Creation Care Team

     In recent times and in most Catholic communities, efforts supporting the Respect Life theme have focused primarily on the need to protect the life of the unborn. This focus flows from the recognition of our Catholic leaders (Popes, bishops, theologians and teachers) that the right to life is the fundamental human right from which all other rights flow.
     At the same time, the Church has also supported the rights of so many others who suffer and struggle and frequently have little, if any, voice in our society... the poor, the homeless, the migrants, the victims of war and violence, the disabled, the very young and very old. And, so, we frequently hear the phrase “womb-to-tomb” when speaking of the Church’s pro-life position in its fullness, or “the seamless garment” of the pro-life issues.
     In the wake of the horrific death and destruction of the two hurricanes Helene and Milton, we should be shaken to start paying more attention to the challenges of climate change since care for creation has been closely associated with the other pro-life issues by our Catholic leadership…
     "The climate is a common good, belonging to all and meant for all. At the global level, it is a complex system linked to many of the essential conditions for human life." – Pope Francis, Laudato Si', June 2015
     "How can we separate, or even set at odds, the protection of the environment and the protection of human life, including the life of the unborn?" – Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Address to the Members of the Diplomatic Corps, January 2010
     "Respect for life and for the dignity of the human person extends also to the rest of creation, which is called to join man in praising God" (16). – Saint Pope John Paul II, World Day of Peace Message, January 1990

     I direct any and all interested in this important and timely pro-life topic to explore it from the Catholic perspective at the the website of the “Catholic Climate Covenant,”  (at catholicclimatecovenant.org). This group was founded in 2006 in association with our US Catholic Bishops. I would further invite any and all parish members interested in helping me to set up a “Creation Care Team,” as described on this website for us here at St. Bernard’s to contact me to begin some discussion.

                 Fr. Joe McCormick, OSA