Before Laudato Si’ the Aparecida bishops preached “Good News” on “the Universal Destiny of Goods and Ecology.”
125. With the native peoples of the Americas, we praise the Lord who created the universe as the realm of life and the shared existence of all his sons and daughters, and left it to us as sign of his goodness and his beauty. Creation is also the manifestation of God’s provident love; it has been entrusted to us so that we may care for it and transform it as a source of decent life for all. Although a greater valorization of nature has become more widespread today, we clearly see how many ways human beings threaten and are still destroying their habitat. “Our sister, mother earth”(St. Francis of Assisi, Canticle of All Creatures, 9) is our common home and the place of God’s covenant with human beings and with all creation. To disregard the mutual relationships and balance that God himself established among created realities is an offense against the Creator, an attack on biodiversity and ultimately against life. The missionary disciple to whom God has entrusted creation must contemplate it, care for it, and use it, while always respecting the order given it by the Creator.
Would you agree that “a human ecology open to transcendence” is more than a bit of theobabble?
126. The best way to respect nature is to promote a human ecology open to transcendence, which, while respecting the person and the family, environments and cities, follows Paul’s urging to recapitulate all things in Christ and praise the Father with Him (cf. 1 Cor 3:21-23). The Lord has entrusted the world to all, to members of present and future generations. The universal destiny of goods demands solidarity with both the present and future generations. Because resources are ever more limited, their use must be regulated according to a principle of distributive justice, while respecting sustainable development.
Comments, friends?
For deeper examination, an English translation of the 2007 document from the Aparecida Conference.
Catholic Sensibility 