Ecological Conversion It is necessary to stimulate and

Ecological Conversion It is necessary to stimulate and sustain ecological conversion. (Pope John Paul II, Jan 2001)

It is not the two world wars that Ithave is not the two most worlddestructive wars that been have been the most destructive events ever experienced. It has events experienced. been theever developmental binge of last fiftythe years. Itthe has been developmental (God’s Earth of the last fifty years. binge by Paul Collins) (God’s Earth by Paul Collins)

Can modern humans sacrifice some of their ephemeral pleasures for the well-being of the Earth? The Universe Story Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry

Ecological Conversion means applying “the liberation of the oppressed” to nature. Sallie Mc. Fague, Super, Natural Christians

The natural world is vulnerable, needy, sick and deteriorating.

The Gospel of inclusive love must be extended to nature and not stop at our own species

We must do this because commitment to the God of Jesus Christ demands it NOT because we will not survive if we do not care for nature.

We must move towards the One who is concerned with the entire creation.

Ecological Conversion must be grounded in social ecology in the ways that human social and economic systems interact with the natural ecosystem.

Ecological Conversion means re-orienting our thinking in a way that results in our thinking ‘outward’, our eyes and our mind open so that our response is of compassion, not judgement towards the Earth.

We need to address the underlying causes not just the alleviation of what are the obvious results of Global Warming.

There is a great need for us to heed the call to turn back to nature and to the whole of creation. Fr Bill Stoeger SJ

In our everyday living we’re getting further from nature. Our clothing, our homes insulate us from nature so we are not in tune with her pain.

Gerard Manly Hopkins, in his poem God’s Grandeur, bewailed how far people, even in his time, had removed themselves from nature by their lifestyle. He wrote in 1877, “the soil is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod. ”

Within our homes, we isolate ourselves even more from nature by the cleaners and fragrances we use, to get rid of any natural smells.

All life on earth is inter-related. Everything is deeply interconnected. There are many different kinds of inter-relatedness.

Cosmonauts have been overwhelmed by the fragility of earth seen from space.

God’s priorities in the Universe • Creator - to enable, to empower, to call into being, into life, NOT to control • God is transcendent and imaginative • God freely creates and gives autonomy, integrity and freedom • Relationality, love and communion (these require freedom)

Climate Change is the most important issue facing our community in the 21 st century. Fr Dennis Edwards

How does our prayer reflect our commitment to Earth, to the whole of creation?

From Western Tradition Teilhard de Chardin (1881 -1955) The Mass on the World (embraced in recent times by Pope John Paul II and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger) He begins by saying that since he has neither bread, nor wine, nor altar, he will lift himself to the ‘majesty of the real’ and ‘make the whole Earth’ his altar. On this altar he will ‘offer all the labours and all the sufferings of creation’.

From Eastern Tradition John Zizioulas (1931 - ) Metropolitan of Pergamon Zizioulas understands human beings to be called by God to be ‘priests of creation’. He distinguishes this priestly task that he finds in the early church from the medieval and particularly the Roman Catholic notion of the sacrificial priesthood. When humans come to eucharist, they offer to God the fruits of creation.

Jewish prayer and early Christian prayer begin with a blessing of creation, the lifting up of creation in the whole of life.

We need to develop an ethos, an attitude, a culture where our daily prayer begins with a blessing of creation, a lifting up of creation, thanksgiving for all creation.

Anamnesis – memorial prayer The concept anamnesis is central to Eucharistic theology. Best meaning – living memory. Every Eucharist is a thanksgiving memorial for God at work in creation as well as in redemption.

Eucharist is the living memory of all God’s creation When we gather for Eucharist, we need to do so in spirit with the people of Kiribati Tuvalu Bangladesh ………. .

Bringing climate change into the heart of our Christian faith Sean Mc. Donagh We have de-sacralised the Earth. We’ve cut the earth out of the Earth. We’ve got to think about where we live, how this is reflected in our prayer each day. ‘Generalised prayer doesn’t work. ’ Our prayer must spring from our own culture and relate to it.

EUCHARIST The living memory of all God’s creatures We remember them

EUCHARIST The living memory of creation and redemption We bring to Eucharist the memory of destroyed species.

EUCHARIST The risen Christ at work in all creation transforming Creation the Cosmic Christ

EUCHARIST Participation with all Creation in the communion of the Trinity Eucharist educates the imagination, the mind and the heart to apprehend the universe as one of communion and connectedness in Christ.

EUCHARIST Solidarity with the victims of climate change can lead to change in lifestyle and political action for political change. To contribute to climate change is to sin against the weak and against creation.

Acknowledgements Ideas for this presentation come from notes taken at the Catholic Earthcare Conference held in Canberra, Australia, 1820 November 2005. The speakers whose talks are ‘quoted’ in the section, “Ecological Conversion” are: Fr Bill Stoeger sj, cosmologist and astrophysicist from the Vatican Observatory and University of Arizona Fr Sean Mc. Donagh ssc, Christian Ecologist, lecturer, author of many books in the area of religion and the environment, missionary priest with the Columban Fathers Fr Denis Edwards MA, Fordham, lecturer Flinders University, Adelaide College of divinity, author Slides 4 -8: Sallie Mc. Fague, Super, Natural Christians: How We Should Love Nature, Fortress Press, ISBN D– 8006– 30769