tried as best I can to explain this, and at a point either one gets it or one does not.
You are getting too abstract to shed light on our particular disagreement, which you haven’t yet articulated.

Look through the comments on this thread and find the reference to “Barack Hussein Obama, the leader of the anti-scientific POLITICAL left” and then tell me you don’t know what I mean when I say some believe Laudato Si is political.
That is my comment to lynn in #14, viz: “That’s true; why do you think I emboldened the word “political” in my post? I was not talking about the simply deluded, good-hearted liberals, which you represent. Once the Socialist anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-scientific POLITICAL Left latched onto the issue as a huge tax ripoff scheme, the issue of what is now called climate change became a farce. Power and money for Leftist politicians (and for those scientists who can be bought to prostitute the objectivity of their professions) has become the name of the game, which is made to order for unscrupulous scientists, politicians and, of course, the UN.”
Now, Thomas, l still don’t know what you mean when you say some believe Laudato Si
is political. Clearly, I was talking about how the political LEFT–not the Pope, Thomas, the LEFT–has politicized the issue for political power and money.

Also look at your own post, #17, where to my comment where I said Laudato Si “concerns morality and not politics”. Here is your reply: “You understand neither Catholic social teaching nor Laudato Si which says just the opposite of your statement.” Is this not to say *Laudato Si * is about politics and not morality?
Again, no; it is not to say Laudato Si’ is about politics and not morality. Since you now understand, I hope, that I never said or believed that the Pope wrote a political encyclical, it should be obvious that in #17 I was responding only to the portion of your comment that said, “I’m thinking maybe scientists are correct when they say climate change and AGW deniers should simply be ignored. Laudato Si is now part of Catholic social teaching.” In short, what you believe about man-made climate change “deniers”–a pejorative coined by the political Left-- is NOT part of Catholic social teaching. But I’ll grant you this much, had I used the style of response I’m using here–a response immediately after your particular words at issue–this misunderstanding would not have occurred. Let’s call it a wash.

What is important is that I said I don’t think the encyclical can be understood when viewed through the prism of ideology.
You didn’t say ideology, you said and meant "politics; an entirely different matter because ideology simply means a system of underlying ideas explaining actions and beliefs of a social, religious or political nature. That’s why I asked, "Perhaps you meant ideological? Everybody has there own ideology, including Pope Francis."

When you say that Pope Francis has his own ideology, it only illustrates your lack of a clear understanding of this pope. I am sorry to have to say it, but it does. His firm objection to any ideology in Catholicism or Church teaching is central to his belief and to his teaching.
**I hope I answered that above–when I say ideology I don’t mean politics. The Pope is human and so has an ideology. What’s more, he’s a true Jesuit; his ethos precludes subservience to politics. So, Thomas, fear not: I agree with you more than you know, and I go further–despite both the UN and Obama’s efforts at the Vatican, Francis is not taken in by the political purposes of “climate change.” **

I don’t even know what it is you dispute other than it surely seems you do not want to view AGW as resulting from immoral behavior.
**You sure take a lot of words to get down to brass tacks.😉 Correct-- like many true scientists, I do not believe in man-made global warming. But, if I did, and knew as a scientific fact what was causing it, I then as a good Catholic would of course support stopping it if possible. **

If climate change and AGW do not exist, then I am even more puzzled by your comments.

Sorry, I don’t know what you’re getting at. What comments?
 
Laudato Si is moral teaching, AGW is not.
Funny how religious people seem to see AGW as a moral issue:

"Climate change has a moral dimension that can’t be ignored," by Rev. Matt Schultz at
adn.com/article/20150816/climate-change-has-moral-dimension-cant-be-ignored

"…When faced with the topic of climate change, skepticism was a natural response. There was a time when more studies were appropriate. There was a time when it was reasonable to question if it was human-caused. There was a time when it was understandable to think the effects were so far in the future that it seemed unreal.

That time has passed. What once may have seemed like a far-off, abstract problem is now visible in our daily lives, and the ability to deny it is disappearing as quickly as the glaciers around us.

