INTEGRATION-WITH-CREATION:
NEW SPIRITUAL DIMENSIONS OF ECOLOGICAL STEWARDSHIP
FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION
By
Davileen Margaret Radigan
A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology of University of St. Michael's College and the Department of Theology of the Toronto School of Theology in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry Awarded by the University of St. Michael's College
Toronto 2010
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1+1 Canada ABSTRACT
Integration-with-Creation: New Spiritual Dimensions of Ecological Stewardship for Catholic Education Doctor of Ministry, 2010 Davileen Margaret Radigan
Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael's College
New dimensions of faith and spirituality are emerging as human consciousness expands and the global village shrinks. While a Christian model of stewardship for creation care has been dominant in Western culture, there is a weakness in how people have been living out the sacred covenant. The "new universe story" offers the planet hope midst its ecological peril. The scientific story of cosmogenesis expressed by Thomas
Berry and Brian Swimme, along with insights from Eastern and Indigenous traditions, offers Western culture a way to reimagine itself. The sacredness of all of creation is taking on new dimensions of faith and spirituality with reverence for the concept of the common good for people and the planet as one integrated Earth community.
The shift from cosmos to cosmogenesis is creating a new dynamic of solidarity between religion and science. As a result, spiritual energy is awakening the imagination to creative solutions for serious concerns about earth-human sustainability. This energy will be taken up in Catholic education as we develop religious and spiritual experiences towards an "ecological conversion." The deep, reflective tradition of retreat ministry can be instrumental. Hence, this thesis explores the question "what are the methods within a retreat ministry that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?" AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT
I have inherited my love of creation from my family. My father, Ken, was from a large, third generation Irish family who built a homestead in Damascus, Ontario. He often entertained our family by telling farm stories such as when he rode "Darkie," the horse, to Midnight Mass through ten miles of deep snow. Traveling with Dad was always a "field trip" as he pointed out wheat, oats, barley, canola, mustard, soya, hay, and corn. My mother, Margaret, and I delighted in the joy of sunset colours. Sometimes in early August, we looked for and found shooting stars. Mom loved birds and expertly imitated their calls and whistles. I learned a deep connection with Earth and so it is within nature that I meet the sacred. Our family of nine lived fifty miles north of Toronto in a small hamlet called "Wildfield." We were surrounded by open fields, farmlands, creeks, and ravines which imprinted my soul.
For thirty-four years as an elementary school teacher, I especially liked to take the children outside for as much of their learning as possible. Together we loved "field trips" whether out in the school yard, down to the creek, or by bus to a Conservation Area. Those students who had trouble with academic learning seemed to blossom in the out-of- doors. Something in the nature of nature touched the soul of children. For many, the natural world seemed to be their niche.
Two Grade 7 boys, for example, spent the last days of June converting a pile of rubble into a garden complete with a little picket fence which they built from scraps of wood. A lady in the neigbourhood had donated a Russian Olive tree. During the summer months, the boys watered the colourful petunias in "their garden." They had become co- creators of beauty. Nature likes team work!
Over several years, the "Green Team" eagerly animated the school with composting, recycling, and reusing of materials. We looked after the bird feeders. We joined the Canadian Bird Tally every spring. Our Earth Day Celebration became almost as prized as our Christmas Concert. My vocation as a Catholic teacher is a lifelong adventure.
Now my two young granddaughters are the motivation for my concern about the well being of the planet. For their future I want do as much as I can to preserve, protect, and promote a love for creation, and a love for our Creator. The vantage point of being a grandmother is giving me the opportunity to see the bigger picture of our relationship with the whole Earth community. The trees, bees, and birds are, in a way, my extended family. It is a privilege to share my deep appreciation for creation as an ecoretreat facilitator.
iii DEDICATION
For my Granddaughters
Lily Elizabeth Grace Radigan
and
Hannah Rose Joy Radigan
Your zest for life
inspires me.
IV ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My family, son Shaun, daughter-in-law Lisa, granddaughters Lily (5) and Hannah Rose (3) for their support and playtimes.
The community of Earth where I live in Halton Hills, the Credit River, the Niagara Escarpment, the abiding creatures, the flora and fauna for land, air, water, and beauty.
Kim Duke and her family, members of my Ministry Base Group, for their active participation in this study and their role in applying it to classroom and school practice. Also Suzanne Ropitzky and family, Paul Garofolo and family, Bev Trounce, and Troy and Anne Beretta for their support in the early stages of this project.
Rev. Robin Wardlaw, a team member of my Collaborative Learning Group, for his sense of humour, attention to this research, and active ecojustice in his own parish ministry.
Alice Brona, Sharon Dutton, Bob Isenberger, Paula Marcotte, and Dorothy McDougall for their careful reading and feedback about my writing.
The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology at the University of St. Michael's College for the opportunity to study theology with a creation-centred view and for acknowledging the effort with a Certificate of Specialization.
The research participants in this study for their reflections, their enthusiasm as they begin the vocation of teaching, and for their commitment to children and creation.
The retreat participants who inspire me to contemplation and to walk-the-talk.
The Elderberry Connection, a community of sisters and brothers of Earth so named after Thomas Berry, OP., in whose memory we meet annually for a retreat and who support me with encouragement.
My friends Daune MacDonald, and Sylvia Verde who have helped me to articulate experiences and concerns about religion and the environment.
Sr. Frances Ordway, IBVM, Sr. Lenore Sullivan, IBVM, and other Loretto Sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary with whom I am an Associate member, for their role in modeling Earth consciousness.
Dr. Brian Walsh for his guidance, insights, comprehensive knowledge, experience in co- authoring books and articles written about creation. I am also thankful for his personal commitment to live ecologically sustainable at Russet House Farm near Lindsay, Ontario.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT ii AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT hi DEDICATION iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF FIGURES xii LIST OF APPENDICIES xiii
I. CHAPTER ONE Introduction
A. Background 1
B. Context of Applied Research Thesis
1. Retreat Ministry 2 2. A Global Concern 3 3. The New Cosmology 6 4. Themes in Ecotheology 11 5. Ecological Conversion 14 6. Environmental Education 18 7. New Dimensions of Spirituality 20 8. The Religious Dimension of Catholic Education 23
C. Applied Research
1. Ministry-in-Action 27 2. Research Interest 27 3. Statement of the Research Problem 28 4. The Hypothesis of this Study 28 5. Overview of Chapters 31
II. CHAPTER TWO Theoretical Frameworks and Assumptions
A. Introduction to Theory at Work 32
vi B. Cosmology
1. Definition 33 2. Cosmology - Scientific 34 3. Cosmos as Revelation - First Theme 35 4. Cosmology - Theological 35 5. Cosmology - Modern Science 39 6. Modern Science versus Religion 40 7. Quantum Physics and the Universe Story 41 8. Cosmology - Religious Education 43 9. Liberation - Second Theme 45
C. Cosmology: Philosophy
1. Cosmology - Philosophy in Eastern and Indigenous Traditions 46 2. Cosmology - Intermingling Philosophies 48 3. A Sacred Universe - Third Theme 51
D. Worldviews
1. We Are One - Fourth Theme 52 2. Worldview - Industrial and Technological 53 3. Worldview - Educational 54 4. A Biocentric Worldview 55 5. World Patron Saint of Ecology 57 6. An Ecological Worldview 59 7. Summary: Modern Science to Cosmological Wisdom 62
E. Catholic "Teaching" - Ecological Conversion
1. Environmental Stewardship 63 2. The Three T's Model - Catholic Teaching, Tradition, Thought 66 3. Catholic Teaching - Respect for Life 67 4. Catholic Teaching- The Anthropological Problem 73 5. Ecological Conversion - Fifth Theme 74 6. The Green Pope 75 7. Ten Commandments for the Environment 77 8. Religious Dimension of Ecology 79 9. Catholic Worldview - New Empirical Conditions 82 10. Summary: Ecological Conversion 87
F. Catholic "Tradition" in Religious Education
1. Catholic Education in Ontario 88
vn 2. Creation in Religious and Family Life Education 90 3. Summary of Religious Education for Creation 95 4. Environmental Education in Ontario 95 5. Integration with Creation - Sixth Theme 97 6. Catholic - Environmental Education 100 7. Summary of Catholic Education about Creation 101
G. Greening Catholic "Thought"
1. Greening Catholic "Thought" 102 2. Religious and Spiritual Dimensions 103 3. Assumptions Operative in the Study 104
CHAPTER THREE Ministry-in-Action and Research Methodology
A. Introduction to Research 1. Research Context 107
2. The Ministry-in-Action Component 108
B. Overview of Qualitative Research Method
1. A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach 109 2. Research Participants 110 3. Data Collection - Over Two Years 112 4. First Year - Data Analysis and Interpretation 114 5. First Year- Themes Emerging 115 6. Second Year - Data Analysis and Interpretation 118 7. Second Year- Themes Emerging 118 8. Evaluative Procedures: Benefits, Limits, and Contributions 119 CHAPTER FOUR Exploring the Themes
A. Introduction to Themes 121 1. Connecting Themes for Insight 122
2. Religion and Science 128
B. Christian Theological Typologies
1. Ecological Stewardship 129 2. Overview of Typologies 130
vin 3. The "Apologetic" Theological Typology 133 4. Apologetic - Research Participant Perspective 136 5. Stewardship - Research Participant Perspective 138
C. The "Constructive" Theological Typology
1. Overview 139
2. Constructivist - Research Participant Perspective 142
D. The "Listening" Theological Typology
1. Overview 143
2. Listening - Research Participant Perspective 145
E. The "Ecofeminist" Theological Typology
1. Overview 146 2. Research Participant Perspective 149 3. Methods - Pastoral Use of Theological Typologies 150 4. Methods - Focus Group on Real-Life Examples 1 150 5. Summary - Exploringthe Themes 152 V. CHAPTER FIVE Ecological Spirituality for Earth Stewardship A. Introduction to Learnings 1. Cosmos as Revelation - First Learning 153 2. Liberation- Second Learning 154 3. A Sacred Universe - Third Learning 156 4. We Are One - Fourth Learning 157 5. Ecological Conversion - Fifth Learning 158 6. Integration with Creation - Sixth Learning 160
B. Ecospirituality-Seventh Learning 162
1. Classical Theology - A Spirituality of Social and Ecological Justice 164 2. Sacramental Theology- A Spirituality of Communion 165 3. Eschatological Theology-A Spirituality of Hope 167 4. Liberation Theology- A Spirituality of Compassion 168 5. Ecofeminist Theology - A Spirituality of Mutuality 169 6. Asian Theology - A Spirituality of Cosmic Unity 171 7. Process Theology - A Spirituality of Possibility 171
IX 8. Ecotheology -A Spirituality of Kinship 172 9. Evolutionary Theology - A Spirituality of Co-creating 173
VI. CHAPTER SIX Conclusions
A. Advocacy for Creation- Eighth Theme and Eighth Learning 176
1. Story Telling as a Method for Learning Cosmos as Revelation 177 2. Role Models as a Method for Living a Cosmology of Liberation 179 3. Outdoor Participation for Reverencing A Sacred Universe 180 4. "The Council of All Beings" as a Method for reclaiming We Are One 182 5. Drama as a Method for encouraging an Ecological Conversion 183 6. Green Prayer, Liturgy, Song, and Symbol for Integration with Creation ..185 7. Virtues as Methods for Developing an Advocacy for Creation 186
B. Contributions of This Research 188
C. Research for on-going Ministry 190
VII. APPENDICIES
A. Thesis Proposal 192 B. Definitions of Creation Terms 212 C. Christian Theological Typologies 214 D. Transition Chart from the Industrial to the Ecological Age 215 VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY 217
x TABLES
Table 1. Overview of the_Themes and Shifts in the Theory at Work Page 26
Table 2. Five of the Themes and Shifts in the Theory at Work Page 87
Table 3. Creation Themes in Religious Education Programme Page 91
Table 4. Creation Themes in Family Life Programme Page 91
Table 5. Creation Themes in Secondary School Religion Programmes Page 92
Table 6. Catechism: Creation of Heaven and Earth (#279-354) Pagel35
Table 7. Catechism: Man in God's Image (#355-421) Page 135
Table 8. Catechism: The Human Community (#1877-1948) Page 136
Table 9. Catechism: The Seventh Commandment (#2401-2463) Page 136
Table 10, A Biodiversity of Theologies and Emerging Spiritualities Page 164
Table 11 The Christian Story of the Religious Impulse to Spread the Good News Page 184
Table 12 Virtues for an Ecological Spirituality in Catholic Education Page 187
XI FIGURES
Fig. 1. The "3 T's" Model - Catholic "Teaching, Tradition, Thought".. ..Page 66
Fig. 2. Theory at Work: Themes and Shifts Page 121
Fig. 3. Themes from Research Participants Page 122
xn APPENDICIES
A. Thesis Proposal Page 192
B. Definitions of Creation Terms Page 212
C. Christian Theological Typologies Page 214
D. Transition Chart from the Industrial to the Ecological Age Page 215
xin CHAPTER ONE I. Introduction
A. Background
My ministry as a laywoman in the Roman Catholic tradition is as a retreat facilitator for students and educators in Toronto and the surrounding regions. Retreats are part of the norm of spiritual practice in Catholic education in Ontario. Retreats are included in the religious dimension of a Catholic school culture along with liturgical, sacramental, and pastoral experiences. Six retreat scenarios have been operative in my retreat ministry so far. First, are retreats for elementary school students and their teachers which are often held in connection with the sacramental preparation of Confirmation.
Second, retreats for secondary school students and their teachers are held yearly, in many
Catholic school boards, in connection with mandatory religious education courses such as
Grade 11 World Religions. The third scenario for retreats, also known asFaith Days, is held for Catholic educators as part of their yearly Professional Development activities.
Fourth, retreats are held in Religious Education courses for Pre-Service teacher programs and for Additional Qualification credit courses for teachers. The fifth scenario for my retreat ministry is with a general assembly of students for a celebration such as Earth
Day, or an Environmental symposium. Sixth are gatherings of parishioners for a
Diocesan day of reflection on ecotheology and ecojustice.
It is a joyful experience to share a sense of wonder and awe about creation, and to be touched by the Sacred in a transformative way. As such, I am motivated to seek a deeper understanding of the religious and spiritual processes required for"an ecological
1 2
conversion" to which John Paul II called us. It is the call of our unique moment in history, an opportunity to which we must respond with fervour and faith.
B. Context of Applied Research Thesis
1. Retreat Ministry
The purpose of this research is to inform and transform my retreat ministry.
Using a "ministry-in-action" approach to integrate theory and praxis, I seek to reflect on the changing religious context of my retreat ministry in light of the global concerns about climate change, the insights of the new cosmology and ecotheology, and the search for new spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship for Catholic education: This inquiry will centre on questions of self-identity, the image of God, and on earth-human-divine relationships as transformational tools toward "the truth of the wonder of all creation and the truth of the mystery of its Creator.'3
A spiritual impulse of great magnitude is emerging in the "signs of the times" pointing toward a new "ecological age."4 The particular perspective of this study begins by introducing signs that impact that trajectory and the concomitant problems that
1 John Paul II, "God Made Man the Steward of Creation." General Audience Address, January 17, 2001. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/2001/ documents/hfjp- ii_aud_20010117_en.html (Accessed January 16,2010).
2 Toronto School of Theology "Doctor of Ministry Programme Handbook: Requirements and Procedures," (Toronto: 2005), 2. The emphasis is on "advancing the personal, professional and theological integration in order to achieve a high level of competency in the practice of ministry and its theoretical underpinnings."
3 Dennis Murphy, Catholic Education: A Light O/7>M//7, (Toronto: Catholic Register Books, 2007) 132.
Thomas Berry, "The Ecological Age," inDream of the Earth, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988) 36-49. Berry goes even further in visioning the Ecozoic Era as "the period when humans would become a mutually beneficial presence on the Earth." 3
stimulate the need for this research. The signs include i) global concerns about climate change; ii) the cosmology work of Thomas Berry O.P., my primary theorist; iii) themes in ecotheology; iv) the call to "an ecological conversion" by John Paul II; v) the religious dimension of Catholic education; vi) the goals of environmental education; and vii) new dimensions of ecological spirituality for retreat ministry.
2. A Global Concern
In our daily lives, we are increasingly aware that the ecosystems of Earth are suffering. When a question can be asked, "Is the human a viable species on an endangered planet?" we can be sure that we are on the brink of crisis.5 To address the ecological crisis, the societal components of science, education, economics, politics, health, and religion are actively engaged with the reality of global climate change.
World conferences, summits and forums are tackling the problems on multi-dimensional levels. The component of concern in this thesis is the contribution of religion and spirituality. I submit the thesis that the 'faith dimension' can offer the religious imagination necessary to inspire shifts toward an ecological spirituality and a morality that celebrates, protects and embraces the sacredness of all creation.
5 Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, cite Thomas Berry in their Foreword essay "The Nature of the Environmental Crisis" in Christianity and Ecology, ed. Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000), xv. 4
Religions have a tradition of prophetic voices that challenge, inspire, and spark our imaginations. "I don't think we can be Christian unless we are ecologically converted," said Brisbane, Anglican Archbishop John Bathersby.5 It is "a crisis of spirit," says Canadian geneticist and environmental advocate Dr. David Suzuki. Suzuki remarks,
"The environment is so fundamental to our survival and existence that it must transcend politics by becoming central in the values of all members of society."7 At a broad level, there is a need for a functional cosmology, determined Thomas Berry, a Passionist priest, and self-professed geologian, "a cosmology that will provide the mystique needed for this integral earth-human presence." Further, Berry said,
What we need is a sense of reverence such as we find with the great naturalists, or such as we find with some of the foremost scientists of our times, scientists such as Freeman Dyson, Sir Bernard Lovell, Brian Swimme, or Ilya Prigogine. Until technologists learn reverence for the earth, there will be no possibility of bringing a healing or a new creative age to the earth.
Yet, in my retreat ministry experience, I find that certain practices are at odds with getting to a more cosmogenic and ecotheological mystique for bringing a healing to earth. It is a problem, for example, to evoke reverence for the earth when stewardship
'over' creation has been the modus operandi during the industrial revolution for the last three hundred years. Retreatants though, are becoming more consciously aware of "a call of spirit" to focus the faith dimension on the survival of the complex web of life itself.
6 Corin Millais, ed., "Common Belief: Australia's Faith Communities on Climate Change," The Climate Institute (Australia) Ltd. December 2006. This document is the world's first show of interfaith unity. http://www.arcworld.org/downloads/COMMON%20BELIEF%20- %20Australian%20statements.pdf. (Accessed April 12, 2010).
7 David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering our Place in Nature, Reissued Edition with Amanda McConnell, (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2002), viii.
8 Thomas Berry, "Agenda for an Ecological Age," in The Dream of the Earth, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1998), 66-67. 5
The central question for all faiths in our time is how to safeguard the good creation of
God and how to find anew our proper place.
Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry in The Universe Story: From the Primordial
Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era - A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, offer new discoveries about creation and the role of the human. They tell of the key revolution in scientific understanding in the last fifty years or so. Science tells of a dynamic and evolving universe. This 'new story' demonstrated empirically by science tells of all things coming into being and continuing to emerge in a 13.7 billion year history.9 This new cosmology offers the 'mystique needed,' Berry suggests, as humans recognized this most awe-inspiring, magnificent, and mysterious cosmic myth of all time - a myth not because it is in some way untrue, but rather because it is a story that enables us to understand our place within the context of the larger story.
The cosmic story enables us to reconnect with ancient cosmological wisdom in a new way.10 We can be restored in our relationships with the multiple modes of divine presence that reflect who God is in our sisters and brothers in creation. As Thomas
Aquinas taught over 600 years ago, no one creature, but the vast diversity of many can only begin to properly reflect God. "God brought things into being in order that the
9 Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era - A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, (New York: Harper Collins, 1992). Swimme, a mathematical cosmologist, is director of the Center for the Story of the Universe at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.
10 Mark Hathaway and Leonardo Boff, The Tao of Liberation: Exploring the Ecology of Transformation, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2009), 247. Hathaway and Boff name 'the cosmology of domination' and the 'cosmology of liberation' to demonstrate the revelation and transformation of cosmogenesis. Whereas, Berry and Swimme speak of 'the new story' and its cosmogenesis, there will be times in this study when the strength of transformative language will be chosen. 6
divine goodness might be communicated to creatures... The whole universe together participates in divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better, than any single creature whatever."11 In this thesis, there are eight themes, each of which involves a shift to transcend and include what came before. The first shift is named as a movement from a mythic to a measured, scientific revelation. "Cosmos as Revelation" is the theme.
3. The New Cosmology
Over the past six years, I have been developing retreat themes based on ecotheology, cosmology, and creation components in the religious education curriculum.
Whereas retreats traditionally focus on such themes as personal spirituality, social justice, sexuality, and faith formation, my bias is toward a more creation centered experience.
I bring to the retreatants my passion for greening our faith tradition with contemporary cosmological and ecological understandings of our interconnectedness. My role in the laity is to be like leaven in the dough creating opportunities for faith-in-action.12 As such,
I am eager to find effective ways to enable "an ecological conversion" in myself and others to "become a holy presence on the planet respectful of all life as one, integral, interdependent whole."13 My faith-in-action as a researcher took me to the PreService
Religious Education course for teachers at a Faculty of Education at a university in
11 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologia (Part I, Question 47, Art 1), Translated by English Dominicans, (New York: Benzinger Brothers, 1946). http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1047.htm (Accessed on January 20, 2010).
12 Austin Flannery, O.P. ed. "Apostolicam Actuositatem" (Decree on the Apostolate of the Lay People) Chapter I-VI, Vatican Council II: Vol. 1, The Conciliar andPostconciliar Documents: New Revised Edition. (New York: Costello Publ. Co., 1996).
13 Paul F. Knitter, "The One Earth and Our Many Stories: Eco-human Well-being a Criterion for Religious Truth," in One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue & Global Responsibility, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995), 118-135. 7
southern Ontario. It was a rich learning experience to interact with teachers-in-training who are learning the foundational philosophies, principles and practices of teaching religious education.
I believe with Thomas Aquinas that, "Any error about creation also leads to an error about God."14 As seekers of truth, we can find resonance with the new discoveries about creation. Today's scientists, theologians, and educators are among the first generation of humans to be privy to the scientific understanding of the universe in its cosmogenesis which has now been empirically demonstrated. Cosmogenesis is the process of continuous, creative, transformations occurring in our time-developmental universe. Swimme and Berry have studied the universe in its physical processes and beyond to its numinous dimension. Swimme and Berry tell the 'new story' as a single narrative, as an unfolding story of the mystery of life, as a sacred story, as our story.
"A new vision and a new energy are coming into being," Berry exclaims. "After some four centuries of empirical observation and experiment we are having a new experience of the deepest mysteries of the universe." 5
My religious imagination caught fire when I learned of the cosmology work of
Swimme and Berry. The concept of cosmogenesis as God's creating action, ongoing, and expanding, in the universe and in all of life continually reformulates my identity, purpose, and spirituality. It is a new paradigm of religious and spiritual experience. The telling of this unfolding story of the universe as sacred journey, "in its galactic expansion, its Earth
14 Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologia (Part I, Question 47, Art 1).
15 Thomas Berry, The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, (New York: Bell Tower, 1999), 198. 8
formation, its life emergence, and its self-reflective consciousness, fulfils in our times the role of the mythic accounts of the universe that existed in earlier times, when human awareness was dominated by a spatial mode of consciousness."
In this thesis, the second shift is named as a movement from a cosmology of domination to a cosmology of liberation. "Liberation" is the theme.
This meta-narrative in its religious dimension of sacred journey helps us to reflect anew on the existential questions of Who am I? From where have I come? What is my purpose? How am I to act? Cosmogenesis is the paradigm for a newly emerging worldview. As a member of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology, I have been afforded the opportunity in my studies to integrate the theological disciplines: biblical, pastoral, theological, philosophical, historical, ethical, and sacramental with
"the scientific, cosmological, and cultural paradigm shifts that are shaping our times."
These three paradigms have been central in my inquiry.
Yet, in my retreat ministry experience, a problem in Catholic education in general and in religious education circles in particular, is that references to 'theology, ecology, and the new cosmology' are relatively unknown. While ecotheology has been developing in a response to the scientific, cosmological, and cultural paradigm shifts for the past forty years, too few educators and parishoners have been introduced to the important
16 Ibid., 163.
17 The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology (EAITE). The Mission statement contains my quote. EAITE is a collaborative teaching and research institute that offers a Certificate of Specialization in Theology and Ecology in each of the graduate programs at the Faculty of Theology of the University of St. Michael's College, part of the University of Toronto. I have completed the six courses designated "green" and have focused on creation issues in other courses, http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/eaite 9
value of ecotheology and the new cosmology in helping to deal with the ecological crisis.
Suspicion and doubt surround the notion of evolution, perhaps as a throwback to former conflicts between science and religion. Debates in the academic world over teaching creationism in schools received a lot of American media attention in 2006 and continues today. Religious education, especially given the multicultural milieu of pluralistic religious beliefs and practices, needs to be conversant about such creation oriented topics as: evolution, creationism, animism, pantheism, panentheism, Gaia theory, and deep ecology.18 Religious education, especially given the common destiny that humanity shares, needs to respect a diversity of religious and spiritual perspectives while sharing in respectful, nonaggressive, interrelationship with creation. A question for my retreat ministry is how to ignite a religious imagination to the "possibility of bringing a healing and a new creative age to the earth" through the dynamic of liberation.19
"As we enter the 21st century, we are experiencing a moment of grace," according to Berry. "The present is one of those moments of transformation that can be considered as a cosmological as well as a historical and a religious moment of grace,"
18 Note: See Appendix for definitions. Some definitions come from Exploring World Religions: The Canadian Perspective (Toronto: Oxford University press, 2001) Grade 11 Student Textbook.
19 Berry, The Dream of the Earth, 67.
Thomas Berry, "Moments of Grace," in The Great Work, 196. 10
Berry remarks,
We find ourselves living both as cosmos and as cosmogenesis. In this context we ourselves have become something of a cosmic force. If formerly we lived in a thoroughly understood, ever-renewing sequence of seasonal change, we now see ourselves both as the consequence of a long series of irreversible transformations and as a determining force in the present transformation that the Earth is experiencing.21
This 'religious moment of grace' is named in this thesis as the third shift. It is a movement from cosmos to cosmogenesis. "A Sacred Universe" is the theme.
Berry argues that our passage from a sense of "the ever-renewing, seasonal sequences, with its death and rebirth cycles, has impinged most powerfully upon human thought. This orientation in consciousness has characterized every previous human culture up to our own."22 But now, especially in the twentieth and into the twenty-first century, we have moved from that "dominant spatial mode of consciousness.. .to a dominant time-developmental mode of consciousness, where time is experienced as an evolutionary sequence of irreversible transformations." Species that go extinct are lost forever as part of a one-time endowment. It took immense creativity over millions and billions of years in an incredible sequence of transformations to produce plants species
(3.9 billion years ago, photosynthesis), flowers (235 million), mammals (216 million),
21 Berry, The Great Work, 196.
22 Swimme and Berry, The Universe Story, 2.
23 Ibid., 3.
24 Ibid., "The Ecozoic Era," The Universe Story, 246-47. 11
bird song (150 million years), and humans (2.6 million Homo habilis, 200,000 Archaic
Homo sapiens).25
In my retreat ministry, I have witnessed how a telling of the universe story can open participants to a new self-identity as cosmological beings. It leads me to wonder, how can the cosmic story, as a grand narrative, spark new images of God, and ignite a new awareness of the profound Wisdom in the universe?
4. Themes in Ecotheology
Ecotheology seeks the greatest wisdom in interpreting the human-earth-divine relationship. Berry argues in The Dream of the Earth that humans are to live in an intimacy with the earth as a living planet.27 When humans truly listen to the earth, when we see with unfettered eyes, when we open our minds and hearts onto a larger life, then will the numinous dimension of creation be evident. Berry affirms,
Interior articulation of its own reality is the immediate responsibility of every being. Every being has its own interior, its self, its mystery, its numinous aspect. To deprive any being of this sacred quality is to disrupt the larger order of the universe. Reverence will be total or it will not be at all.2
23 Ibid., "Timeline," The Universe Story, 270-274.
26 Three different versions of the Cosmic Story have been used in my retreats. 1. "The Cosmic Story" written by Sr. Miriam McGillis, tells of thirty sacred moments in the 13.7 billion year history. http://www.threeeyesofuniverse.org/ (Accessed February 13, 2010). 2. "The Creation Mandala" written by Fr. Vincent Busch, a Columban missionary combines story, prayer, and cosmic banners. http://www.subanencrafts.com/creation_mandalas.html (Accessed April 12, 2010). 3. Neal Rogin's film "The Awakening Universe: A Liberating New Cosmology for Our Time", (California: Pachamama Alliance, 2007). This DVD includes Thomas Berry's influence, on interpreting a sacred universe. www.AwakeningUniverse.com (Accessed April 12,2010).
27 Berry, The Dream of the Earth, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988), 12.
Ibid., 134. 12
In this retreat ministry, I also draw upon my thirty-four years of prior experience as a Catholic teacher serving in urban and rural elementary schools. I believe that a deeper relationship with the Divine and a reverence for all creation can be developed in youth if students are given the opportunity to become spiritually connected with the beauty, vitality, and wisdom of God's creation. My granddaughters too, who are preschoolers in their early formative years, benefit spiritually from the awe and wonder experiences of connecting with creation. For if they were to be without the grandeur of creation, Berry claims, it would be a loss of soul. Berry urges, "This is especially a loss for children, for it is from the stars, the planets, and the moon in the heavens as well as from the flowers and birds and forests and woodland creatures of earth that some of the most profound inner experiences take place in children."
Another problem that I experience in my retreat ministry is that Christian spirituality has had i) a tendency to cultivate individual salvation, ii) a tendency to perpetuate hierarchical dominance, and iii) a tendency to downplay mystical awareness.
These have contributed to an alienation from and a superiority over creation. What God created as "good" is suffering under the assault of humans who are determined to use the resources of Earth for their own purposes without concern for the broader Earth community of life. Christian Euro-Western ecological ethics are dominated by a human- centred worldview. We are enslaved by a socio-economic system that is destroying the
Thomas Berry, The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 133. This paper was originally presented in Assisi, Italy in the summer of 1996 as part of the Conference on Sustainability, sponsored by the Center for Respect of Life and Environment (Washington, D.C.). 13
planet. We have, therefore, alienated ourselves from the very Earth upon which we depend for life.
How can we move away from this anthropocentric worldview? How can we stop the "cultural autism" that is "bringing us to a wasteworld instead of wonderworld"?30
Berry's central teaching is that "The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects." As people of faith we have the tradition in our sacramental theology and practice of honouring the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Yet paradoxically, we also participate in the commodification of land, air, and water which betrays respect for 'the commons' as these shared aspects of our environment are sometimes called. We are challenged to identify ourselves as integral members of the
Earth community not despoilers of the environment. Berry goes even further in visioning a transformation of the human project by proposing "the Ecozoic Era, the period when humans would become a mutually beneficial presence on the Earth."
In this thesis, the fourth shift is named as a movement from an anthropocentric and biocentric to an ecological worldview. "We Are One" is the theme.
A question for my retreat ministry is how can we celebrate the sacred creation in ritual, song, and prayers? How can we learn about the religious and spiritual connections that humanity has with nature as a way to reverence God's creation? How can we awaken
Berry, The Dream of the Earth, 16-17.
31 Berry, Thomas with Thomas Clarke. Befriending the Earth: A Theology of Reconciliation Between Humans and the Earth. Mystic. (Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1995) 20.
32 Berry, The Great Work, x. 14
to the wonder of the Earth, to the grandeur and sacred quality of its processes, to recognize in each aspect of creation a mode of Divine presence?
5. Ecological Conversion
There are many indications, that God's creation is languishing. Climate change, species extinction, environmental degradation, and smog-related health issues are global concerns.33 Each part of the world and every aspect of life is being adversely affected.
The myth of progress is a dysfunctional cosmology resulting in consumerism, self- centredness, and disregard for life. The magnitude of the ecological crisis challenges the core values of Western religion and culture to transform toward new spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship.
Pope John Paul II promoted a renewed stewardship in his 1990 World Day of
Peace address and breakthrough document entitled "The Ecological Crisis: A Common
Responsibility." Throughout his papacy, Pope John Paul II spoke often and with conviction about his concern for creation. "Today the ecological crisis has assumed such proportions as to be the responsibility of everyone."34 World peace is threatened not only by conflicts, injustices and human suffering but also by "a lack of due respect for nature, by the plundering of natural resources and by a progressive decline in the quality of
33 The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has completed four full assessment reports, guidelines and methodologies, special reports and technical papers 2007-2009. The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. "IPCC Findings and Activities and their Relevance for the UNFCCC Process" was presented to the 193 countries present at the UN Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, 8 December 2009. http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/index.html (Accessed January 20, 2010).
34 John Paul II, "The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility. Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation," World Day of Prayer, January 1, 1990. (n. 15) http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/peace/documents/hfjp-ii_mes_19891208_xxiii- world-day-for-peace_en.html (Accessed January 23, 2010). 15
life." Pope John Paul II urged that we ought to develop concrete programs and initiatives based on ethical values that can be ".. .a common ground for reflection and action"36 He continued,
an education in ecological responsibility is urgent: responsibility for oneself, for others and for the earth. This education cannot be rooted in mere sentiment or empty wishes. Its purpose cannot be ideological or political. It must not be based on a rejection of the modern world or a vague desire to return to some "paradise lost". Instead, a true education in responsibility entails a genuine conversion in ways of thought and behavior.37
Currently, Pope Benedict XVI who is referred to as the "Green Pope" continues to speak, write, and promote Catholic Teaching about this conversion to an ecological responsibility. For example, in conjunction with the UN 2009 Summit on Climate
Change, Pope Benedict XVI sent a video statement to the world leaders.38 Benedict spoke with reference to his recent encyclical Caritas in Veritate, in which he expressed the moral need for a renewed sense of solidarity among peoples "since the natural environment is given by God to everyone, and so our use of it entails a personal responsibility towards humanity as a whole, particularly towards the poor and towards future generations." These prophetic words were very relevant to the task before the
Ibid., "Introduction," in "The Ecological Crisis," (n. 1). Note: The referencing system in encyclicals assigns numbers to the sections (n. 1) which may include more than one paragraph.
36 Ibid., (n. 2).
37 John Paul II. "An urgent need for solidarity," in "The Ecological Crisis," (13).
38 Benedict XVI, Video statement to the UN 2009 Summit on Climate Change (New York, Sept. 22). http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/messages/pont-messages/2009/documents/hf_ben- xvi_mes_20090924_summit-climat-change_en.html (Accessed January 28, 2010).
Benedict XVI. Encyclical 'Caritas m Veritate', (no. 48), (Vatican, July 2009). http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas- in-veritate_en.html (Accessed January 28, 2010). 16
192 countries gathered in Copenhagen in December 2009. The theme for World Day for
Peace celebrated on January 1, 2010 was "If you want to cultivate peace, protect the creation." All of these messages promote an ecological conversion.
A problem that I experience in my retreat ministry is that Catholic students, teachers, and parishoners are generally unaware of the Vatican concern for the environment and the encyclicals, documents, addresses, books, pastoral letters and meetings that give leadership to Catholics regarding care for creation.40 Bishops, too, in the last decade have increasingly recognized the environment as a vital dimension of the common good. The quest for a spiritual basis for environmental responsibility and stewardship is constitutive of faith.41 Yet, at the parish level, where most adult Catholics get their catechesis, there is little attention given to earth stewardship. Some Catholic publications do include articles on care for creation.42 But, the response I often get from retreatants is either apathy about pursuing an enrichment of their faith or anger at the issues about which they differ with church teachings.
Benedict XVI in "Climate Change a Grave Issue" http://www.zenit.org/article-204337Henglish (Accessed January 27, 2010).
41 Heather R. Whittington, "The Catholic Church on Ecological Degradation," An Honor's Program Project, (Marquette University, Spring, 2004). Lists forty-three Church documents are listed from Pope Paul VI in 1972 to JPII, 2004. http://faculty.theo.mu.edu/schaefer/ChurchonEcologicalDegradation/ CatholicChurchon EnvironmentalDegradation.shtml (Accessed January 27, 2010).
42 Joan Brown, O.S.F. "Why Catholics Care for Creation" in Catholic Update, (St. Anthony Messenger Press: Ohio, October 2008). http://www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/acl008.asp (Accessed January 27, 2010). 17
The Great Work, as Thomas Berry calls it, is about "moving the human project from its devastating exploitation to a benign presence."43 The embodiment of this ecological ethic is to be expressed in "a re-examination of the human presence on earth" and a realignment of theological and cultural commitments that will act as a source of wisdom in organizing human communities in a more sustainable relationship with earth.4'
In this thesis, the fifth shift is a movement from an industrial motif to an ecological morality. "Ecological Conversion" is the theme.
A question for my retreat ministry is about how to be pastorally sensitive to the variety of Catholic perspectives and approaches to social and ecological justice and action. There are those who commit faithfully to the Church teachings (apologists), those who seek to combine teachings (constructivists), those who seek a multi-religious approach listen to the needs of Earth in this crisis (listeners), and ecofeminists for whom justice hinges on issues of gender and earth: equality, respect, language, and images of
God. Questions of self-identity, imago Dei I images of God, and earth-human-divine relationships are in a transformational state.45
43 Berry. The Great Work, 7.
44 Dorothy McDougall, The Cosmos as the Primary Sacrament: The Horizon for an Ecological Sacramental Theology, (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2003) 17. McDougall conjoins the wisdom of Berry's new cosmology with the ecofeminist egalitarian model of stewardship to construct an ecological sacramental theology as a step toward "re-examining the human presence" for a viable solution.
45 Note: The terms imago Dei and 'the image of God' in this thesis are very closely related. Imago Dei is understood in theological anthropology as humans being made in the image and likeness of God. Imago Dei describes human life in relationship with God and with creation. Imago Dei thus defines the human person. On the other side of the concept is 'the image of God' held by humans such as Father or Creator. Research participants in this thesis responded to both elements of the concept, as co-related. 18
6. Environmental Education
Of significance for this research are the recent Ontario Ministry of Education initiatives toward Environmental Education taken over the last two years. Documents of vision, philosophy, context, and scope and sequence of programs define:
Environmental education is education about the environment, for the environment, and in the environment that promotes an understanding of, rich and active experience in, and an appreciation for the dynamic interactions of: • The Earth's physical and biological systems • The dependency of our social and economic systems on these natural systems • The scientific and human dimensions of environmental issues • The positive and negative consequences, both intended and unintended, of the interactions between human-centred and natural systems.46
As with all curricula initiatives that are developed for public education in Ontario, when the Catholic education worldview is articulated, it ascribes a religious dimension.
In this case, a reverence for the sacredness of God's creation would be espoused as the premise for "the knowledge, skills, perspectives, and practices" of earth literacy, and the ethics of conservation and sustainability.
A problem that I experience in my retreat ministry stems from the historical rift between science and religion. Environmental studies, like other sciences, tend to be taught with a clear methodology and an espoused value for all of society. Religion, on the other hand, is perceived to be based on personal belief, on a moral imperative,
Ontario Ministry of Education. Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future: Environmental Education in Ontario Schools, Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education, (Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, June 2007) 6. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/shapingschools.pdf Ready, Set, Green: Tips, Techniques, and Resources from Ontario Educators (November, 2007); and Environmental Education "Scope and Sequence of Expectations" for elementary (2008) and secondary school programs (2009). http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum/secondary/environ9tol2curr.pdf (Accessed on March 16, 2010). 19
and a proclivity towards the mystical. An example of the divide between religion and science was expressed by a retreatant who wrote on his feedback sheet, "The message
[ecological spirituality] is vital to humans and the planet in general, but too much in the way of God, scripture, etc. is preachy, and though I listened, many tuned out. And again for me, much of it came across as just silly."47
"In the struggle to sustain the earth's environment as viable for future generations," Lawrence E. Sullivan comments in Christianity and Ecology,
"environmental studies has thus far left the role of religion unprobed."48 Further, if, as
Sallie McFague suggests, "the goal of theology is to be functional, that is to actually work in someone's life," we need to find new ways to dialogue meaningfully. The environmental crisis is a "planetary agenda," involving all people, McFague claims. It is necessary for all areas of education, government, economics, science, and all religions to support an alternative ecological model - one in which our well-being is seen as interrelated and interdependent with the well-being of all other living things and earth processes.49 In applying ecotheology, this thesis names the sixth shift to be a movement from action toward creation to action with creation. "Integration with Creation" is the theme.
Feedback sheet received after a "Faith Day" ecoretreat with 65 high school teachers.
48 Lawrence E. Sullivan. "Introduction" in Christianity and Ecology, eds., Dieter T. Hessel, and Rosemary Radford Ruether, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000) xii-xiii.
49 Sallie McFague. "New House Rules, Christianity, Economics and Planetary Living" in Daedalus: Journal of the American of Arts and Sciences, (Fall 2001). 20
A question for my ecoretreat ministry is can we explore the emerging ecological worldview by referring to the efforts of business, economics, education, governments, health care, world religions, and other socio-cultural movements and institutions toward ecological sustainability. Can a combination of the faith of religion and the science of environmental education spark the kinds of theological images, models, and interpretations required to enable the faith-based educational system to become an even stronger spiritual presence for the planet?
7. New Dimensions of Spirituality
The purpose of a retreat, to my way of thinking, is to step back from the busyness of our lives and to take "a long loving look at the real," to discern God's presence and purpose, and to transform our lives accordingly.50 The cosmo-ecological context of creation in the work of Thomas Berry offers a vision of reality that invites a deeper intimacy with the larger earth community.51 Spiritual programmes and practices are needed to develop in us the kind of compassionate interiority we need to relate to "the modes of divine presence" in the world around us.
