Reflecting on the world we will leave behind for those who follow
By Sister Susan Reicherts PBVM, Nottingham Diocese Vicar for Religious
The question posed by Pope Francis : “What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up?” (art.160) – is a question that lies before us as we reflect on Laudato Si’.
Earlier this year, during lockdown, it was decided that given the pandemic, this year the Vicars for Religious would not have their usual “face to face” October conference in Leeds. Instead we would meet virtually and take the opportunity to have some input throughout the year from various speakers.
The first of the inputs was from Dr Peter Coughlan on Laudato Si’ – to coincide with the Season of Creation. It is 5 years since this document was published and thus the 1st September was an excellent day to re-visit it. Since there is a tremendous amount to “unpack” in the document, Peter had to be selective in his presentation. He set the question – “from your experience or reflection could you share what actions – from the most ‘global’ to the very, very local at home or overseas - you judge necessary or desirable to carry forward Pope Francis’ call for action in Laudato Si’?“
Pope Francis referred to Saint Therese of Lisieux, in inviting us to practise the little way of love, not to miss out on a kind word, a smile or any small gesture which sows peace and friendship. An integral ecology is also made up of simple daily gestures which break the sequence of violence, exploitation and selfishness. In the end, a world of exacerbated consumption is at the same time a world which mistreats life in all its forms’ (art.230). Peter suggested three publications to us -
Laudato Si’ Study & Action Guide, produced by the Columban Centre for Advocacy and Outreach in Washington D.C. (www.columbancenter.org)
Dermot A. Lane, Theology and Ecology in Dialogue: the Wisdom of Laudato Si’, Messenger Publications, Dublin, 2020.
The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis, by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac, Manilla Press, 2020.
Peter gave us the background to the Encyclical On Care for Our Common Home, beginning as far back as 1962 and Pope John XXlll – linking in with Pope Francis’s own journey to the production of such an inspiring and challenging document. When Pope Francis prepared this document, he did so with the deliberate intention that his Encyclical should play its part in a specific historical moment.
Laudato Si’ appeared in June 2015 - timed so as to enhance and encourage two vitally important meetings organised by the United Nations - and the Pope did this in close dialogue and collaboration with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations, his advisers, and the representatives of nation states who were working on these two meetings.
The first meeting was due to take place three months after the publication of Laudato Si’, namely the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit in New York in September 2015, from which there eventually resulted the Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years.
The second meeting was due to take place six months after the publication of Laudato Si, namely the United Nations Climate Conference in Paris in December 2015.This meeting resulted in the Paris Climate Agreement of 12 December 2015. And that meeting had its roots in the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
It was these meetings, and above all the December meeting regarding climate change, that the Pope had in mind when he spoke in art.15 of ‘the immensity and urgency of the challenge we face’. Pope Francis wanted to influence the Paris meeting to the good.
For the first time, an Encyclical is addressed to ALL PEOPLE. Pope Francis says: ‘I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home’ – and reminds us of our shared responsibility. ‘The urgent challenge to protect our common home includes a concern to bring the whole human family together to seek a sustainable and integral development, for we know that things can change (no.13).
The common good – care for our common home – is an underlying theme that runs through every page of Laudato Si’. This theme of the common good is inseparably connected with the idea of the interconnectedness of everything.
‘When we speak of the “environment”, says Pope Francis in art. 139, what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it’. Pope Francis reminds us that Creation has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance.
Teilhard de Chardin understood the process of evolution as all things being drawn forward towards the God who communicates his love. In the words of art. 83: ‘The ultimate destiny of the universe is in the fulness of God, which has already been attained by the risen Christ, the measure of the maturity of all things.’ Teilhard de Chardin and Karl Rahner point us towards an evolutionary dynamism that is truly intrinsic to creation, but which occurs through the creative and saving power of the immanent God – the Holy Spirit, who draws all of creation towards the Father through and in the Word made flesh.
Peter ended with this reminder from Pope Francis: ‘Joined to the incarnate Son, present in the Eucharist, the whole cosmos gives thanks to God. Indeed, the Eucharist itself is an act of cosmic love ... The Eucharist joins heaven and earth; it embraces and penetrates all creation. The world which came forth from God’s hands returns to him in blessed and undivided adoration: in the bread of the Eucharist, ‘creation is projected towards divinisation, towards the holy wedding feast, towards unification with the Creator himself.’ (art.236)
Francis of Assisi’s canticle is the vision of a mystic. We pray with him -
Praised be you, my Lord, with all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who is the day and through whom you give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour;
and bears a likeness of you, Most High.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.#
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene, and every kind of weather
through whom you give sustenance to your creatures.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Sister Water,
who is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be you, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night,
and he is beautiful and playful and robust and strong.’
Having shared such an inspirational, challenging and beneficial insight, Peter was asked to give a second talk to any Religious who wished to hear his reflection on Laudato Si. Thirty-nine Religious joined us on the second occasion. The feedback was very positive – a feeling that those who had heard Peter had been re-vitalised and re-energised to do our little bit and to spread the word with those among whom we live and minister…..
We are deeply grateful to Peter for reminding us of our responsibility and indeed of the influence we as Religious can have on people. This is especially the case given that the next crucial meeting regarding CLIMATE CHANGE will be here in the UK – in Glasgow in 2021. We ask ourselves, what can we, as Religious do, to join with others, to influence this meeting?
(Dr Peter Coughlan was studying theology at the Gregorian University in Rome when the Second Vatican Council opened in 1962. After attending the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the staff college for the Holy See’s diplomatic service, he was appointed to the Secretariat for Non-Christian Religions (now Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue). From 1980 to 1991 Peter was Under-Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity. During this period, he was also a consultor of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and a member of the Joint Working Group between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (headquartered in Geneva). In recent years Peter taught ecclesiology, ecumenism and ethics at Heythrop College, University of London. He now lectures at the Margaret Beaufort Institute in Cambridge.)