7th Assembly – Triuggio, Milan – September 2008
Report by Catherine Brennan, chairperson, Eco Congregation Ireland
The living God is present everywhere and in unexpected ways, places and situations.
God comes to us in the challenge of global warming, and asks us to change as individuals, churches, communities and societies. We are invited to turn to God and walk courageously, creatively and carefully with a sustainable footprint on this holy earth.
Hosted by the Italian Protestant Federation, we were around one hundred participants who gathered at the Catholic Sacro Cuore centre in Triuggio, Milan for the 7th Assembly of the European Christian Environment Network (ECEN). Laity and clergy from more than 25 countries, ranging from Armenia to Ireland, Belarus to Portugal, Hungary to Norway, and from Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Reformed traditions. Denominations represented included Brethren, Catholics, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Anglicans, Baptists, Orthodox, Mennonites, Methodists and Waldensians.
The purpose of this diverse gathering was to share our diverse experiences and reflections on the ‘Real Challenge of Climate Change’, and to be united in the need to take serious, urgent and radical action.
The keynote speaker was Jean Pascal van Ipersele Vice Chair of the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from the Catholic University of Louvain .He told us that scientists are now clear that we are rapidly heading towards a 2o Celsius rise in global surface warming, which is almost certainly close to being a ‘tipping point’. This will provoke such climate instability that the Earth’s capacity to sustain a human population of more than 7 billion would be impossible at current consumption levels. Resulting desertification, polar and glacial ice-melt, warmer oceans, rising sea levels (of 8 metres by the end of the year 3000) and extreme weather events will destroy habitats and homelands alike. The consequences will be famine, mass migration, conflict and death.
The call for us in Europe to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 90-95% on 1990 levels is becoming paramount. Yet as Christians we are people of faith and must look to hopeful solutions to adapt and mitigate both rapidly and radically.
Not surprisingly the Assembly focused strongly on this massive challenge – and did so through thematic plenary sessions, working groups, worship and consolidated action.
Participants agreed a vital appeal to the churches of Europe to act now and make this issue a pressing priority, especially because not to do so would be inconsistent with our faith in an incarnate and loving God. Our behaviour must reflect our belief, and be demonstrated in a commitment to work for justice for those most vulnerable to Climate Change and to leave a positive legacy for future generations.
Churches are called to include ecology and the issue of climate change in all training for ministry.
Some of the working groups focused on the relationship of global warming to water and transport, whilst others looked at Eco-Management, Theology, Creation Time, Environmental Education and Nature Conservation. There is much to be done in reducing our energy consumption, promoting greater efficiency and developing sources of renewable energies.
Churches across Europe are all encouraged to celebrate a time for God’s Creation in worship and in practice between each September and October. This is an important opportunity to remind ourselves of the work of God as Creator of life, as well as Redeemer of brokenness. To reflect spiritually and theologically on ecology and environment has to be an essential part of our discipleship and ministry.
To make this point in Milan, members of the ECEN Assembly joined with local Christians to carry out a silent act of witness in the city centre. We formed ourselves into a ‘bubble’ (some of us wearing placards with poignant messages) and shared in a deep and tangible Ora di Silenzio (Hour of Silence) outside the Cathedral in Milan. This activity expressed something of our concern to the people of Milan and beyond. In a grossly consumerist society fed by instant gratification, we recalled the Sabbath principle of the need for rest, re-creation and respect for the natural world.
In most European regions there are church projects which are seeking positively to address Climate Change. Some of these were present through talks and displays at this Assembly: Portuguese-based A Rocha, with its vital conservation work in threatened areas; ‘Eco-congregations’ which encourages local churches to take action in Britain and Ireland ,the Orthodox Academy at Vilemov in the Czech Republic, with its emphasis on renewable energy for churches; the Church of England’s ‘Shrinking the Footprint campaign; the Ecumenical Water Network; the Evangelical Academy at Bad Boll, Germany and its eco-driving work; Waldensian Church initiatives in Italy; Eco-Management in Sweden; community regeneration in Britain and Ireland, and so on. We shared stories and experiences of these and many other good practices.
We were reminded at Milan of the image of “the web of life”. In reality, all life is inter-connected and held together by thin strands. Human-induced Climate Change is already unravelling this web and prompting fragmentation. This ECEN Assembly was a powerful expression of being together and attempting to repair that brokenness or to prevent further breakage. We now take that “togetherness” back to our own countries, our own traditions and our own churches with the hope of making a world of difference in God’s name.
With the poet Adrienne Rich we feel
” My heart is moved by all that I cannot save,
So much has been destroyed.
I have to cast my lot with those
Who, age after age, perversely
With no extraordinary power reconstitute the world.”