As Dorothee Soelle in The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance writes, "I think that every discovery of the world plunges us into jubilation, a radical amazement that
Judy Cannato, Fields of Compassion: How the New Cosmology Is Transforming Spiritual Life, (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2010), 173. Cannato introduces the quote "taking a long, loving look at the real" by saying it is an old definition of contemplation. No reference is given but it has its roots in the Tradition of many prayer forms such as, centering prayer of the Benedictines, Ignatian Spirituality, and deep listening of John Main.
51 Berry, The Dream of the Earth, xiv. 21
tears apart the veil of triviality. Nothing is to be taken for granted, least of all beauty!"
The doorway to the divine, then, is through awe, wonder and beauty which lead to a contemplative awareness that at the heart of all reality we are one. Paul Knitter in One
Earth Many Religions affirms, "To know the Sacred is to care for the Earth; to care for the Earth is to be touched by the Sacred."53
Paul Ricoeur's philosophical, anthropological, and religious studies about human motivation, interiority, and contemplative awareness offers an important insight. Ricoeur claimed that people are changed not by ethical urging, but by a transformed imagination.54 This insight occasions the question of whether a transformed imagination is the work of the 'faith dimension' which triggers a spiritual and an ethical response of moral agency. What is my own experience? Creation is the primary sacrament of my encounter with the Divine.55 The cosmic story of the Divine love that drives the action of cosmogenesis ignites my imagination and transforms my engagement with creation.
In my ecospirituality, I seek to work with God to foster flourishing and right relationships with all creation. Although I am continually challenged to find ways to live
52 Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001) 89.
53 Paul Knitter, One Earth, 118.
54 Paul Ricoeur, From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II, trans. Kathleen Blarney and John B. Thompson, (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1991). Ricoeur (1913-2005) was widely recognized as one of the most distinguished philosophical anthropologists of our time. He wrote on phenomenology, psychoanalysis, Marxism, ideology, morality, and religion. Richard Kearney, a professor at Boston College, writes of Ricoeur's interested in the philosophy of imagination in On Paul Ricoeur: The Owl of Minerva. (Aldershot, England: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2004).
55 Dorothy McDougall, The Cosmos as the Primary Sacrament, Introduction: "This book proposes that there are two discourses which, when combined, offer a hopeful vision for socio-ecological recovery: the new cosmology, especially the work of Thomas Berry, and ecological-feminism. It also proposes these discourses as hermeneutical reference points for the construction of an ecological sacramental theology." 22
in right relation within creation, I feel inspired and committed because of the incredible story of life's longing. It is with my imagination that I marvel at the 13.7 billion years of cosmic evolution to bring forth life as we know it today. This sacred story of the universe is in a sense my personal story. It is also the story of the precise structure of my own being and that of the larger community in which I function. I was educated to think of the
Earth as joining in the religious expression of the human rather than the human joining in the religious expression of the Earth.
This new experience of the religious being of the universe and of the planet earth is not yet perceived on any widespread scale within academic, theological, or religious circles. Berry notes this and remarks, "We consistently think of the human as primary and the universe as derivative rather than thinking of the universe as primary and the human as derivative."56
A problem that I experience in my retreat ministry comes from a familiar claim by retreatants, "I'm spiritual but not religious." When I survey retreatants about the types of ecospiritual practices in which they are involved, I am impressed by the innumerable activities, a small sample of which are nature walks, expressions of gratitude for the beauty of creation, and organic gardening. In a cosmological worldview a functional balance is sought with human ecology and earth ecology. In applying ecotheology, this thesis names the seventh shift from theological concern to new dimensions of ecological spirituality. "Ecospirituality" is the theme.
56 Thomas Berry, "The Cosmology of Religions," in The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 128. 23
A question for my ecoretreat ministry is what is the nature of authentic spirituality? What is the relationship between theology and spirituality? Is there a connection between the Holy Spirit and spirituality? What would be a working definition of ecospirituality for my retreat ministry? How does ecospirituality relate to ecological stewardship? What is evolutionary spirituality?
8. The Religious Dimension of Catholic Education
It is in the context and framework of Catholic education in general and Catholic religious education in particular that my research into the new spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship takes place. Catholic education states that the religious dimension
en of human experience is at the heart of its educational purpose. The framework for the religious dimension of education in a Catholic school is contained in the Vatican document Declaration on Christian Education (1965). It describes education in a
Catholic school as distinct in a) the educative climate, b) the personal development of each student, c) the relationship established between culture and the Gospel, and d) the illumination of all knowledge with the light of faith."58
Retreats are a visible sign of a Catholic educative climate along with common prayer at gatherings, mealtimes, and celebrations of the Eucharist. Retreats are part of the learning experience and culture where students and teachers can share common religious
57 Larry Trafford, Educating the Soul: Writing Curriculum for Catholic Secondary Schools, in consultation with the Institute for Catholic Education (I.C.E.) and the Catholic Curriculum Cooperative- Central Ontario Region, (Toronto: I.C.E., 1998) 9.
58 The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, "Introduction (1)" in The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School: Guidelines for Reflection and Renewal, (Rome, 1988, Reprinted in the English edition by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottawa, 1988) 3. 24
beliefs, values, attitudes and actions. Retreats can contribute to the "formation of persons as moral agents and spiritual beings" as part of the critical understanding of the educational purpose of Catholic education.59 Retreats can be transformative in "personal and social, moral and spiritual" ways.60 Retreats, though usually limited by time, can also have an impact on "an ecological conversion" for the well-being of all.
A problem that I experience in school retreats has to do with the systemic weakness of an articulated connection between creation and Catholic education. I suggest five observations in order to consider this claim. First, do mission statements of boards, schools and associations make references to creation?61 Second, do the Ontario Catholic
ft"?
School Graduate Expectations include active stewardship and ecospiritual goals?
Third, while the Virtues / Character Programs in various Catholic boards name qualities of faith such as empathy, conscience, hope, and compassion, are respect and care for creation included in the concepts of these virtues? Fourth, does a newly published
Religious Education text for pre-service teachers contribute to contemporary concerns
59 Trafford, Educating the Soul, 10.
60 Ibid,, 10.
Note: "The Vision and Mission of the Waterloo Catholic District School Board", for example, has recently announced its new statements (Nov. 2009) and is in the process of vetting it with the community. The focus is on learning quality, inclusion, and faith-based elements without references to creation, http://www.wcdsb.ca/aboufmission/Vision%20and%20Mission%20Release% 20November%201 l%202009.pdf (Accessed January 27, 2010).
62 Institute for Catholic Education, "The Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations," Three creation related objectives were named out of 52. http://www.occb.on.ca/ice/default.cfm?category=57 (Accessed January 27,2010).
63 York Region Catholic District School Board, "Character Poster," http ://www.ycdsb.ca/departments/InstructionalServices/ReligiousEd/ documents /CharacterPoster.pdf (Accessed January 27, 2010). 25
about creation as a major theme? Fifth, was the 'ecological crisis' addressed as an imperative topic by Pope Benedict XVI in his "Speech to Educators" at the Catholic
University of America in Washington on April 17, 2008? Pope Benedict XVI shared
"some thoughts regarding the nature and identity of Catholic education today." In the speech the "crisis of truth" and the "crisis of faith" were well articulated and defined with a corrective offered. Was the 'ecological crisis' addressed as an imperative topic?65 If we were to understand the Earth as primary and the human as derivative, then we would acknowledge Earth as the matrix of all value for education today. We would be better able to mitigate the ecological crisis and arrive at a more comprehensive view of who we are in our sacred relationship within the community of Earth.66
In the case of teaching and learning, when stewardship is rooted in a profound ecotheology, it can take on the authority of deep conviction. Teachers and students can be inspired to live out of a care and love for creation that can contribute to the emerging genres of ecological theology, ecological spirituality, and ecological ethics. As such, a new creation-centred focus could be applied to Catholic educational goals and programmes. In applying ecotheology, this thesis names the eighth shift as the movement from creation as object to creation as subject. "Advocacy for Creation" is the theme.
64 Margaret Lavin, What We Believe: Practical Theology for Teachers, (Toronto: Novalis, 2009). Eight mentions of creation, while [made in the ] 'image of God' (forty-seven times) was a major theme.
65 Benedict XVI, "Speech to Educators," in Origins Vol. 37: Issue 46 (May 1, 2008). Creation was mentioned only once.
66 Thomas Berry, "The Cosmology of Religions," in The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker, (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 128. A question for my ecoretreat ministry is what are the attitudes, virtues, and actions that can be promoted by ecological stewardship?
So far in this introduction I have identified components of the context and expressed problems encountered in my retreat ministry. The following table gives an overview of the themes and shifts to be explored.
Overview of the Themes and Shifts in the Theory at Work Table 1.
Themes Shifts
1. "Cosmos as Revelation" from mythic to measured, scientific revelation
2. "Liberation" from a cosmology of domination to liberation
3. "A Sacred Universe" from cosmos to cosmogenesis
from anthropocentric and biocentric 4. "We Are One" to an ecological worldview
5. "Ecological Conversion" from industrial motif to an ecological morality
6. "Integration with Creation" from action toward creation to action with creation
from theological concern to new dimensions 7. "Ecospirituality" of ecological spirituality
8. "Advocacy for Creation" from creation as object to creation as subject 27
C. Applied Research
1. Ministry-in-Action
My ministry-in-action took place over two years with teachers-in-training enrolled in the Pre-Service course in Religious Education at a Faculty of Education in southern Ontario. I was given the opportunity to work with the professor of the course.
The course is designed for teachers-in-training who hope to become employed in the
Catholic school system. The course content exposes them to the Catholic philosophy of education, its purpose, principles and practices. I conducted a qualitative research study with six out of seventy-five course participants. The six participants were to be open to exploring a deeper spirituality and willing to contribute to the research process through the sharing of their insights, questions, points of view, and experiences in an interview and in a focus group setting. In the first year, the aim was to develop an ecospiritual awareness and become familiar with religious and environmental education resources.
In the second year, we would explore how the spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship were being incorporated into the self-understanding and educational practice of the participants.
2. Research Interest
I was curious to know how the participants envision themselves in relation to God and to the rest of creation. Did their cosmology include a sense of the sacredness of all of creation? What were their concepts of imago Dei"? According to traditional Catholic theological anthropology, humans are 'created in the image of God' and thus share an intimate relationship with God. How could living out of this 'image of God' serve to be 28
more connected with the rest of creation? What links did participants make between religion and the environment? How did these young adults understand Pope John Paul
II's call for an "ecological conversion"? How did their worldview address the issue of anthropocentrism? How would they respond to Thomas Berry's conviction that we need to teach students how to be "a benign presence" on the planet? I hoped through this research to discover ways to enable the Catholic community to become more fully flourishing members of the larger community of creation.
3. Statement of the Research Problem
In this study, I propose to research the following question:
What are the methods within a retreat ministry that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
One of the challenges for Catholic educators and retreat facilitators is to explore emerging theologies for their epistemological significance and their relationship with the impacts of culture and the ecological imperative.
4. The Hypothesis of this Study
There are three correlated, working hypotheses which underlie this research.
The first hypothesis is that earth stewardship is fundamentally a religious problem because we find ourselves needing to build bridges from the old cosmology to the new cosmology. I am going to assume that individuals who teach in the Roman Catholic
67 The Social Affairs Commission of Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion," (Ottawa: CCCB, March 12, 2008). http://www.cccb.ca/site/content/view/2576/1214/lang,eng/. (Accessed January 20, 2010). 29
school system in Ontario do so because they find resonance with the teaching, tradition, and thought of the faith-based system. However, a certain amount of adjustment and constructive thought within Catholic education is needed if we are to respond fully and effectively to the environmental crisis. The need for better environmental stewardship that bears witness to the interrelationship between creation and humanity is necessary.
In a retreat setting, components of ecotheology can bring forth new thought for developing a stronger ecological identity in the lives of participants.
The second hypothesis is that earth stewardship is fundamentally a spiritual problem because in the final analysis, only a transformation of consciousness on the level of the heart, or what the Confucian and Buddhist traditions call the heart-mind, is going to awaken the faith, motivation, compassion, and courage necessary for these times.
The research participants will come with a constellation of faith understandings and experiences of nature. Generally, they will have been informed by a dualistic human- nature split that contributes to human exploitation of the natural world. Thomas Berry,
Steven Rockefeller, authors of the Harvard Ecology project, and composers of the Earth
Charter agree with many others that the great spiritual resources contained in the world religions and in indigenous traditions can be of benefit in this regard. In a retreat setting, exposure to various theologies for ecological stewardship can expand the spiritual horizon to embrace creation from a broader faith perspective.
68 Berry, "Moments of Grace," in The Great Work, 196-201; Steven C. Rockefeller, "Faith and Community in an Ecological Age," in Steven C. Rockefeller and John C. Elder, eds. Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment Is a Religious Issue, (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992) 141-171; Lawrence E. Sullivan, "Introduction," in Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, eds., Christianity and Ecology, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000) xii-xiii; United Nations, "The Earth Charter," (March 2000). 30
The third hypothesis is that earth stewardship is fundamentally an ethical problem because attitudes and actions must reflect the virtues and values we profess. While the idea of the common good, a central theme in modern, Catholic social thought, tends to focus on human rights and the well being of human societies, papal encyclicals and
Bishops' statements in the last decade have increasingly recognized the environment as a vital dimension of the common good. The quest for a spiritual basis for environmental responsibility and stewardship as constitutive of faith goes hand in hand with an ecological ethic of a profoundly inclusive concept of the 'common good' which embodies living in mutually enhancing relationships.
In summary the three hypothesis are concerned with i) the faith perspectives of research participants as regards an ecological ethic; ii) the willingness of participants to grow into new dimensions of spirituality and ecological stewardship so that it becomes a more integral part of Catholic consciousness; iii) the commitment to reverence and responsibility for a profoundly inclusive concept of the 'common good.' Catholic education is just beginning to appreciate the emerging importance of "the universe story" in its theology of creation. Likewise, a retreat ministry that focuses on the themes of ecotheology, the development of an ecospirituality, and the praxis of ecoethic is also in its infancy. This research advances the discourse for the development of these realms. 31
5. Overview of Chapters
Chapter One has described the background and context for pursuing this research.
Chapter Two sets out the theoretical and theological framework for the study. Chapter
Three explains the qualitative research methodology employed in this work, and lays out the process and procedure. Chapter Four presents themes interpreted from input by the research participants. Chapter Five places the theory and the themes in dialogue with each other, then synthesizes the learning and names implications. Chapter Six draws conclusions for retreat ministry and suggests future research. CHAPTER TWO
II. Theoretical Framework and Assumptions
A. Introduction to Theory at Work
New dimensions of faith and spirituality are emerging as human consciousness expands and the global village shrinks. The cosmological, historical, theological, anthropological, and ethical elements of ecotheology are responding to the "signs of the times." While a Christian model of stewardship for creation care has been dominant in
Western culture, there is a disconnect in how people have been living out the sacred covenant. The "new universe story" offers the planet hope amidst its ecological peril.
The scientific story of cosmogenesis expressed by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, along with insights from Eastern and Indigenous traditions, offers Western culture a way to reimagine itself. The sacredness of all of creation is taking on new dimensions of faith and spirituality with the challenge of reinterpreting "such concepts as the common good, not only as a good for all persons, but a good for all creation."6
The theory component of this research asks how an ecotheological perspective of reality changes our understanding and practice of spirituality. A framework chosen for examining this perspective is the 3 T's model: "Teachings, Traditions, Thought" which will help us to explore: 1) old and new cosmologies, and the call to "an ecological conversion" in correlation with the praxis components of 2) Catholic religious education, environmental education, ecotheological and ecospiritual dynamics, and my retreat
69 Stephen Scharper and Andrew J. Weigert, "An Invitation to Inclusive Environmental Reflection: Reflections on Compendium, Chapter 10" in Catholic Social Thought American Reflections on the Compendium. D. Paul Sullins and Anthony J. Blasi, eds., (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009) 116.
32 33
ministry. 3) Working definitions of cosmology, ecospirituality, ecological stewardship, anthropocentrism and biocentrism will be integrated. 4) Assumptions that are inherent in this study will be stated. The theory at work will provide insights in the search for ecological integrity and social justice while investigating the paradigms of cosmocentric, biocentric, and anthropocentric ethical perspectives.
B. Cosmology
1. Definition
A comprehensive definition of cosmology includes four components: i) "the observational and theoretical study of the structure and evolution of the physical universe;" ii) "the theological accounts of the world as God's creation;" iii) "the philosophical reflection on the categories of space and time;" and
iv) worldviews as "united imaginative perceptions of how the world seems and where we stand in it."70
These scientific, religious, philosophical, and cultural contributions to cosmology, as indicated in the definition, provide the hermeneutics for human history. Each acts as a pillar in the structure yet it is together that they provide a 'functional' or a 'dysfunctional' cosmology. Cosmology asks the big questions: Who are we? From where have we come?
What is our purpose? How are we to act? Human history through its eras of pre-modern, modern, and post-modern has increased in scientific, religious, philosophical, and cultural
David Tracy and Nicholas Lash, eds., "Editorial" in Cosmology and Theology: Concillium of Religion in the Eighties, (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clarke, 1983) vii. 34
diversity and complexity. Let us explore each component in this definition of cosmology in order to grow in cosmological wisdom.
2. Cosmology - Scientific
The scientific realm or "the observational and theoretical study of the structure and evolution of the physical universe" has been a longtime fascination for humankind.
Berry and Swimme have chronicled that fascination in The Universe Story.11 Throughout the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods the Great Mother Deity presided in human consciousness (4000 BCE). Egyptians in Sinai around 3000 BCE erected the pyramids as eternal abodes for the pharaohs. The Ming T'ang palace in China from the Shang period
1550-1028 BCE was erected as the central axis of the universe.
In these early times, the universe and all the beings in the universe were perceived as simply being there. The sun, moon and stars were always in the heavens. On Earth, the mountains and rivers, trees and animals were always here. The basic movement of the universe was understood as an ever-renewing seasonal cycle, an eternal cycle, without beginning or ending. Stories of how they came to be abounded in mythic rather than in measured time. Olympian deities were supplanted by the religious syncretism of the
Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry, The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era - A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos, (New York: Harper Collins, 1992), 163- 240. Berry drawing from his expertise as a cultural historian and a specialist in Chinese cosmology, and Swimme a mathematical cosmologist, have chronicled the human understandings and stories about the universe in 278 pages.
Ibid., 224. 35
times. "Most of these religions were based on myths regarding the origin of the world, the sustenance of life, and the life of the deity."
3. Cosmos as Revelation - First Theme in Ecotheology
The narrative of creation and religion are intertwined. "The transformation in human consciousness that occurred in the five hundred years between 800 BCE and 300
BCE brought about the spiritual visions that have determined the dominant sense of reality and value in the various civilizations ever since."74 The first shift is from a mythic to a measured, scientific revelation. "Cosmos as Revelation" is the first theme.
How can the empirical science of "Cosmos as Revelation" be facilitated as an element in ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
4. Cosmology - Theological
The second definition ii) "the theological account of the world as God's creation," in classical Judeo-Christian teaching states "God created the world in all its richness, diversity and order. Everything that exists owes its existence to God the Creator."
God had an order and a plan for creation. Lavin describes, "In order to be revealed to the world, God chose the way of human history: this is the centre of Christian
73 Justo L. Gonzales, "The Fullness of Time," in The Story of Christianity: The Early Church to the Dawn of the Reformation, Vol. 1, (New York: HarperCollins, 1984), 15.
74 Swimme and Berry, The Universe Story, 188.
75 National Office of Religious Education, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Christ and Culture, Student Text is the Grade 10 catechetical resource of the We Are Strong Together series, (Ottawa: Publications Service of CCCB, 2001), 8. The quote referenced the Catechism of the Catholic Church #337- 338). The first unit in this program addresses what it means to be human from a Catholic perspective. The first principle anthropological belief is that to be human is to be a person created in the image and likeness of God (p. 13). anthropology." Yahweh formed a covenant relationship with the chosen people and a good deal of the Old Testament is a historical narrative. "It is the story of Israel's witness to its encounter with God."77 God's self-disclosure, beginning with creation, proceeded with revelation made to Abraham, Moses, the prophets, and was eventually fulfilled in
Jesus Christ.78
In the ancient worldview of Greco-Roman times, history was changing. Their world was expanding with travel by camel, horse, and boat. Diverse cultures interacted:
Jews, Persians, Romans, Ethiopians, Samaritans, etc. There were the influences of Greek philosophy, the Hellenistic civilization, many religions, wars, geography, migration, exile, and Roman occupation. While the scientific, religious, philosophical, and cultural worldview of the Greco-Roman times had a strong influence on how the Judeo-Christian community framed its understandings, beliefs, perspectives, and traditions, it maintained two tenets: ethical monotheism and eschatological hope.79
The heavens were always a source of wonder. "Moreover, in the second century
A.D. the astronomer Ptolemy had elaborated and developed these observations into a
Margaret Lavin, What We believe: Practical Theology for Teachers, (Toronto: Novalis Publishing Inc., 2009), 39.
77 Bernard W. Anderson, "Israel's Sacred History" in Understanding the Old Testament, Second Edition, (New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1966) 1-12.
78 Lavin, Ibid, 39.
79 Gonzales, Ibid., 10. Ethical monotheism means that there is only one God, and that this God requires just as much proper worship as proper relationship among human beings. Eschatological hope, common in the faith of Israel, believed that the day would come when God would intervene to fulfil the promise of a Kingdom of peace and justice. 37
complicated but consistent theory" remarks a Grade 12 Philosophy Student Text.
Ptolemy worked out an explanation of how the sun, moon, earth, stars, and planets functioned in relation to each other. The text also notes that Ptolemy's cosmology remained until Copernicus discovered a sun-centred system in the 16 century. The universe of Ptolemy and Aristotle had been so assumed for all of those centuries that to
SI think otherwise was to challenge the entire civilization and to violate sacred beliefs.
Creation stories, Rosemary Radford Ruether reminds us, have traditionally determined not only a view of non-human nature, but also a view of the relation of humans to the rest of nature, their relation to each other in society, and their relation to the ultimate foundational source of life (the divine). Christian mystics in the Celtic tradition had strong nature spirituality. Mystics in the Middle Ages found intimacy with
God through creation rather than through crusades. Hildegard of Bingen was an 11th century, Rhineland Abbess, mystic, naturalist, and visionary. Hildegard was skilled in herbal healing. Her scientific books contain more than 2000 remedies and health suggestions. As a visionary Hildegard imagined the universe as an egg. An egg is a unity, a whole, and it represents a basic truth of the universe held by Hildegard.
Manuel Velasquez, Philosophy: A Text with Readings, 7' Edition, (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publ. Co., 1999), 438-39. A Grade 12 Student Text.
81 Swimme and Berry, "The Modern Revelation," in The Universe Story, 223-226.
82 Rosemary Radford Ruether, "Does Science Have a New Creation Story?" in Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing, (New York: Harper Collins Publishers Ltd., 1992), 32; chap. 2 pp. 32-58. 38
Hildegard writes, "God has arranged all things in the universe in consideration of everything else." She prayed, "O Holy Spirit, you are the mighty way in which everything that is in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth, is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness."84
Julian of Norwich, a 14th century, English mystic and visionary saw God's love all around her. St. Frances of Assisi, a 12l century monk, exhibited nature mysticism.
St. Francis experienced union with God through creation. He celebrated the beauty and diversity of creation through his prayer and preaching. In his "Canticle of the Cosmos"
Francis sang of kinship with all creation as brother and sister. "Every creature in heaven and on earth and in the depths of the sea should give God praise and glory and honour and blessing."85
In counterbalance to the mystics and the unifying worldview of Pre-Modern times, the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries insisted on empirical evidence. The Modern era emerged with the scientific discoveries of
Copernicus (1543-solar system), Kepler (1609-elliptical motion of planets), Galileo
(1613-energy, matter, atomic, subatomic particles), Francis Bacon (1626-the scientific method), Descartes (1650-Rationalism), Newton (1727-mechanistic laws of universe),
83 Matthew Fox quotes Hildegard of Bingen from Hildegardis Scivias, in Eliminations of Hildegard of Bingen: Text by Hildegard of Bingen with Commentary by Matthew Fox, (Santa Fe: Bear and Company, Inc., 1985), 36.
84 Fox, lluminations, 36.
85 John Michael Talbot with Steve Rabey quote St. Francis of Assisi, text from "St. Francis of Assisi: Omnibus of Sources of the Life of St. Francis," in The Lessons of Francis: How to Bring Simplicity and Spirituality into Your Daily Life, (New York: Penguin Putnam Inc., 1998), 167. The Omnibus holds 1,665 pages of writings of Francis, biographies of Thomas of Celano, St. Bonaventure, St. Therese of Liseux, and other important documents. and Darwin (1871 -evolution). Ruether notes the impact, "The new physical and biological sciences began to pioneer a scientific account of the nature of external reality that was radically at variance with the combined biblical-classical view that Christians had inherited from Christianized Greco-Roman antiquity."
5. Cosmology - Modern Science
Modern science emerged out of the scientific revolution and it held within its paradigm a "mechanistic, deterministic materialist and reductionist approach to the universe and its composition."88 The universe was seen as dead matter and Earth a collection of resources over which man had dominion, limited only by their usefulness.
Michael Dowd in Earthspirit describes how most people in the Western world learned to see the value of things in an unchanging, patriarchal, and hierarchal way.
God was Father; men were superior to women; male children were more important than female children; animals were above plants, plants were above insects, worms, and bacteria; and at the bottom of the pyramids were the inanimate rocks and elements of
Earth. People believed that this was the way God set things up in the beginning and intended that they remain. Most institutions emerged from this worldview. Western economics, laws and ethics, Dowd notes, function out of this reality. Corporations can
Swimme and Berry, "The Modern Revelation" in The Universe Story, 226-234.
87 Ruether, Gaia and God, 32.
88 McDougall citing Heather Eaton from "A Critical Inquiry into Ecofeminist Cosmology," Ph.D. diss., (University of St. Michael's College, 1996, 6-7) in Cosmos as Primary Sacrament, 18. 40
legally poison air, water, and soil. Forests and species can be obliterated because our
on morality and laws are human-centred rather than life-centred.
The scientific and mechanistic worldview also prevailed into education, claim
MacQuarrie and Smith, and its impact can still be found today in subjects taught in isolation from each other. Disconnected curricula are often abstract and separate from the lived experience of students.90 The sense of self that is nurtured is as the autonomous learner who works independently to solve problems. This narrow conception of self has been part and parcel of the Western industrial worldview characterized in education by competition and an obsession with the 'myth of progress.'
6. Modern Science versus Religion
The split between religion and science was intense, Ruether notes. "Scientists, influenced by the mechanical objectivism of the scientific method, increasingly came to regard subjective matters as "unreal."91 Ruether goes on to say, "Yet, it was precisely this
"unreal" realm that became the sphere of religion, and even the "humanities" in general."92 "Moreover, scientific reductionism proved incapable of satisfying the longings of the human spirit for aesthetic, ethical, and spiritual dimensions of reality."
From his cultural historian perspective, Thomas Berry claimed that in spite of all the 89 Michael Dowd, Earthspirit, (Mystic, CT.: Twenty-third Publications, 1992), 90.
90 Jodi MacQuarrie and Gillian Diane Smith, "Placing Pedagogy and Curriculum Within an Ecological Worldview," Simon Fraser University Educational Review, Volume 1 (2009), 30-40. http://journals.sfu.ca/sfuer/index.php/sfuer/article/viewFile/54/62 (Accessed March 6, 2010).
91 Ruether, Gaia and God, 35.
92 Ibid., 35.
93 Ibid., 37. 41
changes that have taken place, we are still anchored in the normative values of biblical times. "We feel the support of these mythic values," Berry notes, "although the historical realism of Western civilization and our later scientific empiricism have weakened the conscious presence to the natural world that once guided and supported the psychic dimension of our lives."94
Just as science had broken down the Christian separation of spheres between earth and planetary matter and between humans and animals, Ruether notes, so the new physics itself began to break down the distinction of spheres on which the separation of science from religion (and the humanities) had been based. "It no longer seemed possible to distinguish so clearly between matter and energy, as had Newtonian physics. Nor was it so clear that science could demark an objective realm of "facts," distinct from subjective perspectives."95
7. Quantum Physics and New Cosmology
What defines the new cosmology from the old? An understanding of the intricate interrelatedness of everything replaces the hierarchical model of the organization of creation. Scientists, instead of dividing the world into "building blocks," have arrived at a web of relationships "coterminal with the entire cosmos, in which everything is connected with everything, not only across space, but across time as well." After some four centuries of empirical observation and experiment, Berry tells us, we are having a
94 Thomas Berry, The Great Work, 168.
95 Ruether, Gaia and God, 37.
96 Ibid., 38. 42
new experience of the deepest mysteries of the universe. We see the universe both as an ever-renewing sequence of seasonal cycles, and as a developmental sequence of irreversible transformations. We find ourselves living both as cosmos and as cosmogenesis. "In this context," Berry remarks, "we ourselves have become something of a cosmic force. If formerly we lived in a thoroughly understood, ever-renewing sequence of seasonal change, we now see ourselves both as the consequence of a long series of irreversible transformations and as a determining force in the present
Q7 transformation that the Earth is experiencing."
Swimme and Berry have helped create a meeting place between science and religion. Swimme notes, "Whereas former mythical consciousness might create images of our cosmic birth, and whereas classical consciousness might reason philosophically and theologically about the universe's beginning, scientific consciousness located in an no empirical way the physical birthplace of the universe." Swimme points out that science is one of a variety of paths to the truth and now science has some details of the story that were never even suspected earlier.
Swimme claims that the greatest achievement of modern science is the discovery that the fundamental reality of the universe is story. It is not just a place, a background, or a context. It is really part of a story beginning 13.7 billion years ago. The plot developed.
And so we are learning that our story individually is embedded in the larger story of human emergence, which is embedded in the larger story of life on Earth, which is 97 Berry, The Great Work, 198-199. 98 Brian Swimme, The Hidden Heart of the Cosmos: Humanity and the New Story, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996), 78-79. 43
embedded in the larger story of our sun, of the solar system, of the formation of galaxies, of the first flaring forth of all that is coming into being.
What is the significance of the new cosmology for human understanding in scientific, social-ethical, and theological-spiritual terms? "If humanity is to reorient itself within the story of the cosmos, and particularly within the unfolding story of the Earth itself, the question of purpose is a key one."99 A living cosmology is one that offers meaning for our own lives. Against arguments of cosmic randomness and purposelessness, the universe story brings everything and everyone into relevance because everything and everyone is part of this multiform story. Brian Swimme remarks that as we move into this understanding of emerging, developmental, irreversible time, we have a new identity of ourselves as cosmological beings.100 In this evolutionary story there is chaos and suffering, death and rebirth. In cosmogenesis can we find a movement from a cosmology of domination to a cosmology of liberation? Can we imagine the human striving "for authentic liberation, searching for a way to live harmoniously within the greater biotic community of Earth?"101
8. Cosmology - Religious Education
What is the significance of the new cosmology for Catholic religious education?
The religious education framework for receiving new scientific understandings is expressed in the Grade 10 Student Text. "The Christian faith respects scientific research
99 Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 271.
100 Miriam MacGillis and Brian Swimme. Words are taken from "The Awakening Universe: A Liberating New Cosmology for Our Time" a film by Neal Rogin.
101 Hathaway and Boff, Ibid., 271. 44
for the explanation it tries to give of the process by which the cosmos appeared in time.
But Christian faith goes further: in the birth of the universe, faith sees and celebrates the work of the creating God." This begs the question of how religion and science can go further 'together' to reveal the amazing work of the creating God. In retreats, many have experienced the new creation story told as a 'sacred story' with awe and wonder at the story of the first flaring forth, the formation of the galaxies, the emergence of earth community, and human life.103 The mystical language of religion gives to the scientific story symbolic imagery, poetic voice, and sacred song. The rite of religion gives cause to celebrate the liturgy of the cosmos.104 The sacramental call of religion, Gary Chamberlain remarks, "necessitates a new spirituality, an ecospirituality that will teach Christians to embrace the earth in all its complexities and powers."105
In his article, "Ecology and Religious Education," Chamberlain says further, "The moral imperative of religion compels an "ecojustice that relates 'fair and respectful' treatment of the earth with neighbourliness to all creatures."106 Can the faith of religion
National Office of Religious Education, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Christ and Culture, (Ottawa: Concacan Inc, 2001), 8. Grade 10 Student Text.
103 Swimme and Berry, The Universe Story, 280. Earth Community is defined as the interacting complexity of all of Earth's components, entities, and processes including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, geosphere, biosphere, and mindsphere.
104 Richard N. Fragomeni, "Liturgy at the Heart of the Creation: Towards an Ecological Consciousness in Prayer" in The Ecological Challenge: Ethical, Liturgical, and Spiritual Response. Fragomeni and John T. Pawlikowski, (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1994).
105 Gary L.Chamberlain, "Ecology and Religious Education," Religious Education Journal, Vol. 95 No. 2, (Spring, 2000), 147.
Ibid., 147. 45
and the empiricism of science work together to reveal the amazing work of the creating
God?
9. Liberation - Second Theme in Ecotheology
The younger generation is growing up with the story of cosmic evolution.
They are developing a greater appreciation for the web of life. Many youth have seen
Al Gore's convincing documentary about climate change "An Inconvenient Truth."
Gore tells us that concern for the environment must become "the central organizing principle of civilization."107 Al Gore and the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change won the Nobel Peace Prize (2007) for their environmental advocacy. Many youth are eager to engage in ecojustice. Youth can be eager but also vulnerable. Richard Louv's
Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorderhas spurred an international dialogue among educators, health professionals, parents, developers and conservationists about the need for an ecological identity and liberation.108
Likewise, this study asks how the insights from science and theology can enable the second shift from cosmological domination to liberation. "Liberation" is the second theme. How can a religious "Liberation" be facilitated as an element in ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
Al Gore, Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit, (New York: Penguin Books, 1993), 269.
Richard Louv, Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder, (North Carolina: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2008). 46
C. Cosmology - Philosophy
1. Philosophy in Western, Eastern and Indigenous Traditions
The third definition of cosmology from Tracy and Lask names "the philosophical reflection on the categories of space and time." How is cosmological wisdom advanced by Eastern and Western philosophies? Is there congruence or conflict in their perspectives? From our own experience of living and learning in the Western paradigm, we know that Euro-western philosophy, religions, and cultures, have been marred by a cosmology of domination, a cosmology of mechanization, and industrialization - particularly that which has developed over the last four hundred years. A more ancient cosmology that envisioned the Earth, and indeed the whole cosmos, as a living organism full of life and purpose, has been supplanted.109 In its place, we were given a universe made up of dead, inert matter organized with clockwork laws and forces. The cosmos, no longer perceived as a community of subjects, but rather a collection of objects, was supported by a hierarchy of value and entitlement by domination. Anthropocentric and dualistic theories and practices placed time over space, biblical story over earth story, and human story over nature in an inherent Cartesian paradigm.110
On the Eastern side, Asian insights are available to us from the life experiences and interests of Thomas Berry, who studied Chinese philosophy in Beijing (1948-49); taught Asian religions in American universities (1956-1979); wrote articles and published
109 Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 162-163.
110 Ibid., 163-166. The authors note that mechanistic and dualistic paradigms have played a role in the institutionalization of patriarchy, colonization, consumerism, and ecological destruction (165). Note: Cartesian dualism, though generally attributed to Rene Descartes (1641), has long been an idea which places mind over matter, immaterial over material. 47
two books Buddhism (1966) and Religions of India (1977). Berry expressed his interpretations of the spiritual dynamics of Asian religions in a short monograph Five
Oriental Philosophies (1968). Berry identified the important understanding of the human as a microcosm of the cosmos. Essential to this cosmology is a "continuity of being" and thus a "communion" between various levels of reality-cosmic, social, and personal.
Berry's expressions are similar to the ideas of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Alfred North
Whitehead, and other contemporary process thinkers.111
In traditional Chinese thought three basic motifs govern the harmony of the cosmos: continuity, wholeness, and dynamism. These motifs, similarly found in
Hinduism and several native cultures, affirm that the cosmos is alive. In Chinese terms, the chi, or vital-energy, is always changing and is in a constant process of transformation.
The chi flowing throughout the universe enables the flourishing of life. "The pervasiveness of chi suggests that, for the Chinese, nothing in the cosmos is static and
in unchanging, nothing is immune from transformation." Further, Jai-Don Lee suggests that there are good reasons for incorporating Asian ecological wisdom into Christianity's in emerging interpretations in ecotheology. Lee speaks about combining the Middle Way of Asian cultures - a "both/and" way of thinking of divine-human-cosmic relations-with the Western strength of Berry's dynamic understanding of history. 111 Mary Evelyn Tucker, "Editor's Afterword" in Thomas Berry, Evening Thoughts: Reflecting on Earth as Sacred Community, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker, (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 2006), 151-170.
112 Kinsley, Ecology and Religion, 70.
113 Jai-Don Lee, "Toward an Asian Ecotheology in the Context of Thomas Berry's Cosmology: A Critical Inquiry" Th. D. Dissertation, (University of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, 2004), 185-187. Why is it important to be aware of Asian heurmeneutics? The intermingling of
Eastern and Western philosophies made possible by the worldwide web, globalization, and interreligious dialogue can help to provide an understanding of differing cosmological perspectives on earth-human-divine relations. The Chinese view of the cosmos then, is that "it is always surprising and mysterious, never entirely predictable, although always tending toward harmony."114 In his book, The Great Work, Berry concluded, we need to "discover our way back to the Earth and learn how best to integrate a human way of life within the larger life community."115
2. Cosmology - Intermingling Philosophies
Can the intermingling of philosophies become a step toward cosmological wisdom? If Asian traditions and Indigenous peoples have a predisposition to a cosmological worldview (creation-centred thinking) how do they understand the human way of life within the larger life community? How can they benefit Catholic students in their Grade 11 World Religions programme as they learn about the religious and spiritual impulse that permeates traditions? Taoism teaches that true wisdom lies in harmonizing ourselves with the Tao (the yin-yang of cosmic physics), including living simply, and renouncing all forms of domination.116 Hinduism teaches Brahma is the creator of the universe. Vishnu is the preserver of the universe, and is, therefore, a loving and forgiving
114 Kinsley, Ecology and Religion, 70.
115 Berry, The Great Work, 158.
116 Patti Henderson, ed., "Early Religions," Chapter 3 in Exploring World Religions: The Canadian Perspective, (Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2001), 80-85. Grade 11 Catholic Student Text. 49
figure who brings salvation. Shiva is the destroyer and restorer of the universe who is
117 associated with creative energy. Grade 11 students can learn about the commonalities and differences in religious perceptions about the universe and the role of humans.
For Grade 11 students, there is also an opportunity to distinguishing between pantheism and panentheism. Pantheism (from the Greek pan + theos or all-God) affirms that all is God and God is all. Hindu pantheism teaches that the world is filled everywhere with divine presences.119 "In the Hindu tradition, the cosmos is the body of the Divine spirit." Panentheism, from the Greek pan (all), from en (in), and theos
(God) believes God in all, and all in God. God is present in the cosmos and the cosmos is present in God. Christian panentheism teaches, "God accompanies all processes from within, without losing him/herself in them because, as Mystery and Beyond Knowing,
God overflows and engulfs them on all sides. Moreover, God orients the arrow of time toward the emergence of ever more complex, dynamic, and purposeful levels of order."121
Indigenous peoples too, Grade 11 students learn, have a sense of the sacred based on "living harmoniously with the land and learning one's place in it, upon knowing the 117 Henderson, "Hinduism," Chapter 4 in Exploring World Religions, 120-122.
118 Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 324. Note: Pantheism - believes that the cosmos and God are the same without difference - all is identical, all is and God in Hinduism. Panentheism - maintains that God and the cosmos are identical, that the creation of the cosmos is not the creation of God but rather that the cosmos is the essential mode of God's existence.
119 Michael L. Peterson. With All Your Mind: A Christian Philosophy of Education. (Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre dame Press, 2001).
120 Hathaway and Boff, Ibid., 338.
121 Ibid., 324. 50
story of the land and the complexities of its rhythms so as to live in ways that do not disrupt or disturb the land." For Native Americans, as for many other indigenous peoples, "the land is affirmed to be alive, full of spirits and non-human creatures that have formed the land and continue to pervade it."123 World Religion students are introduced to the terms animism, polytheistic, and monotheistic.124 "There are approximately 50,000 Aboriginal students in the Ontario publicly funded school system and approximately 11,000 Aboriginal students in Ontario enrolled in postsecondary education." Aboriginal students have a perspective to offer the ecological dialogue with their earth-centred spirituality.
Raimon Panikkar, a Roman Catholic priest and a scholar specialized in
Comparative Philosophy of Religion, is one of the most prestigious proponents of interreligious dialogue. Panikkar says that "This dilemma of 'anthropos' is observable within the three major problems of our day: the ecological, humanistic, and theological crises." He believes that at this time we must listen to the wisdom of the ages.
'Standing under' the totality of our human heritage may reveal a myth that is appropriate
122 Kinsley. Ecology and Religion, 3.
123 Ibid., 3.
124 Henderson, "Aboriginal Spirituality" in Exploring World Religions, 59. Catholic teaching does not favour animism. In the Grade 11 text, animism is defined: The attribution of a living soul to plants, animals, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena."
