The essay contest was co-organized by The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development and the Salesian Pontifical University- Jerusalem campus.
CATHOLIC TEACHINGS AND RENEWABLE ENERGY
By: Dilip Gnanaprakash
Kristu Jyoti College, India
INTRODUCTION
The Catholic Church has a responsibility towards creation, and she considers it her duty to exercise this responsibility in public life, in order to protect the earth, and with it the water and air, as gifts of God the Creator meant for every one, and above all to save humankind from the danger of self-destruction.–Pope Benedict XVI, Caritas in Veritate, 50.
The call to care for creation extends as far back as the Book of Genesis, when humankind was charged to ‘till and keep’ the earth. But we have done far too much tilling and not enough keeping. Today the phenomenon of global warming and associated climate change is the most evident manifestation of the ecological crisis with a wide range of impacts like droughts and floods, melting glaciers and rising sea level, ocean acidification, instability in global climate, air pollution, and a host of other threats to the future of humanity. It is a direct result of the rapid extraction and combustion of fossil fuels and the resultant emission of greenhouse gases. 1
It is in this context that the teachings of the Catholic Church invite us to move away from fossil fuels to renewable forms of energy to counteract the dangerous impacts of global climate change. Pope Francis affirms clearly: “We know that technology based on the use of highly polluting fossil fuels – especially coal, but also oil and, to a lesser degree, gas – needs to be progressively replaced without delay.”2 In this essay, we shall briefly explore the basis of Catholic teachings on renewable energy use.
CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON RENEWABLE ENERGY USE
Catholic moral tradition and social doctrine, based on the revelation of God’s love for all creation in the scriptures, and on the inherent dignity of every person, offer a number of core principles that can guide our response to the challenge of climate change. These core principles point to the use of renewable energy.
1. Upholding Right to Life
The Church is deeply committed to the defense of human life, and this commitment is uppermost in its approach to energy. The protection of life and health requires affordable, accessible energy and clean, safe water. The right to a safe ecological environment is a universal human right.3 But when we continue to opt for the traditional non-renewable energy sources that are environmentally toxic and have long standing negative impacts on public health and cause irreversible damage to our climate and our earth, it contradicts the principles of protection of life. From this standpoint, renewable energy use is an ethical direction to cherish and protect life and nature as gifts from God. “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.” 4
2. Responsible Stewardship
All humans share the earth with other creatures. But we are made in the image and likeness of God and are called in a special way to “cultivate and care for it” (Gen 2:15). We are unique and special in God’s view; we share a relationship with the rest of creation and must exercise a mandate of stewardship of care and responsibility towards it.5 Allowing nature to perish is not just bad stewardship; it is flinging God’s gifts in his face, as of no worth beyond that assigned to them by our callous use and destruction of them. The Church accepts that human activity is indeed one of the factors that explains climate change and exhorts us to accept a serious moral responsibility for the welfare of creation by way of doing everything in our power to avoid the negative effects on the environment and on the poor.7 Global climate change challenges the fundamental Catholic concepts regarding our stewardship of creation, our membership in the one human family and our responsibility to future generations to protect nature and the environment. 8 Renewable energy use is an explicit expression of our responsible stewardship.
3. Intergenerational Solidarity for a Common Good
Solidarity, in the famous words of Pope John Paul II, “is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all”.9 The Church teaches that actions which undermine the well-being of our common home, such as the unnecessary and excessive burning of fossil fuel, have to be evaluated in the light of our responsibility for the common good. We need to understand the common good as not just the horizontal (the good of everyone now) but also as the vertical (the good of future generations).10 As Pope Benedict XVI has indicated we need a greater sense of intergenerational solidarity. Future generations cannot be saddled with the consequences of our indiscriminate use of common environmental resources.11 The U.S. Catholic bishops have also affirmed that “preserving the common good calls us to recognize that energy systems are changing, and must be changed. We must immediately take every possible action to shape energy systems that support flourishing communities.”12
4. Promoting Distributive Justice
The Catholic Church teaches that in striving for a more just society, we should make sure that the energy policies we choose are both fair and sustainable, reflecting justice for all. Through the words of Pope John XXIII, the Church continues to insist that we should not assess the economic prosperity of anybody not merely from the quantity of wealth possessed, but from the distribution of goods according to the norms of justice, so that everyone in the community can develop and perfect him/herself.13 This standard of distributive justice suggests that our current measures of economic prosperity be adjusted. Rather than promoting individual maximizing of excess luxury, everyone should be enabled to live a decent life. We have enough energy to go around, but it is unevenly distributed. Gaudium et Spes says, “It devolves on humanity to establish a political, social and economic order which will increasingly serve people and help individuals as well as groups to affirm and develop the dignity proper to them”(GS 9).