Recognition of an impending crisis means accepting responsibility to avert it. Ethics vary from religion to religion, but there are some things on which nearly every religion agrees. One is that we are to care for others. Another is that this care is active: It is not sufficient to simply do no harm. We are called to the higher purpose of actively caring for others. If we are aware of impending harm coming to someone, we are duty-bound by the ethics of our religious beliefs to take action to prevent that harm…"
 
Now that’s what passes for a well-reasoned, scientifically-supported, civilly-worded response from the Left. Your argument, however, is with Catholic social teaching and with Pope Francis:

Laudato Si 188. “There are certain environmental issues where it is not easy to achieve a broad consensus. Here I would state once more that the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics. But I am concerned to encourage an honest and open debate so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good.”…
I thought of somethings he might have been referring to as “unsettled” – GMOs, the use of nuclear energy.

There are lots of environmental science issues that do not have broad consensus. It’s just that AGW is not one of those, bec it does have very broad consensus among actual, practicing climate scientists publishing in top-tier science journals. Evolution is not one of those either, despite a huge portion of people rejecting it.
 
Back to the OP, aside from AGW there are many other reasons why the U.S. Catholic Church should divest from fossil fuels.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by zz912 View Post
Laudato Si is moral teaching, AGW is not.

Funny how religious people seem to see AGW as a moral issue:

"Climate change has a moral dimension that can’t be ignored," by Rev. Matt Schultz at
AGW is not moral teaching, and Presbyterian ministers do not have authority to determine moral teaching.
 
Funny how religious people seem to see AGW as a moral issue:

"Climate change has a moral dimension that can’t be ignored," by Rev. Matt Schultz at
adn.com/article/20150816/climate-change-has-moral-dimension-cant-be-ignored
Thank you for the link, lynn. Any opened-minded neophyte in re this issue who takes the trouble to compare the opinions of Rev. Schultz to the contradicting information in the comments and sidebar links will become an informed skeptic. The volumes of contradictory scientific facts on the internet would convince an open-minded person that man-made global warming is a hoax.

BTW, months ago to prove a point I asked you what Pope Francis is teaching; is he saying that climate change science demonstrates the earth is warming or that it’s cooling?
You never answered.
iceagenow.info/2013/02/global-warming-alarmists-earth-cooling/

huffingtonpost.com/peter-h-gleick/breaking-news-climate-cha_b_2994164.html
 
The way your comment (#46) is presented, it cannot be quoted. In part, this is what it says: “You are getting too abstract to shed light on our particular disagreement, which you haven’t yet articulated.” I will not further try but will explain why I won’t.

"If we want to bring about deep change, we need to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our behavior.–Laudato Si, 215

“It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life, the interplay of all creatures and the whole of reality. This would be to breach the limits imposed by its own methodology. If we reason only within the confines of the latter little room would be left for aesthetic sensibility, poetry, or even reason’s ability to grasp the ultimate meaning and purpose of things.” –Ibid, 199

Either this is understood or it is not. AGW is a moral issue and the result of sin. I was fortunate to have had my particular epistomological paradigm, so to speak, significantly formed by the education I long ago received from the Brothers of Holy Cross. While I cannot explain this complexity in a forum comment, I do not care to be told I do not understand Catholic social teaching (#17). I will let it go with that.
 
Back to the OP, aside from AGW there are many other reasons why the U.S. Catholic Church should divest from fossil fuels.
Agreed. My wife just told me that her retirement fund investment agency reported she “lost” about $10,000 on her fossil fuel holdings. Oil and gas currently is just too available and cheap (thank goodness.)

So, it’s now a moral thing because it’s immoral to knowingly loose money. Just as it would be immoral to scam the public with the Socialist wealth redistribution “carbon credit” tax to fight global warming (or cooling, whatever the science de jour happens to be.)
 
KSU;13207231:
The way your comment (#46) is presented, it cannot be quoted. In part, this is what it says: “You are getting too abstract to shed light on our particular disagreement, which you haven’t yet articulated.” I will not further try but will explain why I won’t.

"If we want to bring about deep change, we need to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our behavior.–Laudato Si
, 215

“It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life, the interplay of all creatures and the whole of reality. This would be to breach the limits imposed by its own methodology. If we reason only within the confines of the latter little room would be left for aesthetic sensibility, poetry, or even reason’s ability to grasp the ultimate meaning and purpose of things.” –Ibid, 199

Either this is understood or it is not. AGW is a moral issue and the result of sin. I was fortunate to have had my particular epistomological paradigm, so to speak, significantly formed by the education I long ago received from the Brothers of Holy Cross. While I cannot explain this complexity in a forum comment, I do not care to be told I do not understand Catholic social teaching (#17). I will let it go with that.
 