125 Ontario Ministry of Education, "Improving Education For Aboriginal Students" News Release, February 24, 2009. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/nr/09.02/nr0224.hrml. (Accessed March 19, 2010).
126 Raimon Panikkar, "The Cosmotheanthropic Intuition" in Cosmotheandric Experience: Emerging Religious Consciousness, (Maryknoll: NY: Orbis Books), 112. 51
for our present age. "Certainly many of our most cherished myths badly need a new hermeneutic."127 "Interrelatedness," Pannikar notes, "is the hermeneutical key to understand and 'stand under' the mythos which both reveals and yet conceals reality."
3. A Sacred Universe - Third Theme in Ecotheology
Interrelatedness is the reality of the way the Earth functions. "Because of its organic quality, Earth cannot survive in fragments."129 Earth is a unity. Earth is a coherence of interdependencies. "That the universe is a communion of subjects rather than a collection of objects is the central commitment of the Ecozoic [era]," claim Berry and Swimme.130 In the dynamism of intersubjectivity, creativity flourishes in the fabric of the creation. God is revealed here most clearly in the story of life's incarnation and evolution on Earth. The third shift is from cosmos to cosmogenesis. "A Sacred Universe" is the third theme.
How can a philosophy of "A Sacred Universe" be facilitated as an element in ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
127 Ibid., 110.
128 Ibid., 107.
129 Swimme and Berry, The Universe Story, 243.
130 Ibid., 243. The Ecozoic era, a term coined by Swimme and Berry, seeks to remedy the devastation of the planet by a new period of creativity participated in by the entire Earth community. It is characterized, at a basic level, by its mutually enhancing human-Earth relations. It is the fourth biological era to succeed the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic periods. The last three eras, so named to describe large patterns of biological functioning, also carry a 'mythic' quality in their subjective organizational expression. 52
D. Worldviews
The fourth component of Tracy and Lask's comprehensive definition of cosmology is as "worldviews or the unified imaginative perceptions of how the world seems and where we stand in it." Worldviews, whether they are scientific, religious, philosophical or cultural formulations, have helped to shape traditional attitudes toward nature. The exploitation of nature and its resources will continue unless there arise worldviews that promote a heightened respect for 'the commons.' What can be said of shifts in the dominant worldview?
1. We Are One - Fourth Theme in Ecotheology
To assist in this inquiry, we will again draw upon the insight of Wei-ming who explains the mentality of worldviews. Wei-ming claims that it is the Enlightenment mentality that "underlies the rise of the modern West as the most dynamic and transformative ideology in human history."132 He says that we must acknowledge "a persistent psychocultural cause underlying the destructive power of the 'transnational, transgenerational, and transideological' assaults on the environment."133 Wei-ming notes, "Virtually all major spheres of interest characteristic of the modern age are indebted to or intertwined with this mentality: science and technology, industrial
131 Tracy and Lash, "Editorial" in Cosmology and Theology, vii.
132 Tu Wei-ming "Beyond Enlightenment Mentality," in Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy, and the Environment, eds. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim, (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997), 21.
133 Ibid., 21. Wei-ming is interpreting Confucian ethics as a spiritual resource for the emerging global community, according to the "Notes on Contributors," 245-246. 53
capitalism, market economy, democratic polity, mass communication, research universities, civil and military bureaucracies, and professional organizations."134
2. Worldview - Industrial and Technological
What are the values that are held dear as definitions of modern consciousness?
Wei-ming names values such as "liberty, equality, human rights, the dignity of the individual, respect for privacy, government for, by and of the people, and due process of
IOC law" as embedded in Enlightenment mentality. These values, continuing as motivation for the modern West since the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century, rely on a faith in progress, reason, and individualism. For decades, these have been "the unquestioned assumption for the ruling minorities and cultural elites of the developing countries, as well as the highly industrialized nations."136
What have these values of faith in progress, reason, and individualism born out?
Wei-ming says that "as the Western nations assumed the role of innovators, executors, and judges of the international rules of the game defined in terms of competition for wealth and power, the stage was set for growth, development, and exploitation."137 The heritage of the modern project has for the first time in history placed the viability of the human species in jeopardy. Are we ready to wake up to the dark side of the modern West as it is being experienced in consumerism, poverty, population surges, deforestation,
134 Ibid., 21.
135 Ibid., 21.
136 Ibid, 22.
137 Ibid., 22. 54
drought, over fishing, climate change, food shortages, rising energy costs, and so on?
There is a growing chorus of voices pointing out that the fundamental roots of the environmental disaster lie in the expansionist worldview of attitudes, values, and perceptions that we humans of the industrial-techno logical global society have come to hold.
3. Worldview - Educational
How has this worldview prevailed in education? Today, students can research their Ecological Footprint to measure sustainability at the global, national or individual level. On the Environment Canada website, students can survey "The Living Planet
Index, Ecological Footprint, Biocapacity and Water Footprint through time from 1961 -
2005." They would discover that currently the world is living in an ecological deficit.139
This means that our demand for natural resources exceeds the supply or regenerative capacity of the earth. According to the Canadian World Wildlife Fund "2008 Living
Planet Report," Canada has the 7th largest ecological footprint. If everyone on Earth consumed the equivalent resources as Canadians, it would take 3 Earths to meet the demand.14 The educational system is becoming actively engaged with environmental concerns, as will be discussed further in this chapter.
McFague, Abundant Life, 43.
139 Environment Canada, "Reduce Your Ecological Footprint." http://www.ec.gc.ca/education/default.asp?lang=en&n=27763D25-l (Accessed March 19, 2010).
140 Canadian World Wildlife Fund, "2008 Living Planet Report," http://assets.wwf.ca/downloads/lpr2008_reporthighlights_en.pdf (Accessed on March 19, 2010). 55
4. A Biocentric Worldview
Among the many articulate and persuasive voices raised against the industrial trend in the West were those who fashioned a different paradigm of consciousness. Henry
David Thoreau, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold were self-consciously opposed to the anti- nature tendencies in North American Christianity. They are named as spiritual leaders and pioneers of the environmental movement. During the twentieth century, they inspired
Americans to develop a deep and abiding passion for nature. The early evolution of the conservation and preservation movements began through both public and private recognition of the relationship between man and nature often reflected in the great literary and artistic works of the twentieth century. First, Henry David Thoreau (1817 -
1862) expressed his deep appreciation for nature in his writings. Spiritual renewal and being fully human, for Thoreau, was best experienced in direct communion with the life force of nature: organic, spirit filled, and inherently creative. Thoreau was critical of the scientific method for focusing on fragmenting parts for objective, analytical observation in favour of an ecological approach of studying nature in its integrative wholeness.
Thoreau lived an ethic of "economic simplicity" in an ecological intimacy, in a "we are one" unity with his surroundings which inspired his commitment to the natural world for future generations.141
Second, John Muir (1838-1914), founder of the Sierra Club, distinguished himself as a preservationist rather than a conservationist. As a preservationist, Muir envisioned
141 Kinsley, "Ecological Spirituality in Thoreau, Muir, and Leopold," in Ecology and Religion, 142-147. Note: Thoreau lived in a rustic hut on Walden Pond. He formed a group called the Walden Pond Society and his nature reflections were written in Walden. 56
the maintenance of pristine natural environments where any development was banned.
Muir left a promising career at the University of Wisconsin for his lifelong sojourn with the wilderness. From the perspective of the wilderness, Muir protested against a hierarchy of being and believed in the intrinsic value of every creature. Of the California Sierra
Nevada wilderness, Muir said: "Everything in it seems equally divine - one smooth, pure, wild glow of Heaven's love."142
Third, in Aldo Leopold's essay, "The Land Ethic," he sought to recast earth- human values around the "biotic community."143 To counter the exploitation and language of "resourcism," Leopold (1887-1948) cultivated what he called "thinking like a mountain." By taking a long view of things, Leopold emphasized the moral responsibility and ethical obligation to the community of life beyond the human community that encompasses the entire environment. The environment as a living being,
Leopold held, was to be protected based on the intrinsic worth and right to existence, especially for trees and animals.
Leopold, like Thoreau and Muir rejected the conservationist approach of
Theodore Roosevelt's regulations for the use of forest lands for both public activities and commercial endeavors. Preservationists wanted forest ecosystems to be preserved for
Cited by Roderick Nash, The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics, (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1989, 37), in Kinsley, Ecology and Nature, 151.
143 Kinsley citing Aldo Leopold from A Sand County Almanac, (New York: Ballentine Books, 1970, 139-40, [first published in 1949]), m Ecology and Religion, 155.
Ibid., 153. 57
natural beauty, scientific study and recreation.145 Thoreau, Muir, and Leopold experienced the human-earth relationship as "We Are One" from a biocentric worldview.
In more recent times, the Deep Ecology movement initiated by Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess (1973), and the Gaia Theory of James Lovelock (1979), promote that Earth is to be understood as an organic whole. Renowned biologist E.O. Wilson (b.
1929) suggests that we may be bringing about "the greatest impasse to the abundance and diversity of life on Earth" since the earliest beginnings of life some four billion years ago.146 The biological planet is leaving the Cenozoic Era after 65 million years of flourishing diversity with what is now understood as the sixth mass extinction of species.
What will it take for human communities to realize the Earth community is a one-time endowment?
5. World Patron Saint of Ecology
What is the connection between the biocentric worldview and the Christian worldview? In poetic and in other numinous ways, Thoreau, Muir, and Leopold are the ears, eyes, hands, and voices of nature, as were the Christian mystics in the Middle Ages.
145 Ibid., 152-155.
146 Swimme and Berry, cite E. O. Wilson, Biodiversity, (Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1988), in The Universe Story, 247. 58
"St. Francis of Assisi was named Patron Saint of Ecologists, by Pope John Paul II, on November 29th 1979," writes Sean McDonagh in "Francis of Assisi: Patron Saint of
Ecology." 7 McDonagh furthers, on World Environment Day in 1982, Pope John Paul II wrote that "Francis ought to be an example for Catholics today."148 The Pope challenged
Catholics, "not to behave like dissident predators where nature is concerned but to assume responsibility for it, taking all care so that everything stays healthy and integrated, so as to offer a welcoming and friendly environment even to those who succeed us." Francis stands out in Western Christianity, as an icon, as one who lived out a biocentric vision of the moral life.
St. Francis of Assisi is a beloved saint for Christians. He is often called upon in ecological justice work. "Francis did not look at the natural world from a utilitarian perspective, as providing food, clothing and shelter for humans," according to a
Columbian Missionaries Pastoral Letter, "rather his response to the gift of creation was joy, wonder, praise and gratitude. He knew how to find God in all things. One of the
Sean McDonagh, SSC. "Francis of Assisi: Patron Saint of Ecology," http://www.columbans.co.uk/FrancisPatronofEcologyAugust2009.pdf (Accessed March 6, 2010). Fr. McDonagh's latest of eight books is Climate Change: The Challenge to Us All, 2009. His first book To Care For the Earth: A Call for a New Theology published in Britain in 1986 is now acknowledged as a pioneering work in this new theological genre. It received much acclaim in Catholic circles at the time, and is still quoted today. The inspiration for To Care for the Earth didn't come from the halls of the academia but rather from living in the T'boli hills in the Southern Philippines where he saw the tropical forests being plundered with appalling consequences for the T'boli people and the natural world itself.
148 McDonagh citing John Paul II from his Address on World Environment Day in 1982, Ibid.
149 McDonagh citing John Paul II, "Introduction" in God Made Man the Steward of Creation, Ibid. 59
great legacies of Francis is that he expanded the concept of "neighbour" to include, not only the human race, but the whole of creation."150
A biocentric consciousness can also be linked with Ivone Gabara, a Catholic,
Brazilian, ecofeminist theologian writing from the place of rainforest destruction and deep poverty in the Global South (1999). She notes,
It is our actions that have put the earth in bondage, that have damaged it, polluted it, and impoverished it. For this reason, it is the earth that is both the subject and the object of salvation. We need to abandon a merely anthropocentric Christianity and open ourselves up to a more biocentric understanding of salvation. ... This new way of doing things seems to me perfectly justified, because it maintains not only the most fundamental aspects of Jesus' perspective but also the understanding that we are a living body in constant evolution.151
6. An Ecological Worldview
Worldviews are based on metaphors and models, Sallie McFague tells us. They can allow us to see the world as machine, or the world as organism. The machine model
1 S9 eliminates the possibility of seeing our planet as alive, as finite, as fragile. One of the shifts in the dominant Western industrial worldview is an increasing sensibility about the human community as a whole, as a global community, as a global economy with global commons. The global impacts of climate change are causing us to wake up. The green movement is sweeping the practical fields of health, education, government, economics,
Columbian Missionaries, "The Cry of the Earth - A Pastoral Letter," 2008. http://www.columbans.co.uk/TheCryoftheEarthpastoralletterMay2408.doc (Accessed March 8, 2010).
151 Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 183.
152 Sallie McFague, Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age, ((Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987) and Life Abundant: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001). In both books, McFague underscores theology as the human constructions of God; God as father is a metaphor. All language about God has limitations. 60
and business. In universities, new studies are emerging in the departments of theoretical natural sciences and social sciences, such as environmental anthropology, environmental philosophy and ecological theology.
"An ecological worldview is based on the concept of the world as a myriad of interlocked systems and interacting processes," according to a report by the Canada
International Development Research Centre entitled "Toward Sustainability." "Human activities and development strategies," the report exclaims, "will have to take account of this emerging perception. However, development in Canada, no less than elsewhere in the North, continues to be predicated on the growth ethos." The report exposes an expansionist worldview that has had the effect of depleting the planet's overall natural endowment and the ability of biological systems to adequately renew themselves.
The report identifies forms of "development" that for three reasons, at least, have become unsustainable:
- The continual and accelerating consumption and depletion of nonrenewable resources;
- The use of renewable resources at a faster rate than their rate of regeneration; and
- The cumulative degradation of the environment in terms of the loss of natural systems and ecological processes, which, in turn, has led to the widespread and increasing extinction of species and destruction of genetic diversity.
Berry's approach concurs with the Canadian assessment that a deep cultural pathology has developed in Western society and has now spread throughout the planet.
153 Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Ottawa), "Toward Sustainability" The Centre's work reports to the Parliament of Canada through the Minister of Foreign Affairs. http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-82309-201-l-DO_TOPIC.html (Accessed March 8, 2010). 61
A savage plundering of the entire earth is taking place through industrial exploitation.
Berry claims that once we recognize that a change from a human-centred to an Earth- centred norm of reality and value is needed, we will need to provide "specific programs toward a viable human situation on a viable planet." Berry promotes an ecological worldview by "recognizing that the life community, the community of all living species, including the human, is the greater reality and the greater value." For Berry, "The primary concern of the human community must be the preservation and enhancement of the comprehensive community even for the sake of its own survival."154
This ecological worldview assumes that humans move from a paradigm of dominance to a mutually enhancing relationship with the whole Earth community. Berry views this transition saying, "The distorted dream of an industrial technological paradise is being replaced by the more viable dream of a mutually enhancing human presence within an ever-renewing, organic-based Earth community."155 The fourth shift is for a balance of anthropocentric and biocentric into an ecological worldview. "We Are One" is the theme. How can a worldview of "We Are One" be facilitated as an element in ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
Berry. "The Viable Human," in The Great Work, 58.
Berry, "Moments of Grace," Ibid., 201. 62
A "Transition" chart prepared by Ralph Metzner contrasts twelve relationships of the ecological worldview with the currently dominant, industrial worldview.156
See Appendix D.
7. Summary: Modern Science to Cosmological Wisdom
Cosmology has been defined (Tracy and Lask) in the theory at work in this thesis.
We have examined four components. First, in the realm of science, we explored "the observational and theoretical study of the structure and evolution of the physical universe." Scientific theories of the cosmos have had an historical impact: from a cyclical universe of ancient times; to the geocentric understanding of Greco-Roman times; to the solar system of the 16th century scientific revolution (Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Bacon,
Newton, Darwin); to the cosmogenesis of creation in its 13.7 billion year history as a self-organizing, transformational, evolving, and expanding universe of 20l century astrophysics (Swimme et al). Each of these significant scientific discoveries necessitated a rethinking of philosophical, theological, cosmological, anthropological, and ethical interpretations. The first shift is from a mythic to a measured, scientific revelation.
"Cosmos as Revelation" is the first theme.
Second, in the religious realm, the world as God's creation is being deeply reflected upon theologically (Scharper and Weigert, Tracy and Lash, Berry, Lavin,
Anderson, Ruether, McDougall, Eaton, MacGillis, Fragomeni, Chamberlain, Grim,
Pannikar, McFague, McDonagh, Gebara, Metzner) as the impacts of the new cosmology
156 Ralph Metzner, "The Emerging Ecological Worldview," Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy and the Environment, eds. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), pp. 163-172. This chart and the article that contains it was previously published as "The Age of Ecology" in Resurgence, no. 149 (November/December 1991). 63
and the concern about the ecological crisis take hold. The second shift is from a cosmology of domination to liberation. "Liberation" is the theme.
Third, in the realm of philosophy, it is possible for Eastern, Western, and
Indigenous traditions (Teilhard deChardin, Whitehead, Berry, Tu Wei-Ming, Grim,
Tucker, Lee) to find harmony in the common, scientific, creation story that tells of continuity, wholeness, and dynamism in "the categories of space and time." The third shift is from cosmos to cosmogenesis. "A Sacred Universe" is the theme.
Fourth, in the realm of worldviews defined as "united imaginative perceptions of how the world seems and where we stand in it" (Tracy, Lask), earthlings are increasingly aware of the imperative to preserve and protect the global commons of land, air, and water as ecosystems fail and species extinctions increase. A biocentric worldview has been explored with American roots in "The Land Ethic" of protection (Thoreau, Muir,
Leopold), Christian nature Mystics (Celtic, Hildegard, Julian, St. Francis of Assisi), and a deepening perspective that Earth be viewed as an organic whole (Naess, Lovelock).
The fourth shift is for an integration of anthropocentric and biocentric into an ecological worldview. "We Are One" is the theme.
E. Catholic "Teaching" - Ecological Conversion
1. Environmental Stewardship
How did it happen that the word "environment" has become such an integral concept in our common parlance and consciousness today? Throughout the twentieth century, environmental warning signals were given by American protectionists Thoreau, 64
Muir, and Leopold. In 1963, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring rang the alarm even louder.157
Conservation and careful preservation of nature became tied with human health and nature's well-being.
Religions, especially Christianity, received a scathing critique by Lynn White Jr., an American professor of cultural history who published an essay in a scientific journal about the historical roots of the ecological crisis (1967). White argued that, "Especially in its Western form, Christianity is the most anthropocentric religion the world has ever
1 SS seen." "Christianity," he furthered, "bears a huge burden of guilt" for its destructive wake.159 White posited that elements of Judeo-Christian thinking had encouraged the exploitation of nature by expressing the superiority of humans over all other forms of life on earth. Further, such teaching depicted nature as created for the use of humans. Central to the rationale for his thesis were the works of the Church Fathers and The Bible itself, both of which were used in interpretations which supported an anthropocentric (human- centred) worldview.
White's thesis sparked lively and heated debate in theology, history, human sciences and philosophy. Christianity is theocentric not anthropocentric was one rebuttal.
White was widely criticized for a naive assessment, and he was remiss in not citing non-
Christian civilizations who also denigrate the environment. He did succeed, nevertheless,
157 Rachel Carson. Silent Spring. (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1962).
158 Lynn White Jr., "The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis," Science 155 (1967), 1205. http://www.zbi.ee/~kalevi/lwhite.htm (Accessed April 12, 2010).
Ibid., 1207. White's article became a catalyst for religious critique and offered insight into the role that Judeo-Christianity played in the ecocrisis. 65
in waking up Christianity to its culpability in supporting the "dominion" motif of man over nature. In the early 1970s, environmental ethics was emerging as a new sub- discipline of philosophy. It posed a challenge to traditional anthropocentrism. In the first place, it questioned the assumed moral superiority of human beings to members of other species on earth. In the second place, it investigated the possibility of rational arguments for assigning intrinsic value to the natural environment and its nonhuman contents.
Sallie McFague has more recently posited:
Thirty years ago when Lynn White, in a now famous essay, accused Christianity of being ecologically bankrupt, he revealed an ignorance of theological history. .. .From the earliest days of Christianity, the cosmological context was a major interpretive category along with the psychological and the political. ... Christianity is not entirely anthropocentric, although it was substantially so from the Enlightenment until recently and therein lies the justification for White's indictment.160
Three intersecting conversations can advance the articulation: Catholic
"Teachings" on creation, the "Tradition" of stewardship passed on by religious / environmental educators, and new "Thought." The three "T's" are presented as a valid model for examining and integrating the perspectives. Definitions follow.
Sallie McFague, "An Ecological Christology: Does Christianity Have it?" Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being of Earth and Humans, eds., Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000), 32. 66
2. The "3 TV' Model - Catholic "Teaching. Tradition. Thought" Fig. 1
i) "Teaching" is generated by the magisterium of the church which holds the integrity of the faith by maintaining continuity while gradually extending teaching to new issues based on moral imperatives such as justice and peace. "Teaching" of the Tradition has to do with matters essential to the faith that, if not present, would represent a distortion of the Gospel message, e.g. Jesus is God and man. "Teaching" about care for creation has come in the form of encyclicals, statements, pastoral letters, and addresses. ii) "Tradition is the prime witness to God's revelation. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence (CCC82)."161 There are aspects of God's revelation that exist in the church as unwritten scripture. It is the teaching authority of the church that guides and shapes the life of the church in a normative way. Tradition is about handing down the faith as a Catholic heritage.
The small "t" ftadition includes the living experience of Catholic communities putting their faith into practice. The tradition originated from the early Apostolic communities who shared goods to meet the needs of all. Social justice therefore, is an integral part of caring for the human community. Small "t" traditions involve participation in the sacramental, liturgical, and catechetical life of the church, as well as spiritual practices which vary over time yet aid in safeguarding the essentials of the Tradition. iii) "Thought" is provided by lay people, clergy, theologians, ethicists, and leading experts on new discoveries, inventions, theories, and/or experiences. The res novae, or reasons for bringing new information to light, parallels the increasing complexity of human experience and the need for a faith response.162
161 Ian Knox, CSSp., cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church #82 in Theology for Teachers, Revised Edition, (Toronto: Novalis, 2005), 78, to support of his statement.
Scharper and. Weigert, Catholic Social Thought, 128-9. The 3 T's are used by Scharper and Weigert as a framework for their commentary and it forms a framework also for this thesis. 67
3. Catholic Teaching - Respect for Life
As has been noted previously in this study, it was John Paul IPs 1990 landmark document that dealt so directly with nature. Pope Benedict XVI has frequently referred to the 1990 work and it is worthwhile to take a deeper look at the "Teaching."
In The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility, John Paul II named a threefold purpose at the outset of his message. Firstly, it was to examine the Catholic
Christian ethical values that are fundamental in the development of a peaceful society; secondly, to provide moral and theological leadership for the human vocation "to participate responsibly in God's creative action in the world;" and thirdly, to reinforce the two ethical principles of respect for life, and especially a respect for the dignity of human life that underlie the search, "for [a] carefully coordinated solution based on a morally coherent worldview." The premise of his message is contained in the title header:
"Peace with God the Creator, Peace with all of Creation."
John Paul II's position was twofold, firstly, that the source of the ecological crisis is "a profound moral crisis."164 The destruction and abuse of earth systems are symptomatic of this moral problem. He claims that world peace is threatened, not only by our lack of 'respect for life' as evidenced by the arms race, regional and national conflicts, wars, and social injustices, but also, by a lack of 'respect for nature' given the destruction of natural resources and the increasing decline of a quality of life. Such instability and insecurity, he projects, "is a seedbed for collective selfishness, disregard
163 Pope John Paul II, "Introduction" (n. 1), in The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility.
164 Ibid., (n. 5). 68
for others and dishonesty" (n.l). Secondly, the ecological crisis is a common responsibility. It is the responsibility of everyone: the general public, political leaders, and the multiple disciplines to respond to the destruction of the environment. Given the new ecological awareness that is beginning to emerge, John Paul II urges, we ought to develop concrete programs and initiatives based on ethical values that can be "...a common ground for reflection and action" (n. 2). In his presentation, he unfolds these two positions.
John Paul II's thesis is that respect for life, and above all for the dignity of the human person, is the ultimate guiding norm for any sound economic, industrial or scientific progress. John Paul II names the key Christian assumptions upon which his argument is based. He grounds his religious convictions in the Christian worldview which, he states, draws from Revelation.
1. Creation is good. The Book of Genesis is presented as the first assumption in support of respect for life and the dignity of the human person. God saw that all of his creation "was very good."
2. Humans are entrusted to exercise dominion over the earth with wisdom and love. God entrusted his work to man and woman, Adam and Eve, who were made in God's image. They "were to have exercised dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:28) with wisdom and love." "Instead," John Paul II notes, "they destroyed the existing harmony by deliberately going against the Creator's plan" (n.3). In choosing to sin, the human fall also indicts all of creation.
3. Through Christ creation was made new. Christians believe that through Christ all of creation was made new (cf.Rev.21:5) and that we wait in joyful hope for the coming of the fullness of time when all things of heaven and earth will be united in him (Eph. 1:9-10) (n.4). The supposition is that we are in the eschaton.
4. The Creator's plan is freedom. John Paul II references Scripture to help us better understand our role as humans. The Creator's plan (cf. Rom 8:20-21) is for the future glory of freedom for the whole of creation (n.3). That the earth is suffering, John Paul II remarks, is evident to everyone. 69
The behaviour of people acting out of a disregard for nature has upset".. .the order and harmony which govern nature itself (n.5). The "source of the problem," he states, to be faced in its entirety is "that profound moral crisis of which the destruction of the environment is only one troubling aspect" (n.5).
John Paul II argues that the ecological crisis is a moral problem and is "common ground for reflection and action" in the larger societal context. The moral problem is revealed both in the moral character and in the moral implications underlying the ecological crisis. Four arguments are substantiated with evidence from contemporary lived experience with commentary about the intentions of human agency, the impacts of the moral problem, and the Christian ethical values that ought to be promoted in search of a solution.
1. The indiscriminate application of advances in science and technology: • the nobility of the human vocation to participate responsibly in God's creative action in the world has been thwarted • industrial and agricultural sectors need to guard against ozone depletion, the "greenhouse effect," damage to the atmosphere, and pollution of the environment • these demonstrate a lack of respect for life.
2. An unnatural and reductionistic vision: • high levels of production overlook the dignity of workers and care for earth. • economic interests have taken priority over human health and earth health with long term consequences • such contempt for life is the moral implication underlying the ecological problem • contempt for man shows a lack of respect for life.
3. Uncontrolled destruction of animal and plant life: • upsets the delicate ecological balance • unbridled progress can ultimately lead to mankind's demise • this shows a lack of respect for life. 70
4. Indiscriminate biological research: • leads to genetic manipulation of human, animal and plant life • experimentation, without proper ethical norms, could lead mankind to the "very threshold of self-destruction"
• shows a lack of respect for life.
John Paul IPs arguments lead logically to his thesis "that respect for life, and above all for the dignity of the human person, is the ultimate guiding norm for any sound economic, industrial or scientific progress" (n.7). His arguments are convincing based on our own lived experience in a world of techno-science. His Christian worldview position is clearly stated and unfolded. The evidence he presents is real and relevant to today's ecological crisis. In an in-depth way, he delves underneath the problem in search of an understanding by making connections between respect for human life and respect for nature. He advances two central concepts to bolster and broaden the argument toward a search for solutions.
The first concept, which John Paul II links to theology, philosophy and science in common, is that of a harmonious universe, a "cosmos" in which there is an order, an internal integrity and a "dynamic balance" (n.8). This cosmic "order must be respected," he claims (n.8). He says that humans are called to examine it and make use of it while responsibly safeguarding its integrity. The second concept is "a common heritage, the fruits of which are for the benefit of all" (n.8). John Paul II makes reference to a statement from the Second Vatican Council, "God destined the earth and all it contains for the use of every individual and all peoples" (Gaudium et Spes, n.69). He points to issues of social and ecological injustice where greed and selfishness - both individual and collective - are "contrary" to the order of the cosmos which operates characteristically 71
out of "mutual interdependence" (n.8). Based on these two concepts: respect for the order of creation and respect for the common heritage of earth's goods, implications are drawn.
The implications for John Paul IPs thesis are detailed under three headings
1. in search of a solution
• a more internationally coordinated approach to the management of the earth's goods • recognized standards would respect and safeguard the commons while respecting the order of creation • special attention should be given to the most vulnerable in society • science and technology are to be monitored • the right to a safe environment deserves to be encoded in the Charter of Human Rights
2. the urgent need for a new solidarity
• developing nations "are not morally free to" make the same errors against humans and against nature in their desire for progress • to have peace and health, social and ecological well-being: strengthen cooperative and peaceful relations among states • address the structural forms of poverty, unjust land distribution • move toward a corrective balance between the haves and have nots • war devastates and destroys human nature and earth nature • lifestyles: live simply, moderately and with discipline • educate in ecological responsibility, respect for each other and nature • the aesthetic value of creation: inspires prayers, liturgies and rituals. • thoughtful urban planning, and environmental protection
3. the ecological crisis: a common responsibility
• need for concerted efforts • individuals, peoples, States and international community • hand in hand with efforts to build true peace • give attention to what the earth and its atmosphere are telling us • an order in the universe must be respected • the ecological crisis is a moral issue • duty towards nature and the Creator is an essential part of faith • Saint Francis of Assisi is an example. 72
Catholics, concludes John Paul II, are obligated by their belief in God the Creator, the folly of human sin and the redemption of Christ, to extend "respect for life and the dignity of the human person" to all of creation in praising God (n.16).
The American Bishops in Renewing the Earth (1992) affirm and reiterate the
Papal Teaching in similar categories. They begin their pastoral letter with "Signs of the
Times" saying, "At its core, the environmental crisis is a moral challenge. It calls us to examine how we use and share the goods of earth, what we pass on to future generations, and how we live in harmony with God's creation."165 The Bishops conclude a list of ecoactions with a call, "The environmental crisis of our own day constitutes an exceptional call to conversion" expressed as, "a change of heart to save the planet for our children and generations yet unborn."166
Max Oelschlaeger in Caring for Creation: An Ecumenical Approach to
Environmental Crisis (1994) suggests, "To use the language of sociology, religion is the shaper and weaver of the sacred canopy, the framework of ends that gives meaning to human existence and motivates people to act."167 Yet, in the early 1990s when Pope John
Paul II, American Bishops, Max Oelschlaeger and innumerable others were encouraging the faithful to benefit the environment, people were not motivated to act. Oelschlaeger
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Renewing the Earth: An Invitation to Reflection and Action on Environment in Light of Catholic Social Teaching, A Pastoral Statement, (Washington, D.C: USCCB Inc., November 14, 1991), Introduction (n.l). http://usccb.org/sdwp/ejp/bishopsstatement.shtml (Accessed April 17,2010.)
166 Ibid., Part C: "Call to Conversion."
167 Max Oelschlaeger, "Religion in the Context of Ecocrisis," Caring for Creation: An Ecumenical Approach to Environmental Crisis, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), 50-51 73
notes that even if the religious discourse were to remain free of utilitarian individualism, there are many obstacles within the church (organized religion) that make it difficult for change to occur. "Many, including some within the framework of Judeo-Christianity,"
Oelschlaeger says, "argue that the patriarchal nature of religion precludes meaningful change, since God is placed over man, and man over woman, children, and nature."168
Still, Oelschlaeger called upon the Ecumenical community to religiously inspire environmental ethics. Even while claiming that Religion is a necessary condition for the solution of the ecocrisis, Oelschlaeger suggested working in conjunction with technology, science, conservationists, and environmental educators for the Caring for Creation}69
4. Catholic Teaching - The Anthropological Problem
Five years later, in Evangelium vitae (The Gospel of Life, 1995) John Paul II addressed the concept of 'dominion' saying that man's stewardship is not "absolute, but ministerial: it is a real reflection of the unique and infinite lordship of God. Hence man must exercise it with wisdom and love, sharing in the boundless wisdom and love of
God."170 The stewardship model that comes out of biblical cosmology and Christian anthropology based on the notion of human 'dominion' over creation though, is so firmly rooted in religious history and cultural praxis that even attempts by religious leaders to reconstruct the interpretive model are slow to gain momentum. The industrial motif unfortunately presupposes a specific dominion by man over ecological matters.
168 Ibid., 51.
169 Ibid., 51.
170 John Paul II, Evangelium vitae, n. 52. (Vatican: March 25, 1995). http://www.vatican.va/edocs/ENG0141/_INDEX.HTM (Accessed February 18, 2010). 74
A problem with Catholic teaching about due respect for the earth is that it continues to name creation for man's use which in some contexts confirms mans' dominion over.171
5. Ecological Conversion - Fifth Theme in Ecotheology
In 1999, in Mexico City, at a Post Synod meeting, John Paul II presented
"Ecclesia in America."172 He is reported to have said that "it would be very useful to have a compendium or approved synthesis of Catholic social doctrine... which would show the
1 TK connection between it and the new evangelization." In his 2001 address "God Made
Man the Steward of Creation," John Paul II, thirty-four years after Lynn White Jr.'s challenge, exclaimed "We are in an urgent need of an ecological conversion."174
171 McDougall, cites John Paul II, Labor em Exercens (On Human Work), 14-15.
172 John Paul II, "Ecclesia in America," Post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, (Mexico City: January 22, 1999). On the encounter with the Living Jesus concerning the way to conversion, communion and solidarity in America, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_exhortations/ documents/hfjp-ii_exh_22011999_ecclesia-in-america_en.html (Accessed April 17, 2010).
173 Woodenene Koenig-Bricker, Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Out for Creation and Justice, (Ave Maria Press: Notre Dame, Indiana, 2009), 20. The book begins with a chronicled report of Vatican teaching on the environment.
174 John Paul II, "God Made Man the Steward of Creation." General Audience Address, January 17, 2001. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/2001/ documents/hfjp- ii_aud_20010117_en.html (Accessed January 16, 2010). Archbishop Renato R. Martino, in a speech given at the Johannesburg UN Earth Summit, in 2002, states, "Sustainability requires putting the human person at the center of development and protection of the environment." Unfortunately, this suggests that anthropocentrism will protect creation, a claim that is not evident in reality, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/secretariat_state/ documents/rc_seg-st_doc_ 20020902_martino-johannesburg_en.html (Accessed February 11, 2010). 75
On the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, October 4, 2003, the Canadian Conference of
Catholic Bishops published, "You love all that exists.. .all things are Yours, God, lover of life. A Pastoral Letter on the Christian Ecological Imperative."175
One year later, in 2004, the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church was issued. The Compendium Introduction states that the document contains "the most relevant theological, philosophical, moral, cultural, and pastoral considerations.. .as they relate to social questions." In the second section of the Compendium, in a chapter called "Safeguarding the Environment" such topics as biblical imperatives, the crisis facing humanity and the environment, the use of biotechnology, the importance of potable water, and the need for changes in lifestyle are covered.177
6. The Green Pope
On April 24, 2005, when Pope Benedict XVI gave his inaugural homily, he spoke about the environment and set the course for affirmative action. Bishop Crepaldi,
Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, made wise use of the environmental components in Chapter 10 of the Compendium when he presented them as ten guiding principles at a congress on "Ethics and the Environment" at the European
175 The Social Affairs Commission, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. "You love all that exists... all things are Yours, God, lover of life. A Pastoral Letter on the Christian Ecological Imperative." Ottawa: CCCB, October 4, 2003. http://www.cccb.ca/Files/pastoralenvironment.pdf (Accessed April 17, 2010). Note: A second Pastoral Letter was issued on March 8, 2008, "Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion," (Ottawa: CCCB, 2008). http://www.cccb.ca/site/content/view/2578/996/lang,eng/ (Accessed April 17, 2010).
176 Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, trans. Libreria. Editrice Vaticana, (Vatican, 2004). The Compendium is two hundred and fifty pages. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_200605 26_compendio-dott-soc_en.html (Accessed March 16, 2010).
Woodenene Koenig-Bricker, Ten Commandments for the Environment, 13-25. 76
University of Rome, on November 7, 2005. These ten guidelines have become the content for a book which will be highlighted later in this chapter.
When the Green Pope and the Green Patriarch met on November 2006, to make their "Common Declaration," they wrote, "As religious leaders, we consider it one of our duties to encourage and to support all efforts made to protect God's creation, and to
1 7R bequeath to future generations a world in which they will be able to live." Both religious leaders have been keeping pace with Climate Change Conferences and Summits along with other world leaders.
Pope Benedict XVI's 2007 World Day of Peace address, "The Human Person,
The Heart of Peace," integrates three ecologies: the ecology of nature, human ecology, and social ecology. All this means that humanity, if it truly desires peace, must be increasingly conscious of the links between natural ecology, or respect for nature, and human ecology. Experience shows that disregard for the environment always harms human coexistence, and vice versa. It becomes more and more evident that there is an inseparable link between peace with creation and peace among men. Both of these presuppose peace with God. The poem-prayer of Saint Francis, known as "the Canticle of Brother Sun," is a wonderful and ever timely example of this 1 7Q multifaceted ecology of peace.
Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I, "Common Declaration of Pope Benedict XVI and The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I," (6). From the Phanar, Turkey, November 30, 2006. http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/november/documents/hf_ben- xvi_spe_20061130_dichiarazione-comune_en.html (Accessed January 28, 2010).
179 Benedict XVI, "The Human Person, The Heart of Peace." Address for Jan. 1, 2007 World Day of Peace. Released by the Vatican, 8 December 2006. http://www.vatican.va/holy_fathe^enedict_xvi/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben- xvi_mes_20061208_xl-world-day-peace_en.html (Accessed January 28, 2010). 77
7. Ten Commandments for the Environment
The Ten Commandments for the Environment: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Out for
Creation and Justice (2009) are presented here as a summary of Catholic "Teachings" in environmental ethics.180
1. The human being, created in God's image, is placed above all other earthly creatures, which must be used and cared for in a responsible way in cooperation with the divine plan of redemption.
2. Nature must not be reduced to a utilitarian object of manipulation, nor absolutized or placed above human dignity.
3. Ecological responsibility involves the entire planet in a common duty to respect the environment as a collective good, for present and future generations.
4. In dealing with environmental problems, ethics and human dignity should come before technology.
5. Nature is not a sacred or divine reality, removed from human intervention. Thus, human intervention that modifies some characteristics of living things is not wrong, as long as it respects their place in their particular ecosystem.
6. The politics of development must be coordinated with the politics of ecology, and every environmental cost in development projects must be weighed carefully.
7. Ending global poverty is related to the environmental question, remembering that the goods of the earth must be shared equitably.
8. The right to a safe and clean environment needs to be protected through international cooperation and accords.
9. Environmental protection requires a change in lifestyles that reflect moderation and self-control, on a personal and social level. That means moving away from the mindset of consumerism.
10. Environmental issues call for a spiritual response, inspired by the belief that creation is a gift that God has placed into our responsible hands, so that we can
Koenig-Bricker, Ten Commandments for the Environment. This book of 140 pages is written in a user friendly, popular style in keeping with the image of the "Green Pope." 78
use it with loving care. The human person's attitude toward nature should be one of gratitude and gratefulness to the God who has created and supports it.181
How are these Ten Commandments stepping stones toward "an ecological conversion"? How do they inspire the faithful to a new relationship with creation?
How do these moral guidelines assist toward a renewed environmental stewardship?
Woodenene Koenig-Bricker author of the book indicates that although Pope Benedict
XVI did not write the Ten Commandments for the Environment, they reflect the essence of his teaching and message. The author goes on to comment that what is particularly ecotheologically helpful about Benedict is "his understanding of the inseparable link between Creation, Redemption, and the environment."182
On June 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI published his fifth encyclical entitled
'Caritas in Veritate.' 'Charity in Truth' was timed to coincide with the G8 Summit in
L'Aquila, Italy. The focus of the G8 was fourfold: economic repair, aid to poor countries, food security, and climate change. In an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, the host of the G8 meeting, the Pontiff urged the G8 leaders to "defend the poor" and to "listen to the voice of Africa." His encyclical emphasizes solidarity with poorer countries, care for the environment and development. In it, he addresses the social and moral consequences of the global economic crisis.183
181 Koenig-Bricker, "Overview of the ten commandments," Ten Commandments for the Environment, 22-23.
13 Benedict XVI, "Caritas in Veritate," Encyclical, (Vatican, July 2009). Given at Saint Peter's, on June 29, 2009, on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. It was the fifth encyclical of his Pontificate, http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben- xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-veritate_en.html (Accessed April 17, 2010). 79
8. Religious Dimension of Ecology
In a Zenit article entitled, "Pope Stresses Religious Dimension of Ecology."
Benedict XVI is reported greeting a group of sponsors of the Holy See's Pavilion held at the 2008 Zaragoza Expo. This international exposition held in Spain, was on the theme,
"Water and Sustainable Development." Benedict XVI noted that participation in the exposition was to "demonstrate not only the urgent need constantly to defend the environment and the natural world, but also to discover its more profound spiritual and religious dimension." The Zenit report continues, "Today more than ever," the Pope said, "people must be helped to see in creation something more than a simple source of wealth or exploitation in man's hands." He continued, "The truth is that when God, through creation, gave man the keys to the earth, he wanted him to use this great gift responsibly and respectfully, making it fruitful."
