Founded on Rock Putting into practice Catholic teaching on land and the environment NUMBER TWELVE IN THE CARITAS SOCIAL JUSTICE SERIES photo: photo: adrian heke For Social Justice Week 2007 9 to 15 September CARITAS AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND 2007 Published by Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand PO Box 12-193 Thorndon, Wellington, New Zealand [email protected] www.caritas.org.nz © CARITAS AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND Previous titles in the Social Justice Series: 1 A Fresh Start: The Eradication of Poverty 2 Homelessness 3 Employment and Justice 4 Health: A Social Justice Perspective 5 The Digital Divide: Poverty and Wealth in the Information Age 6 Paying the Piper: Ourselves, Our World and Debt 7 Welcoming the Stranger: Refugees and Migrants in the Modern World 8 Born to us: Children in New Zealand 9 Out of the Depths: Mental Health in New Zealand 10 In the presence of all peoples: Celebrating cultural diversity 11 Renew the face of the earth: Environmental justice Everyone who listens to these words of mine and acts on them will be like the wise person who built a house on rock. Rain came down, floods rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on rock. Matthew 7:24-25 This booklet and other Social Justice Week materials have been printed on paper produced from sustainable sources, after consideration of the options available to us to reduce the impact on the environment. Caritas would like to thank the people whose pictures and stories appear in this booklet, especially: Sr Makareta Tawaroa, Sr Noelene Landrigan, Sr Colleen Woodcock, Terence and Jill Whelan, Markus Gripp, Rex Begley, Sr Barbara Cowan, Anne Waitai and the Tamareheroto hapu, Doña Clara and CALDH, Cathy Bolinga and Caritas Papua New Guinea, Ioane and Filifili Lemisio, Michael Mrong and Caritas Bangladesh, Benedict Ole Nangore and CORDS, Tobias Bareh, Linda Simmons, Abakada Kayumanggi Community Development Foundation and the people of the East Riverside community of Malabon, Mintu Deshwara, Barbara Rowley and Naenae parish, Cynthia Piper, Sharron Cole and Petone parish. Research and writing: Martin de Jong and Lisa Beech Additional writing: Te Hokinga Mai (pages 24-25) – Anne Waitai and Sr Barbara Cowan Photography: Adrian Heke Additional photography: Lisa Beech, Martin de Jong, Tara D’Sousa, Mark Coote, Regina Scheyvens, Jonathon Moller, Max Simmons, John Lewin, Mary Betz Cover photography: Adrian Heke Graphic design and print consultancy: Rose Miller Printing: The Print Room ISBN: 0-908631-38-3 ISSN: 1174-331x Foreword “Everyone who listens to these words of mine and God is continually calling us to conversion. This includes acts on them will be like the wise person who calling us to think and act in ways which take into built a house on rock. Rain came down, floods account the future of our planet and its people. This rose, gales blew and hurled themselves against we call ecological conversion. We must care for the that house, and it did not fall: it was founded on earth – for our environment. In the Bible, the whole rock.” idea of “justice” means right relations with our God, our neighbour and our environment. Right relationships Matthew 7:24-25 with our environment is an integral part of our Christian ethic. It is the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most These words of Jesus give us hope. Even though the from the deterioration of our natural environment. world as we know it seems threatened by human- induced climatic disaster, even though rain may fall, The Old Testament Prophets cried out against the floods rise, and gales blow - if we listen to God’s Word, injustice of those who accumulated large landholdings and to the teaching and guidance of the Church in at the expense of the poor, and the early Christian making that Word applicable and relevant to our lives Fathers reminded us that the world was given for all, today, then we have cause to hope, because our actions and not only for the rich. In many parts of the world, 3 will be “founded on rock”. the separation of people from their traditional lands is a grave injustice. As Catholics, we are told by Jesus to “build our houses on rock”, to imitate Him in our relationship with all creation, and to be truly stewards of God’s creation. We ask you to join with Caritas in this year’s Social Justice Week, and to consider ways of putting into practice Catholic teaching on land and the environment. Bishop Robin Leamy Episcopal Deputy for Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand photo: photo: adrian heke Contents Foreword..................................................................................................................................................................3 Introduction: God works through human history..............................................................................................5 Land: God’s gift.......................................................................................................................................................8 God's own: The last settled place on earth.......................................................................................................10 Rooted in the soil ..................................................................................................................................................12 Land and identity..................................................................................................................................................14 Displacement . 16 Landlessness ..........................................................................................................................................................18 This sacred earth ...................................................................................................................................................20 Healing and reconciliation...................................................................................................................................22 Conclusion: Bearing fruit .....................................................................................................................................26 Appendix: Catholic social teaching . 27 Glossary of Te Reo Maori words used in the text . .28 God is with us Matthew 1:23 However, the reality is that both Jewish and Christian Introduction: God works traditions are based in actual historical situations – the through human history stories of how God was revealed to particular people, at a particular time and place. Our Old Testament tradition is based on the “Christ is now in history. Christ is in the womb of extraordinary revelation of a God who intervened in the people. Christ is now bringing about a new human history to rescue the Hebrews from slavery, and heaven and a new earth.” led them to the promised land. The New Testament Archbishop Oscar Romero revelation is of the Incarnation, of God becoming flesh to share a human life with us, in a particular time and place. Christians are sometimes accused of offering “pie in the We know and experience God in the places we are born sky” solutions to pressing world problems. The phrase and live out our lives. itself entered our vocabulary from a song by Joe Hill, Our Biblical tradition is filled with the images of people speaking of preachers who offer “pie in the sky when you who saw God’s hand in all creation. God is our rock, God die” to people asking for help with present-day hunger. is water in a parched land, as immense as the forces of nature, or as approachable as the “still small voice” on the mountainside. The writers of the psalms speak of a God revealed through nature. They show their love and their knowledge of God in particular places: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land” lament the 5 exiles from Israel who were taken to Babylon as slaves. However, the Old Testament writers knew a world in which human activity was seen as operating in accordance with natural forces over which they had no control. The writer of Ecclesiastes who said “A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains forever” could not have envisaged the environmental destruction our generation faces, where human activity itself has put at risk the future not only of the people, but of our planet itself. Our Catholic social teaching tells us of the importance of stewardship – of caring for all the gifts of the earth that God has given us. But there is a greater message too, that it is in this earth that we understand and know God. “It is in this world that Christian hope must shine forth,” said Pope John Paul II. 1 For some modern New Zealanders, whose ancestors – or they themselves – broke traditional connections with places, by choice or necessity, to come here, the attachment of people to particular places may seem strange. However, there are many others – both ancient and recent immigrants – for whom the roots are deeply connected to particular places in Aotearoa New Zealand. As we consider both historic land issues in New Zealand photo: photo: adrian heke and present day environmental concerns, it can be 1 Pope John Paul II: Ecclesia in Eucharista, 2004 helpful to understand that throughout the world there environmental disasters, both natural and man made, are many situations of conflict and injustice related to but often resulting from factors over which people’s land. There is also a wealth of Catholic social teaching to actions have some control. draw on in considering the morality of land use. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees