Unpacking Pope Francis Letter on Creation, Laudato Si Father Nathan - PDF document

Unpacking Pope Francis’ Letter on Creation, Laudato Si’ Father Nathan Reesman Tuesday, August 11 th 2015 The Memorial of Saint Clare of Assisi The Year of Consecrated Life Handouts:  Photocopy of the table of contents of the letter  First Things article  My notes  Quotation sheet  Speaker Evaluation sheets Opening Prayer: (from the last section of the encyclical letter, his concluding prayer) A Christian prayer in union with creation Father, we praise you with all your creatures. They came forth from your all-powerful hand; they are yours, filled with your presence and your tender love. Praise be to you! Son of God, Jesus, through you all things were made. You were formed in the womb of Mary our Mother, you became part of this earth, and you gazed upon this world with human eyes. Today you are alive in every creature in your risen glory. Praise be to you! Holy Spirit, by your light you guide this world towards the Father’s love and accompany creation as it groans in travail. You also dwell in our hearts and you inspire us to do what is good. Praise be to you! Triune Lord, wondrous community of infinite love, teach us to contemplate you in the beauty of the universe, for all things speak of you. Awaken our praise and thankfulness for every being that you have made. Give us the grace to feel profoundly joined 1

to everything that is. God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of your love for all the creatures of this earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Enlighten those who possess power and money that they may avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live. The poor and the earth are crying out. O Lord, seize us with your power and light, help us to protect all life, to prepare for a better future, for the coming of your Kingdom of justice, peace, love and beauty. Praise be to you! Amen. Introduction: Why I am giving this presentation:  This is a major teaching document of the Holy Father and therefore of the Catholic Church; it is part of my teaching office  The topic of his letter is of supreme importance  The mainstream media is an unreliable source about Catholic topics and teachings  Because it is so long, that most of you probably will not read it yourselves, but, you should read it yourself rather than relying on my interpretation of it. Outline of the Presentation :  Brief explanation of what an encyclical letter is as a category of teaching documents  From that, the question of how binding on the faithful is it? o [some of this will be answered at the end of the talk; consider that in halves]  A walk thru of the letter itself with its major points- because of its length this will not be exhaustive  Re-cap/ Summary of major themes  Critical analysis and reactions ( NYT, First Things , my take)  Where to go from here/how apply it? [2 nd half of authority question] Part I: Understanding the “Category” of the document as an encyclical l etter and the degree of its authority  An encyclical letter in recent centuries has come to be used by popes to articulate important teachings of the Church in modern circumstances; 2

 Customarily they are addressed to the bishops of the world by the Bishop of Rome, clarifying matters of doctrine, or speaking expansively on an important topic a pope wishes to emphasize in the Church  Their moral teachings are binding on the faithful. A Catholic Social Teaching Encyclical  Social Teaching Encyclicals are a sub-category and their focus is different; they tend to focus on applying general Gospel principals to correcting broad-based societal injustices or imbalances. They are therefore overtly political in focus.  Pope Francis himself refers to Laudato Si as a social encyclical in section 15  Other examples: Rerum Novarum from 1891 on the plight of workers and the rise of Communism; Pacem in Terris from 1963 on the nuclear arms race and war; Laborem Exercens in 1981 on the value of human labor and work. Unique to Laudato Si : Pope Francis addresses the letter, in the body itself, to the entire world: “I wish to address every person living on this planet.” And “I would like to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home.”  It’s an official t eaching document of the Church and therefore it is authoritative for Catholics to the extent that its moral principles are clearly articulated and correctly applied as a diagnosis or cure of contemporary social ills.  The solutions to problems these types of letters call for tend to be general by nature because the Church hesitates to endorse or ‘stamp’ any one political or economic system as being full of the Gospel. Part II: The letter itself Begin with a look at the table of contents [handout], which includes all of his major subheadings. The Encyclical’s Introduction  Francis lays out his reason for writing, situates it within context of broader social encyclical tradition, notes his continuity on the topic with Paul VI, JPII, B16, and the Orthodox patriarch Bartholomew .  Additionally, he places himself in the context of philosophers, scientists, theologians and civic groups who have raised concern about our environment  He situates himself in the tradition of Saint Francs of Assisi (hence the title of the letter) Key Themes in the Letter which are pre-viewed in the Introduction: Need for world-wide dialogue A1 I urgently appeal, then, for a new dialogue about how we are shaping the future of our planet. We need a conversation which includes everyone, since the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all. Section 14 3

Integral Development/Integral Ecology A2 [St] Francis [of Assisi] helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human. Section 11 Multifaceted Problem, and a moral problem A3 Quoting Patriarch Bartholomew: For “to commit a crime against the natural world is a sin against ourselves and a sin against God”. 9. At the same time, Bartholomew has drawn attention to the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems, which require that we look for solutions not only in technology but in a change of humanity; otherwise we would be dealing merely with symptoms. He asks us to replace consumption with sacrifice, greed with genero sity, wastefulness with a spirit of sharing, an asceticism which “entails learning to give, and not simply to give up. It is a way of loving, of moving gradually away from what I want to what God’s world needs. It is liberation f rom fear, greed and compuls ion” As Christians, we are also called “to accept the world as a sacrament of communion, as a way of sharing with God and our neighbours on a global scale. It is our humble conviction that the divine and the human meet in the slightest detail in the seamle ss garment of God’s creation, in the la st speck of dust of our planet” Section 9 A4 Although each chapter will have its own subject and specific approach, it will also take up and re-examine important questions previously dealt with. This is particularly the case with a number of themes which will reappear as the Encyclical unfolds. As examples, I will point to the intimate relationship between the poor and the fragility of the planet, the conviction that everything in the world is connected, the critique of new paradigms and forms of power derived from technology, the call to seek other ways of understanding the economy and progress, the value proper to each creature, the human meaning of ecology, the need for forthright and honest debate, the serious responsibility of international and local policy, the throwaway culture and the proposal of a new lifestyle. These questions will not be dealt with once and for all, but reframed and enriched again and again. Section 16 Section 16 lays out his conviction that environmental harm is symptomatic of a much deeper set of moral and cultural issues; all of his major themes are present here:  personal conversion,  re-thinking our views of technology and science,  our duty to the poor,  returning to an understanding of the “end” of creatures and the meaning of creation,  ending an economics system driven by consumerism that betrays a lack of trust in God’s providence 4