The article continues with the Pontiff affirming, "The human being discovers the intrinsic value of nature if he learns to see it for what it really is, the expression of a plan of love and truth that speaks to us of the Creator and of his love for humanity, which will find its fulfillment in Christ, at the end of time."186 "In this context," Benedict XVI stated, "it is important to reiterate the close relationship between protection of the
184 Zenit.org (Web News Agency). "Pope Stresses Religious Dimension of Ecology: Says Nature Is Expression of God's Love for Mankind," (Castel Gandolofo, Italy, September 10, 2009), 1. ZENIT is a non-profit international news agency reporting on the activities of the Pope, the magisterium and the life of the Catholic Church. Zenit.org, a website, belongs to Innovative Media Inc., New York. Reporting in English since January 1998). http://www.zenit.org/article-268287Henglish (Accessed March 8, 2010). 80
environment and respect for the ethical requirements of human nature, because when human ecology is respected within society, environmental ecology also benefits."
Most of this teaching was shared at the Summit on Climate Change in New York
City when Pope Benedict XVI sent a video statement to participants, "The Earth Is
Indeed a Precious Gift of the Creator." At the meeting of about one hundred leaders held on September 22, 2009, participants were encouraged by Pope Benedict to "enter their discussions constructively and with generous courage" in preparation for the U.N.
Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December.188
On December 8, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI released, "If You Want to Cultivate
1 SO
Peace, Protect Creation," an Address, in time for the Copenhagen Conference. He writes, "Respect for creation is of immense consequence, not least because "creation is the beginning and the foundation of all God's works" and its preservation has now become essential for the pacific coexistence of mankind." Man's inhumanity to man experienced in war, terrorism, and violations of human rights, Pope Benedict exclaims, along with problems in human development explicated in 'Caritas in Veritate,' flow from
Zenit (News Agency), "The Earth Is Indeed a Precious Gift of the Creator," Papal statement to Climate Change Meeting, (Transcript issued September 24, 2009) http://www.zenit.org/article- 26956?l=english (Accessed April 16, 2010).
189 Benedict XVI, "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation," 2010 World Day of Peace Address. (Released in Vatican, December 8, 2009). Quote Cites: Catechism of the Catholic Church, #198. http://www.vatican.va/holy_fathe^enedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas- in-veritate_en.html (Accessed January 28, 2010).
190 Ibid., (n.l). 81
man's relationship with the natural environment. All of these factors demonstrate the need for protecting creation, if you want to cultivate peace.
Of particular interest for this study, is the position Pope Benedict reiterates from the Compendium regarding the Catholic claim that "a correct understanding of the relationship between man and the environment will not end by absolutizing nature or by considering it more important than the human person."191
If the Church's magisterium expresses grave misgivings about notions of the environment inspired by ecocentrism and biocentrism, it is because such notions eliminate the difference of identity and worth between the human person and other living things. In the name of a supposedly egalitarian vision of the "dignity" of all living creatures, such notions end up abolishing the distinctiveness and superior role of human beings. They also open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone, understood in purely naturalistic terms.192
Pope Benedict goes on to reiterate the Church's concern for a balanced approach with
"respect for the grammar which the Creator has inscribed in his handiwork" by giving man the role of steward, and administrator with responsibility over creation, a role to be taken seriously.1 3 On the opposite side, Pope Benedict cautions against absolutizing technological fixes and human power which can result "in a grave assault not only on nature, but also on human dignity itself."194
191 Ibid., (n. 13).
192 Ibid., (n.13). Benedict XVI's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, gave an Address at the Fiftieth General Assembly of the United Nations Organization on October 5, 1995. He said, "The universal moral law written on the human heart is precisely that kind of "grammar" which is needed if the world is to engage this discussion of its future" (n.3). This was said in reference to "building the civilization of love." http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/speeches/1995/october/documents/hfJp- ii_spe_05101995_address-to-uno_en.html (Accessed February 18, 2010).
193 Ibid., (n. 13).
Ibid., (n. 13). 82
Pope Benedict suggests that as peace is the desire of all people of good will it
"would become easier if all acknowledge the indivisible relationship between God, human beings and the whole of creation."195 "Christians," he acknowledges "have their own contribution to make" with their appreciation of the cosmos and the creativity of
God, of the redemptive work of Christ, and of the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Pope Benedict concludes by declaring it "a duty incumbent upon each and all" to build a world of peace. "May this be clear to world leaders and to those at every level who are concerned for the future of humanity: the protection of creation and peacemaking are profoundly linked!"196
9. Catholic Worldview - New Empirical Conditions
A critique of the Catholic worldview in Catholic Social Thought: American
Reflections on the Compendium, gives reviews and commentaries in response to the
Vatican's 2005 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church. Of particular interest for this research is a commentary on Chapter 10, devoted to protecting the environment, which was prepared by Scharper and Weigert. They begin their critique of Chapter 10, one of the shortest and by far the least competent in the volume.197
In "An Invitation to Inclusive Environmental Reflection," Scharper and Weigert put forth the new empirical conditions, the res novae of declining earth-human
195 Ibid., (n. 14).
196 Ibid., (n. 14).
197 Stephen Scharper and Andrew J. Weigert, "An Invitation to Inclusive Environmental Reflection: Reflections on Compendium, Chapter 10" in Catholic Social Thought: American Reflections on the Compendium, eds., D. Paul Sullins and Anthony J. Blasi, (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2009), pp. 127-142. 83
sustainability caused by climate change, as urgent enough to require an update to
Catholic Social Thought. However, as is evident from Pope Benedict XVI's address on
January 1, 2010, Papal teaching remains fundamentally tied to the Compendium concepts.
Scharper and Weigert present a comprehensive reflection exploring the dynamics of cosmocentrism, biocentrism, and anthropocentrism for the contributions and challenges they pose for environmental ethics. The integration of these three powerful perspectives is central to this thesis.
First is the "need for an inclusive starting point for environmental ethical reflection," Scharper and Weigert contend.198 Whereas the Compendium text universalizes the need for environmental ethics, it also uses exclusivist claims saying that scientism without transcendence leads to nihilism; that "to divinize nature or the earth, as can readily be seen in certain ecological movements" reduces the worth of the human person. The magisterium opposes "a concept of the environment based on ecocentrism and on biocentrism" because they eliminate the "ontological and axiological difference between men" and all other living beings."200
"These ortho-dogmatic moves separate environmental actors according to a priori and exclusivist dogmas," Scharper and Weigert exclaim, "and thus rank Catholic doctrine as superior to other approaches, even while claiming to speak for and to all and asking all
Ibid., 128-29.
200 Ibid, 128, citing John Paul IPs Address "The Environment and Health," (24 March 1997). This concept was reiterated by Benedict XVI in "Peace, Protect Creation" (n.13). 84
for environmental cooperation." Scharper and Weigert question, how these "dogmatic religious formulations" that are divisive can achieve ethical benefits for earth-human relations when they decry other approaches.202 How can the faithful appropriate such
Teachings and Traditions, and how can others of 'good will' who are addressed and encouraged in environmental activities, accept such a worldview? Scharper and Weigert also note difficulty in reading the lack of inclusive language wherein 'man' is used exclusively, yet assumedly to refer to all human persons. Additionally, Grazer's recent sampling is cited suggesting that there are many Catholic leaders and lay people who "are already reaching beyond the doctrinal approach codified in the Compendium," toward environmental justice initiatives that are more inclusive "since the United States Catholic
Bishops set up a program in environmental justice."
Second is the need for beginning an inclusive ethical response to emerging environmental issues. Scharper and Weigert name several responses.
1) The Biblical tradition - The command to "keep the Earth," as given in Genesis, rather than for humans to lordly "dominate" the Earth sounds in today' circumstances like a call to stewardship, a "keeping of the garden."204
Ibid., 128.
Ibid., 128.
Ibid., 129.
Ibid., 130. 85
2) The new story - For the last twenty years, Thomas Berry has called Catholic thinkers to advance "the new story" of cosmogenesis as a foundational and continuous unfolding of redemption and creation that can offer a twenty-first century hermeneutic.
3) The historical reality of our day - correlates globalization with ecological destruction. Thus, changes in Catholic social teaching are required to keep pace with the emerging growth of poverty and deforestation, depletion of aquifers, and natural disasters.
4) The common good - goes beyond "the equitable distribution of resources" when the global commons involve ecosystems: geospheric, biospheric, and hydrospheric concerns. "We are confronted with arresting questions of a deeply philosophical and spiritual nature."
5) Human dignity - not only requires proper land use, clean air to breathe and clean water to drink; it also requires a re-imagining of Divinity itself. Images of God,
can connect the God of Redemption/Creation with an organizing cosmological narrative that promotes "the universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects."
6) Ecological Justice - Social Justice - must intersect at a foundational level by recasting anthropocentrism with "an increasing sense of our interrelationship with and dependence upon Earth's natural systems, and with the nonhuman animals which form an
907 integral part of those systems."
205 Ibid., 132.
206 Ibid., citing Thomas Berry, 136.
207 Ibid., 133. 86
Third is a vocation to act sustainably. A living church in a living earth community should move "the human project from its devastating exploitation to a benign presence." Many religious communities especially of women are updating their spiritual rules to include "this call as a new ecologically based Christian vocation."209
One example is a retreat day that I co-facilitated celebrating the 400th anniversary of Loretto Sisters of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Their guiding principle for launching into their fifth century was the phrase from Thomas Berry, "In order to tell the story of anything, you have to tell the story of everything." And so, through a dramatic reenactment, the Sisters contextualized the story of their Institute's evolution within the context of the Universe Story's 13.7 billion year drama. "What moved me most deeply," one Sister wrote," was the attempt to put the two stories together: new cosmology and
Mary Ward. Consequent to that was the fantastic energy that existed throughout the day."210
The call to an "Ecological Conversion" leads us to the fifth shift from the industrial motif to an ecological morality. "Ecological Conversion" is the Fifth Theme.
How can a commitment to an "Ecological Conversion" be facilitated as an element in ecological spirituality in Catholic education, so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
208 Ibid., citing Thomas Berry, 136.
209 Ibid., 131.
210 The quote was written on a feedback sheet. 87
10. Summary for an Ecological Conversion
The new cosmology challenges Catholic "Teaching, Tradition, and Thought" to engage in an ecological reformation. White's critique placed culpability for the
"dominion" motif of man over nature with Christianity. John Paul IPs teachings about care for the environment are embedded in the broader call for "respect for life." He reconstructs the interpretive model by speaking about man's stewardship role as ministerial and not "absolute." The call to an "Ecological Conversion," the fifth theme in this ecotheology, led us to the Compendium, the anthropological problem, and then to
Pope Benedict XVI's corrective for earth ecology with human ecology, through social ecology. Scharper and Weigert put forth the new empirical conditions, the res novae, of the ecological crisis with proposals for a functional Catholic Social Teaching. Thus far, the following themes and shifts have been explored.
Five of the Themes and Shifts in the Theory at Work Table 2.
Themes Shifts
1. "Cosmos as Revelation" from mythic to measured, scientific revelation
2. "Liberation" from a cosmology of domination to liberation
3. "A Sacred Universe" from cosmos to cosmogenesis
from anthropocentric and biocentric 4. "We Are One" to an ecological worldview
5. "Ecological Conversion" from industrial motif to an ecological morality 88
F. Catholic "Tradition" in Religious Education
1. Catholic Education in Ontario
In order to understand how Catholic Teaching and Traditions become actualized in the praxis of living the faith, this section will outline the flow of Catholic education in
Ontario. There are approximately 1500 Catholic schools, with almost 550,000 students
(2009-10). Roman Catholics represent over one-third of Ontario's population (2001) and number 1.8 million people in the Toronto Archdiocese.212 The Catholic School system has been publicly funded up to Grade 10 since Confederation. It was then fully funded in 1984 to include senior high schools.213 Catholic education is also paramount in nine Ontario Catholic Universities.
"So, traditio fidei or the handing down of our faith / evangelization / knowing the
Catholic Christian story / understanding and promoting our tradition / our vision for
Catholic education: all of this," notes James T. Mulligan, CSC, "is deemed essential to maintaining the integrity of Catholic education and to effectively continue our mission."214
211 Ontario Catholic School Trustees' Association. OCSTA has dedicated itself to the promotion and development of the Catholic school system in Ontario for 75 years. http://www.ocsta.on.ca/mediaCentre.aspx4 (Accessed March 14, 2010).
212 Archdiocese of Toronto. "Statistics," http://www.archtoronto.Org/about_us/who.hrml#5 (Accessed March 14, 2010).
213 Mark McGowan, "The Development of Catholic Schools in Ontario," http://www.pvnccdsb.on.ca/library/Distinctly%20Catholic/Development%20of%20Catholic%20Sch.pdf (Accessed March 14, 2010).
214 James T. Mulligan, CSC, "Reflections on the Paradigm Shift Affecting Catholic Education in Ontario: A Work in Progress," Article reproduced for Tomorrows Trust: A Review of Catholic Education, (February 2008) http://tomorrowstrust.ca/?p=1016 (Accessed March 14, 2010). 89
"A Catholic worldview is infused into Catholic curriculum when teachers combine Ontario Catholic School Graduate Expectations and Ontario Ministry of
Education expectations for the teaching of subjects in Catholic classrooms."215
"The Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations" create a common purpose and focus for the realization of this vision in all curriculum planning and implementation. The
"Expectations" of Catholic graduates are described not only in terms of knowledge and skills, but in terms of values, attitudes and actions under such rubrics as:
1) a discerning believer; 2) an effective communicator; 3) a reflective, creative and holistic thinker; 4) a self-directed, responsible, lifelong learner; 5) a collaborative contributor; 6) A caring family member; and 7) a responsible citizen.216
"Expectations" that connect directly with creation are embedded in the rubrics:
1) seeks intimacy with God and celebrates communion with God, others and creation through prayer and worship (If); 2) examines, evaluates and applies knowledge of interdependent systems (physical, political, ethical, socio-economic and ecological) for the development of a just and compassionate society (3f). 3) respects the environment and uses resources wisely (7i).
Of 52 Expectations listed, 3 directly name creation / ecological / environment; 3 name the sacredness of life; 31 focus on human ecology, social ecology and the common good;
10 are faith oriented; 5 are literacy oriented.
Catholic Curriculum Corporation, "Curriculum in Catholic Schools" in "Catholic Curriculum Maps: Foundational Support for Catholic Teachers," (September, 2006), 3. http://www.catholiccurriculumcorp.Org/resources/elementary.htm#CCM (Accessed March 14, 2010).
216 Ontario Institute for Catholic Education with Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, "The Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations" (1998). Note: (If) and (3f) refer to the first rubric 'a discerning believer. http://www.occb.on.ca/ice/online_docs/Graduate%20Expectations.pdf (Accessed March 14, 2010). 90
A problem in retreat ministry arises when attempting to align the Catholic worldview with an ecological worldview. The Catholic Curriculum Corporation states,
Catholic schools have the unique educational purpose of presenting a Catholic worldview to their students. A Catholic worldview is a way of looking at the world through a Catholic Church lens. This worldview is derived from Catholic Church teachings, scripture and Catholic Church traditions. These teachings, scripture and traditions form the basis of what is taught in Catholic schools.217
2. Creation in Religious and Family Life Education
The Catechetical programs focus on the "teachings, scripture and traditions" of the faith.218 Religion Programs are supported by the Catechism of the Catholic Church? a) In Catholic Elementary Schools - "Religious Education is the nexus between what theology says about faith and how this is passed on today."220 Teachers in Catholic schools pass on the faith in so many ways that connect with creation: through the religious dimension embedded in the regular curriculum, in religious education / catechesis, making bread from the wheat of earth for First Communion sacramental preparation, writing creation prayers, Earth Day celebrations, Easter liturgies, mission
Catholic Curriculum Corporation, "Curriculum in Catholic Schools," 3.
218 National Office of Religious Education with Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), Born of the Spirit: Religious Education Program, K - Grade 6 and We Are Strong Together Gr. 7- Gr.10. (Ottawa: CCCB). Each Grade's curriculum contains themes on creation. Gr. 9-12 Religious Education programs prepared by Institute for Catholic Education, Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Ontario Catholic Secondary Curriculum Policy Document for Religious Education,", (Toronto: OCCB Publications, Revised 2006). http://www.occb.on.ca/ice/default.cfm?category=57 (Accessed Mar. 1, 2010.)
219 Catholic Catechism of the Catholic Church. (Ottawa: CCCB Publications Service, 1994). http://www.christusrex.org/wwwl/CDHN/ccc.html (Accessed March 21, 2010).
Margaret Lavin, What We believe: Practical Theology for Teachers, (Toronto: Novalis Publishing Inc., 2009), 12. 91
projects for clean water, retreats to spiritual centres, and fieldtrips to conservation areas, to mention but a few.
Religion Curriculum strands for Grades JK-8 include five approaches:
1) Knowledge and Respect for Scripture, 2) Basic Catholic Teaching, 3) Moral
Awareness, 4) Prayers, and 5) Sacraments. Creation Themes, embedded in the strands, are taught in every grade, for example:
Creation Themes in Religious Education Programme Table 3.
1. Kindergarten "Earth is God's creation" 2. Grade 2 "We Savour the Gifts from the Earth" 3. Grade 6 "Let Justice Flow Like Water" 4. Grade 7 "God.. .the Creator of Heaven and Earth."
Family Life Curriculum for Grades JK- 8 is taught as a program unto itself yet in tandem with Religion. Family Life strands include: 1) Created and Loved by God; 2) Living in
Relationship; 3) Created Sexual: male and female; 4) Growing in Commitment;
5) Living in the World; and 6) Contributing to Society. Creation Themes in Family
Life, embedded in the strands, are found at every level, for example:
Creation Themes in Family Life Programme Table 4.
1. Kindergarten "We are part of God's creation" 2. Grade 1 "God's Wonderful Creation" 3. Grade 4 "Stewards of the world's physical environment" 4. Grade 8 "Building a loving/just community"
221 Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, Fully Alive: Family Life Education Program, (Gr. K-8) Fully Alive, (Toronto: OCCB Publications, 2007). Revisions ongoing since 1978. http://www.occb.on.ca/englishweb/fullyalive.htm. Gr. 9 & 10 - Turning Points: Readings in Family Life Education, (Toronto: Prentice Hall Ginn, 1997). Gr. 11 & 12 - Reaching Out: Readings in Family Life Education, (Toronto: Prentice Hall Ginn, 1997). Written under the auspices of the Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops. "Family Life Education for Secondary Students," prepared by Institute for Catholic Education, (Toronto: OCCB Publications, Revised 2006). Available at: http://www.occb.on.ca/ice/default.cfm?category=57 (Accessed March 14, 2010). 92
b) In Catholic Secondary Schools - "Religious Education functions as the academic component within the nexus of activities that seek to evangelize and catechize students."222 A Catholic identity is nurtured though systemic supports such as chaplaincy services, liturgical celebrations, community social justice outreach, and peer ministry.
A Catholic formation is fostered in ethical and moral norms that recognize the call of
God to respect the fundamental dignity of the human person. Family Life topics are incorporated into the Religious Education program. A Catholic heritage is declared spiritually through a commitment to the belief in God, to serving others, and to developing an active faith community.
Religion strands for Secondary School Grades 9-12 include: 1) Scripture,
2) Profession of Faith, 3) Christian Moral Development, 4) Prayer and Sacramental Life, and 5) Family Life. Creation topics are incorporated into Secondary School Religion themes, for example:
Creation Themes in Secondary School Table 5.
1. Grade 9 "Be Just"- How can earth survive? 2. GradelO "Social witness to the world" 3. Grade 11 "World Religions" 4. Grade 12 "Justice in the Global Village"
Institute for Catholic Education (ICE) with Ontario Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Religious Education in the 21st Century" (1.2) in "Ontario Catholic Secondary Curriculum Policy Document for Religious Education," (Toronto: OCCB Publications, Revised 2006). http://www.occb.on.ca/ice/default.cfm?category=57 (Accessed March 14, 2010.) 93
This overview of Catholic religious education about creation demonstrates how it is embedded in the curriculum and in the spirituality of Catholicity. Let us now take a look at teacher formation for teaching about creation / ecotheology.
c) In Catholic Teacher Religious Education Courses strands include: 1) Scripture,
2) Faith Formation, 3) Christian Morality/Ethics, 4) Sacraments, 5) Religious Education, and 6) Liturgy/Celebrations. How is an ecotheological perspective explored?
In strand 3 under "The Ethics of Justice," teachers can choose to explore one topic.223
Life Issues: 1. Ecology: Stewardship of Creation 2. Personal Growth and Self-Respect as Life Issues 3. Life and Death Issues: Abortion, Suicide, Capital Punishment Many of the Catholic school boards in Ontario require that applicants for teaching positions have completed successfully a course in religious education methods. To help candidates meet this requirement, the Faculties of Education offer an introduction to the curriculum concepts which compose the religious education programs currently in use in the Catholic Schools. Studies may also include scripture, Christian anthropology, psychology of religion, liturgy and sacraments.224 An ecotheological perspective of the type developed in this thesis beginning with the new cosmology is not explicitly explored.
Ontario English Catholic Teachers Association provides "Additional Qualification" courses in Religious Education: Parts 1, 2, 3. http://www.oecta.on.ca/wps/portal/courses (Accessed March 14, 2010).
224 Note: PreService Religious Education occurs at: Brock, Lakehead, Laurier, Nippissing, Ottawa, Queens, Sudbury, Toronto: St. Michael's College and OISE, Western, Windsor, and York Universities. 94
d) In Catholic Colleges at Universities in Ontario, Religious Studies are offered at Assumption, Brescia, King's, St. Jerome's, St. Michael's, and St. Paul's. How is an ecotheological perspective through the new cosmology explored? At St. Jerome's, Dr.
Christina Vanin, Associate Dean, and Chair of the Dept. of Religious Studies and
Director of the Master of Catholic Thought Program, has written and lectured about
Ecological Justice emanating from her personal association with Thomas Berry and his cosmological vision.
e) In Catholic Faculty of Theology programs, strands vary for certain degrees, but tend to include: 1) Biblical, 2) Theological Foundations, 3) Ethics/Moral Theology,
4) Historical, 5) Pastoral and 6) Systematics-Sacraments. Philosophy is a pre-requisite for MDiv. How is an ecotheological perspective through the new cosmology explored?
The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology (EAITE) hosted by the University of St. Michael's College offers a Certificate of Specialization in Theology and Ecology in each of its graduate programs at the Faculty of Theology. By prioritizing creation as a focus of study throughout the six strands, the student takes theology, ecology, and the new cosmology to a deeper level of meaning.227
225 Cristina Vanin, "Canadian women's religious communities: models of contextual ecological justice." In Feminist Theology with a Canadian Accent, ed. Mary Ann Beavis with Elaine Guillemin and Barbara Pell, (Toronto, ON: Novalis, 2008) 273-90. "Ecofeminist Theology: Choosing Life for All." Current Issues in Catholic Higher Education 24 (1): (2004), 95-114.
226 Toronto School of Theology, Degree Programs include Masters in Religious Education (M.R.E.) "Course Catalogue" www.tst.edu (Accessed March 15, 2010). Three Catholic Colleges are Regis College, St. Augustine's Seminary, and University of St. Michael's College. In Ottawa, St. Paul's University offers an M.R.E. and other Theology Degrees.
227 The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology (EAITE). Goals of the Institute are available at: http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/eaite (Accessed March 15, 2010). 95
3. Summary of Religious Education for Creation
This overview of religious education about creation demonstrates that while attention is evident in curriculum components, it could be i) more visible in mission statements, ii) higher in the level of primacy required for educational outcomes for the problem of earth-human sustainability, iii) eager to ensure spiritual benefits of communion with God's creation, iv) keen to inspire earth stewardship from a faith perspective commensurate with the best and the most leading edge integration of
Catholic Teaching, Tradition, and Thought toward social and ecological justice, and v) broad in integrating an ecological worldview for students, teachers, teachers-in-
PreService, and Parish catechesis.
4. Environmental Education in Ontario
In the public domain, Environmental Studies and degree programs are now offered at most Universities and Community Colleges. The Faculty of Environmental
Studies at York University, founded in 1968, was the first of its kind in North America.
Since then, programs in Environmental Studies have grown exponentially. Many new, young teachers-to-be have already been schooled in environmental studies in their undergraduate degree.
And now Ontario schools: Public and Catholic, Elementary and Secondary, are making the commitment to provide students with an Environmental Education for the future - "one that that will offer them the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and practices they 96
will need to cope with an increasingly complex world and enable them to find new
998 solutions in building a healthy society."
The goal of the program of Environmental Education in Ontario is to preserve the health of the natural environment by engaging members of the school community in environmentally responsible practices. The context, vision, goals, and values of the
Environmental Education program actually contribute to the legitimacy of this research study from an ecological dimension if not a specifically religious and spiritual dimension. Over the past decade, changes in the Earth's environment and its natural systems have emerged as a matter of increasingly urgent concern around the world. While the issues are complex and diverse, there is a shared and universal recognition that solutions will arise only through committed action on a global, national, regional, local, and individual scale. Schools have a vital role to play in preparing our young people to take their place as informed, engaged, and empowered citizens who will be pivotal in shaping the future of our communities, our province, our 99Q
country, and our global environment.
Four Components of Environmental Studies 1. Environmental Education seeks to promote an appreciation and understanding of, and concern for, the environment, and to foster informed, engaged, and responsible environmental citizenship 2. Environmental Literacy prepares the student to have the knowledge and perspectives required to understand public issues and place them in a meaningful environmental context using a mix of vocabulary, key concepts, history, and philosophy.
3. Education for Sustainability focuses on ensuring that the ways in which humans use or affect ecosystems do not compromise the natural ability of ecosystems for renewal or regeneration. Effective education for sustainability stresses the need for highly developed systems thinking and futures thinking.
Ontario Ministry of Education, Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future: Environmental Education in Ontario Schools, Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education (Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, June 2007), 6. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/shapingschools.pdf (Accessed January 20, 2010).
Ibid., "Introduction and Background," 1. 97
4. Outdoor Education provides experiential learning in the environment to foster a connection to local places, develop a greater understanding of ecosystems, and provide a unique context for learning. °
5. Integration with Creation - Sixth Theme
As the reader can appreciate, Environmental Studies is multidisciplinary. It cross- references not only with sciences, social studies, geography, history, philosophy, and civics curriculums but also can be found integrated into primary grade themes such as
"Our Community." Integration of the Catholic worldview into curriculum is the work of
The Catholic Curriculum Corporation established in 1991. It's Mission is "Building and sustaining the Catholic capacity of educators through the development and provision of high quality Catholic curriculum, resources, support and professional development."
The CCC Vision is 'Faith Through learning: A Distinctive Catholic Curriculum.' To this end, in Catholic elementary schools, science curriculum topics have been integrated with a Catholic worldview with resources for Grades 1-8.232
An example, with specific reference for this study, follows.
Ontario Ministry of Education, "Curriculum: Cross-curricular Integration" in Shaping Our Schools, 13-15.
231 Catholic Curriculum Corporation: Central and Western Region, a consortium of seventeen Catholic school boards across central and western Ontario, http://www.catholiccurriculumcorp.org/ (Accessed March 14, 2010). Note: The CCC was originally named the "Community of Catholic School Boards" (CCSB) (1991). The Vision and Mission Statements are integral to their work of advocacy.
232 Catholic Curriculum Corporation: Central and Western Region, "Integrating Science and Technology and Catholic Curriculum Maps," (November, 2008). http://www.catholiccurriculumcorp.org/resources/Units/ISTLife/Grade7.pdf (Accessed March 14, 2010). 98
Grade 7 Understanding Life Systems Strand: Interactions in the Environment
Catholic Social Teaching: Human Dignity Essential Question: What is our story? OCSGE:233 Integrates faith with life (1 i) Respects the environment and use resources wisely (7i)
Topic: Interactions in the Environment 1. Students will analyze some of the impacts humans have on the environment and their consequences, and their personal responsibility to protect the environment. 2. Students will observe existing ecosystems and investigate factors that may affect balance within the system. 3. Students will learn that ecosystems consist of communities of plants and animals that depend on each other as well as the non-living parts of the environment.
Unit Guiding Question: How do we act as stewards of creation in regards to our effect on ecosystems?
Essential Understandings • Develop an awareness of the Creation Stories (Genesis) • Identify the significance of the Lord's Prayer • Develop an understanding of the need for balance in their lives
Religion Link: "Believe in Me," unit 4.2 of the Grade 7 Religion textbook, presents a further examination of the creation stories.2
In Catholic Secondary Schools, Environmental Science is now a teachable subject for Grade 11 University/College Preparation/ Workplace Preparation. In the past, environmental concepts were traditionally taught in science (Gr. 9 Earth and Space
Science: The Study of the Universe; Grade 11, Biology: Diversity of Living Things) and in geography classes. In 2009, a framework for bringing Environmental Education into the classroom in each discipline in Grades 9 to 12 was introduced with a Scope and
Note: OCSGE represents Ontario Catholic Student Graduate Expectations. See the 7 previous rubrics.
234 Note: In Grades 7 and 9, the stories of creation from Genesis are used under the 'order of creation' motif. National Office of Religious Education and CCCB, "Believe in Me" Gr. 7 Student Text; "Be With Me" Grade 9 Student Text. (Ottawa: Concan Inc., 1997), 142-143. 99
Sequence. In Grade 10 Civics, for example, one goal in "Active Citizenship" is to develop the skills and personal attributes of environmentally literate citizens, and to develop the value of personal action.
Career path initiatives offer Grade 11-12 students experience in "the environment, energy, or natural resources sectors." Environmental Projects also qualify for "40
Hours of Community Service" required for Ontario graduation certification.
Another initiative is the Ontario EcoSchools program, a voluntary, environmental education program for Grades 1-12, that supports school communities to be environmentally responsible. More than 906 schools in 32 school boards (15 are
Catholic) have become certified EcoSchools since its inception in 2003. Points are awarded for energy conservation, waste management, and school ground greening.
EcoSchools promote teamwork, leadership, and environmental stewardship by encouraging initiatives such as EcoConferences, EcoFairs, Bottled Water Free Days, and
Earth Week celebrations. Schools can aim to be certified at three levels: bronze, silver, and gold.237 The way of shaping tomorrow is by acting today as the program promotes.
By the end of Grade 12, students will acquire knowledge, skills, and perspectives that foster understanding of their fundamental connections to each other, to the world around them, and to all living things.
235 Ontario Ministry of Education The Ontario Curriculum Grades 9-12: Resource Guide - Environmental Education Scope and Sequence of Expectations 2009 Edition. Publication is available only on the Ministry of Education's website, at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca. (Accessed March 16, 2010).
236 Ontario Ministry of Education. The Specialist High Skills Majors (SHSM), launched in September 2006, offers career path experience in environmental studies that includes sciences, engineering, technology, and research. Post secondary studies at college or university. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/ pathways/shsm/environment.pdf (Accessed February 13, 2010). 237 Ontario EcoSchools. http://www.ontarioecoschools.org/ (Accessed February 13, 2010).
238 Ontario Ministry of Education, Acting Today, Shaping Tomorrow, 11. 100
Environmental Education programs themselves contribute to an ecological worldview.
6. Catholic - Environmental Education
How can ecological spirituality in Catholic education be facilitated so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness? The Science
Department Head of the Toronto Catholic District School Board expresses the relationship with Catholicity and Environmental Education this way, "Through a Christ- centred approach students are enabled to reach their full academic potential, while developing spiritually and emotionally."240 The TCDSB is committed to providing leadership and direction for the protection and conservation of the environment in its
Environmental Studies program. As such, there were 45 Toronto Catholic schools certified as Ontario EcoSchools in 2008/2009. A special celebration was held to mark their achievement at which more than 300 people were in attendance. The Board-wide
Environment committee which meets monthly is made up of students, teachers, superintendents, parents, and support staff from the following departments (caretaking, communications, facilities, materials management, religious education, student leadership and teaching resources). In 2009/2010 they hope to certify 75 schools and this is the trend in Catholic School Boards across the province.
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/ShapeTomorrow.pdf (Accessed February 13, 2010).
239 Ontario Ministry of Education, Shaping Our Schools, 7-9. Environmental Education thrives in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec; in U.S. States: California and Minnesota; in countries: Australia, Finland, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, Sweden and the United Kingdom. http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/shapingschools.pdf (Accessed on January 20, 2010).
Toronto Catholic District School Board. "Environmental Initiatives." http://www.tcdsb.org/environment/ (Accessed February 13, 2010). 101
Youth have a particular eagerness to be involved with earth-care activities such as
Earth Hour, Earth Day, and the Clean-City Challenge. An example of special mention is
St Jean de Brebeuf Catholic High School in Woodbridge, ON which is at the forefront of the "green revolution" with the addition of a solar panel on the school. The panel is in the shape of a cross and generates some power that feeds into the school. It was the Social
Science, Technology and Science Departments at Brebeuf who won the board wide competition last year for the solar panel. The photo voltaic system has a companion website that allows students to see how much energy is being generated and how much is exported to the grid. It also shows the footprints of energy that are being consumed.
7. Summary of Catholic Education about Creation
This review of Catholic Religious Education and Environmental Education shines a light on the strength of the Catholic worldview to put forth a religious, moral, and spiritual perspective on care for creation from a classical theological perspective. While the rationale, resources, and rhetoric hold together, I find a weakness from a holistic perspective and from a twenty-first century perspective. Perhaps further "Thought" can enlighten a seventh shift from action toward creation to action with creation.
241 York Region Catholic District School Board, St Jean de Brebeuf Catholic High School, "Solar Vu." http://www.sjdb.solarvu.net/green/solarVuLive.php?ac=sjdb&dr=arise (Accessed March 16,2010). G. Expanding Catholic "Thought"
1. Greening Catholic "Thought"
As mentioned in this study, one of the challenges for Catholic educators and retreat facilitators is to explore emerging theologies for their epistemological significance while at the same time living with the creative tensions of Teaching, Tradition, and
Thought in faith with the impacts of culture and the ecological imperative. Scharper and
Weigert recommend updating Catholic "Thought." "All three approaches- anthropocentric, biocentric, and cosmocentric-are wrestling with the foundational ontological challenge of the present environmental situation. All three strive to find a proper role and vocation of the human person in light of our dire ecological forecast,"
Scharper and Weigert contend.242
The need is "to be attentive to our world's unequal ecologies in the search for a new and sustainable way of being human."243 They suggest that there is a place for all three perspectives wherein the dynamic need for social justice and peace with grounding in the preferential option for the poor is promoted (anthropocentrism). A dual solidarity is to be supported with earth (biocentrism) and those most vulnerably oppressed -"native communities, the poor, powerless, minorities, women, and the disabled." It becomes obvious that neither can we survive, nor can many other species survive, "in a world that pits the earth's ecosystems against economic, political, scientific, and religious systems
242 Scharper and Weigert, Catholic Social Thought, 136.
243 Ibid., 136.
244 Ibid., 137. 103
of interpretation, intervention, and control." The nature of the required change goes to the heart of our self-identity as cosmological beings and to our earth-human-divine interrelationship (cosmocentrism).
Going beyond distinctiveness and embracing inclusivity, we need to find solidarity in caring for creation in the ethic of social and ecological justice. We need to find the way, the imagination, the willingness to respond "both to the cries of hungry children and the winds that blow through ancient forests."246
2. Religious and Spiritual Dimensions
Imbedded in the objectives of "the religious dimension of Catholic education," are the subjective ecospiritual experience of teachers, students, parents, trustees and research subjects to consider. Prophetic wisdom can be found in the insights of Sandra M.
Schneiders, I.H.M., professor of New Testament Studies and Christian spirituality, who suggests that although ecospiritual experience might include religious phenomena which can be theologically articulated and historically rooted, nevertheless "the life project of self-integration through self-transcendence is more inclusive than either or both of these dimensions."247 Schneiders goes on to provide context, "Historically, one of the most interesting characteristics of Christian spirituality as lived experience is its capacity to
245 Ibid., 137.
246 Ibid., 138.
247 Sandra M. Schneiders, I.H.M. "A Hermeneutical Approach to the Study of Christian Spirituality, "Minding the Spirit: The Study of Christian Spirituality, eds., Elizabeth Dreyer and Mark Burrows, (Baltimore, Md.: John Hopkins University Press, 2005), 53. Schneiders teaches at Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, California. 104
introduce into the theological and/or religious purview of the Church insights and convictions which stretch the received theological categories and paradigms."248
Schneiders points to the experiences of John of the Cross and the journey of the soul, to Julian of Norwich who found in creation a deep joy, and to Teresa of Avila who met Jesus in mystical experiences. "Something similar must be recognized," Schneiders, adds, "in regard to the influence of the new cosmology on spirituality and the questions it is raising for theology."249 This is the subject of this study.
3. Assumptions Operative in the Study
Thomas Berry calls on the human community to participate in creating a viable future for the Earth by transforming the major institutions of education, law, government, business, and religion. First, it is my assumption that the themes and shifts that are contained in the theoretical framework of this thesis are operative in varying degrees in the global effort toward ecological sustainability. I assume that with the movement from modern science to cosmological wisdom there is a readiness in Catholic education in
Ontario to receive the insights from the new cosmological story of the emerging universe.
It is my second assumption that with a balanced integration of cosmocentric, anthropocentric and biocentric worldviews Catholic religious education could experience what John Hart claims in What are they saying about Environmental Theology?
When people realize their interdependence with each other and all creation, and are integrated and interrelated as a human family and as children of the Spirit and of the nurturing Earth, they will truly fulfill the deepest meaning of 'images of God.' Then they will walk with the Spirit and work with the Spirit toward a new 105
heaven and a new Earth, in which there truly would be peace with the Spirit Creator and peace with all creation.
This would require "walking humbly," with "a decentreing from the human-centred moorings of Christian thought and education to a radical eco-centric love and intimacy with the "humus," from which humans receive their name and of which we are part."251
Chamberlain says this "depends on the ability of religious educators to place the cosmos-
-the Creation-at the centre of efforts to speak of redemption, sin, salvation, and liberation. Without this intention, religious education will fail to bring the fullness of the
Christian story to bear on the [ecological] crisis."252 While it is a major challenge for theologians and ethicists to develop new approaches, it is equally as complex for religious educators and retreat ministers as those "responsible for translating Christian beliefs and values into practice."
It is my third assumption that with the cultural shift from the industrial motif to an emerging ecological worldview, Catholic education will go far to foster dimensions of spirituality and stewardship capable of deep compassion for human and non-human creations as one, whole, global community under God's tent.254 This emerging human- ecological worldview is developing in "Thought." When Catholic education in Ontario
250 John Hart. What are they saying about Environmental Theology? (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2004), 142.
251 Gary L.Chamberlain. "Ecology and Religious Education," Religious Education Journal, Vol. 95 No. 2, (Spring, 2000), 136.
252 Kinsley. Ecology and Religion, 135.
253 Ibid., 135.
254 Judy Cannato. Radical Amazement: Contemplative Lessons from Black Holes, Supernovas, and Other Wonders of the Universe, (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2006), 83. 106
integrates all of these components through the lens of faith, it will magnify ecological spirituality exponentially to help heal the planet.
It is my fourth assumption that a pastoral approach to earth stewardship could best be served with a range of theological reflections and responses for spiritual development.
In Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment, Stephen Scharper presents four theological typologies for ecological stewardship out of which Christians functioned in response to Lynn White Jr's indictment. These categories of response are: the "apologetic," "the constructive," the "listening" and the "eco-feminist" approach.
In my retreat facilitation, I anticipate meeting Catholics who are at various stages of faith experience. In my theology of ministry, I seek to be inclusive and respectful of individual journeys and desires for development in order for Catholic Education to contribute to the healing of the Earth in all of its life systems. This research will be especially sensitive to new dimensions of spirituality that emanate from the typologies.
I assume that the subjects will be representative of the larger Catholic community.
Chapter Three describes the Ministry-in-Action research methodology. CHAPTER THREE
Ministry-in-Action and Research Methodology
A. Introduction to Research
This chapter provides an overview of the Ministry-in-Action component and the qualitative research methodology utilized in this study. First, the research interest will be situated in the new religious context of my retreat ministry. The need for this research, the research question, and the objectives are stated. Second, an outline is given of qualitative research and the hermeneutic phenomenological approach that is taken.
Third, the ministry-in-action research project is described which formed the basis of the
Doctor of Ministry research project in this two year longitudinal study. The selection of participants, the process of data collection, analysis, interpretation, and evaluative procedures are presented. Themes emerging from the research are given.
1. Research Context
In my retreat ministry, I have identified a need for a stronger spirituality for ecological stewardship in the Catholic teachers and students with whom I am associated.
The relatively new genre of ecotheology has been ignited by two revelations i) global concerns about climate change, and ii) a new story of cosmogenesis empirically demonstrated by the scientific community within the last generation. Ecotheology can offer new religious and spiritual dimensions for religious education and therefore my retreat ministry. In this study, I researched the following question:
107 108
What are the methods within a retreat ministry that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness?
2. The Ministry-in-Action Component
My ministry-in-action involved a two year study with research participants who as young adults were choosing Catholic teaching as a profession / vocation. In the first year of this research, they were teachers-in-training learning the foundational philosophies, principles and practices of teaching religious education. I was particularly keen to discover how the newest teachers entering into the profession felt about their faith in relation to the environment, care for creation, and issues around climate change. In the second year, these research participants were employed as teachers and were taking 'care for creation' into their teaching practice.
The objectives of my ministry-in action were as follows:
1. To contribute to the development of "concrete programmes and materials" towards "an ecological conversion" at this time of ecological crisis;
2. To learn how to spark a religious imagination and inspire an ecoconsciousness with the telling of the universe story.
3. To be re-energized by teachers-in-training who bring their enthusiasm and idealism to their vocation;
4. To identify what is helpful for Catholic teachers as they try to integrate emerging theologies into their epistemological frameworks for a faith perspective on the environment;
5. To test my pastoral interest to meet people where they are by employing the theological typologies for stewardship;
6. To enable my retreat ministry to find resonance with the interests of students and teachers with regard to contemporary global issues; 109
7. To benefit personally and professionally from an integration of the theory of ecotheology with the praxis of ecospirituality and ecojustice.
