Oecologia et Sanitas

THE ENVIRONMENT AND SANITY
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

On Wednesday evening, February 13, 2019, the priest at my parish (Father Kirby) gave a talk entitled, “The Environment and Sanity.” In this talk Father discussed the following:

Hope (CCC 1817-1821)Natural Law (CCC 1954-1960)Creation (CCC 279-314)Stewardship (CCC 2415-2418)
My notes on this talk follow each relevant section of the Catechism of the Catholic Church that Father used in his explanation.

EXCERPT ON HOPE FROM THE CATECHISM

Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ's promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful." "The Holy Spirit…he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."

The virtue of hope responds to the aspiration to happiness which God has placed in the heart of every man; it takes up the hopes that inspire men's activities and purifies them so as to order them to the Kingdom of heaven; it keeps man from discouragement; it sustains him during times of abandonment; it opens up his heart in expectation of eternal beatitude. Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.

We can therefore hope in the glory of heaven promised by God to those who love him and do his will. In every circumstance, each one of us should hope, with the grace of God, to persevere "to the end" and to obtain the joy of heaven, as God's eternal reward for the good works accomplished with the grace of Christ.

NOTES ON HOPE

The virtue of hope is the most attacked one in this present age, and this results in much of the depression driving people into despair.

None of us have our salvation assured for Philippians 2:12 states, “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” But our hope is in the desire for heaven and eternal life as our happiness, not the things of this world.

The story of Pandora’s box is illustrative of how the ancients viewed hope. According to Hesiod, when Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus, the king of the gods, took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pandora opened a jar (i.e., box) left in his care containing sickness, death and many other unspecified evils which were then released into the world. Though she hastened to close the container, only one thing was left behind – usually translated as Hope, though for the Greeks it had the pessimistic meaning of "deceptive expectation." To them hope meant that an outcome cannot be changed for the better.

The Christian view is however very different. Romans 4:18-22 explains this:

18 In hope [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “reckoned to him as righteousness.”

And Hebrews 11:17-19 states:

17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your descendants be named.” 19 He considered that God was able to raise men even from the dead; hence he did receive him back, and this was a symbol.

Pope Benedict XVI used as one of the underlying themes in his encyclical Spe et Salvi the observation that most people have trouble with faith and hope because they have forgotten about heaven. In his discussion of the resurrection of the dead in 1st Corinthian 15, St. Paul said that if there no resurrection, then we are of all people the most pitiable.

Those who say that they have a bucket list of things to do prior to death are those without hope. To them all that exists is this material world and of all people they are truly the most hopeless. But 1st Corinthians 2:9 gives us as Christians our hope: “But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.’”

Yes, we must be stewards of the environment. But our destination is heaven. The environment will one day pass away.

EXCERPT ON NATURAL LAW FROM THE CATECHISM

Man participates in the wisdom and goodness of the Creator who gives him mastery over his acts and the ability to govern himself with a view to the true and the good. The natural law expresses the original moral sense which enables man to discern by reason the good and the evil, the truth and the lie.

The "divine and natural" law shows man the way to follow so as to practice the good and attain his end. The natural law states the first and essential precepts which govern the moral life. It hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him, who is the source and judge of all that is good, as well as upon the sense that the other is one's equal. Its principal precepts are expressed in the Decalogue.

This law is called "natural," not in reference to the nature of irrational beings, but because reason which decrees it properly belongs to human nature.

The natural law, present in the heart of each man and established by reason, is universal in its precepts and its authority extends to all men. It expresses the dignity of the person and determines the basis for his fundamental rights and duties.

NOTES ON NATURAL LAW

Animals and angels do not bear God’s image, only we human do. Animals in fact are called the vestiges or footprint of God.

We – that is to say, humankind – participate with God by self-mastery through reason. Animals cannot, being subject to blind instinct. Likewise angels cannot, for they merely obey.

We – humankind – can tell the truth from a lie. However, in order to grow in truth we must submit to God. That’s why the Catechism states that the moral life hinges upon the desire for God and submission to him. Furthermore, natural law provides the precepts for a moral life which in turn are expressed in the Decalogue: the Ten Commandments:

I am the LORD thy God. Thou shalt have no strange gods before Me.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
Thou shalt honor thy father and mother.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

Considering these things, the imposition of personhood on animals is cruel for they are irrational and incapable of the cognitive reasoning that typifies sentience. Such personhood descends from natural law, and natural law consists of both rights and duties, of which animals have neither.

