Dialog Editor
“I like that it talks about the covenant between humanity and the environment,” Bishop Malooly said last week after Pope Francis’ encyclical on ecology, “Laudato Si’, On Care for Our Common Home,” was published June 18 by the Vatican.
“This is what God expects of us,” the bishop said, “much as we have a significant relationship with God the Father through Jesus, we have one in our humanity with the environment because both are God-given.”
Pope Francis’ encyclical examines the human connection to God, to each other and to nature, what he calls “integral ecology.” That’s an interesting phrase of the pope’s, the bishop said.
“It’s our unique place as human beings in the world and our relationship with our surroundings and with nature. It goes back to the Bible’s creation account, the garden. Nature will give you food, if you take care of it.”
While “Laudato Si’” is more than 180 pages long, Bishop Malooly said it’s worth reading through “because it’s so diverse and so important.”
The bishop said he wants Catholics in the diocese and people everywhere to receive the pope’s encyclical as a tool “to discuss what our moral responsibilities are in relation to ecology, to the earth, and to people having access to basic gifts, such as water.”
Pope Francis “wants us to really grapple” with the encyclical, “because people have different opinions and different ways of looking at it.”
“Laudato Si’” sees the degradation of the earth’s environment as affecting the poor disproportionately.
That assessment comes from Pope Francis, the bishop said, because “he comes from a culture where the poor are very much downtrodden and he’s seen first-hand a world that’s more poor than rich, and that’s not necessarily where we in the United States are.
“In some areas we have everything we need. I don’t have a problem with water,” the bishop said. “On the West Coast, maybe I would have a problem with water, but certainly nothing compared to a Third World country.”
But the encyclical prompts us to ask, the bishop said, “What can I do with all I have in order to have any impact on [environmental needs] in a Third World country? What’s the way to go?”
Another theme of the encyclical, Bishop Malooly said, is interconnectedness.
He likes the pope’s “common good” and “common home” perspectives in the document.
“This is not just me; it’s not just New Castle County. It’s everyone looking out for everyone, which is basically the whole Christian message,” the bishop said.
“When I do our confirmations with our kids, I tell them we try to reach out and help others because God is in every other person. Even if they choose to live horrible lives, God created that person, so God’s in there somewhere. One girl said, ‘when I heard that, I thought for a believer, no one can be a stranger.’ Every living person is related to God.”
The pope’s themes of interconnectedness and “common good” were evident in the early days of the church, the bishop said.
“You look back at St. Paul’s writings, he talks about the common good a lot, but he always prefaces it with ‘each of us have unique gifts, we have the power of the spirit but we all work together for the common good.’ Everyone has to participate.”
While Pope Francis assumes global warming is evident, there has been some push back in the United States on what is scientifically proven and the cause of climate change.
The pope “is asking for dialogue” on the issue, Bishop Malooly said. Although, “your head is pretty far in the sand if you don’t think there’s some kind of global warming going on. You’ll get different views on that,” he said, “but let’s talk about it.”
Pope Francis also refers to the “throwaway culture.”
“I think the pope’s call for a simpler lifestyle is an encouraging sign,” Bishop Malooly said. “Consumerism kind of relegates against that. … This is a throwaway society.”
That societal outlook extends to people who “throw stones at the population,” the bishop said. “If we live simpler lives, then we won’t have too many people” for the resources we have. “You adjust to what you need to do” in the same way a family of three or a family of seven adjusts its resources to care for all its members.
“Why can we do that on the broader level or at least make an attempt at it?” the bishop asked.
The pope’s “Laudato Si’’ encyclical is “something the whole family can sit down and discuss,” Bishop Malooly said.
“Pick a part of it and see how you as the “Smith family” can take care of things where you live, in your backyard, in your community.”