B. Overview of Qualitative Research Method
1. A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach
Human science research, using a qualitative research method, involves self- reflection, description, and interpretation. Given that the topic for research is about faith as it relates to creation, it is most appropriate that an organic, emerging and particularistic methodology be employed. Phenomenology explores the meaning that individuals ascribe to their life experiences. The phenomenon can contain both an outward appearance and an inward consciousness based on memory, image, and meanings. John Creswell in
Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions, notes that the goal is to get underneath the experiences to determine the essence of the phenomenon or to uncover the meaning in everyday experiences.
The search for "new dimensions of spirituality" could be understood as uncovering "the essence of the phenomenon."
From a phenomenological point of view, to do research is always to question the way we experience the world, to want to know the world in which we live as human beings. And since to know the world is profoundly to be in the world in a certain way, the act of researching, questioning-theorizing is the initial act of attaching ourselves to the world, to become more fully part of it, or better, to become the world.. .then research is a caring act.. .To care is to serve and to share our being with the one we love.
John W. Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions, (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1998), 54.
Max van Manen. Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy, (New York: Suny Press, 1990.), 5. 110
Given that the aim of this research is to increase the care, love, and attention that Catholic education can bring to earth stewardship, the conscious awareness of the participants is key to understanding the phenomenon of spiritual insight. Participants in this research will be involved in meaning-making, self-awareness, expressions of ethical concern, and an expansion of beliefs and concepts. The ultimate aim of phenomenology, Max van
Manen says, is "the fulfillment of our human nature: to become more fully who we are."257
The researcher, in the hermeneutic approach, is asked to engage in the process of self-reflection to quite a different end than that of phenomenology. My biases and assumptions are not to be bracketed out or set aside, but rather are embedded and essential to the interpretive process. The researcher is called, on an ongoing basis, to give considerable thought to one's own experience and to be explicit about the ways in which they relate to issues being researched. A journal of my impressions was kept about my experiences and their applications.258 The thesis triangulates participatory research with ecotheological insight, and the praxis of retreat ministry in Catholic education.
2. Research Participants
Six Catholic, Pre-Service teachers-in-training volunteered for the research project to explore the combination of the faith of religion and the science of environmental
257 Ibid., 12.
258 Susan M. Laverty. "Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Phenomenology: A Comparison of Historical and Methodological Considerations." International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2 (3) Article 3 (September 2003), 17-18. http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/2_3final/pdf/Laverty.pdf. (Accessed September 10, 2008). Ill
education. The six teachers were members in a Religious Education class of seventy-five at a Faculty of Education in southern Ontario. The course was required of those wishing to seek employment in the Catholic school systems. Five participants were female and one male; all were in the 20-25 year old range. Five had graduated from Catholic schools, while the sixth had taken sacraments through Parish catechetical programs. Five participants came from five different cities in southern Ontario, and one came from a small town in northern Ontario. Four of six had lived away from home while attending university for the last four years. All six said that the Religious Education course was helping them to reconnect with their faith after being away from consistent Catholic practice.
Of significance for this study is the undergraduate educational background of the participants, which could have been a factor in the self selection of participants. Five of six participants had taken university courses in environmental studies. Collectively, they studied environmental science, biology, biodiversity, physical geography, plant biology, geology and watersheds, environmental policies, global education, environmental economics, religion and ecology, and social and environmental ecology. One participant had a minor degree in environmental studies. Two participants had taken concurrent degrees in Education and had developed units of study for teaching environmental science topics. The six participants represented each of the three teaching divisions:
Primary-Junior, Junior-Intermediate, and Intermediate-Senior in their teaching certification process. 112
3. Data Collection - Over Two Years
In the first year, the six participants were directed in a four step process: orientation to the research, an individual in-depth interview, reflective journal writing, and a Focus Group discussion.259 Assurance was given regarding privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity for the subjects. Freedom to withdraw from the study was underscored.
Safeguards and security measures were put in place for interview materials.260
Participants agreed to reflect on and be interviewed regarding five topics: i) what were their own particular environmental interests; ii) how their faith perspective relates to the environment; iii) what spiritual practices are part of their life; iv) how they regard the science of environmental education and faith of religion; and v) how their personal and professional growth could benefit from a deeper understanding of and relationship with creation. During the interviews, I saw myself as a receptive presence, an active listener, and as a reflective practitioner-researcher.
Participants were offered resource materials on the environment for discussion purposes such as church documents, articles on ecospirituality, and Ministry of Education publications. Participants were asked to give attention to any changes, shifts, or nuances in their images of God. Participants were invited to focus on creation when fulfilling the course requirements. Some kept notes on environmental awareness that was evident in the schools in which they were practice-teaching. Transcriptions of the individual
259 Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry, 122.
260 University of Toronto Research Ethics Board, "Ethics Review Protocol Submission Form for Supervised and Sponsored Researchers." (Version date: February 1, 2007) http://www.research.utoronto.ca/ethics/eh_rebs.html, and "Annual Renewal of Ethics Approval." See Appendix for Letters of Approval, Participant Consent Forms and other communications. 113
interviews were received by and verified by each participant as being an accurate account of the interview throughout the research. In the winter term, participants gathered in a one-time Focus Group to share experiences and insights about ecological stewardship from their teaching practicum.
In the second year, each participant was scheduled for a one hour interview / dialogue. Participants were now in the field, actively engaged as Catholic teachers.
Interview questions dealt with seven items: i) their current educational placement; ii) evidence in their setting regarding an environmental interest or a lack thereof; iii) how they were personally incorporating creation into their self-understanding and teaching practice; iv) how they would locate their faith perspective based on Scharper's typologies; v) how they might express their self-identity, images of God, ecoconsciousness, ecoconscience, and perspective on earth-human-divine relations; vi) ecospiritual practices were surveyed; and finally, vii) ideas for encouraging an ecological spirituality in Catholic education were elicited.262
In addition to the participant transcripts, there were researcher sources: i) a journal of researcher self-reflections, and ii) ongoing researcher field notes with observations, reactions, learning, and insights.
261 Stephen B. Scharper, Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment, (New York: Continuum, 1997).
262 Note: In the Thesis Proposal, it was the original plan to meet in the second year twice with participants. However, given that two of the participants had dispersed to England, given that one was no longer available, and given that enough research material had been collected, one interview sufficed. 114
4. First Year - Data Analysis and Interpretation
In the first year, data analysis involved all materials from six transcribed semi- structured interviews, one focus group, journals, and course submissions. Initially, each interview question in the verbatim transcription was scrutinized for highlights such as: strong feelings, environmental experiences, concerns, evidence, background, personal actions, questions, personal philosophy, novel ideas, images, metaphors, religious experience, and spiritual practices. The highlights from all six participants were set up in comparison so that commonalities and / or differences could be discerned. This allowed for the identification and interpretation of data, leading to the development of significant statements, themes, theories and conclusions. Of significance in the first year was the enthusiasm of the participants about the environment and their commitment to take care for creation into their teaching practice.
The Focus Group meeting for participants was a method of 'member checking' for validity by engaging research participants in a more public forum to verify their experiences among colleagues. The Focus Group served as a verification tool for
"establishing the truth of things," which according to Creswell keeps the researcher's perception in check. Creswell notes that one must reflect first on the meaning of the experience for oneself, and then one must turn outward to those being interviewed. This establishes an "intersubjective validity," by testing out an understanding with other
Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry, 149-150
Ibid., 122. 115
persons through a back-and-forth social interaction. The Focus Group interaction did
validate and affirm the perceptions of both the participant and the researcher.
5. First Year - Themes Emerging
The following themes and ideas were taken verbatim from the transcripts:
Stewardship
» we all make up one global community » this is our home and of all living creatures • not a role but how you participate with it • part of God's creation » respect for everything • you need the environment to live • nobody can own the environment • everyone is responsible • need an understanding of the environment • actions have consequences, so choose wisely. • our relationship with God • daily things like recycling, compost • reducing the ecological footprint • thinking organically and greenly • biodiversity • appreciate: plant trees to give back • prevent erosion • if we cut down a hundred trees, we should plant two hundred
Concerns
• Oakridges Moraine protection • corporate motives, capitalist influence, elitist interests • grandchildren or great-grandchildren need a healthy planet • need to change our practices • to understand our relationship with the environment, education is needed • we have only so much water, only so many trees • kids don't understand how many people don't have basic needs • schools have a vital role to play, absolutely • Canadian politics: we have an issue of global warming • what would our policies be if in the legislative branch, half of the members were made up of scientists, along with the economists and lawyers 116
• environmental education is very important to me
Sacredness of Creation
• we are all part of the same 'circle of life' • we're all God's children, we're all connected • you're part of creation, so is the tree • we are destroying our own health • need faith focused discussions • I feel a part of creation • we need plants and animals for energy • we are linked in every way • we all share a genetic code • appreciate nature and everything that's around • God created it for us but we're not supposed to abuse it • we have to extend the sacredness we hold for ourselves to the rest of creation • how it all works together, it is absolutely sacred • how I see creation is how I see God • every cell, living and non-living, it is all part of it, is all holy
Image of God
• I struggled with the image of God • as a student you're presented with that physical image of him: long hair, tall, and slim • is it a 'he'? • image of God is this ever changing ever constant • concrete in my family • 'he,' like a father figure - someone to confide in • God has a plan, for sure • metaphor of God as the sun, Jesus as the rays, and Holy Spirit as the warmth • I feel pretty strongly about God as the supreme entity... and just sort of keeping everything together as best he can • my childhood image of God - as big towering man with a long flowing white beard and he's very inaccessible • I see God.. .as a Designer of creation ... and as a caregiver • I feel that I can talk to God, in my own way • God is not one thing but everything • the divine presence is everywhere and in everything • My image of God in nature and my connection to the environment is through God, through my religion, and my beliefs, that's the deepest, strongest connection • just being in creation is for me - that's a moment that I can visualize or image that God is there 117
Religion and Science
• understand God's creation in a scientific manner and in a spiritual manner • they work really well together but also contradict each other at times • two are so interconnected, religion and science need to come together • 'Religion and Ecology' was my favourite course in university • religion gives us our ethics, our morals, our values • the environmental ethic has taken a back seat to other things • I haven't seen a lot of religion being put into the curriculum • it isn't really a universal thing that we accept the creation story as a metaphor • faith is all about teaching about morals, and living those morals • God created the Big Bang, God is everything and everywhere • teachers can be an advocate for the Catholic Church and also for science and the environment together • we have a lot to learn from First Nations in understanding our relationship vis a vis animals, the environment, the universe • we need to appreciate that we are part of a whole • often we see ourselves as 'above and beyond,' the man at the top and then women • humans are not the center of this universe, we are just a speck in the entire part
• caring for the earth itself.. .and what the earth needs
Focus Group
The six research participants gathered to share experiences in the practice of
teaching and to reflect on four topics: 1. What did you observe / experience about Religion / Ecology in your teaching block?
2. Was there an environmental interest in the school/admin/teachers/students/ custodians/parents?
3. Were there curriculum links to the environment?
4. Were there any religious celebrations / lessons on creation?
These are their responses:
• I have yet to see things about the environment being taught through religion because I've been looking for it. • Religion was treated as a minor subject. 118
• Unfortunately, I've noticed more of a "lack there of in terms of an environmental interest. • There are some signs in the school: Don't Pollute. Be Aware of where you place your garbage! • Every school I've been in has the whole recycling process being followed: the green bin, the blue bin, and the garbage.
6. Second Year - Data Analysis and Interpretation
In the second year, data analysis involved five transcribed semi-structured
interviews. The process of coding the responses was similar to the first year in the search
for highlights. Comparisons allowed for the identification and interpretation of data,
leading to the development of themes, theories and conclusions. Of significance in the
second year was the actual living experience of participants and what was happening with
ecological stewardship in their experience of teaching-with students, teacher-colleagues,
and the broader school community.
7. Second Year - Themes Emerging
The following themes and ideas were taken verbatim from the transcripts.
These themes will be explicated and integrated into the dialogue in the next chapter.
A sample is provided here.
Catholic Environmental Education
• I've noticed more of a "lack of environmental interest • teachers themselves.. .not any real focus being put on the environment unless it's being taught though a specific subject area in terms of following the curriculum • the environmental interest is much more evident in the elementary setting than in the secondary • the programs were wonderful, but I saw that there wasn't a consciousness of being environmentally friendly • we learned how long it takes to make fossil fuels and that we're going to run out. For some of them [Gr. 7 students] it could be in their lifetime, they were really surprised. • students wanted to know about solar panels, solar cars, and wind energy 119
Self-image
• .. .comes from knowing where you fit in and how others respond to you • I see myself as part of creation, an equal part of creation BUT I also have responsibility to take care of the rest of creation, because we are human beings and we've taken on this role of stewards of the earth
Earth-Human-Divine relations
• being green and acting on this • a Green Team that meets every Wednesday after school.
Ecospiritual Practices
• Eco-spirituality: It's still lacking, eh. You don't get the homilies on the environment. • Eco-contemplation: I definitely, consciously think about bringing my footprint down, and even bringing those that are close to me down; that is something that is on my mind quite a bit. • Eco-justice: issues such as social justice and hunger are dependent on the environment that people live in.
Educational Application
• So, let's start with the Earth as our classroom. As a teacher you have to integrate systems and you have to integrate habits and structures to follow.
8. Evaluative Procedures: Benefits, Limits, and Contributions
The risks for research participants were minimal while the benefits were useful.
Benefits involved the research process, conversations, and reflections around the
common concern of care for creation. Short-term relationships were built as we became a
faith community. Through the processes of description, journaling, conversation,
reflection, and practical application, participants benefited from the experience by
arriving at previously unarticulated insights with regard to their images of God, and the
way they experience relationships with other people and with creation. 120
The limitations of the study include the realization that the study cannot be generalized to speak for all retreat facilitators. The language of spirituality, especially regarding imago Dei in its two elements of how one perceives who one is 'as being made in the image of God,' and how one 'imagines' God to be, are often described in symbol and metaphor. The goal is to be sensitive to the language and meaning used by the participants. This study may be limited in its transference of insight between membership in this Pre-Service Religious Education courses and other Pre-Service or Additional
Qualifications - Catholic Teacher Religious Education courses.
The contribution this study makes is to the emerging genres of ecological theology, ecological spirituality, and ecological ethics. It contributes to new religious and spiritual dimensions of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a bigger part of Catholic consciousness.
The following chapter contains the identified themes from the research material in dialogue with the theory at work framework presented in the previous chapter. CHAPTER FOUR
Exploring the Themes
A. Introduction to Themes
The problem posed or research question being asked begins, "What are the methods... ?" The purpose of this chapter is to bring together the theory at work with the data gleaned from research participants. The themes found in each can be correlated and combined to offer new insights. Theological typologies for ecological stewardship as a pastoral method to increase Catholic consciousness will provide a framework. The method of learning from the lived experience of participants also informs the problem as they reflect on who they are, what they understand about religion and the environment, what they need, and what they hope to inspire in their students toward "earth stewardship." Six themes and shifts have been explored in the theory at work.
Six Themes and Shifts in the Theory at Work Fig. 2.
1. 3. Cosmos Liberation A Sacred Universe as Revelation Domination to Cosmos to Mythic to Measured Liberation Cosmogenesis
5. We Are One Ecological Conversion Integration Ecological Worldview Industrial to Ecological with Creation Morality Action with creation
121 122
1. Connecting Themes for Insight
In order to correlate themes from the partner informants, let us cross-pollinate the themes and shifts from theory with comments from the research participants. In so doing we will place them in a virtual dialogue with each other.
Themes from Research Participants Fig. 3.
1. How do the research participants relate to the theme of "Cosmos as Revelation"?
Do they have a sense of a shift from a mythic to a measured, scientific revelation?
Amber (a fictitious name) was moved by the evolutionary story of the universe. Well, something that really touched me in our religion class was that very quick clip that we watched and that concept that we are all part of that same 'cosmic dust.' Just understanding just how unified we all are, and having that in mind would help people to understand how important it is to take part [in ecological awareness] because it does affect you in so many ways.
2. How might a shift from a cosmology of domination to liberation be expressed?
Abby (a fictitious name) uses the metaphor of 'The Circle of Life.' 123
So, for a faith perspective, you have to see it like within a circle, like you're part of the environment. It's like the circle of life, I guess you could even call it. And what you do to it and what it does to you, is the relationship. So you respect the fact that it gives you things you need to live. You have to give back to it. That's your respect. That's how you participate with it because nobody can own the environment. Nobody can claim it. So, as long as your role, with it, is positive... .
3. How might the research participants relate to the theme of "A Sacred Universe"?
Do they have a sense of a shift from a cosmos to cosmogenesis?
Thea (a fictitious name) writes a journal reflection about her experience.
I really enjoyed "The Awakening Universe," the video that we watched during class, today. In my last reflection, I spoke about using science to understand and appreciate God, and I thought that the video was an excellent example of this idea. "The Awakening Universe" told a creation story, and although it is not the same as the story we have all read in Genesis, I think that this scientific creation story is just as beautiful and sacred.265
The video spoke about the Big Bang, and how the parameters for this beginning were precisely right to create our universe, which to me is evidence of God's work. As I watched images of the amazing diversity of life on this planet, I reflected upon the fact that everything is descended from the same elements, the same Stardust.
This insight was extremely eye-opening for me. It made me realize that, like God calling Samuel in the reading from today's prayer service, God calls each of us to be stewards for all of creation, because we are linked to all of creation at an elemental level. As Pope John Paul II said, the dignity of the human person truly depends on a healthy planet, because we are interconnected with the Earth.
4. How do the research participants relate to the theme of "We Are One"?
Do they have a sense of a shift from anthropocentric and biocentric to an ecological worldview? Daniel (a fictitious name) writes about the need to embrace creation differently.
265 "The Awakening Universe: A Liberating New Cosmology for Our Time" a film by Neal Rogin, (The Pachamama Alliance, USA, 2006) The DVD is based on "The Universe Story" by Berry and Swimme. www.awakeninguniverse.com or www.pachamama.org (Accessed March 28, 2010). 124
The thing that interests me the most is that in order for us to change our perception of the world and our place within it, in order to develop a "New Story", we have to realize that the only thing that will save us from the ecological crisis is religion.
One has to consider where it is he/she finds her set of values. From where do we decipher right or wrong? What constitutes moral living? How can we be the most caring and concerned individuals? The place that we find the answers to these questions lies in our religious teachings. For far too long, it appears as though the teachings of an 'environmental ethic' have remained hidden.
What we need is what Walter C. Lowdermilk refers to as "The Eleventh Commandment." The only way we are going to save our planet from the demise it is headed into, is if we realize the importance of treating the environment with the respect of a sustaining force it is.
In order to do this, we have to reposition ourselves away from the dominant position we have taken, and return back within nature. By placing ourselves in this position, we're able to realize the tremendous beauty that exists in our world and be motivated to ensure that our actions do not conflict with the quality of surroundings of each and every plant, animal, and human being on our planet.
One of the things that strikes me is the science of our planet's evolution. Science is beautiful in that it leads to human understanding. Through human understanding, we can appreciate God's creation and in light of this fact, it becomes obvious that science and religion can co-exist.
Penny (a fictitious name) expresses her hopes for a new worldview.
We're so concentrated on me, and what I want, and where am I going to travel? What school am I going to go to? What job am I going to have? And I think that there is more to life than that. That's where religion comes into play and caring for other people, and looking at others.
And even just the universe, the earth itself.. .and what the earth needs. Our world needs to sustain itself for the next 100,000 years. I think that we definitely have been [self-centred], especially now, I find that this is getting worse.
I look at these eight year olds that have high end fashion, and coach bags.. .all these name brand things. And they want and they want. To me that shouldn't be the child's focus. It should be on play, learning about friendship, learning to communicate with others and just how to be a person. 125
I hope that in school I will be able to change that a little bit. I hope to anyways. Definitely, we need to look outside of ourselves.
5. Is an "Ecological Conversion" and the shift from industrial motif to an ecological morality something to which the research participants can relate?
Researcher Pope John Paul II has called for 'an ecological conversion.' Have you heard about it and what do you think about it? Thea I have not heard of it. It is probably very progressive for his time. No one really thought of these things or it would have been a big issue at the time so, I think it was very progressive. I wonder what kind of things he was urging people to do.. .Do you have any examples?"
Researcher: One of the things that he said was that the worth and value of the human in terms of human dignity is very important and that we must extend that dignity to creation.
Thea: I absolutely agree. As I said before, we are all based on the same code. We are all made of the same stuff and we do find it very important.. .human rights and human dignity but even a flower can have dignity. A frog can have dignity. You have to extend.. .1 absolutely agree... we have to extend the sacredness we hold for ourselves to the rest of creation.
Often we see ourselves as 'above and beyond' and even those pictures that the professor showed us in class today of the man at the top, and then women, and dogs, and ... I mean humans are different but that main difference, as I said before, is self-reflection. We need to appreciate that we are part of a whole. We are not all that we're cracked up to be, I suppose.
Thea's other comments connect to "the myth of progress" and a shift to a greater respect and appreciation for God's creation.
I think environmental stewardship refers to the planet. This is our home and of all living creatures. We are the ones who started this mess in the first place by trying to change the environment to suit us rather than living off the land. Even agriculture was a big revolution in that we started changing the environment to suit our needs. Everything after that brought about our current situation. So, from agriculture came industry; from industry came things like holes in the ozone layer, carbon emissions, and the destruction of rain forests.. .things like that.
I think that not only from an environmental and a scientific perspective, not only are we responsible as the beings on the earth who have the ability to understand these concepts and to do something about it, but we are also responsible because we caused the problem.
From a faith perspective, I believe that all of creation is God's creation and that we are a part of that creation. And if you look at the creation story, we were put here as stewards, in the metaphor that is the creation story. So if we ignore that responsibility, it is almost as if we don't respect and appreciate God's creation.
6. How do the research participants relate to the theme of Integration with Creation?
Do they have a sense of a shift from action toward creation to action with creation?
Daniel has an insight about eco-spirituality from his travel experiences after a four week practicum of teaching in South Africa, and then meeting extended family in Italy and the Netherlands. The way that eco-spirituality is developed is much more rooted in experiences outside of my own area - which is troublesome because I live in suburbia, right? So you don't get that daily appreciation for or understanding for nature. Nature is thought of as something outside of your daily life. Whereas, it should be something that you incorporate into your life.
So, in terms of developing [an eco-spirituality] it's lacking because you don't have this opportunity to be in the preservation. Who was it who said, "In wilderness is the preservation of man" (?)266
7. How do the research participants relate to the theme of Ecospirituality?
Are there elements in their spirituality that reflect a shift from theological concern to ecological spirituality?
Thea suggests developing an "ecological spirituality" through Religion and
Environmental Education.
Note: Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), "In Wildness is the preservation of the world," is the quote originally published in his essay, "Walking" in Atlantic Monthly (1862). 127
Well, I'm not sure what's happening with Catholic curriculum here in Ontario, but I do really like that they make a point, every year in England, to do a unit on "Interdependence."
It really stresses our role as part of creation and we study things like pesticides, and herbicides. It's really pushed into every single year, so we've got this idea that "Interdependence" is an important thing in education. So, you're more conscious of it.
We need to have a better appreciation for life and that kind of evolved through my studies. It is amazing that we all share the same genetic code. It is amazing that we all share the same life systems. It is amazing that from a tiny seed can come a tree. It is an amazing, amazing process.
Then, rather than just teaching them the dry, the long and short of it, it could be presented as something that is amazing and incredible. And that could definitely increase the students' appreciation there and the awareness of an ecological spirituality.. .pushing your own enthusiasm for it onto them, as well.
Eco-contemplation Abby I thank God every night. That's my own personal way of practicing my religion or my spirituality through prayer.
Eco-asceticism Thea For recycling: every time I trudged out all the way to the back of the school with my huge recycle bin, and nobody is helping me and papers are flying off, I think "Why Am I Doing This?" No one notices. But I do it for myself. At least I can feel good about myself, that I've done something to reduce this ecological footprint even though it's so small.
Abby I consciously try to reduce consumption. I don't fit into the consumerism category. I've never really been into brand name things.
Eco-sin Amber I guess, I'm aware [of ecosin] in some stuff I'm trying to do. But it's hard when you're born into this type of stuff, for sure. You've got to change things, change these habits, [and] it's a lot to do.. .aiming to reduce. 128
Eco-justice Daniel I've been in Hinton (fictitious) for the past few years and they do a good job of incorporating the Green Box and always promoting reducing waste. When I was in Sunnyvale (fictitious) last year, it bothered me so much that they don't have the same practices. So, I think that's a powerful and effective way to
Eco-liberation Penny appreciates living up north and the sense of well-being that she feels.
A lot of times at my cottage, I can just go for walks with the dog and just relax. And to me, I'll just take a breath in and just feel the air around me. I love to just smell the trees. I can smell the blueberries in August, you know, when they're ready...I love the smells.
And just listening to the birds chirping or that kind of stuff and [I love] being one with nature. I'm just appreciating nature and everything that's around. And I think that that is something that I really enjoy about being up north.
2. Religion and Science
The research participants had a lot to say on the need for Religion and Science to be more interactive and appreciative of the strengths each has to offer the other.
Researcher What are your sentiments with regards to religion and science? What values can religion and science bring to each other? Abby Value is in the sense of understanding God's creation in a scientific manner and in a spiritual manner. I think that's what would happen when those two come together. So, I think that religion will create that link between the person and the scientific side of processes happening. It teaches you to recognize what's around you. Science teaches you about things, about the environment but without the environment, what would we have? How would we know how things work? You need both. It is very silly to think that both have not collaborated yet.
Kristy (a fictitious name)
I think that what religion can bring to science is a purpose. I think religion is a good answer to the question why things are the way they are? Because it's what 129
God created for us and he created Jesus.. .and I think it is all a big loop. What religion can do for science... science can also do for religion.
For me, science has always been a big thing in my life. It's what I like and it also helps answer the questions in religion. I wrote a big paper in my philosophy class, in my undergrad. I was looking for it a couple of weeks ago, but my argument was that God created the Big Bang, talking about Aquinas and all of his discussions. So what religion can bring to science, science can bring the scientific and mathematical formulas if people are finicky enough and search hard enough for them, people do have somewhat proof of the existence of a higher being. Even Stephen Hawking, who can be argued as the world's most intelligent human, he believes that there is a God.
Regardless of what religion it is specifically, I believe that religion can play a huge impact on science. Pope John Paul II was talking about his concern for the environment and taking on the religious perspective when tackling environmental issues. It is really significant, so it is a great way to be an advocate for the Catholic Church and also for science and the environment together.
B. Christian Theological Typologies
1. Ecological Stewardship
As another 'method' to engage our two dialogue partners, a framework of theological typologies for ecological stewardship is useful. In Redeeming the Time: A
Political Theology of the Environment, Stephen Scharper presents three theological typologies identified as responses to Lynn White's indictment about Christianity's complicity in environmental degradation.267 Christians still tend to position themselves in these categories.
The theological typologies are: i) the "apologetic," ii) "the constructive," and iii) the "listening" approach. Beyond these, I want to include as a fourth typology-
Scharper, "Christian Theological Responses to the Ecological Crisis," in Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment (New York: Continuum, 1997). Chapter one provides an overview. 130
iv) the "eco-feminist" approach. In my retreat facilitation, I anticipate there being
Catholics who are at various stages of faith experience. In my theology of ministry, I seek to be inclusive and respectful of the journeys of individuals in Catholic Education to contribute to the healing of the Earth in all of its life systems. I assume that the research subjects are representative of the larger Catholic community.
In this framework, brief definitions will be followed by the typology in which the research participants located themselves. Then, the typologies will be fleshed out in more detail with examples and responses.
2. Overview of Typologies
First, the "apologetic" typology remains firmly within a Christian context of
"Teaching, Tradition, Thought" as has been described in chapter two. None of the research participants chose this paradigm as indicative of their faith typology.
Second, "the constructive" typology begins with an expanded Christian perspective which is as much influenced by the larger human community as by the church.
Thea identifies herself here.
I think if I had to pick one of these it would be the constructivists, if anything. I know that the earth is in crisis, like people have said. We're not looking after stewardship and something has to be done. I still think something has to be done because we cannot live here, if we carry on as we are.
The folks with whom I teach [in England] are probably the same as me or probably apologists if anything. We are a mix of different religions, beliefs, and opinions. It is difficult to say.
Abby identifies her typologies as a mixture because of her experiences in South Africa.
But I see myself very traditional in a sense, but I build on that [by asking questions]: "What about...?" "What about...?" We're in a new day. Today is different than it was in years ago. [I see myself] mainly as a constructivist but 131
maybe as a little bit of a listener. As I get older and I have more experiences, to understand, like different experiences I had in South Africa.
Penny concurs as a constructivist.
I think I am closest to the constructivist. People think of it [stewardship] as an ideal. They don't really think that we can be stewards in our own way. Any kind of change, you know, even if it's little... you can make it bigger. You can put in that extra effort to get together to even talk about it. Even in that way ...
Third, the "listening" typology seeks to nurture a religious consciousness by encouraging listening to creation itself.
Thea appreciates the challenge.
I'd love to say that I am 'a listener' at this point and that I want to preserve the earth without thinking of myself, but I do still have to think about it in terms of how it affects human beings.
Amber locates herself in a few typologies and interestingly she is a composer / musician with an ear for listening.
I fit in a little bit of each. I really do. I'd probably say more so from the constructivists onward.
I'm very big with the nature connected concepts and listening to and being aware. I feel that the Earth is trying to say something to us. There are signs saying 'we need to take action.' So, I agree with the listening concept.
Taking a more religious aspect - a Christian aspect anyways - and combining a little bit of the listener concept together, yah, I'm pretty much a little bit of everything here.
Fourth, the "eco-feminist" typology critiques the interlocking systems of domination at work in the oppression of marginalized peoples and of earth itself.
Ibid., 24.
Dorothy McDougall, Cosmos as Primary Sacrament: The Horizon for an Ecological Sacramental Theology, (New York: Peter Lang Publ. 2003), 3. 132
Daniel finds his studies in liberation theology, his social justice interests in the El
Salvador, and his interest in Indigenous Studies lead him here.
I guess I would find myself here, in the fourth typology for sure (ecofeminist thought) because I totally believe in what it's promoting, and that's the most effective realm. I wrote a paper with ecofeminist theology involved with it. It totally appeals to me a lot.
Having said that, I like the constructivist approach a lot but I see limitations to it because I feel like the church could do more and has such a powerful role.
But it goes back to that idea that whenever you're dealing with particular structures and you're trying to create change within them, it's like taking all of these ideas and then funneling them and then whatever comes out sometimes isn't what you meant to put into them. And so, I wish that my church taught about the environment more.
Each of the typologies is identified by Scharper under three topics: first, imago
97ft
Dei; second, the role of the human; and third, the relationship with creation. After each typology has been briefly introduced, the work of three theologians who support the functioning of the typology will be presented. This will be followed by describing what is operative in Catholic theology and Catholic education. Comments from the research participants will locate how the typology functions in their life. See Appendix C for a helpful chart on Theological Typologies. The goal is to better understand theology as a resource that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness.
Note: Imago Dei is understood as what it means to be that creature who is created in the image of God. 133
3. The "Apologetic" Theological Typology
i) Overview - The theological anthropology is clear in Genesis 1:26-27, and in other texts that humankind is created as the imago Dei and given dominion over the whole earth. Second, the role of the human is tied to the imago Dei as one of stewardship.
This is a complex role fashioned by sacred texts and church tradition. The primary relationship is to the Christian community and to church traditions. Wisdom resides in the
Christian context, with Biblical scholarship, and with the tradition of a strong redemption theology. Third, the relationship with creation is to extend redemption theology to include the redemption of creation in the salvific act of Jesus toward the eschaton (final fulfillment).
ii) Theological Support - Scharper presents the work of three Christian theologians: Robin Attfield, Thomas Derr, and Paul Santmire, who demonstrate the
"apologetic" worldview. Attfield argues that the Hebrew notion of dominion as it relates to kingship, involves accountability and responsibility, and not mere exploitation. The
Judeo-Christian tradition, Attfield claims, has never taught that humanity has the right to treat animals or nature in a careless or selfish manner and he concludes that the notion of stewardship is a cornerstone, rather than a sidelight, of the Christian church.271 For Derr, the "orthodox" Christian stance toward nature is not "arrogance" but "respectful stewardship of an earth which belongs to God."272
Scharper, Redeeming the Time, 30.
Scharper citing Thomas Derr from "Religion's Responsibility for the Ecological Crisis: An Argument Run Amok." Worldview 18 (January 1975, 43), 31. 134
Santmire combs the Hebrew and Christian scriptures for a fresh ecological reading of biblical faith. He claims that the work of Irenaeus, Augustine, and Francis can guide the
'travail of nature.' "Francis's vision of the descending, universal goodness of God, his obedience to the kenotic Christ, his hope for the consummation of all things, and his childlike love for all the creatures of God commend themselves to us today.. .as compelling for our own theological reflection."27 iii) Catholic Apologetic: Teachings in Catholic curriculum on imago Dei, the role of the human, and earth stewardship in Catholic education have their foundation in the
Catechism, and the Compendium. As the research participants continue in their Catholic teaching profession, they will become familiar with foundational references in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church in which there are 2,834 teachings.274 These CCC notes are prevalent in religion teacher manuals, for example,
(#299) "- for God willed creation as a gift addressed to man, an inheritance destined for and entrusted to him."
Within the realm of the "apologetic" typology, the 'catechesis on creation' addresses 50 teachings as compared to 2,784 other teachings. The catechism intermingles diverse attitudes toward environmental issues, according to John Hart in What Are They Saying
About Environmental Theology.275 Although anthropocentrism is still very evident, Hart
273 Scharper citing Paul Santmire from The Travail of Nature: The Ambiguous Ecological Promise of Christian Theology, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985, 118), 35-36.
274 Catechism of the Catholic Church, (Ottawa: Concacan Inc., 1994).
275 John Hart, "Catechism of the Catholic Church: Creation and the Common Good," What Are They Saying About Environmental Theology? (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2004), 20-22. notes, it is diffused in that "man" is still at the top of the biotic hierarchy, but it is understood as a collective "man." The catechism recognizes that each creature has its own goodness to be respected and that interdependence is part of the order of God's creation.276
Catechism: Creation of Heaven and Earth (#279-354) Table 6.
"the revelation of creation is inseparable 1. Catechesis on Creation #288 from the revelation and forging of the covenant of the one God with his people."
2. The Work of the Trinity #294 "the glory of God is man fully alive"
3. The Mystery of Creation #299 "God creates an ordered and good world"
4. Divine Providence #302 "creation has its own goodness"
#337- 5. The Visible World "interdependence of creatures" #339
Catechism: Man in God's Image (#355-421) Table 7.
1. #355- God created everything for man #359 2. God's Plan for man and woman as stewards #373
Note: The Teachings on Creation begin in Section Two of the Catechism of the Catholic Church - The Profession of the Christian Faith: the Creeds. Article 1. "I Believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth." 136
Catechism: The Human Community (#1877-19481 Table 8.
The Person and Society 1. Personal Responsibility 2. The Common Good: social well being, #1905 - 3. Social Justice peace, justice, security, development #1912
Catechism: The Seventh Commandment (#2401-24631 Table 9.
1. Meant for All - Yet Private Ownership
#2420- socio-economic 2. Respecting Persons and their Goods #2421 relations
animal care and use 3. Respect for the Integrity of Creation #2415- #2418
Based as it is on the old cosmology of a hierarchical worldview, the apologetic is unable to act on behalf of the planet to restore ecological and human health and well being.
Marginalized peoples and an impoverished, exploited nature are the heritage of this anthropocentric worldview.
4. Apologetic - Research Participant Perspective
The research participant perspectives presented here were not spoken in response to the examples of the apologetic, or the catechism teachings, yet can apply.
Daniel The word "dominion" has been interpreted as such to control, rather than to understand that it is a responsibility, rather than taking advantage of. Definitely, the position we see our selves in determines how we act. If we understood that we 137
are a part of the whole, rather than on top of the pyramid, we'd be in a lot better position. Thea I guess in terms of "self-identity," I see myself as part of creation, an equal part of creation BUT I also have responsibility to take care of the rest of creation, because we are human beings and we've taken on this role of stewards of the earth.
I sort of see God as creator, obviously, but you see God everyday in creation and in the amazing things that nature and human beings have done. Yet, if I were looking at Niagara Falls, I could see God in that, right? Your image of God is embedded in creation and sometimes it's tough to see Him in the here-and-now, but I see God all the time through beautiful things on the earth or beautiful things that people do for each other.
Hart notes that the development of environmental theology emerged in Rome in the later decades of the twentieth century and into the new millennium. Bishops across the globe have written pastoral letters on the environment encouraging the faithful to consider issues of economic injustice in connection with environmental degradation. In a Grade 12 Religious Education Unit on "Ecological Responsibility" students are presented with the question: Does nature have a moral standing? They are asked to
• 978 consider an ethical perspective for the Columbia River Watershed. Students are required to explain how Christians understand themselves as stewards of creation. 279
277 Hart, What Are They Saying, 22.
278 Bishop Eugene Cooney of Nelson, BC, and 12 American bishops from the Pacific North West, "The Columbia River Watershed Caring for Creation and the Common Good" (Ottawa: CCCB Publications, April 25, 2001). The pastoral reflection looks at the concerns, economic conditions and environmental challenges raised by the development of the Columbia River Basin that extends 2,000 kilometres. National Office of Religious Education of the CCCB, In Search of the Good: A Catholic Understanding of Moral Living, Grade 12 Student Text, (Ottawa: Concacan, Inc. 2004), 266-282. 138
5. Stewardship - Research Participant Perspective
The term "earth stewardship" has many interpretations. As Penny said,
I think that a lot of people don't really understand what it is to be a steward of the environment or even that they take the time to understand what it means to save the environment. I think that it almost becomes, well it's too big, I can't really think of it.
They think of it as an ideal. They don't really think that we can be stewards in our own way. Any kind of change, you know, even if it's little, you can make it bigger. You can put in that extra effort to get together to even talk about it, even in that way ...
The term "earth stewardship" is often associated with degrees of engagement.
As Poppy continues,
I would say stewardship would mean being aware, being active, in what you're doing. I mean its one thing to talk about it, but it's another thing to act and do.
I'm not saying you have to go and protest, but taking those daily things, like recycling, composting, turning off your lights, computer.. .1 mean how many students leave their computers on all day while they're at school.. .on for the whole day.. .those kind of things.
You know, making your family and friends aware of what their choices are, what they're doing. I think that that would be more environmental stewardship.
Daniel To me, it is your actions more than your beliefs. So religious stewardship is most important. It's how you live your life, right? And in terms of the environment to religion: in religion you learn your values and you try to act on them. If we're taught environmental values, in schools, hopefully the same thing can take place. And by tying them together.. .if people understood how big the consequences of your actions can be, we'd have some powerful, environmental, religious stewards.
Abby expresses "earth stewardship" in the metaphor of 'The Circle of Life.'
Stewardship, if I understand it correctly, is not your job or your role with it, but how you participate with it. I think that's what it means. Your respect towards it and what you do with it. 139
So, from a faith perspective, then, I think that it is part of God's creation and we definitely have a stewardship with the environment whether we want to appropriate that in anyway or not, whether we want accept it or acknowledge it.
C. The "Constructive" Theological Typology
1. Overview
i) The "constructive" approach to stewardship begins with an expanded Christian perspective which is as much influenced by the larger human community as by the church. Its wider biblical exegesis affirms creation-history and redemption-history. In this stewardship model, the human is co-creator with God in bringing about a renewed earth.
Such a responsibility recognizes the need for new attitudes and new ways of living.
ii) Theological Support - Scharper engages three "constructive" theological references. First, Douglas Hall, in Imaging God: Dominion as Stewardship, considers imago Dei as the essence of the human to be in a relationship of love, and we image God or mirror God through loving. Hall claims, "We image God as we are incorporated through grace and faith into the preservational dominion of God in the world. Or, to state the same thing in other words, we mirror the sovereignty of the divine love in our stewardship of earth."
Second, German theologian, Jurgen Moltmann, in God in Creation: A New
Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God, takes a systematic-theology look at the relationality in the Trinity. He is open to recent findings in physics and biology that point to the interrelationships of all matter. Moltmann identifies "God in creation as the Holy
280 Douglas Hall, Imaging God: Dominion as Stewardship, (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1986), 200. 140
Spirit."281 The "indwelling divine Spirit of creation" is the holistic principle of the creativity, cooperation, individuation, and intentionality that moves all creatures toward their potentialities, and their common future of fulfillment (eschatological).282
Third, Walter Brueggemann, also from the Protestant perspective, in The Land:
Place of Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith, finds that the ecocrisis has more to do with human feelings of alienation and rootlessness. In a storytelling approach about the people of Israel, he locates the centrality of the land in biblical themes of covenant, home, and exile, suggesting that theological anthropology must connect itself to "the soil" if it is to find stability for responsible stewards of creation.283
iii) Catholic Constructivists - Some "constructive" work has emerged in Vatican approaches, but it is insufficient. "There is no acknowledgement of the evolutionary unfolding of God's creative work as an ongoing process, nor of God's work having
"perfection" or an integrity pleasing to God as it is, without human intervention or alteration."284 Therefore, the use of trees as 'resources' continues to be considered as
281 Scharper citing Jurgen Moltmann from God in Creation: A New Theology of Creation and the Spirit of God, (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1985, 100), 42.
