The ability to fight and win against even the most heavily armed foe, is not only a matter of being willing to risk your life, but being armed with the truth of the Catholic Church and the protecting grace of God.
With that with you, the divisions within which you march to spiritual war and fight the daily battle against evil, are the heavenly legions of the Church Triumphant.
This article from The Catholc Thing, remembering a day in history—September 1, 1939— and the eventual victory within which Pope John Paul II played a major role, is a resounding read.
An excerpt.
“Seventy years ago today, Adolf Hitler started the most horrendous war in the history of mankind by ordering the German Wehrmacht to invade and conquer Poland. The Polish army fought valiantly but they were no match for Germany’s sixty-five highly mechanized divisions and 1.8-million troops. By the time Polish resistance ended on October 5, 200,000 Poles were dead or wounded and 400,000 were taken prisoner. But the invasion also set in motion a moral battle that led to the global moral leadership of John Paul II and the Catholic Church’s rise as an institution opposed to all forms of political religion.
“Hitler, who despised Poland and held that all Poles were subhuman, ordered his invading army to kill “without pity or mercy, all men, women and children of Polish descent or language.” In the first thirty days of occupation, the Wehrmacht destroyed 531 towns and villages and murdered over 16,000 civilians. Hitler’s aim was more than expanding Germany’s borders; he wanted the “annihilation of living forces” by means of extermination and enslavement. “All Poles,” Heinrich Himmler declared, “will disappear from the world.” The Nazi Governor General of Poland, Hans Frank, told his henchmen: “The Pole has no rights whatsoever. . . . A major goal of our plan is to finish off as speedily as possible all troublemaking politicians, priests, and leaders who fall into our hands. I openly admit that some thousands of so-called important Poles will have to pay with their lives. . . .Every vestige of Polish culture is to be eliminated. Those Poles who seem to have Nordic appearances will be taken to Germany to work in our factories. . . .The rest? They will work. They will eat little. And in the end they will die out. There will never again be a Poland.”…
“Despite this massive human destruction, Poland’s Catholic identity survived the war. And the lesson that the battle of moral ideas rooted in a deep faith could win out over violence was not lost on Poles – particularly Karol Wojtyla. He realized the Church did not need divisions to defeat Poland’s totalitarian foes. And for forty-five years, as priest, cardinal-archbishop, and pope, he relentlessly pursued a strategy of cultural resistance that eventually undermined Poland’s Communist government, destabilized Soviet domination throughout Eastern Europe, and brought down the Iron Curtain.”
Friday, September 4, 2009
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Mission, Purpose, Focus
The reason that social or business entrepreneurs get up in the morning is to essentially change the world—that part of it that they have claimed as their own—and that part to which they bring the skill and passion able to have some impact.
This article from Harvard Business looks at that.
An excerpt.
“I recently sat down with my BlackBerry voice recorder and Mats Lederhausen to ask him to share his philosophy of "purpose bigger than product." Mats is a great entrepreneur and also had one of the most successful careers at McDonald's where he was a driving force for its turnaround. He currently runs his private investment vehicle Be-Cause and is a Special Partner at our firm, Cue Ball.
“What is your philosophy of "purpose bigger than product" all about?
“At its core, it is about being real and idea-driven. Trust is perhaps the most important currency in business, and big ideas may be the only true source of competitive advantage. Lack of trust is a form of tax. And that tax rate has increased in the past number of years. Customers simply don't trust institutions as much today. Particularly large businesses. The main reason is that we now live in an "information everywhere" and more transparent world. Every customer has a camera in their cell phone, a Facebook in their pocket and Twitter at their fingertips. This means we hear and see evidence of businesses not walking their talk. Their products don't match their promise. In order to regain this trust you must simply make sure that all your products, your merchandising, your advertising, your people and the totality of your touch points with consumers sing from the same hymn. And that hymn is what I call purpose. Some people call it vision. Others call it focus. It is the same thing. It is source of your promise. It answers the question: Why are you here?
“Talk a little more on the notion of "big ideas."
“I often talk about "altitude creates attitude". When you meet people that have a big idea it is almost impossible to be unaffected. It is like a perfume. You can smell it miles away. I firmly believe that the source of human energy and creativity can be found in the distance between where we are and where we'd like to be. It is that creative dissonance that is the entrepreneurial rocket fuel. If human beings could have walked everywhere on the planet I don't believe we would have invented trains, planes and automobiles. So, if you really want to build great companies you need big ideas.
“Certainly, not all big ideas may be viable in all incarnations. What about the reality of these ideas?
“Of course they have to be believable. They can't be pipedreams. Or as John Naisbitt once said: You can't get so far ahead of the parade that no one knows you're in it.
“From an execution perspective, you have to think big, start small, and scale fast. You can't think big and start big, that's almost impossible. You need miniature versions of your grand idea so you can validate its parts, and then iterate and tweak constantly. There's nothing wrong with having a really big idea and launching only aspects of that idea. Rome wasn't built in a day. Take Chipotle, for example. Steve Ells had a very big idea about food, but he didn't start by executing 100% of his vision; he gradually did what he could towards that theme.
