The chairperson of Eco-Congregation Ireland, Sr Catherine Brennan, has welcomed Minister Phil Hogan’s announcement of a firm timetable for the adoption of a national policy and legislation on climate change (see next news item).
“It sets out in impressive detail a step-by-step plan to pass climate legislation by 2013,” she says. “The roadmap provides welcome clarity about the government’s commitment to passing a climate law and outlines the opportunities for public participation in its development.
“As individual Christians and members of Christian communities, I suggest that climate change is a challenging issue for the church in our time for three reasons. It excludes certain members of society (those countries which are immediate victims of climate change and coming generations), it threatens many aspects of God’s good Creation; and it raises the question of idolatry, giving a higher value to an economic system than to human life and Creation.”