UP FRONT
A Commitment to the Catholic Climate Covenant
Dan Misleh |  Summer 2009

A growing movement of Catholic entities and individuals offers ways to learn about and act upon the issue of climate change.

“Today the great gift of God’s Creation is exposed to serious dangers and lifestyles which can degrade it. Environmental pollution is making particularly unsustainable the lives of the poor of the world … we must pledge ourselves to take care of creation and to share its resources in solidarity." –Pope Benedict XVI

This year, in part as a response to our Holy Father, but honestly more because I absolutely blew it last year, I did honor Earth Hour. I really hope you know what Earth Hour is all about or, if you don’t, that you’ve not had to suffer the scorn of some teenager reminding you, in that almost endearing know-it-all way of theirs, that you’re a loser in the first degree.

Here’s the story. All my spring travel in 2008 seemed to coincide with my alma mater’s (Xavier University in Cincinnati) basketball games in the NCAA tournament. When they made it to the “Elite Eight,” facing UCLA, I was home. I settled into my recliner with a soft drink and a bowl of popcorn, when my 15-year-old daughter appeared and started unplugging things: the lamp, the computer. She was reaching for the TV plug when I said, “Whoa, what do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s Earth Hour, dad. We’re supposed to not use any electricity for the next hour.”

“Earth Hour,” I replied. “I didn’t hear about this.” She told me that I, of all people, should have known about it. Well clearly I missed that memo.

“Look, you can unplug everything around me. I’ll sit in the dark. But you’re not touching that television.” With a look of extreme disappointment—not an uncommon look for a girl her age—she turned to walk away and in a stage whisper said, “Real nice, Mr. Climate Change.”

In the end, I should have just let her unplug the thing because not only does my daughter now question my commitment to care for creation, but Xavier got beaten badly. I went to bed feeling both sheepish and disappointed.

Now the daughter of Mr. Climate Change really can’t avoid dinnertime discussions of the latest climate change news and how we as a family are taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint. So she’s pretty aware going in. But when I asked Anna how she heard about Earth Hour, the answer was, “Facebook.” So maybe there are some redeeming values to sitting in front of a computer screen and doing “social networking”!

But the deeper lesson was this: young people get climate change. There’s no need for a big sales job. In our churches, our schools, and in our youth and young adult groups, they’re getting the message that something is up with the climate. They look down the road and wonder what life will be like for them in twenty-five or fifty years. But few of them know that the pope and the U.S. bishops are out in front on this issue. Fewer still understand the connection between their carbon footprint (our personal and collective contributions to greenhouse gas pollution) and its impacts on people—today and well into the future.

But the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change is trying to move this message into parishes, schools, and Catholic life more broadly.

Who Is the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change?

We are a dozen national Catholic organizations who have joined forces to more fully implement Catholic teaching on climate change with programs and priorities for our varied constituencies. Founded in 2006, the Coalition has held hearings on climate change and its moral and practical implications for life and ministry within the church and among primary stakeholders. We have given out small grants to Catholic groups enabling them to expand climate change activities in their outreach and education efforts. And we have launched A Catholic Climate Covenant: The St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor.

You may remember—and I hope, have found useful—a mailer from the Coalition last April announcing the Catholic Climate Covenant. The key message in this campaign—“Who’s Under Your Carbon Footprint?”— links respect for God’s creation and climate change impacts on God’s people. The campaign also embraces the life and ministry of St. Francis of Assisi, who so clearly understood the connection between people and creation and devoted his life to caring for the poor and vulnerable. His example embodied the psalmist’s exhortation, “The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds” (Ps 24:1).

Building on the themes of covenant, creation, and poverty, the Catholic Climate Covenant encourages greater personal and shared engagement by the Catholic community in response to the impacts of climate change by

• encouraging and assisting Catholic institutions, organizations, parishes and individuals to join the Covenant by taking the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor—a response to climate change impacts on creation and people in poverty; and
  
  
• sharing good news about the ongoing and impressive ways in which the Catholic community is carrying out the Catholic Climate Covenant to honor our obligations toward God’s gift of creation.

The St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor

At the heart of the Catholic Climate Covenant is the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. You join the Covenant by taking the pledge. Individuals and organizations, including parishes, are asked to fulfill all five elements of the pledge:

PRAY and reflect on the duty to care for God’s creation and protect the poor and vulnerable;

LEARN about and educate others on both the reality of climate change and its moral dimensions;

ASSESS your participation—as individuals and organizations—in contributing to climate change (i.e., consumption and conservation);

ACT to change your choices and behaviors contributing to climate change; and

ADVOCATE Catholic principles and priorities in climate change discussions and decisions, especially as they have impacts on the poor and vulnerable.