5. Preferential option for the Poor
Pope Benedict XVI in his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, insists that care for the least and the poorest is a defining religious duty.14 It is also a “moral and public responsibility”. While all humans will be affected by climate change, the lack of access to energy will make the poorest the most vulnerable to extreme weather events with devastating consequences. The poorest members of society are the most vulnerable to the costs and damages of climate change.15 This is problematic since the poor in the developing countries have contributed the least towards the increase in the heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Pope John Paul II has reminded us that “the goods of the earth, which in the divine plan should be a common patrimony, often risk becoming the monopoly of a few who often spoil it and, sometimes, destroy it, thereby creating a loss for all humanity.”16 The Church teaches that we should give special attention to the poor as well as the members of minority groups in dealing with the energy crisis by ensuring an adequate supply of energy to people whom poverty or discrimination place at a disadvantage. The painful adjustments we have to undertake in our economies for the sake of the environment must not at the same time diminish our sensitivity to the needs of the poor.
6. Permanent Energy Security
The U.S Catholic Bishops’ 1981 document noted the global energy situation. The threat of diminishing fossil fuels emphasized the need to preserve this finite source for the future, while developing alternative sources to assure energy availability for all people. Renewable power is hope. (The term “renewable power” includes energy from the sun; from wind, waves and waterfalls; and from biomass). The sun is an inexhaustible fount of energy for a variety of purposes. Most importantly, solar power can help open the way to permanent energy security, pointing beyond the end of fossil fuels.17
CONCLUSION
In light of the impacts of non-renewable energy sources on the environment, and the differential distribution of economic and environmental benefits and burdens, the Catholic Church believes that a wise and appropriate use of energy sources is necessary to generate a sustainable and just energy future. The Church focuses on the vast environmental and societal benefits of renewable energy. From an economic perspective, clean and sustainable energy technologies like solar and wind power are already cost-competitive with fossil fuels, and are morally preferable. They are consistent with the Pope’s message of solidarity and concern for others, especially the poorest among us.18
As has already been noted, the Catholic teaching “insists” on the use of renewable energy as a means for the dedicated pursuit of the common good to protect our common home and its most vulnerable inhabitants. The Catholic Church through a number of documents has expressed its strong support for the choice of alternative energy sources, to protect both us humans and the environment. I believe that promoting renewable energy sources is the only option we have, and it is the only responsible path to follow for the good of future generations. Failure to act now could cause immense suffering for future generations. The Church shares this concern for the future of the planet. Let us, too, reaffirm our personal vocation to be stewards of the creation, which is entrusted to our care.
Thank you.
Sources:
Erin Lothes Biviano, et al, “Catholic Moral Traditions and Energy Ethics for the Twenty-First Century,”
Journal of Moral Theology, (e-publications), Vol. 5, no. 1 (2016), 1.
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’ (Encyclical on Care for our Common Home), no.165, https://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.pdf, accessed on April 15, 2018.
Pope John Paul II, “Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation,” World Day of Peace Message, January 1, 1990, no. 9, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19891208_xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html, accessed on April 10, 2018.
Ibid, no. 16.
Joshua M. Pearce et al, “Solar Photovoltaic Energy for Mitigation of Climate Change: A Catalytic Application of Catholic Social Thought,” Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture and Ecology, (e-publications), Vol.13, no.1 (2009),100.
Ibid, 103.
Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson,” Laudato Si’: Presentation in the ECOSOC Chamber,” Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, New York, 30 June, 2015, https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20150630_ laudato-si-ecosoc_en.html, accessed on 10 April, 2018.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good,” June 15, 2001, https://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/environment/global-climate-change-a-plea-for-dialogue-prudence-and-the-common-good.cfm, accessed on 10 April, 2018.
Pope John Paul II, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis (Encyclical on the Social Concern) no. 38, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_30121987_sollicitudo-rei-socialis.html, accessed on 10 April, 2018.
Cardinal Peter K.A. Turkson , “Remarks on Laudato Si’ to Child-Focused Agencies,” Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, 30 June, 2015, https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19891208_xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html, accessed on 10 April, 2018.
cf. Benedict XVI, “If you want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation,” Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace , January 1, 2010, art. 8, https://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace.html, accessed on 10 April, 2018.
Biviano, et al, “Catholic Moral Traditions and Energy Ethics for the Twenty-First Century,” 9.
John XXIII, Mater et Magistra, (Encyclical on Christianity and Social Progress) no.74,
https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-xxiii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_j-xxiii_enc_15051961_mater.html, accessed on 10 April, 2018.
Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, (Encyclical of God is Love), no. 20, http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est.html, accessed on 11 April, 2018.
John Paul II, “Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation,” World Day of Peace Message, January 1, 1990, no. 11.
October 25, 1991 address at conference marking the presentation of the Second Edition of the St. Francis “Canticle of the Creatures” International Award for the Environment.
Reflections on the Energy Crisis: A Statement by the Committee on Social Development and World Peace, 17.
Biviano, et al, “Catholic Moral Traditions and Energy Ethics for the Twenty-First Century,” 24