In Honor of St. Francis’ Feast Day
Our Faith Commitment to Care for Creation

By Bill Stigliani and Corey Becker

Corey Becker is a parishioner and student at Friends Select School; Bill Stigliani is a parishioner and professor emeritus of environmental science and sustainability.

Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care of Our Common Home, engages us in dialogue about a faith-filled response to the unfolding ecological crisis now threatening the wellbeing of the creation. The pope’s message is that we cannot be indifferent to this crisis, because our common household is one we share with the natural world. We live together in this home as an extended family, bonded not only by human kinship but also by a deep reverence for all God’s creatures. When we cause harm to nature, we poison the ground of our common dwelling place, robbing it of its dignity and frightening our children.

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, understood the precious gift of God’s creation in a way yet to be embraced eight centuries after his death. Although often trivialized as the animal-loving, “bird-bath” saint, a far more holistic vision is revealed in his Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon. This anthem in praise of the creation, written near the end of his life, reflects his journey to God through his insight that all of creation gives praise to God. As noted by Franciscan sister Ilia Delio, the Canticle foreshadows the new creation where we will find ourselves related to all things of creation in a spirit of reconciliation and peace. It inspires us to view the entire creation as charged with the goodness of God, and to work faithfully to sustain that goodness and repair our broken relationship with the natural world.

As noted by Pope Francis, climate change, through its numerous knock-on effects, poses the greatest threat to our common household. Our planet is warmed naturally by so-called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that act like a blanket trapping heat near earth’s surface and raising its temperature. The most important greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO₂). On May 9, 2013, the CO₂ concentration in the air reached the level of 400 parts per million (ppm), over 40% higher than its background, pre-industrial level of 280 ppm .This is the first time in human history and, in fact, the first time in three million years that the planet has experienced such a high CO₂ level. This increase has been caused by the burning of the fossil fuels coal, oil and natural gas, and is the single most important reason for the current warming of our planet.

Climate change is not a single-issue problem, but an all-encompassing global crisis. It intensifies the spread of famine in Africa, massive flooding in Asia, and epochal forest fires in California. It is endangering the survival of polar bears, coral reefs, mangrove swamps, monarch butterflies, and green sea turtles. And it endangers human health and livelihoods. The 2006-2010 drought in Syria turned 60% of the nation’s fertile land into desert, driving an estimated 1.5 million people into Syria’s cities as climate refugees. It is estimated that the world could see nearly a billion climate refugees by year 2050. Climate change causes sea level rise that threatens the economy and social fabric of coastal communities. It has even contributed to a four-fold increase in the incidence of Lyme disease in Pennsylvania since the year 2000.

Climate change brings to the forefront the issue of environmental justice, by which disadvantaged minority communities bear a disproportionate share of negative impacts. In the US, children of color are ten times more likely to die of asthma than white children from exposure to air pollutants. One of the outcomes of climate change is an expected worsening of air quality with a likely escalation in the incidence of asthma and other respiratory diseases. The climate crisis will pile threat onto already threatened socioeconomically disadvantaged populations.

What can we do in the face of the reality of climate change to stay faithful to our commitment to care for our common home? The good news is that fulfilling this commitment would sow the seeds of reconciliation, wholeness, and hopefulness in a century already too ravished by wars, environmental and economic disasters, pandemics, and an insidious sense of dread about the future. Building a world that nurtures the creation would spawn millions of new jobs devoted to restoring our climate and repairing the earth. It would improve public health and benefit the poor. And it would rally the public to believe in an optimistic future focused on love rather than fear and division. Even if we fall short of these lofty goals, can we love the creation enough and our children enough to trust in God’s providence and undertake this pilgrimage?

The global market is driving the world in a green direction, but not fast enough. Estimates suggest we have only until 2030 to cut carbon emissions by 45% (relative to 2010 levels), and we must achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis. To achieve such a large reduction, legislative action is requisite. In this coming election, it is important to examine all candidates, and understand how their platforms align with our care for God’s creation. Not only must presidential hopefuls be put under a lens, but candidates at all levels of government as well. This will help ensure that action occurs not only from the top down, but from the grassroots up.

We welcome an ongoing dialogue within the OSJ community about how to best express our faithfulness to “till and keep” the garden of the world (Genesis 2:15) so as to ensure its fruitfulness for coming generations. We pray that we may look at this work with fresh eyes and renewed hope, focusing not so much on what can’t be done, but on what is possible. Our optimism and motivation for this work draws deep from the wellspring of gratitude we feel for God’s beautiful creation, gifted to us as an outpouring of His love. May we stand on the shoulders of St. Francis and honor his vision of a “brother sun, sister moon” world.

Amen!

For further reading and reflection:

Click here to read the full text of Pope Francis’s 2015 encyclical letter, Laudato Sí, and read OSJ parishioner Gerard Jacobitz’s critical reflection on its four-year anniversary here in the June 30, 2019 Old St. Joseph’s bulletin.

Visit catholicclimatecovenant.org for a wide range of resources on climate change, including recordings of a five-part webinar On the Common Good and Our Common Home.

Do you have thoughts to share or ideas for action? Contact socialjustice@oldstjoseph.org.