You may already be doing some of these activities, and the Coalition can work with you to fulfill the whole pledge. On the Covenant Web site (www.catholicclimatecovenant.org) you will find many ways for Catholic individuals, families, schools, parishes, and dioceses to fulfill the St. Francis Pledge. The Web site also holds a short video with the key message of the campaign (Who Is Under Your Carbon Footprint?), the goals of the Covenant, and inspiring ways Catholics have become engaged. Every effort is being made to ensure that all the materials are also available in Spanish.

While launched on Earth Day (April 22) of this year, the effort will continue into next year. But even on the day of the launch, dozens of Catholic organizations, including the National Pastoral Life Center, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Federation of Priests Councils, and several dioceses had already pledged or committed to support the Covenant campaign. These commitments have inspired other Catholic individuals, organizations, and dioceses to join the Covenant by taking the St. Francis Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor. And since individuals and groups are encouraged to register their pledge on the Web site, the Covenant is continuously updated with new ideas and programs that are blossoming around the country.

Why Now?

Dioceses, parishes, schools, and especially young Catholics, are increasingly concerned about climate change, are seeking ways to honor the gift of creation, and have genuine concern about people in poverty. Yet the public debate remains largely divided between those wishing to save plant and animal species on the one hand and the continuation of the fossil fuel economy on the other. The Catholic community enters this debate to offer a distinctly religious and moral perspective to what is necessarily a complicated scientific, economic, and political discussion. We must remind policy makers and stakeholders that care for creation must be accompanied by true concern for those on whom both climate change and its remedies have the most impact. As the bishops declared in their statement, Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good,

at its core, global climate change is not simply about economic theory or political platforms, nor about partisan advantage or interest group pressures. Rather, global climate change is about the future of God’s creation and the one human family. It is about protecting both the “human environment” and the natural environment. It is about our human stewardship of God’s creation and our responsibility to those who come after us.

How Can Our Parish Participate?

How can your parish, your school, or even you as an individual join the Covenant? By taking the pledge. The Catholic Climate Covenant Web site is designed so that you can easily find ways to fulfill your St. Francis Pledge. If you want prayer resources, click on the prayer button. Need to know how to assess? That’s there, too. But how can my parish fulfill each of the five points of the Pledge? Here’s a sample:

Pray
Integrate themes of care for creation into parish liturgies and celebrations. On the Web site you will find music suggestions, homily ideas linked to the lectionary, liturgical prayers, feasts days that are appropriate to ecology, environment, and care for creation. Celebrate the feast of St. Francis in a big way. Consider a special Mass to raise up the wonder of creation and the call to care for all God’s creatures. Remember to include the needs of the poor on whom climate change and environmental degradation will have the most impact.

Learn
Download and post to your parish bulletin a series of quotes from the Covenant Web site so parishioners can get a better sense of what Pope Benedict or the U.S. bishops have said. Explore these themes in your homilies. Use other tools available on the Web site, such as “God’s Creation Cries for Justice. Climate Change: Impact and Response,” the JustMatters eight-week learning module offered by JustFaith Ministries and designed by the Coalition.

Other programs linking the science of climate change to an authentically Catholic response are also available on the Web site as well as resources to better understand just the science of climate change from reputable and non-ideological sources. There is also a question and answer resource that helps to answer some of the difficult questions about climate science, Catholic environmental justice teaching, and political and economic questions.

Assess
The Coalition recommends that you consult with your local energy companies to see if they offer energy audits for your church and other parish buildings. The Environmental Protection Agency also lists resources for congregations to assess their energy consumption and ways for churches to reduce theirs. The Web site also recommends the “Cool Congregations” Web site, which is affiliated with the Regeneration Project, a faith-based response to climate change begun in the Protestant tradition.

Act
See if your state or local utility offers alternative energy by visiting the U.S. Department of Energy’s “Green Power Network” Web site. Consider implementing some of the suggestions outlined in the Energy Star Program of the Environmental Protection Agency: “Putting Energy into Stewardship Congregations Guide.” The Covenant Web site even has links to possible financing available for energy efficiency projects and partnerships that could help reduce the costs of implementing some of what you have assessed.

Advocate
Encourage your parish to join the diocesan or state Catholic Conference legislative network. While these networks focus on a variety of legislative issues, many are increasingly including environmental issues and climate change. Sign up for legislative alerts from the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change or the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and add the voice of your parish to public policy efforts on climate change at the federal level.

Conclusion

The Catholic Climate Covenant offers the Catholic community in the United States a unique and authentic opportunity to participate in efforts that recognize the wonder of creation and the impacts of individual and communal neglect of the poor and vulnerable at home and abroad. This campaign has something for everyone, is simple to do, yet can make a real difference. Together we can demonstrate true stewardship and genuine solidarity with a commitment to the common good and to easing the burdens of poor and vulnerable people. We honor our Creator by caring for creation.

Dan Misleh is executive director of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change in Washington, D. C.