Trees and ‘God talk’ ~ Fr Seán McDonagh SSC

To mark the UN International Year of the Forest, Fr Seán McDonagh has written the following articles on the importance of trees in his life:

TREES AND ‘GOD TALK’

I grew up in rural Ireland in the 1950s, surrounded by trees. A ribbon of horse chestnuts lined both sides of the road that linked the Killaloe and Limerick roads. In summer their intertwining canopies shut out the light which gave the road its name – the Dark Road. In the fields around our house there were stands of oak, birch and sycamore. About 40 yards away to the south and west my father planted a shelter belt of leylandis. We had different varieties of apple trees in the orchard and two pear trees.

I entered St. Columbans seminary at Dalgan in 1962. The estate in which the seminary was built had extensive woodlands, full of indigenous trees such as oak, hazel, holly, ash, Scots pine, willow, elm and rowan. The woods also contained a number of exotic species, including a number of sturdy Cedars of Lebanon and a few Californian Redwoods. The trees had been planted in the 1820s by General Taylor who had fought alongside Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. According to local folklore, the woodlands were planted to mark where different British regiments were lined up to do battle with Napoleon.

During my seven years in the seminary I heard very little that might increase my love or respect for trees. Students were not allowed to walk in the woodlands and we were not even encouraged to give the trees the basic respect of knowing their names. There was one ceremony each year which gave prominence to a tree. It was the beautiful, plaintive melody which was sung during the Exaltation of the Cross on Good Friday. As the celebrant unveiled the Cross, the celebrant sang, Ecce lingnum crucis in quo salus mundi perpendit (Behold the wood of the cross on which hung the saviour of the world). The faithful answered, Venite Adoremus (Come let us adore). The truth is that we were not being asked to focus on the Cross, but on the figure of Christ which was nailed to it. Unfortunately, the natural world did not figure at all in our education for ministry in the 1960s. Little has changed in the intervening four decades in seminaries. Theology and scripture presentations focus almost exclusively on the divine and human realms with little consideration for the rest of creation.

Ministry in Mindanao in the 1970s

After studying the local language, Cebuano, in the autumn of 1969 and the first half of 1970, I was assigned to the parish of Oroquieta in northwest Mindanao, Philippines. It was quite a peaceful place, but there were significant pockets of grinding poverty, especially among those living in the barrios. The Catholic Church in Mindanao was dedicated to promoting the well-being of people through a number of initiatives, especially in the area of land reform.

Everything changed in September 1972 when the then president, Ferdinand Marcos, declared martial law. Many Church workers, especially those who were involved in promoting social justice, were arrested and some were murdered. For the next 14 years, the energies of Church people were focused on protecting the human rights of the people against both the military and the guerillas as well as promoting social justice. During this time I had little knowledge of or concern for the environment. The only time environmental degradation crossed my mind was when Panguil Bay in northwest Mindanao turned chocolate brown after a day or so of monsoon rains or a typhoon. Even then, my concern was more for the farmers who had lost the precious topsoil than for the integrity of the forest and the well-being of other creatures in the web-of-life.

Working among the T’boli

My interest in trees and forests blossomed during the twelve years I spent working among the T’boli people in the province of South Cotabato in Mindanao. The rainforests are a world of beauty, colour and fruitfulness, which encircle the globe in the tropical areas of Africa, Central and South America and Asia. At least half, and possibly as many as 80%, of the world’s animal and plant species live in the rainforests of the world. Unfortunately, this has not spared them from the bulldozers and chainsaws of global logging companies. In Mindanao, international and local logging companies plundered the rainforests, especially in the years following World War II. A few companies and individuals became extraordinarily wealthy.

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TREES AND THE BIBLE

woodlands Rainforests have been plundered right across the globe from the Amazon to the Congo and New Guinea. In 2011 only 60% of Earth’s original tropical forests remain. According to Astill writing in the Economist, “ despite many campaigns by NGOs, vigils and rock concerts for the rainforests, and efforts to buy it, lease it, log it and not log it, the destruction proceeds at a furious clip. In the past decade, the FAO (UN Food and Agriculture Organisation) records show that around 13 million hectares of the world’s forests, an area the size of England, have been lost each year.”

Parable of the Mustard Seed (Brassica nigra)

To return to trees in the Bible, Jesus uses the mustard tree to illustrate one of his shorter parables. The parable appears in three of the gospels, Matthew (13:31–32), Mark (4:30–32), and Luke (13:18–19). The differences between the text are minor, so it is possible that the tree parables may be derived from the same source. At the most obvious level the parable suggests the growth of the kingdom of God from tiny beginnings to worldwide Church.

Matthew’s version, “He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”

The plant referred to here is generally considered to be black mustard, a large annual plant up to 9 feet tall, but growing from a proverbially small seed (this smallness is also used to refer to faith in Matthew (17:20).

