Faith and the environment are inextricably linked

By David Eck and Eileen Connelly, OSU

ARCHDIOCESE — One might not think of science and faith as being intertwined, but Marianist Sister Leanne Jablonski is working to bridge that gap.

Sister Leanne, director of the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC) in Dayton, uses science and spirituality to promote lifestyles that are ecologically sustaining and environmentally just.

The center is based at Mount St. John in Dayton, where Bergamo Center is also located.

Through outreach presentations, workshops and visitors to Mount St. John and Bergamo Center, the MEEC touches thousands of lives annually. Topics include environmental education, climate change, ecology and spirituality and land stewardship. It is how the message of environmental awareness is spread.

"I think previous generations, their lives were intertwined in the rhythms of the land. They knew where food came from and understood the rhythms," Sister Leanne said. "Humans aren’t apart from (the earth) we are part of it."

Among the core strategies of the center are restoring the land at Mt. St. John back to its original state, keeping the ecosystems in balance. In the mid-1980s, a gravel pit from the construction of nearby Interstate 675 was left on the land, and restoration of the area was soon started.

Other core strategies include helping people connect lifestyle decisions on social justice impact, fostering community, and collaborating within the Marianist family for education for sustainable living.

CNS PHOTO FROM REUTERS

In 2005 Pope Benedict XVI told professor and students at Rome’s Sacred Heart University that even in today’s culture, it is "possible to merge faith and science.

Founded in 1991, the center now has a full-time staff of three and hundreds of volunteers.

As part of her outreach, Sister Leanne talks about humans’ ecological footprint, reducing our consumption, and how that relates to Catholic social teaching. Overuse of resources negatively impacts those in other parts of the world, for example. Lack of clean air and water affects human dignity.

So many of the sacraments and symbols of our faith — water, bread, wine, God’s spirit in nature — are tied to the earth.

"We need to just live more sustainably," she said.

Members of St. Mary’s Church and Catholic Campus Ministry in Oxford have come to recognize the connection between their faith and the environment through the efforts of the parish’s Environmental Stewardship Committee.

Formed last October as a sub-committee of the parish’s Social Justice Commission, its goal is to help parishioners explore the process of how our faith calls us to protect and preserve God’s creation and address current environmental issues at St. Mary’s and in the local community, according to chairperson Don Pestana.

The group began, he said, by familiarizing themselves with various Catholic resources related to the issue, including the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ statement "Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good." In addition, the committee has taken a close look at parish buildings to determine how to best implement environmentally conscious practices and conserve energy. It is an ongoing process, said Pestana, because the four structures were built between the 1920s and 1960s and have complex heating and cooling systems. One simple, yet meaningful, practice the parish may consider is the use of green cleaning products as are being used at the nearby Miami University’s residence halls. A parish energy audit is also planned, he said.

The committee has engaged in a number of activities to help educate parishioners on the issue. This includes creating a display of materials on church teaching and resources that offer practical actions parishioners can implement in their daily lives. In addition, thought provoking quotes about the care of creation are regularly featured in the parish bulletin. Parishioners have also been asked to sign the St. Mary’s Environmental Stewardship Pledge through which they commit to taking 10 practical conservation steps at home on behalf of the entire faith community. The pledge goal is 100 parish households, Pestana said, and, to date, 30 pledges have been signed. Parishioners have also been provided with a handout, adapted from U.S. Catholic magazine, that lists Scripture passages focusing on environmental stewardship, along with ways Catholics can live as good stewards, for example, using cloth grocery bags instead of plastic, walking or biking instead of driving and composting garbage. Also included are 10 spiritual ways to grow as good stewards, such as thanking God for the gift of the sun upon waking in the morning, spending time each day in nature, and preparing and eating a meal with others at home in a sacramental manner.

Pestana said some parishioners have also taken a class through the Cincinnati Earth Institute that they found helpful. Because it was lacking the Catholic social teaching perspective, members of the stewardship committee are developing a final chapter for the course materials to include prayers, the U.S. Bishops’ statement and various other faith-based resources. The committee also sponsored a talk by William Rauckhorst, a St. Mary’s parishioner and professor of physics at Miami University. Some 60 parishioners attended the presentation, "Energy Ethics in an Era of Global Climate Change and Peak Oil," during which Rauckhorst stressed the lead role that religious congregations must play in helping form both our individual and national conscience on energy and environmental issues.

Aided by the enthusiastic involvement of students from Miami University, the faith community of St. Mary’s is also examining these issues from a broader perspective as a charter member of Ohio Interfaith Power and Light. An affiliate of the Regeneration Project’s national Interfaith Power and Light campaign, its mission is to mobilize a religious response to climate change and to promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.

As a father, care of creation is a critical and very personal issue for Pestana, and he has been pleased to see the positive parish response to the committee’s efforts. "People are seeing that the little steps really do add up and it’s been great to see all the energy they have for this," he said. "I’ve had some profound spiritual experiences in nature and feel that the connection is vitally important. We need to recognize that environmental issues are a looming crisis and we need to address them now for the sake of future generations."