General Election
There is an abundance of election information emitted by mainstream and digital media, much of it unhelpful for clarifying one’s decision regarding voting. With regard to care for creation, here are three themes to consider:
Let’s ignore the whole thing and not bother voting -it doesn’t change anything.
We all have a responsibility to engage in politics.
Pope Francis hasn’t shied away from acknowledging that for a lot of people, the failures of some politicians have made politics a “distasteful word”.
But the Pope has echoed calls from his predecessors, including Pope Benedict, by reminding us that our faith means we have a duty to participate in politics. Whether that’s by voting, campaigning or even standing for election ourselves, this stems from politics being about “the building of a better world”. When this is the case, we as Catholics “cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice”.(From https://cafod.org.uk/news/campaigning-news/general-election-2024-answering-pope-francis-s-call-for-a-better-kind-of-politics)
Tax is a burden to be avoided
‘It’s time to challenge the narrative about taxation as some sort of irrational imposition by a distant and greedy government and connect it again with our basic responsibility for one another in society. But this can’t happen unless people trust the system to be both fair and effective. What we are seeking is a grown-up discussion of all this – not uncritical, but not unrealistic or resentful, grounded in the biblical vision of our call to serve and protect one another as the foundation of a durable and dependable social order.’
Rt Revd Dr Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury. https://justmoney.org.uk/news/taxes-are-a-blessing-christian-leaders-tell-sunak-and-starmer/
Integral Ecology
“Recognising the reasons why a given area is polluted requires a study of the workings of society, its economy, its behaviour patterns, and the way it grasps reality.”
Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home
The global issues we see today are a reflection of the interrelationship between humans and the planet. Pope Francis’s Laudato Si’ encyclical proposes that the social and environmental issues we are facing are not two separate crises, but one complex crisis with both social and environmental dimensions. ‘Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature’. (Laudato Si’ #139)
https://www.campion.ox.ac.uk/integral-ecology
The following are useful sites for considering our ‘duty to participate in politics’ with care for creation and social justice in mind.
https://svp.org.uk/encounter
https://columbans.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/FINALNewsletter-May-2024-David.pdf
Hallam Diocese Environmental Lead Role
What is it?
Bishop John Arnold advised in 2021 that all dioceses in England and Wales appoint an environmental lead. It was to be a voluntary role and there was no template or job description. Angela Powell (Cafod Hallam) and I accepted the role from Bishop Ralph in autumn that year and considered ways to establish it within the diocese. In time, Angela’s Cafod work increased and she stepped back, but she remains firmly in support and an advocate of the role’s importance. Of course the Cafod organisation itself witnesses the harm climate chaos is wreaking across the world, and is vocal about its effect on those who have done least to cause it.
We offered to introduce ourselves to parishes, and spoke at Sunday Masses in any parish that invited us. We emailed the diocesan trustees, offering to speak about the role at a meeting and consider its potential as a reference point for diocesan spiritual and temporal business. (The offer was not taken up but remains open.) We made links with the formation and the communications team and with the Sheffield Anglican Diocese environmental working group. There are occasional online meetings with other Diocesan Leads across the country.
I have been sending out monthly Care for Creation updates to any parishes or individuals that have shown interest, and to quite a few that haven’t. I see the destruction of life and nature, along with the reasons it is apparently entrenched in human activity, as a priority concern for people of faith and faith institutions. I believe creation care should be embedded in all areas of diocesan work, but I have reached the limits of what I can do to act on this belief.
I will continue as nominal lead until the end of September, and provide a monthly Care for Creation update until then. Please consider if you know of anyone who might be able to build on, or adapt, existing work Angela and I have done. Feel free to contact Columba Timmins- [email protected] if you have any questions or ideas on the subject.