By definition natural law is not a legislation passed into effect by government. It exists because of God. An attempt to codify such human rights from such natural law was made in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights drafted by a Catholic and actively supported by Eleanor Roosevelt. One of the fundamental rights recognized in this document was the right of personhood – the right to a name. In the Nazi concentration camps of WW II, names of prisoners were replaced by numbers. Nothing was more dehumanizing than to remove someone’s personhood and treat him as a mere animal or less.

Another violation of natural law that occurred under Nazism was the fact that concentration camp officers committed crimes against humanity, and later said, “I was order to do this.” It is a basic principle of natural law that we don’t violate our neighbor to save our own skin. If to save our neighbor we must be martyrs, then that is what God calls us to do.

Throughout all this the Church again and again cites reason. Contrarily, the Enlightenment of the 1700s was actual an “endarkment.” That period of time resulted in the French Revolution where in the name of science and logic, reason was overthrown in favor of emotion as hundreds of thousands (or more) of Catholic clergy and laity were executed under Maximillian Robespierre’s Reign of Terror.

Any sane person is reasonable with ordered emotions, but often people today are pathetic, ascribing to dogs the power of reason while themselves neglecting their own gift of reason. Such is pathos (πάθος) – the pathology of today’s culture. Pathos is an appeal to people’s emotions and elicits feelings that already reside in them without appealing to their God-given charism of reason and logic.

EXCERPT ON CREATION FROM THE CATECHISM

We believe that God created the world according to his wisdom. It is not the product of any necessity whatever, nor of blind fate or chance. We believe that it proceeds from God's free will; he wanted to make his creatures share in his being, wisdom and goodness.

To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in his providence by entrusting them with the responsibility of "subduing" the earth and having dominion over it. God thus enables men to be intelligent and free causes in order to complete the work of creation, to perfect its harmony for their own good and that of their neighbors. Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become "God's fellow workers" and co-workers for his kingdom

NOTES ON CREATION FROM THE CATECHISM

Before I begin with my notes on the creation portion of Father Kirby’s talk, links are provided below on the first two chapters in Genesis to give a correlation between science and Sacred Scripture. Apparent inconsistencies hyped up by fascist materialists have resulted in much false propaganda and disinformation. It is therefore important that the air of confusion and falsehood be cleared up first before proceeding. As Pope John Paul II explains in his encyclical Fides et Ratio, the Revelation by Faith and the Revelation by Science are two sides of the one coin that is Truth.

FINE TUNING OF THE UNIVERSE
https://prognosticis.blogspot.com/2019/02/contendens-suptilis-universitatis.htmlMonday in the 5th Week of Ordinary Time
Genesis 1:1-19 – First through Fourth Days of Creation

DAYS OF CREATION
https://prognosticis.blogspot.com/2019/02/days-of-creation-amici-americani.htmlTuesday in the 5th Week of Ordinary Time
Genesis 1:20-2:3 – Fifth through Seventh Days of Creation

CREATION OR EVOLUTION
https://prognosticis.blogspot.com/2019/02/creatio-aut-evolutio.htmlWednesday in the 5th Week of Ordinary Time
Genesis 1:20-2:3 – Creation of Man

MITOCHONDRIAL EVE
https://prognosticis.blogspot.com/2019/02/heva-mitochondrialis.htmlThursday in the 5th Week of Ordinary Time
Genesis 2:18-25 – Creation of Woman

The world exists as an act of wisdom. Indeed, Father George LeMaitre (the astrophysicist who first formulated the theory that accurately described the origin of the universe) called his idea NOT the Big Bang (which denotes anarchy and confusion) but the Primeval Atom (which denotes order and reason). That is how God made the universe.

EXCERPT ON STEWARDSHIP FROM THE CATECHISM

The seventh commandment enjoins respect for the integrity of creation. Animals, like plants and inanimate beings, are by nature destined for the common good of past, present, and future humanity. Use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe cannot be divorced from respect for moral imperatives. Man's dominion over inanimate and other living beings granted by the Creator is not absolute; it is limited by concern for the quality of life of his neighbor, including generations to come; it requires a religious respect for the integrity of creation.

