There is a huge chasm between humankind and the natural world and it is essential that we heal this division if we are going to live in a more sustainable, less destructive way on this planet. That was the view expressed by Fr Seán McDonagh SSC at the Eco-Congregation Ireland Roadshow in Kilkenny on 20th April.
Fr Seán, a well-known Columban eco-theologian and author, said we were the first generation that could really place ourselves within the context of “this extraordinary universe”, adding that our relationship with the earth was not “totally evil” but that it wasn’t great either.
“Educate yourself as much as you can, especially in the area of life that you are about,” he said. “Try and do a tangible thing – something with a small group – something tangible to help us into the future. Take even very small steps, and keep at it. Even very, very small steps I think is something powerful.”
As well as making individual choices in our everyday lives, Fr Seán said “the most important thing those of us who are associated with institutions can do is to begin to transform those institutions from inside; and it does mean a very big change.”
“It must be deeply ingrained in us and it must come across in our articulation of who we are in terms of our theology,” he said. “It must be deeply embedded in our prayer lives: we should not just be praying for ourselves and for the human community but for the whole of creation.”
Emphasising that he was speaking from the perspective of the Catholic Church, he said the reality was that a lot of church leaders had no idea what was necessary. There was a need for celebration as well as for mourning rituals that acknowledged the huge problems of global warming and the extinction of species. “We have no way ritually of dealing with that,” he said. “We should have a mourning ritual that tackles seriously the loss. We need to begin to name the issues because if we don’t name them we can’t begin to challenge them. We need to celebrate life while also recognising the dark forces out there – pain and suffering and evil.”
He said the churches also needed to develop a real sense of how to lead people in the future, given that expectations now are to live better materially generation and generation. People are going to have to be helped to understand the necessity for – and become familiar with – diminishment right across the board. “Religions, not just churches, are going to have to help people make the enormous journey to begin to accept that things will not always be better in the future,” he said.
“Hope is both a gift and a task: it is a gift because we learn from our faith, but also from cosmology. There have been extraordinary changes in the life of the planet but I believe the spirit of God has always been with the planet. We are going into a difficult period but that doesn’t mean God has abandoned us. We have to live in a way that supports the planet into the future.
“One of the things about hope is that once you start to do something, like reforestation – if we even put in half a hectare of trees – we always celebrate it.”
Fr Seán said the church’s life was not for itself but for the life of the world. The basic challenge for the church at any time was to ask the question: “Where are the issues? Where are the resources?” Resources in terms of ritual and liturgy were badly needed today.
He was particularly happy that the new pope had taken the name ‘Francis’. “For many years I have worked and prayed that the churches would put the protection of God’s creation at the top of their agenda,” he said. “So I was delighted that Pope Francis mentioned creation nine times in his inaugural Mass. Hopefully, Christians around the world will respond to Pope Francis’ call and work locally, nationally and globally to protect creation.”
Fr Seán’s experience of seminary life in the 1960s was very individual salvation-orientated and during seven years studying theology he never once thought that “the book of nature” had anything to do with theology. It was only when working as a missionary in the Philippines some years later that it dawned on him that “to encounter the divine spirituality is not in our thoughts: it’s actually in the sacraments, like water, and bread and wine.”
“No matter what happens with creation, we are not having an emotional response,” he said. “The churches have to begin to put this reality at the centre of Christian life.”
Fr Seán also spoke about the rise of nuclear weapons and the need to get a handle on the issue, given that we had the power to obliterate ourselves. He also talked about the necessity to work for peace and justice, as the World Council of Churches had been doing. “If you don’t have peace, you can’t have a just society,” he said.
As regards the future, he was “kind of hopeful” and would love to see a Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation ministry in every parish – to know that people were educating themselves, taking practical steps and celebrating creation in the Eucharist. “I’d love to see churches being seeds of this work,” he said.
Fr Seán McDonagh’s books include Fukushima: The Death Knell for Nuclear Energy?, The Death of Life, Climate Change: The Challenge to All of Us, Dying for Water and Why are we Deaf to the Cry of the Earth?