282 Ibid., 42.
283 Scharper citing Walter Brueggemann from The Land: Place of Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977,1), 45.
284 John Hart, "Creation, Creatures, and Community Consideration" in What are they saying about Environmental Theology? (New York: Paulist Press, 2004) 9. 141
"a gift from God" for human use. In this traditional thinking, the tree completes its
'perfection' when humans shape it into something else (a chair) rather than appreciating the tree for what it is in its natural state.
The Canadian Council of Catholic Bishops, in their pastoral letter "You love all things that exist.. .All things are yours, God, lover of life" (2003), call attention to religious belief as a human relationship with the environment. The Bishops cited the current unprecedented and accelerating ecological crisis. "Deforestation, species extinction, climate change, ecosystem collapse, contamination of air and water, and soil erosion are just a few of the enormous ecological problems which we face in Canada and elsewhere in our world" (n.2). The Bishops echoed the call for an "ecological conversion," claiming, "The work to highlight a theology of creation that directs us towards the proper relationship between God and the entire earth community is most timely and appreciated, both within the churches and increasingly among environmental activists" (n.4).
Examples of ecospiritual practices were given (contemplative, ascetic, prophetic, ecojustice). The vision for creation was reiterated, "All of creation is of God, and is as yet unfinished" (n.18). The role of humans was renamed, "We are called as co-creators to join God's work to repair some of creation's wounds which have been inflicted due to our ecological sins" (n.18). The tone of the letter was inclusive, and invitational.
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, "You love all things that exist... All things are yours, God, lover of life," A Pastoral Letter on the Christian Ecological Imperative, (Ottawa: CCCB Publications, October 4, 2003). The Letter was intentionally released on the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. 142
The 2003 Pastoral Letter was widely distributed to all Catholic schools and
Parishes. In 2008, in conjunction with the United Nations' International Year of Planet
Earth, the Canadian Bishops wrote, "Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion."287 The six page letter referred to the UN (IPPC) "2001 Synthesis Report on Climate Change" and has a more serious, apologetic tone with reference being given to "structures of sin' named by John Paul II his Encyclical Sollicitudo Rei Socialis
(1987).
2. Constructivist - Research Participant Perspective
Researcher: When you find resonance with other people in your conversations, in which typology are they more likely to be?
Abby Constructivist, absolutely. I definitely go by the traditional teachings of our faith. But, I do have my eyes open to what is happening in our world today and the needs that are there, and the lack of discussions that exist, and one being connecting God with the environment.
I believe God is around me and He gave me these gifts and I need to nurture them and take care of them. And that's what I want to teach my students. We're part of this world, yes, but you also need to acknowledge and praise the gifts that God gave you and one of these things is the environment. Trees for example, and birds, so how are you going to take care of those? Just like how are you going to take care of your family? We have those gifts too.
In summary, the "constructivist" typology is connective, relational, and thus has a strong sense of kinship. It can inspire prophetic imagination and advocacy for creation.
Commission for Social Affairs, Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion, (Ottawa: CCCB Publications, 12 March 2008). http://www.cccb.ca/site/images/stories/pdf/enviro_eng.pdf (Accessed March 31, 2010). D. The Listening Theological Typology
1. Overview
i) The "listening" typology begins with an instruction: be sure to understand
"listening" as active listening. This theological typology embraces the wisdom heard in all religious traditions. The numinous presence of the divine is what all religions and spiritualities seek. It is open to the new cosmology of an emerging universe. The human role is characterized by being responsive and attentive to nature. It is counter-cultural to consumerism with an ethic of simplicity in its relations with creation. Its spirituality is needed as an appropriate religious response to the ecocrisis.
ii) Theological Support - Scharper presents three theologians: Thomas Berry,
John Carmody, and Albert Fritsch who all represent the "listening" approach. First, in the imago Dei, the central concern is not to appeal to images and motifs from the
Christian tradition to foster a sustainable human-earth relation but rather to pay attention to nature itself. God can be found in the awesome unfolding mystery of creation and in the beauty of nature. Thomas Berry, in The Sacred Universe: Earth Spirituality, and
Religion in the Twenty-First Century, states, "In general, we think of the universe as joining in the religious expression of the human rather than the human joining in the religious expression of the universe."
288 Thomas Berry, "The Cosmology of Religions," (1994, 1998) in The Sacred Universe: Earth Spirituality, and Religion in the Twenty-First Century, (New York: Columbia Press, 2009), 128. 144
Second, the role of the human is to listen with a radical openness to Earth's systems in order to be in a mutually beneficial relationship with the whole Earth community. The human is to be in relationship with nature and the cosmos itself.
Thirdly, the environmental response is to seek a comprehensive understanding of the integral functioning of Earth, including earth/human relations, as the fundamental basis for the reinterpretation of cultural and religious myths. The wisdoms of indigenous peoples, women, ancient cultures and religions, and natural sciences are plumbed for a new way of being versus reliance on the dialogue partners of scripture, church tradition, or even social science as primary sources of wisdom. It is time to speak quietly, to listen humbly, to cease the noise of mechanization and to pay attention to how the community of life around us participates sustainably in the web of life.
John Carmody in Ecology and Religion: Toward a New Christian Theology of
Nature sketches out what a new Christian naturalism might express.290His two-fold approach begins with "listening" to the dialogue between religion and ecology today.
He brings his background in Eastern religious traditions to bear especially that of ahimsa as "a way of being attentive." In part two, he formulates the foundational, doctrinal, systematic, and practical theologies for a new Christian naturalism. It includes conversion to Christ, a naturalist sacramentalism, confession for sins against nature, awareness in a
Thomas Berry, "Ecological Geography," in Worldviews and Ecology, eds. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grimm, (Lewisburg: Bucknell University, 1993), 183.
290 Scharper citing John Carmody from Ecology and Religion: Toward a New Christian Theology of Nature, (New York: Paulist Press, 1983, 83), 47. more cosmological dimension, and a "listening" to life that negates addictive consumerism by living simply.
iii) Catholic Listeners - Albert Fritsch, a Jesuit, and an engineer, is influenced by
Teilhard de Chardin, and like Berry, explores cosmic evolution. In Down to Earth
Spirituality, Fritsch depicts Earth as teacher, especially for one's own local bioregion, as a place for theological reflection. "Listening to nature," Fritsch argues, "is not an idle pastime but rather an "acquired skill." Fritsch's notion of earth-deaf people parallels
Berry's critique of our "cultural autism." Oppression of Earth goes hand in hand with oppression of the poor in the experiences of Fritsch with Appalachian coal miners.292
Humans enrich themselves when they benefit other members of the earth community in an interweaving of social and ecological justice. Carmody, Fritsch, and Berry, assign the human role to be responsive and attentive to nature. They build on the call made by existing cultural and religious institutions to respond to the ecological crisis.
2. Listening - Research Participant Perspective
Thea listens with her heart.
I've seen a lot of amazing sights of nature and for example when we were in England, and we were walking through a beautiful, beautiful park, all the trees were changing and it was just beautiful. I just sat there and felt that
Scharper citing Albert Fritsch S.J. from Down to Earth Spirituality, (Kansas City: Sheed and Ward, 1992, 41), 49-50.
292 Note: Albert Fritsch, S.J. was raised in the Appalachian Mountain country of Kentucky. Some of his ministry as a priest and an engineer was working with coal miners and their struggles with poverty and ill-health. The sight of the sunrise over the wooded Appalachians became imprinted in his soul he says. Fritsch observed the shape of the "hills melt before the giant earthmoving equipment skinning away the forest cover, exposing coal seams, and hauling away the black gold," in Albert J. Fritsch, S.J. and Paul Gallimore, "Introduction," in Healing Appalachia: Sustainable Living through Appropriate Technology, (Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2007), 1. http://www.kentuckypress.com/viewbook.cfm?Group=4&ID=1399&Category_ID=l 146
interconnection with all of creation, you know. We didn't do a formal prayer service or anything, but we kind of said a little prayer of gratitude for how beautiful creation is and how beautiful that moment was. So, that's my feeling. You don't have to necessarily do a prayer service, or do some kind of formal celebration. I think you can just be sitting there and appreciating it and just having the conversation, "Thank you, God, for this moment and how beautiful this is right now." It is sort of enough for me.
In summary, the "listening" typology touches deeper levels of the heart. I can relate to how Thea was caught in a moment of joy with creation. It is the song of the spring peepers that thrills my soul. Berry says, "We especially need to hear the creatures of
Earth before it is too late, before their voices are stilled forever through extinctions occurring at such a rapid rate. The Divine experience they communicate will never again be available to humans."293
E. The "Ecofeminist" Theological Typology
1. Overview
i) An ecofeminist theological sense of the self in relation to God insists on expanding images of God, metaphors, models, and categories of relationship.
The role of the human according to the aspirations of ecofeminist ethics is "to open space to women and ecosystems to enable them to become rightful subjects in the building of new relationships based on respect and reciprocity."294 This role for right relations offers the wisdom to enable the economic, political, cultural, and religious patriarchy to
Thomas Berry, "Women Religious: Voices of Earth," in The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth, eds., Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, (Maryknoll, NY.: Orbis Books, 2009), 73.
294 Ivone Gebara, "Ecofeminism: An Ethics of Life," in Ecofeminism & Globalism: Exploring Culture, Context, and Religion, eds., Heather Eaton and Lois Ann Lorentzen, (Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2003), 176. 147
promote and respect the rights of human beings and all animals and all sources of life that exist as the body of the Earth.295
ii) Theological Support - three theologians represent the "ecofeminist" approach
Sallie McFague, Ivone Gebarra, and Rosemary Radford Ruether. First, with regard to images of God, Sallie McFague, in Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear
Age, critiques the imaginative pictures, metaphors, and models that underlie the conceptual systems of theology. She challenges theologians who try to recast the faith for contemporary living while being mired in the paradigms of triumphalist, monarchical, and / or patriarchal traditions. McFague aims to remythologize with new pictures, imaginings, and language since "theology is mostly fiction."296 In the context of an ecological worldview, the world as God's body, she proposes, is a preferred model. It is an organic model where images of God as mother, or lover, or friend can be "prime candidates for expressing the gospel of Christianity as an inclusive, nonhierarchical vision of fulfillment."297 Some examples of remythologizing are: God as Mother - generative, nurturing, ensuring justice; God as Lover - passionate and bonded, healing and saving; God as Friend - reciprocal, like-minded, and loyal.298
Second, with regard to the role of the human, Ivone Gebara, in Longing for
Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation, says we have been given "the challenge of
295 Ibid., 176.
296 Sallie McFague, Models of God: Theology for an Ecological, Nuclear Age, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1987), xi. By 'fiction' McFague refers to human constructs of God.
297 Ibid., 126.
298 Ibid., 20-21. educating ourselves and the coming generations for the building of a subjective bonding with all beings, a linkage that is capable of halting the process of exploitation and destruction of the planet and its population."299
Third, as regards human relations with creation, Rosemary Radford Ruether notes, "Surely, if we are kin to all things and offspring of the universe, then what has flowered in us as consciousness must also be reflected in that universe as well, in the ongoing creative matrix of the whole."300 The role of the human is to unite "the small selves with the Great Self for as She bodies forth in us, all the beings respond in the bodying forth of the diverse creative work that makes the world."301 Ruether offers the choice, "We can seek to grasp our ego centres of being in negation of others, and finally poisoning the wellspring of the life process itself. Or, we can dance gracefully with our fellow beings, spinning out our creative work in such a way as to affirm theirs and they ours as well."302
iii) Catholic Ecofeminists: Heather Eaton proposes six Ecojustice Principles.
1. The Principle of Intrinsic Worth: The Universe, the Earth and all its components have intrinsic worth/value.
2. The Principle of Interconnectedness: The Earth is a community of interconnected living things that are mutually dependent on each other for life and survival.
Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 211.
300 Rosemary Radford Ruether, Gaia & God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing, (New York: HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., 1992), 253.
301 Ibid., 253.
302 Ibid., 253. 149
3. The Principle of Voice: The Earth is a subject capable of raising its voice in celebration and against injustice.
4. The Principle of Purpose: The universe, the Earth and all its components are part of a dynamic cosmic design within which each piece has a place in the overall goal of that design.
5. The Principle of Custodianship: The Earth is a balanced and diverse domain where responsible custodians can function as partners with, rather than rulers over, the Earth to sustain its balance and diversity.
6. The Principle of Resistance: The Earth and its components not only suffer injustices at the hands of humans, but actively resist them in the struggle for • <_• 303
justice.
2. Ecofeminist - Research Participant Perspective
How might the research participants relate to the Principles? Many of their ideas and responses demonstrate a compatibility with them.
Daniel Where do I fit? That's tough. I love ecofeminist thought. I mean ecofeminist thought is the idea that women, nature, and the poor are oppressed and power relations have to be transformed in order to create a more just society. Yah, the multitude of voices that they come from - like ecofeminism is sort of like the response to traditional feminism, where traditional feminism was the idea that the white, middle class women can talk for all women, but ecofeminism is suggesting that's NOT necessarily the case. Obviously, the feminist role is huge. It's played such an important aspect in so many ways but now they're progressing to this idea that middle class, white women can't necessarily speak for an African woman. That's what ecofeminism's all about.. .getting the perspective of the minority. If you asked women, if you asked many other sections of minorities... again it is a lot of interpretation. Interpretation of a particular race, gender, class, and so the bottom line is we have to rearrange that position.
Heather Eaton, "Ecofeminist Contributions to an Ecojustice Hermeneutics," in Readings From The Perspective of Earth, Norman C. Habel, ed., (Cleveland, Ohio: The Pilgrim Press, 2000), 63-69. 150
3. Methods - Pastoral Use of Theological Typologies
Four of the research participants located themselves in the "constructivist" typology and one in the "ecofeminist." Amber comments, "It's very interesting to see those different perspectives. I had never thought about it in that sense."
I find the typologies useful, especially when preparing for a retreat. The research participants seemed to appreciate being able to locate their perspective within a range of possibilities. For Amber it offers an expanding view.
Amber I guess it is more from the left side approach to these typologies. For, example, I agree that again I'm very big with the nature connected concepts and listening to and being aware. I feel that the Earth is trying to say something to us. There are signs saying 'we need to take action.' So, I agree with the listening concept.
I never even thought about an ecofeminist theory before. But that's very true, I think, that the majority of leaders of history have been male and have had a male approach. And I do think that we are responsible for the way the Earth is heading. So maybe taking on a more equality approach amongst people or that, may help that situation. There are a lot of great things here.
And then again, with the constructivists, taking a more religious aspect - a Christian aspect anyways - and combining a little bit of the listener concept together, yah, I'm pretty much a little bit of everything here.
The main goal really is putting the Earth up there, taking care of it; taking responsibility, and appreciating all of creation. If that's the main goal - if there's that one common goal, that's probably where I stand in all of them.
4. Methods - Focus Group on Real Life Examples
The research participants spoke eagerly about their environmental experiences in schools. Their stories are very useful in my retreat ministry because they are real and relatable for retreatants: students, teachers, parents or parishioners. Schools and Parishes are like ecosystems. They give great benefits when their own needs are met too. Besides 151
curriculum or catechesis, learning by example is valuable.
Thea found that her role modeling was quickly picked up by the students.
At my school there was lots of visibility for the EcoSchool program: posters, labels on light switches, and such. But disappointingly, there wasn't a lot of recycling at my school at all. I had to go all the way down to the cafeteria to recycle bottles or plastic. What was good was the kids picked up on this. They'd have papers and instead of throwing them in the garbage they'd ask, "Miss, where's the recycling?" In the front foyer there were a couple of recycle bins. It bothered me that there were no recycle bins in the classroom.
Abby is eager to share ecolearning with students.
All this attention on the changes in our globe and it's concerning to me. If I can have thirty little minds with me to try to figure out one little problem, then why not give it a shot, right, with being conscious of God's world and that at the same time?
Penny shared a great idea about student leadership for energy saving.
At my school the kids would even yell at each other if a kid didn't put paper into the recycling bin. There were stickers all over the computers reminding everyone to turn off the computer.
At the Science Teachers Conference this year, the theme was the Environment. One suggestion was for each classroom to have eco-monitors or energy monitors in the class so that computers would be shut off at the end of the day and lights put off. The students, then, were in charge of being energy savers.
Daniel was aware of the role of environmental ethics, and was able to engage young students in a lesson on the Greenhouse Effect.
I've been in a Grade 4. There wasn't a lot of religion discussed, period, in class, which I found a little disheartening. And it was a little weird because I'm used to Religion at least three times a week. The good news is we were studying Habitats in science. The teacher dealt with the environment and how it affects species - there was no connection with spirituality - but at the same time he talked about certain conditions like oil spills and their impact. He seemed to assume that we all love animals and here was an animal's home being destroyed. He did an effective job there. I did a science lesson on global warming and the kids know lots about global warming and what's going on. I taught them the greenhouse effect. They're only 152
Grade 4 but I did it in such a way that with little cars, and diagrams, we talked about the ozone layer and atmosphere, and what's going up into the air. It was lots of fun.
Penny At the Science Teachers Conference, I got a CD with a whole integrated unit on Water Conservation. There was science, language arts, phys. ed., and lots of activities.
Thea responded to Penny's integration idea.
In high schools "the environment" gets categorized as science: ecology, water cycle. Most teachers think that if they're not teaching science, then the environment is not their topic or responsibility. Therefore, I thought this research on religion and the environment is so interesting because it crosses boundaries.
5. Summary - Exploring the Themes
In this chapter, the search has been for answers to the question, "What are the methods...?" First, there emerged themes which help to chart the journey of faith toward
Earth stewardship. Second, by engaging research participants in the reflection on religion and the environment, we are privy to their insights, preferences, and problems. The goal was to place the two in dialogue by correlating their context. Third, the theological typologies for environmental stewardship were engaged as a pastoral method to meet people where they are at in a respectful and inclusive way, and to allow for growth.
Fourth, the value of lived experience expressed by the research participants brings to the fore the value of a search for 'methods' so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness. CHAPTER FIVE
Ecological Spirituality for Earth Stewardship
A. Introduction to Learnings
In this chapter, key learnings are named from the correlation of themes from the dialogue partners. Implications will be drawn on the topics of "Catholic education" and
"earth stewardship." The third component of the research question, an "ecological spirituality," is more fully explored in order to find methods for how it could become a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness.
1. Cosmos as Revelation - First Learning
Theory suggests:
• We need to rethink our sources of knowledge: scientific, religious, philosophical and cultural worldviews, in order to better align our moral ethics with the ecological situation of climate change.
• Cosmos as Revelation shifts emphasis from a mythic to a measured, scientific revelation.
• "It is not only Sacred Scripture and infallible dogmatic teachings that are sources of mysteries. So too is the primary revelation of the ecological order of creation, in which a great foundational mystery is put to Christian believers. Thus we see a need for a new orthodoxy to ground environmental reasoning."304
The new scientific cosmology based on observation and empirical evidence reveals that we live in an emerging, time-developmental universe. This evolving, integral, and creative reality is a cosmogenesis, an unfolding, an irreversible sequence of transformations. In this epic of evolution, species can be lost forever.
304 Scharper and Weigert, Catholic Social Thought, 139.
153 154
Research participants comment:
• The Genesis creation story is a metaphor for the mystery of God's creating.
• Every cell, [every] living and non-living [thing], it is all part of it, all is holy.
Research participant, Abby said, "There is value in understanding God's creation in a scientific manner and in a spiritual manner."
Implications for Learning "Sources of Revelation"
Scharper and Weigert suggest, "The call for a new story of Creation has implications for narratives of Divinity as well as for right environmental attitudes and action."305
For a new cosmological perspective, the universe story is the primary story that must be taught from kindergarten through doctoral programs and form the organizing narrative of our economic, political, cultural, religious, and ethical life. Significantly from a social point of view, both Berry and Swimme include a critique of consumer culture in their efforts to establish a cosmocentric ethics of the environment. They claim that a consumer cosmology has become the world's reigning worldview and that we are socialized from an early age to view the universe not as a communion of subjects, but a collection of objects, to be bought, sold, used, and discarded.306
2. "Liberation" - Second Learning
Theory suggests:
• Liberation shifts the paradigm from a cosmology of domination to liberation.
• The identity of the human person as imago Dei is as an integral member of the earth community, interdependent, interrelated, and self-reflective.
Research participants contribute:
• So, for a faith perspective, you have to see it like within a circle, like you're part of the environment.
Scharper and Weigert reference Thomas Berry from The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, 136. 155
• The divine presence is everywhere and in everything.
• My image of God in nature and my connection to the environment is through God, through my religion and my beliefs, that's the deepest, strongest connection.
• Just being in creation is enough for me - that's a moment that I can visualize or imagine that God is there.
• I see God in all that is around me. God is in the rays of the sun and the dew on the morning grass. He is in the yawn of a waking animal and the stretch of a leaping creature. God is not one thing but many things all at once. He is everything I experience and everything I strive to be.
• We have to reposition ourselves away from the dominant position we have taken, and return back within nature.
Implications for Learning Liberation
1. Liberation calls for re-imagining Divinity itself. New dimensions of spirituality and stewardship can be discovered when our religious imagination is ignited.
2. Our imago Dei I image of God lies near to the heart of our understanding of God, ourselves, and life around us. 'Respect for life, the dignity of the human and the equitable distribution of resources' needs to include all life.
3. Our concept of the imago Dei I image of God has been and continues to be formed through revelation from scriptures, the tradition, theological insights, mystical moments, life experiences, and the new cosmology.
4. Attention to Divine presence in the unfolding story of creation ignites new dimensions of religious and spiritual revelation.
5. Our imago Dei / image of God impacts our worship, our identity, our religious and cultural expressions, our spirituality, and all our relationships. God's self - revelation in creation can be celebrated in new ways. More research in this realm is needed. 156
3. A Sacred Universe - Third Learning
Theory suggests:
• In the biblical story God saw creation as "good." Over the six days, creation evolved in greater complexity. Man is named as steward in a covenant of care.
• The Cosmic Christ story of incarnation, resurrection, and Spirit-present can be celebrated in the context of the mystery and creativity of cosmogenesis.
• The third shift is a movement from cosmos to cosmogenesis.
• The 'new story' of cosmogenesis ignites the religious imagination to awe and wonder.
Retreat participants contribute:
• "The view of Earth from the universe helps me realize how magnificent the interdependencies of nature and ecosystems are."
• "We are all part of an amazing, ongoing miracle which God facilitated. This web of life, involving animals, nature, humans, and their respective activities, reminds us that we all have our places and if we destroy any one of them, whether through pollution, deforestation or global warming, we are interfering with God's plan and sinning against Him."308
Implications for Learning A Sacred Universe
1. In a retreat ministry, a celebration of the creation story as our sacred story can be told, ritualized, sung, imaged, danced, and experienced. A variety of modes for telling the story are being developed.
2. A creation-redemption sacramental theology is needed for symbolizing the sacredness of all creation.309
Note: This response is from a Teacher who was a retreat participant with her AQ Religious Education course, July 13, 2009.
308 Note: A Reflection Paper submitted by a Pre-Service student teacher, October 20, 2008.
309 Paul F. Knitter, "The One Earth and Our Many Stories: Eco-human Well-being a Criterion for Religious Truth," in One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue & Global Responsibility (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995), 118-135. 157
3. More research is needed for how best to unify the Cosmic Story with the Christian story of the Cosmic Christ: incarnated, resurrected, and Spirit-present.
4. Opportunities for expressing one's response to the Cosmic Story can be made available in a retreat setting through art, mandalas, dance, and poetry.
5. Greening Projects can be promoted in a retreat setting as a tangible outcome to honour the sacredness of creation.
4. We Are One - Fourth Learning
Theory suggests:
• All of the three approaches - anthropocentric, biocentric, and cosmocentric - are eager to find the best way to deal with the deteriorating environmental situation.
• It would benefit everyone and everything if the three approaches could be open and interactive with each other toward the common good of creation.
• Kinship with all of creation is the outcome of a shift from anthropocentrism and biocentrism to an ecological worldview.
• The Christian worldview must find ways to inspire creation care.
• "an education in ecological responsibility is urgent: responsibility for oneself, for others and for the earth."310
As Thomas Berry says, "All human institutions, professions, programs, and activities must now be judged primarily by the extent to which they inhibit, ignore, or foster a mutually enhancing human-Earth relationship."311
Research participants suggest:
• Abby: "We are all part of the same 'circle of life.'
• Penny: "I'm just appreciating nature and everything that's around."
310 John Paul II, "The Ecological Crisis," 1990.
311 Berry, The Christian Future and Fate of Earth, 117. 158
• Thea: "God calls each of us to be stewards for all of creation, because we are linked to all of creation at an elemental level."
• Amber: "We are all part of that same 'cosmic dust.'"
Implications for Learning "We Are One"
1. Religious education and family life curriculum can develop a "respect for life" with contemporary cosmological, theological, educational, and ecological understandings of our human-earth interrelationship. More research and development is needed.
2. Given that the human is derivative of the Earth, the Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations can reflect a vision of the learner that acknowledges that interrelationship.
5. Ecological Conversion - Fifth Learning
Theory suggests:
• The call to an ecological conversion shifts the paradigm from an industrial motif to an ecological morality.
• Pope John Paul II said "extend respect for life and the dignity of the human person to all of creation in praising God."312
• The link between social justice and ecological justice made by the Canadian Bishops in "Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion," in A Pastoral Letter, is an important step forward. • "Catholics continue to re-think the sacramentality of creation, the sacredness of creation, the sacredness of personal dignity, and processes for a more inclusive global common good that includes the environmental signs of the times, that call forth vocations to an environmental morality that is true to Catholic social Teachings, continues Catholic social Traditions, and responds to Catholic social Thought."314
312 John Paul II, "The Ecological Crisis," 1990.
313 Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, "Our Relationship with the Environment, "2008.
314 Scharper and Weigert, Catholic Social Thought, 131-32. 159
Research participants display:
• a sincere connection with creation, empathy with Earth, and compassion for the interior struggle toward wholeness.
• a felt-sense of gratitude for creation and respond from a deep interiority.
• Ecofeminist values of equity, mutuality, interdependence, and care for creation are values expressed by the research participants in their language about God, their experiences, and vocational goals.
Implications for "Ecological Conversion"
1. The implications call for creation-centred liturgies, homilies on ecotheology and ecospirituality.
2. Develop more visibility for KAIROS and/or Development and Peace groups, and encourage the ministry of "respect for the earth and justice for its people," in the parish.315
3. "Develop concrete programs and initiatives," as Pope John Paul II urged.
4. An "ecological conversion" needs to transform religious education and spirituality so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness.
5. More research is required to support an "ecological conversion" at all levels.
6. Perhaps spiritual sustainability can be evoked by deep interiority as well as by moral reasoning for responsibility.
315 Notes: KAIROS This "Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiative is a web of people and partnerships dedicated to a faithful and decisive response to God's call for respect for the earth and justice for its people." The KAIROS document "Creating a Climate for Justice" includes a theological reflection, worship materials, workshop information to better understand climate issues, and ideas for how to engage in faithful action for justice, http://www.kairoscanada.org/en/ecojustice/ (Accessed May 20, 2010). Development and Peace (D & P) is the official international development organization of the Catholic Church in Canada and the Canadian member of Caritas International. Its outreach to the Global South integrates an educational component for the Global North about important issues, http://www.devp.org/ 6. Integration with Creation - Sixth Learning
Theory suggests:
• "Our problem, then, is to convert religion to the world, rather than to convert the world to religion."316
• "We suggest that prudence requires a synthesis of Teaching, Tradition, and Thought in an ever-increasingly critical mix of personal, national, and global sustainable action with, not toward, Creation."3 7
"We can envision our existence as being "with nature only if we are able to think that nature, from its side, is capable of being "with" us—though "in a different way."318
• The religious resources of Catholic Teaching, Tradition, and Thought, when correlated with the apologetic, constructive, listening, and ecofeminist typologies show that there is more research participant congruence with a "constructive" typology. The four typologies are a valuable method for developing an ecological consciousness.
• The combination of religious teachings with contemporary thought and knowledge is preferred over the 'apologetic' Expanding Catholic "Thought" can be encouraged especially in teachers who are sources of knowledge for their students.
• The sixth shift is to be a movement from action toward creation to action with creation.
• The spiritual practice of contemplation could support a "listening" typology as a method for developing an ecoidentity.319
316 Berry, The Sacred Universe, 12.
317 Scharper and Weigert, Catholic Social Thought, 139.
318 Hall citing Martin Buber from / and Thou, Trans. Ronald Gregor Smith, (Edinburgh: T & T. Clark, 1937, 7), in Imaging God, 204. Buber insists it is possible to have an I-Thou relationship with a tree.
319 Gary L. Chamberlain, "Ecology and Religious Education," Religious Education Journal, Vol. 95 No. 2, Spring, 2000. 161
Research participants:
• These new teachers have an extensive educational background in environmental and social issues, such that ecoadvocacy and role modeling are already in their teaching practice.
• Two teachers spoke eagerly about science units on Interdependence, and the Food Chain. One teacher, at her first school in England, started a Science Club / Green Club to raise awareness in the school.
• Another teacher brought home used paper and made little note pads. Another led a discussion on liberation theology and the role of religion injustice making.
• These small steps, coming from hearts of compassion, can make a positive difference to the future of creation, and to the future of Catholic education.
Implications for Learning Integration with Creation
1. The sacredness of Creation can be named in Catholic School Boards' Mission Statements, Goals, and Programmes.
2. Creation is not just the backdrop for the historical revelation of God's journey with humanity but is [the primary] context and content throughout which God continually reveals Godself, along with scripture and sacraments.
3. Virtue and character development can promote the values of caring for all of creation. More research is needed to expand the repertoire of creation-centred values and virtues.
4. Catholic teacher education which includes Religious Education courses for Pre- Service, additional Qualification courses, and Faith days; along with courses for Parish Catechetic teachers and sources for Retreat Facilitation, need to be theologically informed about the 'new story.' It can ignite teachers with reverence for the sacredness in creation, and inspire them to advocate for it as an important dimension of their mission. B. Ecospmtuality - Seventh Learning
The theory and the research so far suggest that in order to facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education, new dimensions of spirituality are required so that earth stewardship is understood as a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness. This statement, a reconfiguring of the original research question, contains a valuable insight. As such, the seventh learning requires an expanded explanation.
In the theory-practice relationship, one of the enduring challenges for Catholic educators and retreat facilitators, as previously mentioned, is to explore emerging theologies for their epistemological significance. The filter of faith is to seek wisdom for ecological concerns. Why might 'many theologies' matter? Sallie McFague suggests,
"Theology is always theologies, many different understandings of God's relation to the world from different contexts."320 Christianity holds within itself a multiplicity of cultures which have an impact on the theological contexts. Theologies, in the plural, expand the repertoire of theological constructions for and from our own times. It is not enough to reiterate concepts when theology demands that we contribute to the well-being of the planet and to justice for its people, especially the oppressed.
Ivone Gabara speaks of "the biodiversity of religions, which goes along with the biodiversity of the cosmos and the earth, and with the diversity of cultures."322
320 Sallie McFague, Abundant Life: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 66.
321 McFague, Abundant Life, 66-67.
322 Ivone Gebara, Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminsism and Liberation, (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 205. 163
Biodiversity exists not only in the multiplicity of religions but also within religious traditions themselves. So to bring biodiversity into theological reflection is to open ourselves up to pluralism in the expressions of Christian experience, and therefore to change our understanding of what "unity" is about. It is not a matter of losing our identity; rather, we seek to make this identity as authentic "as possible to the domains in which our lives unfold."
Theological biodiversity implies an attitude of humility for an authenticity of minds and hearts, imaginations and wills, and even our dreams.324 Furthermore, the spiritualities that emerge can create social and ecological connections as well as expressions of transformative justice through music, ritual, art, poetry, dance, drama, and liturgy. Let us take a brief overview of nine theologies to glean the spiritual potential that they hold for creation. Their potential can enable the seventh shift from theological concern to new dimensions of ecological spirituality.
323 Ibid., 208.
324 Ibid., 209. 164
A Biodiversity of Theologies and Emerging Spiritualities Table 10.
1. Classical Theology A Spirituality of Social and Ecological Justice
2. Sacramental Theology A Spirituality of Communion
3. Eschatological Theology A Spirituality of Hope
4. Liberation Theology A Spirituality of Compassion
5. Ecofeminist Theology A Spirituality of Mutuality
6. Asian Theology A Spirituality of Cosmic Unity
7. Process Theology A Spirituality of Possibility
8. Ecotheology A Spirituality of Kinship
9. Evolutionary Theology A Spirituality of Co-creating
1. Classical Theology - A Spirituality of Social and Ecological Justice
Catholic "Teachings" about the Environment presented in this study maintain three imperatives: i) the personal dignity for the social well being of the individual who is created in the image of God; ii) the "universal destination of creation's goods" to meet the needs of all; and iii) the imperative of the community to focus on peace and justice.
Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate (Truth in Charity), released on July 6,
2009, takes an in-depth look at human development and human flourishing. John Haught reflects, "Yet, the overall classical approach is apologetic in nature as it defends the 165
integrity of biblical religion and traditional theology without requiring transformation."
Classical stewardship relies on the virtues of humility, detachment, and gratitude, and not on domination. The question must be asked however: can this be motivation enough for the kind of dramatic transformation needed for the ecological crisis? The misuse of
Earth's 'resources,' over consumption, and overpopulation continue to combine with climate changes to make earth-human relations unstable.
A Spirituality of Justice is suggested by this thesis to shape new relationships of mutuality in Earth-Human-Divine relations. This Spirituality of Justice is to be characterized by virtues of humility, subjectivity, and prudence. "Prudence," Scharper and Weigert suggest, "requires a synthesis of Teaching, Tradition, and Thought in an ever-increasingly critical mix of personal, national, and global sustainable action with, not toward Creation."326
2. Sacramental Theology - A Spirituality of Communion
The sacramental and liturgical life of the church is rooted in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ from whom the church receives its identity, authority and mission.327 The Christological paradigm however, characterized by Christ as the
325 John Haught, The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose (New Jersey, NY: Paulist Press, 1993), 92.
326 Scharper and Weigert, Catholic Social Thought, 139. "Prudence" is named in Pope Benedict's encyclical "Caritas in Veritate" as a precautionary value for political authorities. The foundations of democracy are to be promoted over global economic interests. Our relationship to the natural environment is addressed in section n. 48. "It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life." It is for man to till and to keep, yet "it is a wondrous work of the Creator containing a "grammar" which sets forth ends and criteria for its wise use, not its reckless exploitation." (n.48) Wise 'use' implies an attitude 'toward' creation, not 'with' creation.
327 McDougall citing Edward Schillebeeckx from Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter with God (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1963, 3-6), in The Cosmos as Primary Sacrament, 116. 166
primordial sacrament, overshadows the numinous wonder of the universe and the
Absolute Mystery that is its ground.328 Dorothy McDougall in The Cosmos as Primary
Sacrament, suggests an ecological sacramentality could balance the creation-redemption motif. If, for example creation were to be understood differently, a new opportunity for sacramental and liturgical theology would / could ensue.
An ecclesiology of communion is inclusive not only of humans but of all creation in the web of life. An ecological sacramentality affirms 'the universe is a communion of subjects not a collection of objects.' With such an expansion of the context for worship and meaning, the 'religious imagination' can revision liturgical and sacramental forms and practices. Baptism could be enriched, for example, when a child is welcomed into the
'cosmic communion' as well as into the 'ecclesial communion' of believers. One might question, what does it mean if the waters we use for Baptism are polluted or the bread and wine for Eucharist have been tainted with pesticides and herbicides?
A Spirituality of Communion is suggested by this thesis to emerge as a new dimension of ecological spirituality. Can the sacred be held in both spirit and matter?
"Sacraments are moments of a privileged transformative encounter in which believers are led into the deeper mystery of God's presence in the whole of creation."330 A Spirituality of Communion could be characterized by solidarity with the degradation of the natural
328 Ibid., 118.
329 Ibid., 119-20.
330 Ibid., 126. McDougall affirms that what the cosmos as primary sacrament does is to reveal through natural symbols the divine presence and the "essence" of created reality itself. 167
world and the "commitment to stop the world of exploitation, of manipulation, and of violence so intense that it threatens to destroy not only the human city but also the planet itself." Social and ecological justice and action can both be on two sides of the same coin if graced by sacramental transformation in a spirituality of communion.
3. Eschatological Theology - A Spirituality of Hope
John Haught in The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose, ignites the anticipatory power of hope. Haught supports a "theology of evolution" and the reconstruction of doctrines by linking evolution, ecology and eschatology. By uniting the biblical notion of 'promise' with the Christian belief in the resurrection of Jesus, Haught presents nature as sacrament and as a great 'promise' toward fulfillment. Great promise is different than a "gift" from God because it can be easily viewed as something we are entitled to use as we please. John Hart in What are they saying about Environmental
Theology? remarks that Haught accepts the Christian understanding of a "sacramental nature," but agrees with Thomas Berry, people must also appreciate nature for itself.333
The 'not-yet-perfected' universe comes logically from evolutionary theology. In his writings, Haught utilizes process philosophy and process theology as foundations to explore human-creation relationship. "And if through faith we can interpret the totality of nature as a great promise, we may learn to treasure it not simply for its sacramental
331 Thomas Berry, Dream of the Earth (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988), 46-47.
332 John Haught, The Promise of Nature: Ecology and Cosmic Purpose (New Jersey, NY: Paulist Press, 1993), 92. Noreen Allossery-Walsh, O.S.U., "Christian Ecological Responsibility: Intimations of Prophetic Witness," (Thesis for Doctor of Ministry, Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, May 2009).
Hart, What are they saying about Environmental Theology, 80-83. 168
transparency to God but also because it carries in its present perishable glory the seeds of a final, eschatological flowering."334
A 'Spirituality of Hope' is suggested by this thesis as a new dimension of ecological spirituality. This could be characterized by the drive toward employment with fair wages, availability of goods and services that are essential for health and welfare, clean water, sanitation, education, nutritious food and health care, investment in agricultural productivity, micro-financing, and infra-structure, recognition of human rights, Indigenous land rights, and investment in the regeneration of ecosystems.335
4. Liberation Theology - A Spirituality of Compassion
The fourth theology comes from Gustavo Gutierrez, O.P., a Peruvian theologian and Dominican priest who is regarded as the founder of Liberation Theology.336 His work, among the poorest of the poor in small base communities, puts faith into action.
The 'preferential option for the poor' has become an essential component of Catholic social justice. Leonardo Boff, a Brazilian liberation theologian, philosopher, and author of Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor along with ecofeminist theologian Ivone Gebara, cast
Earth first. They recognize that only a healthy Earth can liberate people to seek the full flourishing of all of God's creation. Boff says that "all things in nature are citizens, have
334 John Haught, "Evolution, Ecology, and the Promise of Nature," Chapter 9 in God after Darwin: A Theology of Evolution, (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2000), 151.
335 UN Chronicle - Forecast 2020: Financial Meltdown and Malnutrition. http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/cache/bypass/lang/en/home/archive/Issues2009/wemustdisar m_l/forecast2020financialmeltdownandmalnutrition. (Accessed February 17, 2010).
Gustavo Gutierrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics, Salvation (New York: Orbis Books, 1971). Connects social and political liberation with liberation from sin. 169
rights, and deserve respect and reverence... .Today, the common good is not exclusively human; it is the common good of all nature." Boff believes in biotic democracy and the need to move toward a planetary ecological and social democracy.
A Spirituality of Compassion is suggested in this thesis as a new dimension of ecological spirituality. The poor of the world are the ones most dependent upon the physical environment to supply their daily needs. The poor living in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America are the most vulnerable, and are adversely affected when lakes dry up, crops fail, and disease spreads. A Spirituality of Compassion could be characterized by
Karen Armstrong's "Charter for Compassion" - to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.
5. Ecofeminist Theology - A Spirituality of Mutuality
Rosemary Radford Ruether correlates the degradation of the sacred earth and the oppression of women with the underpinnings of patriarchal power and dominance.339
Canadian ecofeminist theologian, Heather Eaton, in her chapter, "Ecofeminist
Contributions to an EcoJustice Heurmeneutics," describes the context of cultural forces:
3 Leonardo Boff, Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 133.
338 Karen Armstrong. "The Charter for Compassion" was unveiled to the world on November 12, 2009. The Charter is a single document, endorsed by HH the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu among others, www.charterforcompassion.org (Accessed February 17, 2010).
339 Rosemary Radford Ruether, Gaia and God: An Ecofeminist Theology of Earth Healing (San Francisco: Harper, 1992). 170
As Eurowestern societies developed, the combined influences of the rise of science, the dualisms of the Christian worldview, the philosophy of modernity and the industrialization of the economy became the cultural forces that entrenched the feminization of nature, the naturalizing of women and their inter- entanglements in theoretical, historical, and cultural webs.340
Sallie McFague argues for the ecological model as a viable alternative construct to the destructive Western approaches to nature. McFague suggests that Christianity, in an ecological reformation, could best respond by reconstructing doctrines to reflect today's reality and support it with liturgies that celebrate a sacramental and prophetic living.
The common creation story, McFague suggests, can function in the re-imagining of God for all faith traditions. A cosmic worldview transforms what it means to be in relationship with God, with each other and with the earth.341 Dorothy McDougalPs critique calls for
"a reorientation of religious commitments towards a new theological horizon - the universe as primary sacred community and the flourishing of all life."342
A Spirituality of Mutuality as a new dimension of ecological spirituality could be characterized by i) a balance of feminine/masculine energies; ii) an alignment of religious spiritualities with the rhythm and limits of Earth processes; and iii) a spiritual life rich, deep, and abiding in connection with all of creation. McFague suggests that if everyone is to have a place to sit at the table, so Earth's household rule goes, then the limitations of
Earth must be respected.
