Caring for God's Creation

This morning's Courier Times featured an anti-Catholic opinion piece by David D. Jones (not to be confused with the late Monkee), replete with tired, old charges.David D. Jones' argument is basically the Malthusian one, which has been around since the late 18th century:

"There are too many people on the planet, making life miserable for the rest of use. If I take my SUV into the city, I have trouble finding a parking space! Worse yet, I sometimes run into traffic jams, when I'm driving. If we don't do something quick, we're going to run out of food!

Sorry Dave, experts tell us that there's plenty of food to go around. In fact, the reason that we have any famines comes down to inadequate food distribution and human selfishness.

Dave, Catholics have every reason to be proud of what their Church proclaims about how we should be living among each other. Along with

•The Right to Life & the Dignity of the Human Person
•Call to Family, Community & Participation
•Rights & Responsibilities
•Option for the Poor & Vulnerable
•Dignity of Work & the Rights of Workers
•Solidarity

the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops explains, for example, that Caring for God's Creation is one of the seven key themes of Catholic Social Teaching:

“Care for the earth is a duty of our Catholic faith. We all are called to be careful stewards of God’s creation and to ensure a safe and hospitable environment for vulnerable human beings now and in the future.”

Dave, Let me emphasize this point: While we treasure and care for all of God's gifts to His people, the Church unapologetically proclaims God's Word: People Come First!

As per Chapter 10 of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church,

“Only man and woman, among all creatures, were made by God 'in his own image' (Gen 1,27).... The biblical vision inspires the behaviour of Christians in relation to their use of the earth, and also with regard to the advances of science and technology....

“A correct understanding of the environment prevents the utilitarian reduction of nature to a mere object to be manipulated and exploited. At the same time, it must not absolutize nature and place it above the dignity of the human person himself….

“nature is not a sacred or divine reality that man must leave alone. Rather, it is a gift offered by the Creator to the human community….

“the goods of the earth were created by God to be used wisely by all. They must be shared equitably, in accordance with justice and charity....

“demographic growth is fully compatible with an integral and shared development....

“Inadequate access to safe drinking water affects the well-being of a huge number of people and is often the cause of disease, suffering, conflicts, poverty and even death.... the right to safe drinking water is a universal and inalienable right.

"lifestyles should be inspired by sobriety, temperance, and self-discipline at both the individual and social levels”

Some have tried to misconstrue the key theme of Caring for God's Creation. As Pope Benedict XVI has cautioned us,

"a correct understanding of the relationship between man & the environment will not end by absolutizing nature or by considering it more important than the human person. If the Church's magisterium expresses grave misgivings about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism, it is because such notions eliminate the difference of identity & worth between the human person & other living things. In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the 'dignity' of all living creatures, such notions end up abolishing the distinctiveness and superior role of human beings. They also open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms" (Pope Benedict XVI’s Message for the 2010 World Day of Peace)"