The nesting birds may refer to Old Testament texts which emphasise the universal reach of God’s Kingdom. However, a real mustard plant is unlikely to attract nesting birds, so that Jesus seems deliberately to emphasize the notion of astonishing extravagance in his analogy. In the natural world trees do support an enormous amount of biodiversity. Both species of the oak tree (Querus petrea) and (Quercus robur) support 284 species of insects.

Some commentators claim that there is a “subversive and scandalous” element to this parable, in that the fast-growing nature of the mustard plant makes it a “malignant weed” with “dangerous takeover properties.”

The drama of redemption is played out between two trees at the beginning and end of the Bible.

Finally, the drama of human history is framed between two very significant trees, In Genesis, the first book of the Bible we find that God planted,” the tree of life and the knowledge of good and evil in the middle of the Garden of Eden” ( Gen. 2:9). In chapter 3, Adam and Eve were admonished “not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. You must not eat it or touch it under the pain of death.” (Gen. 3.3). The serpent then told Eve that “No, you will not die! God knows in fact that on the day you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods.” (Gen. 3). Eve and Adam disobeyed God’s command when they ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. As a result, they were expelled from Paradise and found themselves in need of salvation and redemption. Their disobedience also affected their relationship with nature. “Accursed be the soil because of you. With suffering shall you get your food from it every day of your life. It shall yield you brambles and thistles and you shall eat wild plants. With sweat on your brow you shall eat your bread, until you return to the soil, as you were taken from it. For dust you are and to dust you shall return. (Gen. 4: 17-19).

In the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, we find that one of the signs that salvation has been achieved by the death and resurrection of Christ is the reappearance of the “tree of life” planted in the new Jerusalem along the banks of the river and bearing leaves which bring healing and comfort.” (Rev. 22:1).

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IMPORTANCE OF FORESTS FOR THE LOCAL CLIMATE

UK forests When people talk about forest destruction they are usually referring to what is happening in the tropical forests of the Amazon, the Congo basic, Indonesia and New Guinea. But boreal forests, comprised of spruce, birch, fir and aspen form a band around the northern hemisphere. The places where one finds these forests include Russia, Scandinavia, Finland and Canada. Forest destruction can also be a problem in these areas. For example, in Russia, 55,500 square miles of forests were burned or cut between 2000 and 2005. This represented a massive 14% percent of the total forested area.

Climate change is one of the biggest threats which forests will face in this century. There will, of course, be winners and losers. Boreal forests will move further north and will grow 44% faster because of the increased carbon in the air. The downside, even there, is that the melting permafrost will release billions of tonnes of methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Many predict that climate change could have a massive impact on the Amazon ecosystems. As often happens in nature, small changes can have drastic consequences. To date, 18% of the Amazon rainforest has been cleared to produce pasture lands for cattle. The Amazon herd now stands at 40 million. The increase in soyabean production has also had a very negative impact on the integrity of the rainforest. A World Bank study carried out in 2010, predicted that a further 2% loss could bring about a “tipping point,” especially in the relatively dry southern or southeastern areas of Brazil. The phenomenon known as ‘dieback’ which is already appearing on the fringes of the forest could spread into the larger forest area.

If this is coupled with a rise of 3 degrees Celsius in average global temperature then much of the Amazon would have disappeared before the end of this century. It would also release about 50 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide, which is the equivalent of ten years of global emissions from burning fossil fuel.

Forests play other vital roles in preventing soil erosion and regulating local climates. A study carried out in Central America in the 1980s showed that a single rainstorm can dislodge up to 150,000 kilogrammes of top soil from one hectare of hillside once the trees have been cut. The comparable figure from a forested hillside is a mere 44 kilogrammes. Intact forests regulate water run-offs and thus mitigate risks of flooding and droughts. Destruction of forests also impacts on rainfall. Cutting trees leads to a reduction in evapotranspiration, which in turn leads to less rainfall. Much of the rainfall in southern Brazil, northern Argentina and Paraguay is a direct result of the water recycling activity of the Amazon basin. According to James Astill in The Economist, “a decrease in regional precipitation would be calamitous, but the actual effect could be much worse.” On hydrological grounds alone, protecting forests is essential for the future of agriculture. This is often not fully appreciated in tropical countries such as the Philippines.

Promote the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

What can people and Church institutions do to counter deforestation? One way is to refrain from buying timber unless it has the Forest Stewardship Council( FSC) trademark. This is an independent, not-for-profit organisation established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. The FSC label provides a credible link between responsible production and consumption of forest products, enabling consumers and businesses to make purchasing decisions that benefit people and the environment as well as providing ongoing business value. FSC’s forest certification standard is recognised as the global gold standard for responsible forest management. Church organisations from the Vatican to individual dioceses and all religious congregations should pledge that they will only use FSC certified lumber in any building programme.