340 Heather Eaton, "Ecofeminist Contributions to an EcoJustice Heurmeneutics" in Readings from the Perspective of Earth. Norman C. Habet ed., (Cleveland, Ohio: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000), 55.
341 Sallie McFague. "A Manifesto to North American Middle-Class Christians," in Making Waves: An ecumenical feminist journal (Toronto: Women's Inter-Church Council of Canada, Summer, 2001) 20.
Dorothy McDougall, The Cosmos as Primary Sacrament, 32. 171
6. Asian Theology - A Spirituality of Cosmic Unity
John Grim, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Tu Wei-Ming, and Jai-Don Lee offer us a new opportunity for exchange between Asian and Western worldviews. Asian religions / philosophies have a predisposition to a cosmological worldview versus an anthropocentric worldview. Confucianism for example, envisions a perception of human flourishing, based upon the dignity of the person imaged in a series of concentric circles: self, family, community, society, nation, world, and cosmos.
A Spirituality of Cosmic Unity is suggested in this thesis as a new dimension of ecological spirituality could be characterized by deep respect for chi flowing in spirit, and matter which unifies all of creation.
7. Process Theology - A Spirituality of Possibility
Process Theology builds on the insights of Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947) a British mathematician, philosopher, and author of Process and Reality (1929). The theology work of John B. Cobb Jr. names eight themes, many with which we can readily identify: i) process: every moment is a "now"; ii) enjoyment: the purpose of the universe; iii) essential relatedness: involves maximizing our relatedness to others not merely as an ideal, but as an ontologically given characteristic which assumes the intrinsic value of all reality; iv) incarnation: the divine, in some sense, is present in all matter and governs this relationship; v) creative self-determination: God is the divine Eros urging the world to new heights of enjoyment; vi) creative self-expression: involves ego restraint and a moral concern for the achievement of God's purposes for the world; vii) novelty: lends zest and 172
intensity of enjoyment; and viii) God-Relatedness: implies a continual creative transformation as God is a primordial envisagement of the pure possibilities.343
A Spirituality of Possibility is suggested in this thesis as a new dimension of ecological spirituality and could be characterized by a resurgence of wonder and awe in a panentheistic experience of God in everything. As Sallie McFague expresses, "God is in intimate relationship with every thing as the source, sustainer and goal of every scrap, every quark, of creation.344
8. Ecotheology - A Spirituality of Kinship
Thomas Berry tells us that it is divine love that pervades the universe in its every aspect and enables the creative process of the universe to continue. The universe itself is the primary sacred community. "In reality," Berry says, "every being has three basic rights: the right to be, the right to habitat, and the right to fulfill its role in the great community of existence."345 "To bring about recognition of this new sense of the human role in relation to the natural world," Berry furthers, "we need a radical transformation throughout the entire human venture."346
A Spirituality of Kinship is suggested in this thesis as a new dimension of ecological spirituality. This spirituality understands we are one Earth community in a reciprocal relationship. This could be characterized by new ways for creation to be taught
343 John B. Cobb Jr. and David Ray Griffin, Process Theology: An Introductory Exposition (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), 13-29.
344 Sallie McFague, Abundant Life: Rethinking Theology and Economy for a Planet in Peril (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001), 140.
345 Berry, The Sacred Universe, 133.
346 Berry, Ibid., 134. 173
in the religion program. Ecotheology has been the central subject of this thesis and has already been explicated.
9. Evolutionary Theology - A Spirituality of Co-creating
Diarmuid O'Murchu, M.C.S., is an Irish priest and a social scientist who keenly explores an evolutionary spirituality from the perspective of the emerging cosmology.
O'Murchu dates the spiritual story of humanity back at least 70,000 years.347 By comparison, formal religions have existed for a mere 5,000 years. Spirituality, then, is and perhaps always has been, more central to human experience than religion. Spirituality speaks ".. .to the creative Spirit of wisdom and love, who inhabits the whole of creation and dwells in my inner being, informing my every instinct and my desire for meaning."348
O'Murchu goes on to claim "It is the process of evolution itself beyond any set of human experiences that lies at the heart of our spiritual story."349
A Spirituality of Co-Creativity is suggested in this thesis when human consciousness is understood as an integral dimension of the 'intelligence' that permeates all life in the universe. We are part of a reality so much greater, a cosmic wisdom so much deeper, and intelligence so far beyond our imaginings that humanly designed structures of faith can sometimes occlude the very spiritual visions upon which they were
Diarmuid O'Murchu, M.C.S., Reclaiming Spirituality: A New Spiritual Framework for Today's World. (New York, NY: Crossroad Publishing Co., 1998), 31. O'Murchu cites anthropologists and archaeologists who note that the human species has been standing upright for 2 million years. It is over 60,000 years ago since fire was invented and it was a highly significant event in awakening human spiritual consciousness. Artistic representations around the Great Earth Mother Goddess are dated from 40,000- 5,000 BCE.
349 Ibid., 47. 174
created. The envelope of consciousness to which Jesus awakens us is a relational existence that informs our awareness, intuition, and imagination. O'Murchu suggests,
"All of our thoughts, dreams, and aspirations arise from this cosmic wellspring within which we live and grow, and are empowered to realize our full potential as planetary, cosmic creatures." A Spirituality of Co-creativity is attentive to the wellspring and responds with delight.
Implications for "New Dimensions of Ecological Spirituality"
1. The current generation of teachers, students, parents, and trustees in the Catholic education community in Ontario are challenged to seek anew the rich truths of faith imbedded ultimately in the mystery of the God of the universe / multiverse.
2. New dimensions of spirituality that are required so that earth stewardship is understood as a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness, need to be woven into the religious dimension of Catholic education "a) the educative climate, b) the personal development of each student, c) the relationship established between culture and the TCI Gospel, d) the illumination of all knowledge with the light of faith." 3. The religious dimension of Catholic education in Ontario has the challenge to centre its renewal on questions of self-identity, the image of God, and on earth-human-divine relationships as transformational tools toward "the truth of the wonder of all creation and the truth of the mystery of its Creator."352
4. A way for Catholic education to be "distinctive" is by taking a leadership role in advocacy for creation. As Berry observes, "Only recently has the deep pathos of the Earth situation begun to sink into our consciousness." 5 The loss of forms of life, of modes of divine presence, diminishes the human as well. Berry however, views this transition period into the twenty-first century as a moment of grace. Religious education is graced
35U Ibid., 99.
351 The Congregation for Catholic Education. "Introduction (1)" in The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School: Guidelines for Reflection and Renewal, (Rome, 1988, Reprinted in the English edition by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottawa, 1988) 3.
352 Dennis Murphy. Catholic Education: A Light of Truth (Toronto: Catholic Register Books, 2007), 132.
Berry, The Great Work, 199. 175
for enabling the younger generation to grow up "with greater awareness of the need for a mutually enhancing mode of human presence to the Earth."354
The next chapter will draw conclusions from this study and reflect further on the eighth theme of 'Advocacy for Creation.'
Ibid., 200. CHAPTER 6
Conclusions and Recommendations
A. Advocacy for Creation - Eighth Learning
In this thesis, methods are being sought for a retreat ministry that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education, so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness. The theory at work surveyed components of the broader context that directly impact the purpose, content, and processes of retreat ministry. Cosmologies, from the diverse perspectives of science, religion, philosophy, and cultural worldviews, are shifting toward a more integrated acceptance of ecological reality. Religious and environmental educators have been encouraged to 'develop concrete programmes and initiatives' toward 'an ecological conversion' respectful of God's creation. Advocacy for creation is needed.
This thesis benefited from ministry-in-action research. Using a qualitative approach with a hermeneutic phenomenological method for research, attention was paid to the meanings, metaphors, images, and experiences of research participants as they reflected on religion and the environment. Their responses were interpreted within the religious, spiritual, and educational structures of Catholic life. New dimensions of ecological spirituality, derived from a biodiversity of theologies, offer ways to live into the Catholic consciousness being sought.
"Advocacy for Creation" is the final theme. To be realized, however, we need to reflect on methods of teaching and retreat ministry that will encourage the flourishing of an ecologically rich imagination that will give birth to a lived creational advocacy.
176 177
In this chapter, conclusions will be drawn for the naming of effective methods, and suggestions for future research will continue to be offered.
1. Story Telling as a Method for Learning Cosmos as Revelation
The universe story is integral with the Earth story, the story of life, and the human story. The Christian story is also integral for those who follow the faith. The term
'religion' and the term 'universe' are somewhat similar in their meaning. "Both are derived from the Latin," Berry notes, "and both have to do with turning back to unity.
Religion, re-ligare, is a binding back to origin. Universe, or uni-versa, is a turning back of the many to the one."355 Earlier peoples "lived within the Covenant of the Universe, the onto logical covenant whereby each component of the universe experienced itself in intimate rapport with the other components of the universe."356 Experiencing the Cosmic
Story can restore a sense of everything connected, and a sense that all is one.357
Story Telling as a method in an ecoretreat ministry can celebrate the unfolding story of creation through an amazing DVD such as "The Awakening Universe," or in a version using concrete symbols, scientific explanation, and poetry such as The Creation
Mandala. The mandala of nine significant events in the 13.7 billion year history of the cosmos celebrates: The Birth of the Universe, The Birth of the Galaxies, The Birth of the
355 Berry, "The Epic of Evolution," Chapter 10 in Evening Thoughts, 114.
356 Ibid., 114.
357 Note: Neal Rogin's DVD, "The Awakening Universe: A Liberating New Cosmology for Our Time," as previously mentioned, is an outstanding 15 minute presentation for integrating the Cosmic Story.
358 Vincent Busch, SSC, Creation Mandala, (Quezon City, Philippines: Claretian Publications, 2009). Note: Information about the Creation Mandala story and materials, the Dream of the Mindanao people of the Philippines, and the Subanen Indigenous crafts of weaving and beading are available at: http://www.subanencrafts.com/ (Accessed May 20, 2010). 178
Solar System, The Birth of the Earth, The Birth of Life, The Birth of the Earth
Community, The Birth of Humans, The Birth of the Ecological Age, and arrives at The
Birth of Your Story. "It's a prayer befitting our walk in the garden of the universe with the Creator," says its composer Vincent Busch, SSC. Inspired by his studies with
Thomas Berry, Busch prepared a creation story book which accompanies a visual art display of nine illustrations each painted on cloth banners. Their colourful effect is stunning.
The experience of the Creation Mandala can be interactive, participatory, and reflective. The story text can be accompanied with awesome images of creation in a power point presentation. At a Youth Forum on the Environment, a prayer center was built incrementally with symbols for each of the nine Births. The celebration concludes with the Birth of Your Story. Each person tells their name and birth date while lighting a taper candle. A sense of the sacred is experienced in the evolutionary story which includes the lives of those named in the gathering. An artistic response can be facilitated with coloured chalk pastels on black paper, if the occasion permits.
A different telling of The Cosmic Story, a version written by Miriam Therese
MacGillis, OP., celebrates 30 moments in the evolution of the Universe. Students and teachers at an elementary school in Scarborough enjoyed this ritual telling, which was set up in their gym for an Earth Day celebration. With coloured mini-lights draped around the gym and hanging from basketball nets, the largeness of space was made magical. Two hundred feet of blue rope laid in a spiral on the floor with 30 globe candles strategically placed becomes a centre of attention as a Cosmic Walker lights each candle one-by-one 179
as the evolutionary events are described and visualized with power point images. The
experience ignites the religious imagination to awe and wonder. It affirms our experience
of "knowing that it is the nature of the Holy Spirit to do something new, to surprise us with insights that draw us to a new place in our relationships with God and others and all
of creation." 59 With an appreciation of the processes of evolution, a retreat ministry can
weave the Cosmic and the Christian story together and liberate the re-imagination of
Divinity itself.
2. Role Models as a Method for Living a Cosmology of Liberation
In a retreat setting, there can be an opportunity to ask questions and seek truth, to
go beyond conventional answers, and to expand one's capacity to love. Judy Cannato
describes one such expansion.
The understanding that redemption is necessary because humanity had a fall from God's grace does not make sense in an evolutionary context. If all the life that we know began with the Big Bang, and we have been part of an evolution of increasing complexity and consciousness for 13.7 billion years, there is no former Paradise to which we may return. Jesus' death is not about a return to the past but a promise for the future - a future of harmony in which all creation will realize its unity in the love of the divine.360
Unity with all creation in the love of the divine is the liberation we seek. Jesus incarnated
for us "in a definitive way, who we are, and who God is in us."361
Grade 8 Confirmandes celebrate the Holy Spirit as a conduit of love and life at the
First Pentecost. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ., suggests that the act of creation is already a
359 Cannato, Fields of Compassion, 59.
360 Ibid., 147.
361 Ibid., 59. Pentecost, a first and permanent outpouring of the fiery Spirit of life. Johnson claims,
"We need to appreciate all over again that the whole universe is a sacrament, vivified by the energy of the Creator Spirit present in all creation as its very animation. The Spirit effects the redemption of both languishing vines and broken-hearted merrymakers: that is, the Spirit's presence is for all species." The Spirit's presence in many forms was so loved by St. Francis of Assisi who spoke of Brother Sun and Sister Moon. Creation expanded Francis' capacity for love and enabled him to be in harmony with all creation.
In a retreat ministry, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha also can be called upon to inspire an ecological spirituality. As the Patroness of Ecology for the Americas, Blessed Kateri lived in the Mohawk Nation around the upper St. Lawrence River, in the mid 16th century. Blessed Kateri's father was a Mohawk chief and her mother was an
Algonquin. Kateri is known as the Lily of the Mohawks and her feast day in Canada is
April 14. Confirmandes can benefit from expanded Teachings about the Holy Spirit's presence and sacramental action in the ongoing story of creation.
3. Outdoor Participation as a Method for Reverencing A Sacred Universe
"From a faith perspective," one of the research participants noted, "you have to see it like within a circle of life, like you're part of the environment." "In order to renew our sense of the sacred," Thomas Berry says, "we must appreciate the universe beyond
362 Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ., "Losing and Finding Creation in the Christian Tradition," in Christianity and Ecology, ed. Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000), 18.
363 Note: Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha (1656-1680) is the first Native American to be declared a Blessed. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on June 30, 1980. She is the patroness of ecology for North, Central, and South America. 181
ourselves as a revelatory experience of that numinous presence whence all things come into being. Indeed, the universe is the primary sacred reality. We become sacred by our participation in this more sublime dimension of the world about us."364
In an ecoretreat ministry, therefore, "participation" is the operative word. Grade
11 students whose retreat day is held at the Ecology Retreat Centre in Hockley Valley, experience 'the circle of life' by walking the land, observing trees and trilliums, listening to a spring-fed brook and the call of the chickadee. On the Bruce Trail, they discover first hand, "The world is charged with the grandeur of God."365
In this World Religions retreat day, students experience the spirituality of First
Nations Peoples by participating in a Fire Ceremony which includes a sweet grass smudging. They give thanks in the Four Sacred Directions. They express hopes for the future in a Dream Lodge ceremony. Aboriginal spirituality lends itself well to an appreciation of the sacredness of life. Later, at the outdoor labyrinth, designed after the eleven circuit model at Chartres Cathedral in France, students walk the sacred path through silence to spiritual well-being.
The philosophy of Catholic education begins with the presence of God and then searches for the truth of God in the world. In our multi-religious and postmodern milieu, an active seeking for the spirit of truth can discover that, "There can be unity in the midst
iM Thomas Berry, The Great Work, 48-9.
365 Gerard Manley Hopkins, "God's Grandeur," Poem from The Later Poetic Manuscripts of Gerard Manley Hopkins in Facsimile, ed. Norman H. MacKenzie, (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1991): 96. http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1043.html (Accessed April 27, 2010). 182
of pluralism." In a Grade 11 World Religions retreat, Catholic students can learn how their own faith functions in its distinctiveness, and its communion with others.
4. "The Council of All Beings" as a Method for reclaiming We Are One
A goal in an ecoretreat ministry is to experience creation again 'in intimate rapport.' Time and space for contemplation is necessary. A definition of contemplation is
"taking a long loving look at the real." Centering on God as present within oneself also makes one more available to the sacramental presence of God in creation. Mystics such as St. Francis of Assisi, Hildegard of Bingen, and Julian of Norwich were known for the affection they developed for creation and the animal kingdom - "sacramental environmentalists" we might call them.
In addressing "the real," an ecoretreat ministry can recognize that "theological reflection evolves as new questions arise that require engagement in matters unheard of by previous generations."368 This generation has the task of addressing the real issues connected with climate change. The dialogue between faith and experience needs to integrate those elements of anthropocentrism, biocentrism, and cosmocentrism that celebrate the kinship of the whole Earth community of life.
"The Council of All Beings" in its original form is a series of "re-Earthing rituals" created by John Seed and Joanna Macy to help end the sense of alienation from the living
The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 58.
367 Cannato, Fields of Compassion, 173.
368 Ibid., 58. 183
Earth that many people feel. In my ecoretreat ministry, an adapted form must suffice given the brief time available. Our ritual involves a collection of forty animal, bird and insect puppets which represent the broader Earth community.370 These soft, plush, hand puppets readily become endeared to many of the students (and adults too) especially when favourites are chosen. Retreatants are invited to see thorough the eyes of their
Council Being when viewing "The Awakening Universe." New insights often arise from this different perspective. At the end of the day, some retreatants lament having to leave their animal buddy behind. The affective impact is: what we love, we protect.
5. Drama as a Method for encouraging an Ecological Conversion
The faith that has been generated through Catholic "Teaching, Tradition, and
Thought" has been open to grace throughout the course of Christianity. "It involves attending to what is before us, free from unintentional blindness," and awake "to possibilities" with a fresh spirit. A fresh spirit can be found in each of the transitions of religious movements throughout the historical evolution of the Christian story since the writing of the Gospels. These movements are of particular interest for this inquiry.
Pat Fleming and Joanna Macy, "The Council of All Beings" in Thinking Like a Mountain: Towards a Council of All Beings, by John Seed, Joanna Macy, Pat Fleming, and Ame Naess, ( Santa Cruz, CA.: New Society Publishers, 1988).
370 Note: "Furry Folk and Folktails" Hand Puppets by Folkmanis, Inc. often have workable heads, and paws, wings and tails, along with information cards, http://www.folkmanis.com/ (Accessed May 29, 2010). Webkins are also popular educational animal toys.
Cannato, Fields of Compassion, 173. 184
The Story of the Religious Impulse among Catholics to Spread the Good News Table 11.
3ra 5th Desert Mothers Virgins and ascetics sought Christification through prayer. C and Fathers Religious Monastics: Benedictines, Augustinians, and Cistercians 6th 10th Communities share communal prayer, rule, vows, and service to others Mendicant Sts. Francis and Clare, Dominic and Catharine developed 11*12* Orders contemplation with the work of ministry Religious St. Ignatius of Loyola sent Jesuit missionaries across Europe 13th16,h Congregations to establish schools, colleges, seminaries St. Vincent de Paul promoted charity for refugees, soup Advocates of 16*17* kitchens for the poor in Paris, living out the corporal works Charity of mercy In Canada: Jesuits, Ursulines, Grey Nuns, Capucians, Missionary 18*19* Oblates, Sisters of Charity, Christian Brothers, Sisters Movement of Providence, Dominicans, Passionists, Franciscans In Ontario schools established by: Jesuits, Basilians, 19*20* Teaching Orders Christian Brothers, Loretto Sisters, Sisters of St. Joseph, Sisters of Notre Dame, Ursuline Sisters, and Grey Nuns. Teilhard de Chardin and Thomas Berry: the cosmic story of Cosmic Story evolution is revelatory of the numinous presence of the 20*21st Tellers Divine. It is the overarching story inclusive of all other stories giving a meaning, a direction, and a goal to all.
Through the work of the Holy Spirit in religious movements, a variety of spiritualities and charisms have enriched who we are today as Church, and as Catholic educators.
In a retreat day celebrating the 4001 anniversary of Venerable Mary Ward, the
Foundress of the Loretto Sisters, a most unique drama was experienced, worthy of describing in further detail from what was previously mentioned. Dressed in 16l century apparel, Mary Ward addressed the gathering of eighty people. Mary told of her vision for an institute of women who would respond to the changing needs of the Church. They
The Canadian Encyclopedia, "Christian Religious Communities" http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A 1ARTA0001611 (Accessed April 29, 2010).
373 Murphy, Msgr. Dennis J., "Spirituality of Catholic Education," Reprinted from (Toronto: The Catholic Register, April 21-28, 2005), 6. 185
would spend their lives in the service of Jesus, and in doing good for others, as contemplatives in action. Pope Urban VIII who opposed Mary's institute entered the drama clad in red, the colour of which matched his hot temper as he justified why Mary was jailed in the Inquisition. Galileo arrived with his telescope and added his own experiences of the Inquisition. Mary Ward invited her two colleagues from the 16th century to sit down and gain a broader context by watching the story of "The Awakening
Universe" and its 13.7 billion year history. The effect was transformative, as the three colleagues marveled at creations' unfolding, and then readily forgave each other.
6. Green Prayer, Liturgy, Song, and Symbol for Integration with Creation
The method of employing the theological typologies for ecological stewardship presents an opportunity for growth in a faith perspective. It draws attention to key elements in faith formation: self-identity, imago Dei I images of God, and earth-human- divine relations. God's self-revelation in creation is reflected in the identity, beliefs, and practices of Catholic students, teachers and parents when they give praise for the wonders of creation.
In a retreat ministry, when "apologetic" prayers, liturgy, songs, and symbols about "Stewardship for Creation" are sought, the sentiment is concerned with wise use of the resources of the earth for the sake of the people of the earth, especially the poor - social justice is the primary concern (Benedict XVI).374 In a retreat ministry, when
374 Eastern Ontario Catholic Cooperative, "Stewardship for Creation" contains: comprehensive resources for The Scriptural Story of Creation, Descriptions of Stewardship and Related Concepts, Scriptural References to Stewardship, Church Teachings, Canadian / Ontario Church Documents on Creation, Quotations (a mix of religious and secular), Web Resources (a mix of religious and secular), Links to Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectations, and Reflection Questions. http://www.eoccc.Org/csfcs/themes/creation.html#top (Accessed May 30, 2010). 186
"constructive" typology prayers, liturgy, songs, and symbols are engaged we understand
"that the creation's Creator Spirit indwells both every individual creature and the community of creation...that the presence of the infinite in the finite imbues every finite thing, and the community of all finite beings, with self-transcendence."375 When
"listening" prayers, liturgy, songs, and symbols involving "Creation" are called upon, there is a radical openness to the earth's systems, a religious consciousness that 'listens' to nature and to creation itself with the universe as omni-centered, as well as non-
Christian religious sources (Thomas Berry). Finally, in a retreat ministry, when
"ecofeminist" prayers, liturgy, songs, and symbols are desired, a potpourri of wide ranging, imaginative, and conjunctive expressions encourages humanity to live in mutually enhancing relationships within creation (Rosemary Ruether).
7. Virtues as Methods for Developing an Advocacy for Creation
A goal in a retreat ministry is to support creation centred values and virtues emanating from a religious motivation in order to develop ecospirituality. The triad of home, school, and church has historically developed Catholic identity, the search for truth, and a morality based on Gospel values. "One important result of religious instruction is the development of religious values and religious motivation."376 Religious motivation for developing earth stewardship practices can go beyond an imposed duty of responsibility to a deep reverence for the 13.7 billion year process that enables life to thrive. A sacred ecological worldview can be developed through ecovirtues.
375 Moltmann, "The Cosmic Spirit," in God in Creation, 101.
376 The Sacred Congregation for Catholic Education, The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School, 56. 187
Ecovirtues for an Ecological Spirituality in Catholic Education Table 12.
Ecospiritualities Ecovirtues • reverence for the sacredness of all life, Social and Ecological Justice • prudence in economic development, 1. As a discerning believer377 • dignity preserved for human and non-human • equitable sharing for full flourishing Communion • love for creation 2. As a faith filled participant in creation • a relationship of inter-subj ectivity • a sacramentality of creation • actions against biocide, genocide, ecocide Hope • actions for clean air and clean water 3. As a reflective, creative, and holistic thinker • actions for healthy food • environmental education for sustainability Compassion • compassion toward all species 4. As a self-directed, responsible, lifelong learner • respect for Earth's finiteness and limitations Mutuality • protection for biodiversity 5. As a collaborative co-creator • mutually enhancing relationships with all • protection for beauty in creation • respect for spirit and matter 6. Cosmic Unity • co-operation with earth's lithosphere (land), As a responsible planetary citizen atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), and biosphere (living things) Possibility • joy, celebration, self-expression, 7. As a person open to Mystery, Wonder and Awe • wonder, awe, novelty, and play • consideration for 'seven generations' Kinship • a non-aggressive relationship with nature 8. As a caring member of Earth Community • respect for Indigenous spiritual practices • respect for "all our relations" • spiritual vision, mediation, intuition, delight, Co-creating • rising consciousness, empowered by faith, 9. As a person open to grace and religious imagination • a listening attitude, available to silence.
Note: I have expanded the seven Ontario Catholic Graduate Expectation categories to nine and combined with the ecospiritualities to provide an integrated system so ecovirtues can thrive. 188
Further research is required to bring these elements into full alignment with other
Catholic themes, virtue / character development programs, the Ontario Catholic Graduate
Expectations, and other Catholic environmental education initiatives. It is the Catholic ethos that continues to motivate growth in identity, beliefs, and practices, for one's whole lifetime in family, parish, education, and Earth community living. Collectively, they can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness.
B. Contributions of This Research
Contributions for Retreat Ministry
This study contributes to a reflection on the 'signs of the times' in the destruction of Earth's systems by drawing attention to the need for an ecological spirituality in
Catholic education, so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of
Catholic consciousness. The place of a retreat ministry in the Catholic Tradition is well positioned to survey the broader religious and spiritual needs of the church membership while at the same time having close ties from within the Tradition and with Catholic education and parish life.
This study contributes to the relationship between the theory of religion and the praxis of a retreat ministry. Theory components of ecotheology, religious education about creation, and Catholic environmental education, when placed in dialogue with a ministry- 189
in-action research, have shed light on a retreat ministry that engages in "taking a long loving look at the real."378
Contributions for Cosmology and Ecotheology
This study contributes to the integration of the Cosmic Story with the Christian
Story. It contributes to the emerging genres of ecological theology, ecological spirituality, and ecological ethics. Ecotheology, as it is explored here in both theory and praxis, names themes and shifts that are bringing about an ecological worldview. New dimensions of spirituality for ecological stewardship emerge from the theory and from the experience of research participants. Nine spiritualities represent creation-centred values, virtues, and practices that can be incorporated into a retreat ministry and into the praxis of Catholicity.
Contributions for Catholic Teacher Formation
This research provided an opportunity for the Pre-Service research participants to engage in adult faith development applicable to their personal and professional life. It motivated them in their first year of teaching to give creation a priority in their awareness and in their practice. It contributes to a reflection on the need for an ecotheological perspective for PreService teachers in their Catholic religious education course. By extension, an ecotheological perspective would benefit all Catholic teacher inservice.
Contributions for Catholic Education
This study contributes to the religious dimension of Catholic education by helping to explore the Teaching, Tradition, and Thought processes toward an "ecological
Cannato, Fields of Compassion, 173. 190
conversion." Aspects of self-identity, imago Dei I images of God, and earth-human- divine relations beneficial to earth stewardship perspectives have been contributed.
Virtues, grounding ecological ethics in reverence for creation, are revealed in this study.
Contributions for Religious and Family Life Education
This study contributes to a reflection on religious and family life education about creation. It calls for a robust revisioning with a more dynamic interchange with the three ecologies: human, nature and social. Catholic education can then fulfill its role better in
The Great Work by "moving the human project from its devastating exploitation to a benign presence" on the planet.379
Finally, this study contributes to a faith perspective on creation and celebrates the sacredness of the whole of creation. It encourages the Catholic community to do our part to ensure, "The glory of God is every creature fully alive." - Irenaeus, third century.
C. Research for On-going Ministry
Ongoing research is required in each component of the problem: ecoretreat ministry, ecological spirituality, Catholic education, earth stewardship and Catholic consciousness. Many questions have been posed throughout this study and any one of them could be researched to benefit earth-human-divine relations in the context of the cosmogenesis. Ecoretreat ministry is in need of ritual supports such as cosmic prayers, songs, visuals, stories, poems, and scripts about creation. Research needs to ask how can
Berry. The Great Work, 7 191
Catholic education bring ecospiritual values into the virtue programmes, into the Ontario
Catholic Graduate Expectations, into school board and university mission statements, and into Catholic ethos in more definitive, explicit, and measurable ways?
Research is needed into how Catholic education can be enhanced and enriched by taking a leadership role in stewardship advocacy for the whole Earth community. What impact can ecofairs, school green teams, and green committees have, when they become a standard part of the ethical and educational modus operandi for sustainability?
Research is needed for creation-centred teaching and learning with full integration and infusion into the Catholic curriculum. How can Catholic environmental education make it a priority to raise awareness, offer knowledge, and prepare students for the religious, spiritual, and ecological challenges ahead?
We are called to The Great Work. "The nobility of our lives, however, depends upon the manner in which we come to understand and fulfill our assigned role."380
Berry, The Great Work, 7. APPENDIX A.
Integration- with-Creation:
New Spiritual Dimensions of Ecological Stewardship
For Catholic Education
Doctor of Ministry Thesis Proposal Submitted to the DMin Programme Committee
Toronto School of Theology November 14, 2008
Davileen Radigan
University of St. Michael's College
Dr. Brian Walsh Faculty Director
Rev. Robin Wardlaw Collaborative Learning Group
Mrs. Kimberly Duke Ministry Base Group
192 193
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Background and Context of Applied Research Thesis 2
The Global Concern 3 The New Cosmology and Themes in Ecotheology 4 The Call to an Ecological Conversion 6 Environmental Education 7 New Dimensions of Spirituality 9 The Religious Dimension of Catholic Education 11 Interpretations of Ecological Stewardship 12 Ministry-in-Action 13 Research Interest 14
II. Statement of the Research Problem 15
The Hypothesis of this Study 15
III. Theoretical Framework and Assumptions Involved in the Study 17
Theory at Work in the Study 17 Assumptions Operative in the Study 18
IV. The Ministry-in-Action Component 20
V. The Qualitative Research Methodology Operative in the Analysis of the Ministry-in-Action 21
A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach 21 Selection of Participants 22 Data Collection 23 Ethical Protocols 24 Safeguards and Security 25
VI. Risks and Limitations of the Study 26
VII. The Contributions of the Study 27
VIII. Endnotes 28
IX. Bibliography 32
X. Appendices 40 194
I. Background and Context of Applied Research Thesis My ministry as a laywoman in the Roman Catholic tradition is as a retreat facilitator for students and educators in Toronto and the surrounding regions. Retreats are part of the norm of spiritual practice in Catholic education in Ontario. Retreats are included in the religious dimension of a Catholic school culture along with liturgical, sacramental, and pastoral experiences. The purpose of this research is to inform and transform my retreat ministry. Using a "ministry-in- action" approach to integrate theory and praxis, I seek to reflect on the changing religious context of my retreat ministry in light of the global concerns about climate change, the insights of the new cosmology and ecotheology, and the search for new spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship for Catholic education.l1 want to centre my inquiry on questions of self-identity, the image of God, and on earth-human-divine relationships as transformational tools toward experiencing "the truth of the wonder of all creation and the truth of the mystery of its Creator."2 This proposal begins with the background and context for the applied research for the thesis. The items include i) global concerns about climate change, ii) the cosmology work of Thomas Berry O.P. my primary theorist, iii) transformational shifts expounded in ecotheology, iv) the goals of environmental education, and v) the mandates of Catholic education which are the stimulus for retreats. Of central importance is a brief overview of four theological typologies of stewardship out of which Christians tend to function regarding creation. These typologies are representative of the worldview out of which participants operate and they have an impact on the praxis of my retreat ministry. The research proposal then names my ministry-in-action sites, research interest, research question, and a statement of the problem. The stage will then be set for the theory at work in the study followed by the research protocols of methodology, risks, limitations, and contributions. This document will conclude with a working bibliography and appendices.
The Global Concern In our daily lives, we are increasingly aware that the ecosystems of Earth are suffering. When the question can be asked, "Is the human a viable species on an endangered planet?" we can be sure that we are on the brink of crisis.3 To address the ecological crisis, the societal components of science, education, economics, politics, health, and religion are actively engaged with the reality of global climate change. World conferences and forums are bringing experts together to tackle the problems on multi dimensional levels. I submit that the 'faith dimension' can offer the religious imagination necessary to inspire "an ecological conversion" toward a spirituality and a morality that celebrates, protect and embraces the sacredness of all creation (John Paul II, 2001).4 Religions have a tradition of prophetic voices that challenge, inspire, and spark our imaginations. "I don't think we can be Christian unless we are ecologically converted," said Brisbane Archbishop John Bathersby, in the Australian ecumenical document on the environment entitled "Common Belief (December 2006).5 It is "a crisis of spirit" says biologist and environmental advocate Dr. David Suzuki. He remarks, "The environment is so fundamental to our survival and existence that it must transcend politics by becoming central in the values of all members of society."6 We need "a functional cosmology," says Thomas Berry "a cosmology that will provide the mystique needed for this integral earth-human presence. .. .What we need is a sense of reverence.. ."7 Religious imagination, I believe, can put us in touch with the mystique and the spiritual qualities necessary for moving towards a new creative "story," towards an "integral" story that helps us to reimagine our worldviews, symbols and praxis.8
The New Cosmology and Themes in Ecotheology Over the past five years, I have been developing retreat themes based on the new cosmology, ecotheology, and the creation components in the religious education curriculum for Grades 1-12.9 I believe in what Thomas Aquinas said "Any error about creation also leads to an error about God."10 As seekers of truth, we can find resonance with the new discoveries about creation. Today's theologians, scientists, and educators, are among the first generation of humans to be privy to the post-modern scientific understanding of the universe in its cosmogenesis. Cosmogenesis is the process of continuous, creative, transformations occurring in the cosmos for over 13.7 billion years.11 Berry and Brian Swimme, a physicist, have studied the universe in its physical processes and beyond to its numinous dimension. They tell the story of the cosmos as a single narrative, as an unfolding story of the mystery of life, as a sacred story, as our story. "A new vision and a new energy are coming into being," Berry exclaims. "After some four centuries of empirical observation and experiment we are having a new experience of the deepest mysteries of the universe."12 This story reveals a cosmological wisdom evidenced by immense complexity, communion and creativity. Berry explains the shift from cosmos to cosmogenesis: from a sense of ever-renewing, seasonal cycles to an evolutionary sequence of irreversible transformations.13 Berry has spent his lifetime reflecting deeply on the mystery out of which both the universe and we have emerged.14 He suggests that we are experiencing a privileged moment, a "transformation that can be considered as a cosmological, as well as a historical and a religious moment of grace."15 This "religious moment of grace" is named in this thesis as the first shift toward a cosmocentric worldview. In an ecoretreat, the telling of the universe story can open participants to a new self-identity as cosmological beings and stimulate their psycho-spiritual sensibilities.16 The cosmic story, as a grand narrative, can spark new images of God and ignite a new awareness of the profound Wisdom in the universe. Ecotheology seeks the greatest wisdom in interpreting the human-earth-divine relationship. Berry argues in The Dream of the Earth that humans are to live in an 1 7 intimacy with the earth as a living planet. When humans truly listen to the earth, when we see with unfettered eyes, when we open our minds and hearts onto a larger life, then will the numinous dimension of creation be evident. Berry affirms, Interior articulation of its own reality is the immediate responsibility of every being. Every being has its own interior, its self, its mystery, its numinous aspect. To deprive any being of this sacred quality is to disrupt the larger order of the universe. Reverence will be total or it will not be at all.18 196
In an ecoretreat, the sacred in creation is celebrated in ritual, song, and prayers. Learning about the religious and spiritual connections that humanity has with nature, is also a way to reverence God's creation. Awakening to the wonder of the Earth, to the grandeur and sacred quality of its processes, will help us to recognize in each aspect of creation as a mode of divine presence. As St. Thomas Aquinas wrote over 600 years ago, "God brought things into being in order that the divine goodness might be communicated to creatures.. .The whole universe together participates in divine goodness more perfectly, and represents it better, than any single creature whatever."19 Berry concurs with his central premise "The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects."20 In an ecoretreat, Berry's vision can call us to identify ourselves as planetary beings that "become a mutually beneficial presence on the Earth"21 As such, it offers an antidote and a second shift which moves away from the anthropocentric worldview which has resulted in the "cultural autism" that is "bringing us to a wasteworld instead of wonderworld." It can also transform our understanding of the interdependence and interrelationship of all of creation within the ongoing creative drama of life itself.
The Call to an Ecological Conversion All around me I see that God's creation is languishing. There are many indications: climate change, species extinctions, environmental degradation, and smog- related health issues are a global concern.23 Each part of the world and every aspect of life are being adversely affected. The myth of progress is a dysfunctional cosmology as demonstrated by consumerism, self-centreedness, and a disregard for life. The magnitude of the ecological crisis challenges the core values of Western religion and culture to transform toward new spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship. The Great Work, as Thomas Berry calls it, is about "moving the human project from its devastating exploitation to a benign presence."24 The embodiment of this ecological ethic will be expressed in "a re-examination of the human presence on earth" and a realignment of theological and cultural commitments. The call to "an ecological conversion" promoted by Pope John Paul II speaks of the well-being of the whole earth community as a spiritual and moral imperative. A third shift from the industrial motif to an emerging ecological worldview will act as a source of wisdom in structuring and organizing human communities in a more sustainable relationship with earth. In ecoretreats, we can explore the emerging ecological worldview by referring to the efforts of business, economics, education, governments, health care, world religions, and other socio-cultural movements and institutions toward the green shift of an integration-with-creation form of stewardship. The questions of self-identity, the image of God, and earth-human-divine relationships are in a transformational state.
Environmental Education Of significance for this research is the Ministry of Education's initiative entitled, Shaping our Schools, Shaping our Future: Environmental Education in Ontario (June, 2007). This document has thirty-eight recommendations for implementation. It is supported by a companion piece entitled Ready, Set, Green: Tips, Techniques, and Resources from Ontario Educators (November, 2007) and a resource document called Environmental Education "Scope and Sequence of Expectations" for elementary and secondary school programs (2008). The reports define: Environmental education is education about the environment, for the environment, and in the environment that promotes an understanding of, rich and active experience in, and an appreciation for the dynamic interactions of: • The Earth's physical and biological systems • The dependency of our social and economic systems on these natural systems • The scientific and human dimensions of environmental issues • The positive and negative consequences, both intended and unintended, of the interactions between human-centreed and natural systems.27 As with all curriculum initiatives that are developed for public education in Ontario, when the Catholic education worldview is articulated, it ascribes a religious dimension. In this case, a reverence for the sacredness of God's creation would be espoused as the premise for "the knowledge, skills, perspectives, and practices" of earth literacy, and the ethics of conservation and sustainability.28 In an ecoretreat setting, a combination of the perspective of faith and the science of environmental education can spark the kinds of theological images, models, and interpretations that are required to enable the faith-based educational system to become an even stronger spiritual presence for the planet. In this research, we will work with a transformative learning model that circulates the components of story, worldview, symbol, and praxis as pedagogy. "In the struggle to sustain the earth's environment as viable for future generations," Lawrence E. Sullivan comments in Christianity and Ecology, "environmental studies has thus far left the role of religion unprobed."29 It is in the faith dimension that "an ecological conversion" can take place. A shift in consciousness toward ecological sustainability and global well being requires much more than a rethinking of our worldviews. Inside of the shift in consciousness is the religious, spiritual, ethical, and moral challenge of reinventing ourselves. Paul Ricoeur's philosophical and anthropological insight about human motivation offers an important insight. "People are changed not by ethical urging but by a transformed imagination."30 A transformed imagination, in my estimation, is the work of the 'faith dimension' which triggers a spiritual and an ethical imagination for moral agency. The ecological crisis can have little hope of intervention if the human family is stuck in an old paradigm. It is my experience that even though we are presented with the scientific evidence, economic threats, political lethargy, health warnings, and media displays of the ecological crisis, we are too paralyzed to respond. In my retreat ministry, I would like to be able to ignite a "religious eco-imagination," a term I wish to coin, to inspire the wisdom and virtue needed for reinventing the human capacity to celebrate, protect and embrace the sacredness of all creation. 198
New Dimensions of Spirituality The purpose of a retreat, to my way of thinking, is to step back from the busyness of our lives and to take "a long loving look at the real," to discern God's presence and purpose, and to transform our lives accordingly.32 Whereas retreats in Catholic educational settings traditionally focus on such themes as personal spirituality, social justice, sexuality or faith formation in the human centreed context, my bias is toward the cosmo-ecological context of creation. Thomas Berry's work offers a vision of reality that invites a deeper intimacy with the larger earth community.33 Spiritual programmes and practices are needed to develop in us the kind of compassionate interiority we need to relate to "the modes of divine presence" in the world around us. As Dorothee Soelle in The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance writes "I think that every discovery of the world plunges us into jubilation, a radical amazement that tears apart the veil of triviality." The doorway to the divine, then, is through awe and wonder which lead to a contemplative awareness that at the heart of all reality: we are one. Paul Knitter in One Earth Many Religions affirms, "To know the Sacred is to care for the Earth; to care for the Earth is to be touched by the Sacred."34 In the case of teaching and learning, when stewardship is rooted in such a profound ecospirituality, it can take on the authority of deep conviction. Teachers and students can be inspired to live out of a care and love for creation that can contribute to the emerging genres of ecological theology, ecological spirituality, and ecological ethics. As such, a new creation-centreed focus could be applied to Catholic educational goals and programmes. Five retreat scenarios are operative in my ministry as a frontline educator/spiritual animator. First, are retreats for elementary school students and their teachers which are often held in connection with sacramental preparation e.g. Confirmation. Second, retreats for secondary school students and their teachers are held yearly, in many Catholic school boards, in connection with mandatory religious education courses e.g. Grade 11 World Religions. The third scenario for retreats, also known as Faith Days, is held for Catholic educators as part of their yearly Professional Development activities. Fourth, retreats are held in Religious Education courses for Pre-Service teacher programs and for Additional Qualification credit courses for teachers. The fifth scenario for my retreat ministry is with a general assembly of students for a celebration such as Earth Day, or an Environmental symposium. It is a joyful experience to share a sense of wonder and awe about creation, and "to be touched by the Sacred" in a transformative way.