Animals are God's creatures. He surrounds them with his providential care. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. Thus men owe them kindness. We should recall the gentleness with which saints like St. Francis of Assisi or St. Philip Neri treated animals.

God entrusted animals to the stewardship of those whom he created in his own image. Hence it is legitimate to use animals for food and clothing. They may be domesticated to help man in his work and leisure. Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is a morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving human lives.

It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly. It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals; one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons.

NOTES ON STEWARSHIP FROM THE CATECHISM

Mankind is called to be a steward of the physical environment of the planet Earth. A steward is the leader of a household and he is governed by prudence.

The Church’s teaching on the environment derive from the Seventh Commandment, “Thou shalt not steal.” To arbitrarily and willfully damage or destroy the environment is to steal God’s gift from future generations of humankind. Therefore, we are called to respect creation made by God. Indeed, we cannot separate our treatment of creation from God’s moral imperative.

Now care of the environment must be tempered by the quality of life available to one’s neighbor. We must not destroy what does not need to be destroyed. However, we are not radical environmentalists.

The Church has no official teaching on climate change. Questions remain on whether or not there is climate change, how much the climate is changing, in what direction it’s changing, and what part of the change is caused by man. Pope Francis has issued his personal thoughts on the environment and climate change in his encyclical, “Laudato Si.” His personal opinion is prudential and as good Catholics we are free to disagree. The important thing is to use our reasoning capabilities and not be governed by emotion.

Now animals are a natural part of the environment. As such the Catechism states that they may be used for food and clothing, and medical and scientific experimentation is a “morally acceptable practice if it remains within reasonable limits and contributes to caring for or saving of human lives.” For example, while experimentation may be conducted on dogs to find a cure for epilepsy in humans, it is improper to give money to cure one’s pet dog of epilepsy when human children have epilepsy and are lacking medical care. Indeed, if more people treat the unborn as they treat their pet animals, then there would be no abortion.

Humankind is hardwired to worship no matter what. Take God away, and humans will worship the environment. St. Paul states in Romans 1:25, “….they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!”

Today more and more we see a new barbarism in identity politics – one must be a member of a certain tribe or group, some protected class – to be worthy of equal rights and fair treatment. This is because of the abandonment of reason where the life of a speckled owl in a forest is more important than building a shopping center that will provide meaningful income for families to support themselves.

But there is a flip side to this. Sometimes a vast geographical area like the Amazon rain forest in Brazil must be protected at an international level because of its global effect on worldwide weather patterns. In cases like this the international community must work together to ensure that the people within the Amazon basin are not unfairly deprived of the life-saving infrastructure of modern science and technology.

Here I shall depart from my notes and point out to the reader that a large part in ensuring health and prosperity is access to low cost, pollution free energy that doesn’t devastate the environment as erection of a 1000 MWe wind farm or solar cell array covering hundreds of square miles would. I have written on this topic before. Please click here:

The Environment and Nuclear Energy
https://prognosticis.blogspot.com/2019/01/oecologia-et-energia-nuclearis.html
I encourage the reader to review this essay.

At the end of Father’s talk, one brave lady spoke up to explain that when she was pregnant with her fourth (I think) child, a modernist secularist approached her to ask her why she wasn’t doing something about her carbon footprint. I thought to myself when I heard that, “What asininity!” To place animal babies ahead of human babies is to sink to a new low in morality that St. Paul described in Romans 1:25 quoted above. (Side Note: I will also add my wager that the person who asked the woman that question about carbon footprint was more than likely an anti-nuclear environmentalist, and irony is that nuclear power is the ONLY baseload source of energy that can provide electricity 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at a capacity factor of 92% without any carbon pollution.) Thankfully the woman who made the original point went on to say that she had a total of 12 (I think) children. God bless her! Let’s have children ahead of animals!

In conclusion, I was as always very impressed with Father Kirby’s talk. It is rare but very refreshing to hear actual Roman Catholic doctrine from a Roman Catholic cleric nowadays. Bravo to Father!