What I have found odd is that so many Catholics, especially female religious, should gravitate toward what appears to be essentially pantheism or what some eco-spirituality thinkers prefer to call “panentheism” (the universe as the “body of God”) when the Church has addressed the entire ecology question in a way that would, practically speaking, lead to the same results in terms of respect for the created order and sustainability.
Indeed.
Given the present direction of Catholic movement on climate change, and given that many global warmists are also anti-populationists, it’s not hard to envision a collision with the Church’s pro-life values. The way to reconcile this, of course, is by proclaiming the Personhood of the Trinity and the value of human beings created in His image while upholding ecology as stewardship, not dogma.
“Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself,” is the Commandment. “Love the planet” has never been in Jesus’ vernacular.
Confusion between the two is growing.
[Don’s other habitat is www.evangelicalecologist.com]