The Religious Dimension of Catholic Education It is in the context and framework of Catholic education in general and Catholic religious education in particular that my research into the new spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship will take place. Catholic education proclaims that the religious dimension of human experience is at the heart of its educational purpose.35 The framework for the religious dimension of education in a Catholic school is contained in the Vatican document Declaration on Christian Education (1965). It describes education in a Catholic school as distinct in a) the educative climate, b) the personal development of each student, c) the relationship established between culture and the Gospel, d) the illumination of all knowledge with the light of faith."36 199
Retreats are a visible sign of a Catholic educative climate along with common prayer at gatherings, mealtimes, and celebrations of the Eucharist. Retreats are part of the learning experience and culture where students and teachers can share common religious beliefs, values, attitudes and actions. Retreats can contribute to the "formation of persons as moral agents and spiritual beings" as part of the critical understanding of the educational purpose of Catholic education.37 Retreats can be transformative in "personal and social, moral and spiritual" ways. Retreats, though usually limited by time, can have an impact on "an ecological conversion" for the well-being of all. If, as I am suggesting, the cosmic story as our sacred story can offer a radically new vision and set of beliefs, and if the themes in ecotheology can lead toward a conversion of values toward earth-human relations, what then are the symbols and praxis, the attitudes and actions that can be promoted by ecological stewardship? First let's ask what is meant by ecological stewardship?
Interpretations of Ecological Stewardship In order to discover the attitudes and actions promoted by a religious approach to ecological stewardship, we must first recognize that there are different theological interpretive typologies. Three of the theological typologies are described by Stephen Scharper in Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment, as "the apologetic, constructive, and listening" models.39 The Apologists, for example, define their discussions of environmental issues with reference to the themes of social justice, with man at the apex of creation as trustee for the rest of nature (John Paul II). Constructive theologians reconstruct classical biblical exegesis, classical Christology and Trinitarian theology with a theological anthropology and biblical faith that connects humans to the land, and to the soil as core to social integrity, well-being and coherence (Bruggemann). The Listeners are attuned with a radical openness to the earth's systems. The role of the human is to live in mutually enhancing relationships within creation (Berry). The first two interpretations stay within the realm of conventional Christianity, while the third can be considered post-conventional. Each of these typologies is a religious paradigm in its own right. Each has its own story, worldview, symbols and praxis out of which it frames i) the imago Dei; ii) the role of the human, and iii) the relationship with creation. See the Appendix for a helpful chart of Scharper's typologies. A fourth typology, the eco-egalitarian model presented by Dorothy McDougall, blends Berry's scientific reality with concerns for mutual relationships from ecofeminism toward the construction of an ecological sacramental theology.40 Naming the universe as "primary sacrament" is, in my estimation, an act of religious imagination. It is my aim to discover, in the experiences of research participants, the new dimensions of spirituality and ecological stewardship that can be imagined and lived from the typologies. It is helpful in my retreat ministry to have an understanding of the theological typologies in order to be pastorally sensitive when relating to people who hold different perspectives. I can then offer experiences that have the potential to inform and transform their notions about self, God, and Earth relationships. The theological typologies will be explained more fully in the theory at work in the thesis. 200
So far, in the presentation of the background and context of this research, I have expressed global concerns for the ecological crisis, introduced the cosmology work of Thomas Berry, named three shifts promoted by ecotheology, cited the goals of environmental education and Catholic education, and identified four theological typologies of stewardship, all of which are operative in the praxis of my retreat ministry. I will now describe my ministry-in-action and research interest before turning to the research proposal and protocol.
Ministry-in-Action My ministry-in-action will take place over two years with teachers-in-training enrolled in the Pre-Service course in Religious Education at the Faculty of Education at Brock University in St. Catharines. I have been given the opportunity to work with the professor of the course. The course is designed for teachers-in-training who hope to become employed in the Catholic school system. The course content exposes them to the Catholic philosophy of education: purpose, principles and practices. I will conduct a qualitative research study with six out of seventy-five course participants. The six participants will represent a diversity of ages, gender, background in environmental interest, and religious orientation.41 The six participants will also represent a diversity of divisions chosen for teaching certification: primary, junior, intermediate, and senior These are to be persons who are open to exploring a deeper spirituality and willing to contribute to the research process through the sharing of their insights, questions, points of view, and experiences in an interview and in a focus group setting. In the first year, we will aim to develop an ecospiritual awareness and become familiar with religious and environmental education resources. In the second year, we will explore how the spiritual dimensions of ecological stewardship are being incorporated into the self-understanding and educational practice of the participants.
Research Interest I am curious to know about how the participants perceive of themselves in relation to God and to the rest of creation. Does their cosmology include a sense of the sacredness of all of creation? What are their concepts of imago Def! According to traditional Catholic teaching, humans are created in the image of God and thus share an intimate relationship with God. How can this traditional concept serve to be more inclusive of the rest of creation? What connections do participants make between religion and the environment? How do these young adults understand Pope John Paul IPs call for "an ecological conversion?" How does their worldview address the issue of anthropocentrism? How will they respond to Thomas Berry's conviction that we need to teach students how to be "a benign presence" on the planet? I want to discover ways to enable the Catholic community to become fully flourishing members of the larger community of creation.42 201
II. Statement of the Research Problem In this study, I propose to research the following question: What are the methods within a retreat ministry that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a more integral dimension of Catholic consciousness? One of the challenges for Catholic educators and retreat facilitators is to explore emerging theologies for their epistemological significance while at the same time maintaining a balance with the traditions of faith and the impacts of culture.
The Hypothesis of this Study There are three correlated, working hypotheses which underlie this research. First, I am going to assume that individuals who teach in the Roman Catholic school system in Ontario do so because they find resonance with the stories, worldviews, symbols, and practices of the faith-based system. To embrace an ecological ethic from a faith perspective that honours the imago Dei in all of creation, and not only the human person, is a subtle yet significant shift from traditional, Christian anthropocentric teachings. Even though there are resources within the tradition that do bear witness to a more expansive notion of the imago Dei, especially in some recent church documents that express a need for better environmental stewardship, such nuances are not generally well- known in parish or even in religious education circles.43 In a retreat setting, exposure to the typologies for ecological stewardship can expand the spiritual horizon to embrace an ecological ethic from a broader faith perspective. The second hypothesis is that the participants will come with a constellation of faith understandings and experiences of nature. Generally, they will have been informed by a dualistic human-nature split that contributes to human exploitation of the natural world. While the idea of the common good, a central theme in modern, Catholic social thought, tended to focus on human rights and the well being of human societies, papal encyclicals and Bishops' statements in the last decade have increasingly recognized the environment as a vital dimension of the common good. The quest for a spiritual basis for environmental responsibility and stewardship is constitutive of faith. In a retreat setting, ecotheological concepts can expound a profoundly inclusive concept of the common good, one which values integration-with-creation. The third hypothesis is that the environmental problem is fundamentally an ethical problem because attitudes and actions must reflect the values we profess. It is also a religious problem because, in the final analysis, only a transformation of consciousness on the level of the heart, or what the Asian traditions call the heart-mind, is going to awaken the faith, motivation, compassion, and courage necessary for these times.44 Berry, Rockefeller, Harvard Ecology authors, Earth Charter writers agree with many others that the great spiritual resources contained in the world religions and in indigenous traditions can be of benefit in this regard. A certain amount of adjustment and construction of thought within the various traditions is needed if they are to respond fully and effectively to the environmental crisis. In a retreat setting, the priority is to provide an experience that can open up the channels of grace to allow the spiritual dimension at work in the universe to be a creative force for transformation in the lives of participants. 202
In summary the three hypothesis are concerned with i) the faith perspectives of research participants as regards an ecological ethic; ii) the commitment to reverence and responsibility for a profoundly inclusive concept of the common good; iii) the willingness of participants to grow into new dimensions of spirituality and ecological stewardship so that it becomes a bigger part of Catholic consciousness.
III. Theoretical Framework and Assumptions Involved in the Study
Theory at Work in the Study The framework for the theory at work in this thesis will involve correlations among cosmology, ecotheology, the religious dimension in Catholic education in Ontario, environmental education, models of ecological stewardship, and the praxis of retreat ministry. Catholic education is only beginning to appreciate the emerging importance of the universe story in its theology of creation. A retreat ministry that focuses on the development of an ecospirituality is likewise in its infancy. Assumptions that are inherent in this study will be explicated. Working definitions of such terms as ecospirituality, ecological stewardship, anthropocentric, and anthropocosmic will be presented. A four-part, comprehensive, definition of cosmology (Tracy and Lask, 1983) will be correlated with four shifts in ecotheology toward a transformation in "the scientific, cosmological, and cultural paradigm shifts that are shaping our times."45 The application of theological typologies for ecological stewardship will support my theology of ministry. Aspects of the theology and philosophy of Catholic education in Ontario will be drawn into the theory at work especially as it provides the underpinning sense of the sacred for environmental education. Therein will the stage be set for the analysis and application of the Ministry-in-Action inquiry into the new dimensions of spirituality in ecological stewardship that I expect are emerging toward planetary sustainability. The bibliography of sources may be found in the Appendices, as well as helpful charts and overviews.
Assumptions Operative in the Study It is my first assumption that the ecological crisis is calling for a transformation of insight from the stories, worldviews, symbols, and practices we profess. As such, the four shifts that are contained in the theoretical framework of this thesis are assumed to be operative in varying degrees of consciousness in the movement toward an ecological conversion. I assume that with the first shift from modern science to cosmological wisdom, there is a readiness in Catholic education in Ontario to receive the insights from the new cosmological story of the emerging universe. It is my second assumption that with the shift from an anthropocentric worldview {human centreed thinking) to an anthropocosmic worldview (creation-centreed thinking), that Catholic religious education can articulate "a vision of the cosmos that reflects the beauty of God's creation in its intrinsic glory, of which the human dimension is one part."46 This would require "walking humbly," with "a decentreing from the anthropocentric moorings of Christian thought and education to a radical eco-centric love and intimacy with the "humus," the derivative of earth, for which humans receive their 203
name and of which we are part." This "depends on the ability of religious educators to place the cosmos—the Creation—at the centre of efforts to speak of redemption, sin, salvation, and liberation. Without this intention, religious education will fail to bring the fullness of the Christian story to bear on the [ecological] crisis." While it is a major challenge for theologians and ethicists to develop new approaches, it is equally complex for religious educators and ministers: those "responsible for translating Christian beliefs and values into practice."49 It is my third assumption that with the shift from the industrial to an emerging ecological worldview, cultures will go far to foster dimensions of spirituality and stewardship capable of deep compassion for human community as one, whole, global community under God's tent.50 This emerging human-ecological worldview is in concert with shifts in the natural sciences, the social sciences, and in philosophy and religious thought. See Ralph Metzner's "Transition" chart in the Appendix. It is my fourth assumption that more of an integration-with-creation mode of stewardship can best enable the environmentally sustainable practices necessary in order for Catholic education to contribute to the healing of the Earth in all of its life systems. John Hart claims in What are they saying about Environmental Theology? When people realize their interdependence with each other and all creation, and are integrated and interrelated as a human family and as children of the Spirit and of the nurturing Earth, they will truly fulfill the deepest meaning of 'images of God.' Then they will walk with the Spirit and work with the Spirit toward a new heaven and a new Earth, in which there truly would be peace with the Spirit Creator and peace with all creation.51 This research will be especially sensitive to new dimensions of spirituality that are akin to an integration-with-creation mode of stewardship. This spirituality will need to attend to the local as well as to a global ethic of one Earth community. It will need to include a shift from socio-economic injustice to social and ecological justice and action. It can operate as "a functional cosmology-one that can reorient cultural commitments towards a reverence for the earth and its processes."52
IV. The Ministry-in-Action Component In my retreat ministry, I have identified a need for a stronger spirituality for ecological stewardship in the teachers and students with whom I am associated. I want to centre my inquiry on questions of self-identity, the image of God, and on earth-human- divine relationships as transformational tools. This study seeks to explore with research participants new dimensions of spirituality for ecological stewardship by reflecting on, dialoguing, and writing about what are their own particular environmental interests; how their faith perspective relates to the environment; what spiritual practices are part of their life; how they regard the science of environmental education and faith of religion; and how their personal and professional growth benefits from a deeper understanding of and relationship with creation. During the interviews, I see myself as a receptive presence, an active listener, and a reflective practitioner-researcher. 204
The objectives of my ministry-in action are as follows:
1. To contribute to the development of "concrete programmes and materials" towards "an ecological conversion" at this time of ecological crisis; 2. To learn how to spark the religious imagination and to apply a transformative teaching/learning pedagogy; 3. To be re-energized by teachers-in-training who bring their enthusiasm and idealism to their vocation; 4. To identify what is helpful for Catholic teachers as they try to integrate emerging theologies into their epistemological frameworks for a faith perspective; 5. To test my perceived pastoral need to meet people where they're at regarding the theological typologies for stewardship; 6. To enable my retreat ministry to find resonance with the interests of students and teachers as regards contemporary global issues; 7. To benefit personally and professionally from an integration of the theory of ecotheology with the praxis of ecospirituality and ecojustice.
V. The Qualitative Research Methodology Operative in the Analysis of the Ministry-in-Action
A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Approach This human science research, using a qualitative research method, involves self- reflection, description, and interpretation. Given that the topic for research is about faith as it relates to creation, it is most appropriate that an organic, emerging and particularistic methodology be employed. Phenomenology explores the meaning that individuals ascribe to their life experiences. The phenomenon can contain both the outward appearance and an inward consciousness based on memory, image, and meanings53 (Moustakas, 1994). According to John Creswell, the goal is to get underneath the experiences to determine the essence of the phenomenon or to uncover the meaning in everyday experiences.54 The search for "new dimensions of spirituality" could be understood as uncovering "the essence of the phenomenon." From a phenomenological point of view, to do research is always to question the way we experience the world, to want to know the world in which we live as human beings. And since to know the world is profoundly to be in the world in a certain way, the act of researching, questioning-theorizing is the initial act of attaching ourselves to the world, to become more fully part of it, or better, to become the world.. .then research is a caring act.. .To care is to serve and to share our being with the one we love.55 (van Manen, 1990)
Given that the aim of this research is to increase the care, love, and attention that Catholic education can bring to earth stewardship, the conscious awareness of the participants is key to understanding the phenomenon of spiritual insight. Participants in this research will be involved in meaning-making, self-awareness, expressions of ethical concern, and an expansion of beliefs and concepts. The ultimate aim of phenomenology, Max van 205
Manen says, is "the fulfillment of our human nature: to become more fully who we are."56 The researcher, in the hermeneutic approach, is asked to engage in the process of self-reflection to quite a different end than that of phenomenology. My biases and assumptions are not to be bracketed out or set aside, but rather are embedded and essential to the interpretive process. The researcher is called, on an ongoing basis, to give considerable thought to one's own experience and to be explicit about the ways in which they relate to issues being researched. I will be attentive to the qualities of integral transformative learning that take place (O'Sullivan, 2002).57 As such, I will keep a journal of my impressions about my experiences and their applications58 (Laverty, 2008). The thesis triangulates participatory research with ecotheological insight, and the praxis of retreat ministry in Catholic education.
Selection of Participants Six participants will be chosen as a sample size to allow for diversity, a wealth of meaningful responses yet limited enough to facilitate a thorough analysis. The six participants will be directed in a four step process: orientation to the research, an individual in-depth interview, reflective journal writing, and small group discussion.59 Participants will be given resource materials on the environment for discussion purposes such as church documents, articles on ecospirituality, and ministry of education publications. Participants will be asked to give attention to any changes, shifts, or nuances in their images of God. Participants will be invited to focus on creation when fulfilling the course requirements. Participation in the research is to have no impact on their course marks. In the winter term, participants will gather in a focus group to share new dimensions of spirituality in ecological stewardship in their teaching experiences. In the second year, two visits with participants will be scheduled for a one hour dialogue about their deepening spirituality (beliefs and values) and ecological stewardship practices (attitudes and actions).
Data Collection Data for this study will be acquired from five sources in the first year: i) transcribed, digital recordings of six individual interviews; ii) written responses from course assignments e.g. reflection papers, prayer services, will provide additional data and be made available by an arrangement made with the professor iii) transcribed, digital recordings from one focus group meeting; iv) the journal of researcher reflections; and v) ongoing researcher field notes. In the second year, data for this study will be acquired from four sources: i) transcribed, digital recordings of six individual interviews; ii) a questionnaire about ecospiritual practices associated with the four theological typologies for stewardship; iii) the journal of researcher reflections; and iv) ongoing researcher field notes. For the analysis of the data, all materials from participant journals, transcribed interviews, researcher's journal and field notes will be coded according to themes, categories, and patterns. This will allow for the identification and interpretation of data, leading to the development of theories and conclusions.60 206
Ethical Protocols In the interest of maintaining the ethics of researching with human subjects, several steps will be taken as per the protocols of the University of Toronto Ethics Review Board. The privacy and confidentiality of the participants in this study will be respected by employing practices which will be transparent. Participants in the research will be given an introductory letter outlining the nature of the research and addressing issues of privacy and confidentiality. At the introductory session, the Consent Form will be read to the participants outlining the nature of the study, and dealing with such issues as the recording of interviews, the handling of transcripts, the storage of confidential materials, and the maintenance of anonymity. Each participant will be asked to sign the consent form and will be given a copy thereof.61 At the opening session it will be explained that participant's contributions are entirely voluntary and that they may choose, at any time, to decline to answer a specific question, or withdraw from the process altogether, without negative repercussions. I will begin each individual interview and small group meeting by referring back to the parameters of the consent, reiterating the participants' ability to decline to answer any questions with which they were uncomfortable or to withdraw at any time without repercussions, and reminding the individual or group of the confidential nature of the interviews.
Safeguards and Security All participants will be given pseudonyms in transcripts, files, etc. All study documents, interview transcripts, and identifying materials will be stored in a locked file in my home office. All digital recordings will be transferred to a computer hard drive, password protected, and secured in my home office. All other documents, field notes and research journal, will be protected in a locked file cabinet. Once the thesis has been defended, all notes, transcripts, and identifying documents will be destroyed and all digital recordings and electronic data and documents will be erased. There will be no financial compensation for the participants in this study. At the conclusion of the study, an informal reception will be held to thank them for their participation. This study will be carried out in educational settings: a university and various school sites in the second year. My role will be as a researcher. I am not an employee of any of the settings. I live, work, and study outside of the geographical area of the research. Given the aforementioned safeguards which are already in place, with regards to issues of privacy, confidentiality, etc., I do not anticipate that this will be a matter of concern. Informed consent will be thoroughly explained and sought at the introductory session. At all subsequent contacts (individual and small group), the principles of informed consent will be reviewed and the voluntary nature of participants continued participation will be reiterated. Copies of the Introductory Letter, Preliminary Information Sheet, Research Participant Form, Consent Form and Second Year of Participation are included in the Appendices. 207
VI. Risks and Limitations of the Study There are minimal risks for the participants who are involved in this study. At all stages of the research process, their contributions will be of a volunteer nature. While small group and individual conversations/interviews will be personal, they will not be touching upon issues which are intimate or of an inherently sensitive nature. They are also not beyond the scope of conversations which are a usual part of course life. The benefits which the participants in this study draw from the research experience relate to the personal and professional growth, the development of faith and spiritual processes and their application to the stewardship care and love for creation. In that participants will be drawn from the membership of an already defined programme of a religious nature, there will be an intrinsic community building dimension to their involvement. Since small group work is one aspect of this research process, conversations and reflections around a common concern will build relationships and strengthen their sense of faith community. Through the processes of description, journaling, conversation, reflection, and practical application, participants will benefit from this experience by arriving at previously unarticulated insights with regard to the impact that their images and concepts of God have on the way they live out the relationships in their lives. The limitations of the study include the realization that the study cannot be generalized to speak for all retreat facilitators. The language of spirituality especially regarding imago Dei is often described in symbol and metaphor. The imperative will be to be faithful to the language used by the participants. This study may be limited in its transference of insight between Pre-Service Religious Education courses given the variability of priorities. Finally, it may be limiting to the study if in the second year a participant does not find employment in an educational setting. The researcher wishes, however, to include that participant in whatever setting he/she is contributing to the values, beliefs, attitudes and actions which can contribute to the flourishing of all creation.
VII. The Contributions of the Study This study will unearth the new dimensions of spirituality for ecological stewardship that emerge in the experience of the participants. This study will be attentive to the impact of imago Dei on stewardship perspectives. This study will help to understand the spiritual processes toward an ecological conversion. It will contribute to the emerging genres of ecological theology, ecological spirituality, and ecological ethics. This research provides Pre-Service teachers and with an experience of adult faith development applicable to their personal and professional life. This study will pay attention to the stories, worldviews, symbols and praxis as methods that can facilitate the emergence of an ecological spirituality in Catholic education so that earth stewardship becomes a bigger part of Catholic consciousness. Finally, this study will contribute to the faith perspective on creation and celebrate "The glory of God is every creature fully alive." - Irenaeus, third cent. C.E. I respectfully submit this thesis proposal for approval. Davileen Radigan 208
VIII. Endnotes
1 Toronto School of Theology "Doctor of Ministry Programme Handbook: Requirements and Proceedures," (Toronto: 2005), 2. The emphasis is on "advancing the personal, professional and theological integration in order to achieve a high level of competency in the practice of ministry and its theoretical underpinnings."
2 Dennis Murphy. Catholic Education: A Light of Truth (Toronto: Catholic Register Books, 2007) 132.
3 Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, Cf. Thomas Berry in their Foreword essay "The Nature of the Environmental Crisis" in Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, ed. Christianity and Ecology. (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000), xv.
4 Pope John Paul II. "God Made Man the Steward of Creation." General Audience Address, January 17, 2001. Available at: http://www.vatican.va/holv_father/iohn paul_ii/audiences/2001/documents/hf ip- ii aud 20010117 en.html. Accessed Dec. 8, 2006.
5 Corin Millais, ed. "Common Belief: Australia's Faith Communities on Climate Change" The Climate Institute (Australia) Ltd. December 2006. http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/cial/cianews.html. Accessed Dec. 6, 2006. This statement of common belief on climate change in what is described as a world first show of interfaith unity on the issue. The document says that addressing the issue of climate change is a moral imperative and inaction by Australians cannot be justified, according to a statement released by the Climate Institute according to Catholic News, http://www.cathnews.com/news/612/22.php
6 David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering our Place in Nature, Reissued Edition with Amanda McConnell (Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2002), viii.
7 Thomas Berry, "Agenda for an Ecological Age" a subsection in chapter 6 of The Dream of the Earth (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1998), 65-68.
8 N.T. Wright, New Testament and the People of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992) and Steven Bouma- Prediger and Brian J. Walsh, Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008) 135.
9 Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB), National Office of Religious Education. Born of the Spirit Religious Education and Family Life Program, K - Grade 6 and "We are strong together" Gr. 7 - Gr.12. (Ottawa: CCCB). Each Grade's curriculum contains at least two units on creation.
10 Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologica. Quote from: http://conservation.catholic.org/saints_2.htm. Accessed September 10, 2008.
1' Brian Swimme and Thomas Berry. The Universe Story: From the Primordial Flaring Forth to the Ecozoic Era - A Celebration of the Unfolding of the Cosmos. (New York: Harper Collins, 1992) 2.
12 Thomas Berry. The Great Work: Our Way into the Future, (New York: Bell Tower, 1999) 198.
Swimme and Berry. The Universe Story, p. 3. Berry explains the shift from cosmos to cosmogenesis: from a sense of ever-renewing, seasonal cycles to an evolutionary sequence of irreversible transformations.
14 Note: The numerous works of Thomas Berry can be found listed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Berrv Accessed September 10, 2008. 209
15 Thomas Berry. The Great Work, 196. 16 Three different versions of the Cosmic Story have been used in retreats. "The Cosmic Story" by Sr. Miriam Mac Gillis, a Dominican sister who studied with Berry, tells of thirty sacred moments in the 13.7 billion year history. "The Creation Mandala" written by Fr. Vincent Busch, a Columban missionary combines story, prayer, and cosmic banners. "The Awakening Universe: A Liberating New Cosmology for Our Time" a DVD on Thomas Berry's influence, entrances viewers with its images of creation.
17 Thomas Berry The Dream of the Earth. (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1988) 12.
18 Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth, p. 134.
19 Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae (Part I, Question 47, Art 1) http://www.newadvent.org/summa/1047.htm Accessed on September 10, 2008.
20 Berry, Thomas with Thomas Clarke, Befriending the Earth: A Theology of Reconciliation Between Humans and the Earth. Mystic. (Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1995) 20.
21 Thomas Berry. The Great Work, x.
22 Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth, p. 16-17.
23 The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presented "Climate Change 2007" the Fourth IPCC Assessment Report, November 2007 in Bali, Indonesia as a summary of scientific findings from Working Group I: "The Physical Science Basis in Paris, February 2, 2007; Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability" in Brussels, April 6, 2007. Working Group III: "Mitigation of Climate Change," May 4, 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, http://www.ipcc-wg2.org/index.html Accessed September 10, 2008.
24 Berry, Thomas. The Great Work, p. 7.
25 Dorothy McDougall. The Cosmos as the Primary Sacrament: The Horizon for an Ecological Sacramental Theology. (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2003) 17. McDougall conjoins the wisdom of Berry's new cosmology with the ecofeminist egalitarian model of stewardship to construct an ecological sacramental theology as a step toward "re-examining the human presence" for a viable solution.
26 John Paul II. "God Made Man the Steward of Creation." General Audience Address, January 17, 2001. http://www.vatican.va/holy father/johnpaul ii/audiences/2001/documents/hf ipiiaud 20010117 en.html. Accessed September 10, 2008.
Ontario Ministry of Education. Shaping Our Schools, Shaping Our Future: Environmental Education in Ontario Schools, Report of the Working Group on Environmental Education, (Toronto: Queen's Printer for Ontario, June 2007) 6. Also available at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/curriculumcouncil/shapingschools.pdf
28 Ontario Ministry of Education. Shaping Our Schools, p. 4. and "The Scope and Sequence of Expectations" for elementary programs is available at http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/curriculum /elementary/environment.html. Accessed October 23, 2008.
29 Lawrence E. Sullivan. "Introduction" in Christianity and Ecology. Hessel, Dieter T. and Rosemary Radford Ruether, ed., (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000) xii-xiii.
30 Paul Ricoeur, From Text to Action: Essays in Hermeneutics, II, trans. Kathleen Blarney and John B. Thompson (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1991). Page? 210
Ricoeur (1913-2005) was widely recognized as one of the most distinguished philosophical anthropologists of our time. He wrote on phenomenology, psychoanalysis, Marxism, ideology, morality and religion.
31 Paul F. Knitter. "The One Earth and Our Many Stories: Eco-human Well-being a Criterion for Religious Truth," in One Earth Many Religions: Multifaith Dialogue & Global Responsibility. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1995) 118-135.
32 Dorothee Soelle. The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resistance. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001) 89.
33 Thomas Berry. The Dream of the Earth, xiv.
34 Paul Knitter. One Earth, p. 118.
35 Larry Trafford, Educating the Soul: Writing Curriculum for Catholic Secondary Schools, in consultation with the Institute for Catholic Education (I.C.E.) and the Catholic Curriculum Cooperative-Central Ontario Region (Toronto: I.C.E., 1998) 9.
36 The Congregation for Catholic Education. "Introduction (1)" in The Religious Dimension of Education in a Catholic School: Guidelines for Reflection and Renewal, (Rome, 1988, Reprinted in the English edition by the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottawa, 1988) 3.
37 Trafford, Educating the Soul, p. 10.
38 Trafford, Educating the Soul, p. 10.
39 Stephen B. Scharper, Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment, (New York: Continuum, 1997). Scharper's book is designed as a response to Lynn White Jr.'s claim that Christianity is a guilty contributor to the ecological demise (1967).
40 Dorothy McDougall. The Cosmos as Primary Sacrament: The Horizon for an Ecological Sacramental Theology (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2003).
41 Note: By 'orientation' I am referring to how the sample will identify with the three stewardship typologies: apologetic, construction, and listening.
42 Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Social Affairs Commission. Our Relationship with the Environment: The Need for Conversion. (Ottawa: CCCB, March 12, 2008). http://www.cccb.ca/site/content/view/2576/1214/lang.eng/. Accessed September 10, 2008.
43 Heather R. Whittington. "The Catholic Church on Ecological Degradation," An Honor's Program Project (Marquette University, Spring, 2004). http://faculty.theo.mu.edu/schaefer/. Accessed September 10, 2008. Forty-tiiree Church documents are listed from Pope Paul VI in 1972 to JPII, 2004. Pope Benedict in "Climate Change a Grave Issue" http://www.zenit.org/article-204337Henglish Accessed March 10, 2008.
44 Thomas Berry. "Moments of Grace" in The Great Work, pp. 196-201; Steven C. Rockefeller. "Faith and Community in an Ecological Age," in Rockefeller, Steven C. and John C. Elder, eds. Spirit and Nature: Why the Environment Is a Religious Issue. (Boston: Beacon Press, 1992) 141-171; Lawrence E. Sullivan. "Introduction" in Christianity and Ecology. Dieter T. Hessel and Rosemary Radford Ruether, ed., (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000) xii-xiii; United Nations. "The Earth Charter." (March 2000). 211
45 The Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology. The EAITE is a collaborative teaching and research institute that offers a Certificate of Specialization in Theology and Ecology. I have completed the six courses designated "green" and hope to receive the certification with this field work. http://www.utoronto.ca/stmikes/eaite.
46 Gary L.Chamberlain. "Ecology and Religious Education," Religious Education Journal, Vol. 95 No. 2, Spring, 2000. p. 136.
47 Chamberlain, "Ecology and Religious Education,"p.l36.
48 David Kinsley. Ecology and Religion: Ecological Spirituality in Cross-Cultural Perspective. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995) 135.
49 Kinsley, Ecology and Religion, p. 135.
Judy Cannato. Radical Amazement: Contemplative Lessons from Black Holes, Supernovas, and Other Wonders of the Universe (Notre Dame, IN: Sorin Books, 2006) 83.
John Hart. What are they saying about Environmental Theology? (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2004) 142.
52 Dorothy McDougall. Cosmos as Primary Sacrament. (New York: Peter Lang Publ. 2003) 21.
53 C. Moustakas. Phenomenological Research Methods. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994) 52.
54 John W. Creswell. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing Among Five Traditions. (Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications, 1998) 54.
Max van Manen. Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy Albany, N.Y: State University of New York Press, 1990) 5.
56 van Manen. Researching lived experience, p. 12.
57 Edmund O' Sullivan, "The Project and Vision of Transformative Education: Integral Transformative Learning" in Expanding the Boundaries of Transformative Learning: Essays on Theory and Praxis. Edmund O'Sullivan, Amish Morrell, and Mary Ann O'Connor ed. (New York: Palgrave Publishers, 2002) Chapter 1.
58 Susan M. Laverty. "Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Phenomenology: A Comparison of Historical and Methodological Considerations." International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 2 (3) Article 3. September 2003. 17-18. Available at http://www.ualberta.ca/~iiqm/backissues/2_3final/pdf/Laverty.pdf. Accessed September 10, 2008.
59 Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry, 122.
60 Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry, 149-150
61 University of Toronto Research Ethics Board, "Ethics Review Protocol Submission Form for Supervised and Sponsored Researchers." (Version date: February 1, 2007) http://www.research.utoronto.ca/ethics/eh rebs.html Accessed September 10, 2008. APPENDIX B.
Definitions animism: The attribution of a living soul to plants, animals, inanimate objects, and natural phenomena. {Exploring World Religions, Gr. 11 text, 59)
It is the belief that every living thing in nature - including trees, plants and even rocks or streams - has its own spirit or divinity. In indigenous cultures animism often requires that before anyone can kill an animal or fell a tree, its natural spirit must be honoured. Quantum animism suggests mind in some sense seems to midwife reality into being. Mind and matter interact in ways that we do not yet understand. (Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 185) anthropocentrism: has its historical roots in the social structure of patriarchy. "It can be defined as the belief that humans alone have intrinsic value. Everything else in the world is of relative value, important only insofar as it serves human interests." (Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 65,) As a human-centred worldview, it "licensed the domination and exploitation of both human and natural "resources" in order to accumulate wealth." (Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 73,) anthropocosmic: a term used especially in Asian thought to unite the reality of the human and the cosmos. (Wei-ming, Confucian Thought) communion: is one three principles of cosmological wisdom evident in the universe: differentiation, subjectivity and communion. Each member of the universe community is bonded inseparably with every other member of the community. The entire universe is genetically related. (Swimme and Berry, Universe Story, 73) cosmogenesis: is an understanding that "the universe itself is now experienced as an 'irreversible time development process' rather than as an abiding seasonal renewing universe. Not cosmos but cosmogenesis" (Swimme and Berry, Universe Story, 3). It is ordered by differentiation, subjectivity, and communion. (Swimme and Berry, Universe Story, 73). Emphasis is on the immanence of God in the process of cosmogenesis. "God accompanies all processes from within, without losing him/herself in them because, as Mystery and Beyond Knowing, God overflows and engulfs them on all sides. Moreover, God orients the arrow of time toward the emergence of ever more complex, dynamic, and purposeful levels of order." (Hathaway and Boff, The Tao of Liberation, 324)
212 213
creationism: is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, it holds that human beings were created in their present form within the past 10,000 years, so that all theories about the biological evolution of homo sapiens over several million years are false. Human beings are a unique form of life, are specially favored by the Creator, and have a divine mandate to rule over all other life forms. differentation: is one of the three ordering principles of reality and value in the universe. "Scientific knowledge recognizes the way in which structures are similar, whether stars, or atoms, or cells, or societies. But in the universe, to be is to be different. To be is to be a unique manifestation of existence." (Swimme and Berry, Universe Story, 73). deep ecology: two key elements are self-realization and biocentric equality. It was originally proposed in 1973 by Arne Naess as a principle of Earth's intrinsic value. (Tao of Liberation, 64) It explores ways to create a new, more holistic consciousness and culture. (Ruether, Gaia and God, 2) evolution: is the long sequence of transformations of the universe and of the planet Earth. When told as a narrative and in the depth of its meaning, the universe story of creation's evolution constitutes the comprehensive context. In it we have a common genetic line of development. "Every living being of Earth is cousin to every other living being. Even beyond the realm of the living, we have a common origin in the Primordial Flaring Forth of the energies from the universe and all its aspects is derived." (Swimme and Berry, Universe Story, 5)
Gaia Theory: Earth is a living organism, an entity unto herself, with powers such as intention, generativity, and self-ogranization. In 1974, James Lovelock, advanced the theory. Teilhard's thought would mesh well with the Gaia hypothesis, for he sees the planet earth as a living organism. (Ruether, Gaia and God, 243) panentheism: is characterized by "God in All and All in God"; is from the Greek pan (all), from en (in), and theos (God). It maintains that God and the cosmos are identical, that the creation of the cosmos is not the creation of God but rather that the cosmos is the essential mode of God's existence. God is present in the cosmos and the cosmos is present in God. This makes the universe sacred and worthy of reverence, for everything is linked one way or another to God. God is present in everything but also extends beyond the universe. In other words, God is greater than the universe. (Hathaway and Boff, Tao of Liberation, 324) pantheism: says the creator is the creation. Hindu pantheism, for example, teaches that the world is filled everywhere with divine presences. (Peterson, With All Your Mind) APPENDIX C. Christian Theological Typologies
Apologists Constructivists Listeners
1. Apolologists defend the 1. Stay within classical 1. Strive to nurture a religious classical tradition from Christian thought, will not consciousness that 'listens' to within the tradition for those abandon or defend but nature and to creation itself who embrace that tradition. recast, then revision as with the universe as omni- reformers. centered. 2. Apologists sift through biblical, patristic, medieval 2. Expands the Christian 2. Invokes the world's great evidence to show the perspective by being as much religions to uncover spiritual centrality of stewardship and influenced by the larger resources to help humans cooperation with nature, human community as by the rekindle or find anew an under the ownership of God. church in responding with an ability to relate and listen to Attfield ecological theology. nonhuman nature. Carmody
3. Biblical proclamation is 3. Biblical exegesis affirms 3. A turning toward "a new "to do with history not with creation-history as the Christian naturalism," nature," a focus that is primary biblical horizon, not insights from primal and soterio-anthropological. just redemption-history Eastern religions. Carmody Santmire 4. A wider vision of creation 4. A radical attentiveness to 4. A wider vision of creation is "the ontology of earth's systems. The human communion," a relationship is met with caution about role is to live in mutually between the human and scientism, paganism, enhancing relationships extra-human that includes the animism, panentheism, within creation. Berry sacrificial, the preservation, secularism. Derr the spiritual elements in 5. Openness to physical nature. Hall 5. Apologists define their sciences, to appropriate discussions of environmental technologies that are issues with reference to the 5. A vigorous tradition of compatible with the natural themes ofsocial justice, with orthodoxy but innovative life-systems of the planet. man at the apex of creation as theological reflection about trustee for the rest of nature. imago dei, and culpability of 6. Ecofeminist theologians the human in existential and see creation as primary environmental related issues. 6. For ecumenists, wise revelation, sacrament and management of the resources referent. Replace patriarchal of the earth is for the sake of 6. Reconstructs classical domination and oppression the people of the earth, biblical exegesis, classical with an egalitarian ethic of Christology and Trinitarian especially the poor. Derr mutual respect. Gebara, with a theo-anthropology and McFague, Ruether, Eaton biblical faith that connects 7. Theological metaphors of humans to the land as core to ascent, fecundity and 7. Ecospirituality includes a social integrity, well-being migration to a good land critique of consumer culture, and coherence. Bruggemann permeate the motifs of the a simplified lifestyle, tradition as personified by listening to nature, concern St. Francis of Assisi 7. Prayer is: "Spirit of God, for the poor and the planet. Renew the Whole Creation." 8. Thoughtful but orthodox, 8. Wide ranging, imaginative, conventional traditionalism. 8. Constructive ally in eco- conjunctive, heterodox. cosmic promise. Fritsch, Cobb, Tucker
D. Radigan. A synthesis of Stephen B. Scharper, "Christian Theological Responses to the Ecological Crisis: An Overview," in Redeeming the Time: A Political Theology of the Environment, 1997.
214 APPENDIX D. Transition from the Industrial to the Ecological Age
Industrial Age Ecological Age scientific mechanistic orgamsmic paradigms: universe as machine universe as process/story Earth as inert matter Gaia: Earth as superorganism life as random chemistry life as autopoiesis determinism indeterminacy, probability linear causality chaos: nonlinear dynamics atomism holism/systems theory epistemology: logical positivism critical realism operationalism constructivism reductionism reduction/integration role of the human: conquest of nature living as part of nature domination over nature co-evolution, symbiosis individual vs. world extended sense of self superiority & arrogance reflection & creativity resource management ecological stewardship values in relation nature as resource preserve biodiversity to nature exploit or conserve protect ecosystem integrity anthropocentric/humanist biocentric/ecocentric nature has instrumental value nature has intrinsic value relation to land: land use: farming, herding land ethic: think like competing for territory mountain, dwelling owning "real estate" reinhabiting the bioregion human/social sexism, patriarchy ecofeminism, partnership values: racism, ethnocentrism respect, value differences hierarchies of class & caste social ecology, egalitarian theology & nature as background animism, everything lives religion: nature as demonic/frightening nature as sacred transcendent divinity immanent divinity creation as fallen, corrupt creation spirituality monotheism & atheism pantheism & panentheism
215 Industrial Age Ecological Age education & specialized disciplines multidisciplinary, integrative research "value-free knowledge"... unconscious values... pursued explicated science-humanities split unified worldview political systems: nation-state sovereignty multinational federations centralized national authority decentralized bioregions patriarchal oligarchies egalitarian democracies cultural homogeneity pluralistic societies national security focus humans & environment focus militarism commitment to non violence
community-based economic systems: multinational corporations assume scarcity economies competition assume interdependence limitless progress cooperation "economic development" limits to growth no accounting of nature steady state, sustainability economics based on ecology technology: addiction to fossil fuels reliance on renewables profit-driven technologies appropriate technologies waste overload recycling, reusing exploitation/consumerism protect & restore ecosystems agriculture: monoculture farming poly & permaculture agribusiness, factory farms community & family farms chemical fertilizers & pesticides biological pest control vulnerable high-yield hybrids preserve genetic diversity
Ralph Metzner. "The Emerging Ecological Worldview" in Worldviews and Ecology: Religion, Philosophy and the Environment, eds. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John A. Grim, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997) pp. 163-172. VIII. BIBLIOGRAPHY
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