KSU;13207231:
The way your comment (#46) is presented, it cannot be quoted. In part, this is what it says: “You are getting too abstract to shed light on our particular disagreement, which you haven’t yet articulated.” I will not further try but will explain why I won’t.

"If we want to bring about deep change, we need to realize that certain mindsets really do influence our behavior.–Laudato Si
, 215

“It cannot be maintained that empirical science provides a complete explanation of life, the interplay of all creatures and the whole of reality. This would be to breach the limits imposed by its own methodology. If we reason only within the confines of the latter little room would be left for aesthetic sensibility, poetry, or even reason’s ability to grasp the ultimate meaning and purpose of things.” –Ibid, 199

Either this is understood or it is not. AGW is a moral issue and the result of sin. I was fortunate to have had my particular epistomological paradigm, so to speak, significantly formed by the education I long ago received from the Brothers of Holy Cross. While I cannot explain this complexity in a forum comment, I do not care to be told I do not understand Catholic social teaching (#17). I will let it go with that.

Thank you.
 
Back to the OP, aside from AGW there are many other reasons why the U.S. Catholic Church should divest from fossil fuels.
As a member of the Evil Oil Empire, I’m interested in those other reasons? Thanks!:rolleyes:
 
As a member of the Evil Oil Empire, I’m interested in those other reasons? Thanks!:rolleyes:
Other reasons why we should divest from fossil fuels, aside from AGW harms:

  1. *]Extraction and its myriad harms & accidents & leaks and spills; destruction of ecosystems and subsistence for peoples in the area – deep water drilling, tar sands bitumen, fracking, mountaintop removal, careless drilling in the Amazon, Nigeria, etc. Killing and executing of people who protest these harms. Flaring of regular gas wells in residential neighborhoods and the health effects from these.
    *]Shipping and it environmental costs, and accidents and spills
    *]Processing and the cancer alleys and local harms – and further harms during hurricanes like Katrina when those pollutants are spread all over the place.
    *]Storage and cleaning, and leaks from oil and gas – like the 33 acre underground benzene plume in the town next to me right under a low-income Hispanic neighborhood and elementary school where people have been dying of leukemia and other cancers. And nobody cares, but they sure to like to drive their cars or use gas for cooking on the products involved. And there are plenty other such plumes in my area.
    *]Combustion and the local air pollution and harms from that, and the regional & inter-regional acid rain harms from cars emitting NO2 and coal-fired plants emitting SO2
    *]Disposal of wastes, coal ash spills, etc.

    The list goes on, but I think these local and regional harms are plenty enough reasons to divest from oil, gas, and coal – gradually divest so as not to disrupt the economy – even if the very vast harms from AGW, which we are now witness to and will be harming for 100s & 1000s of years on into the future, are not considered.

    Since there are cleaner & safer alternatives, such as solar and wind, etc, then it is incumbent on us to shift to these as much as feasible and possible and as quickly as possible – as the Pope has asked us to do in LS. New Zealand and Germany are already at above 30% renewable energy. The US is about 10% and we can do much better.

    My husband and I have been on 100% wind-generated electricity since 2002, and as of 2013 have solar panels on our roof that supply about 40% of our electricity, and we charge our Chevy Volt and drive it about 85% of the miles on that cleaner & safer form of energy.

    If one looks into it we could reduce our energy needs by over 75% through energy efficiency and conservation, without lowering our productivity (see www.natcap.org and www.rmi.org). And at that level we could easily supply 30 to 50% of our energy needs or more with renewable energy.

    We will still need fossil fuels for quite some time during this transition – so your job is secure. However, it is nothing new that societies and economies change and shift over time. And we should help and foster these positive changes.
 
I was fortunate to have had my particular epistomological paradigm, so to speak, significantly formed by the education I long ago received from the Brothers of Holy Cross.
In that case, you’re not totally wrong then. 😉
 
Agreed. My wife just told me that her retirement fund investment agency reported she “lost” about $10,000 on her fossil fuel holdings. Oil and gas currently is just too available and cheap (thank goodness.)

So, it’s now a moral thing because it’s immoral to knowingly loose money. Just as it would be immoral to scam the public with the Socialist wealth redistribution “carbon credit” tax to fight global warming (or cooling, whatever the science de jour happens to be.)
I learned my lesson back in 2001 on an exploratory oil company. It wasn’t very profitable when oil kept sitting at $20 a barrel.
 
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