“It is also important to remember that your purpose is not what you "tell" customers, but what you do. The best way to disappoint everyone is to over-promise and under-deliver. Therefore you must be humble AND committed at the same time. In fact, customers are more forgiving when you make mistakes if those mistakes are honest efforts in trying to improve towards a known and worthwhile direction.”
This article from Harvard Business looks at that.
An excerpt.
“I recently sat down with my BlackBerry voice recorder and Mats Lederhausen to ask him to share his philosophy of "purpose bigger than product." Mats is a great entrepreneur and also had one of the most successful careers at McDonald's where he was a driving force for its turnaround. He currently runs his private investment vehicle Be-Cause and is a Special Partner at our firm, Cue Ball.
“What is your philosophy of "purpose bigger than product" all about?
“At its core, it is about being real and idea-driven. Trust is perhaps the most important currency in business, and big ideas may be the only true source of competitive advantage. Lack of trust is a form of tax. And that tax rate has increased in the past number of years. Customers simply don't trust institutions as much today. Particularly large businesses. The main reason is that we now live in an "information everywhere" and more transparent world. Every customer has a camera in their cell phone, a Facebook in their pocket and Twitter at their fingertips. This means we hear and see evidence of businesses not walking their talk. Their products don't match their promise. In order to regain this trust you must simply make sure that all your products, your merchandising, your advertising, your people and the totality of your touch points with consumers sing from the same hymn. And that hymn is what I call purpose. Some people call it vision. Others call it focus. It is the same thing. It is source of your promise. It answers the question: Why are you here?
“Talk a little more on the notion of "big ideas."
“I often talk about "altitude creates attitude". When you meet people that have a big idea it is almost impossible to be unaffected. It is like a perfume. You can smell it miles away. I firmly believe that the source of human energy and creativity can be found in the distance between where we are and where we'd like to be. It is that creative dissonance that is the entrepreneurial rocket fuel. If human beings could have walked everywhere on the planet I don't believe we would have invented trains, planes and automobiles. So, if you really want to build great companies you need big ideas.
“Certainly, not all big ideas may be viable in all incarnations. What about the reality of these ideas?
“Of course they have to be believable. They can't be pipedreams. Or as John Naisbitt once said: You can't get so far ahead of the parade that no one knows you're in it.
“From an execution perspective, you have to think big, start small, and scale fast. You can't think big and start big, that's almost impossible. You need miniature versions of your grand idea so you can validate its parts, and then iterate and tweak constantly. There's nothing wrong with having a really big idea and launching only aspects of that idea. Rome wasn't built in a day. Take Chipotle, for example. Steve Ells had a very big idea about food, but he didn't start by executing 100% of his vision; he gradually did what he could towards that theme.
“It is also important to remember that your purpose is not what you "tell" customers, but what you do. The best way to disappoint everyone is to over-promise and under-deliver. Therefore you must be humble AND committed at the same time. In fact, customers are more forgiving when you make mistakes if those mistakes are honest efforts in trying to improve towards a known and worthwhile direction.”
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Economic Competition, Death & Life
Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, in an address to the Italian Senate—published in L’Osservatore Romano (requires subscription)—discussing business and economic competition from a Catholic perspective, in light of Pope Benedict’s encyclical Caritas in Veritate, noted, in these remarkable six paragraphs:
“Contrary to what people think, Efficiency is not the fundamentum divisionis for distinguishing between what is business and what is not, for the simple reason that “efficiency” is a category that belongs to the order of means and not of ends. Indeed, efficiency is indispensable in order to achieve as well as possible the purpose one has freely chosen to give one’s action. The entrepreneur who gives priority to efficiency that is an end in itself risks being caught by one of the most frequent causes of the destruction of wealth today, as the current economic and financial crisis sadly confirms.
“To expand briefly on this theme, to say “market” means saying “competition”, in the sense that the market cannot exist where there is no competition (even if the opposite is not true). And there is no one who can fail to see that the fruitfulness of competition lies in the fact that it implies tension, the dialectic that presupposes the presence of another and the relationship with another. Without tension there is no movement, but the movement—this is the point—to which tension gives rise can also be fatal; in other words it can generate death.
“If the purpose of economic action is not synonymous with striving for a common goal—as the Latin etymology “cum-petere” would clearly indicate—but rather with Hobbes’ theory, “mors tua, vita mea” [your death is my life], then the social bond is reduced to commercial relations and economic activity tends to become inhuman, hence ultimately inefficient.
“Therefore, even in competition, “the Church’s social doctrine holds that authentically human social relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity can also be conducted within economic activity, and not only outside it or ‘after’ it. The economic sphere is neither ethically neutral, nor inherently inhuman and opposed to society. It is part and parcel of human activity and precisely because it is human, it must be structured and governed is an ethical manner”.
“ Well, the advantage—by no means small—that Caritas in Veritate offers us is to give special consideration to the concept of market, typical of the tradition of the thought of civil economics, according to which it is possible to live the experience of human sociality within a normal economic life and not outside or beside it. This concept might be defined as an alternative, both regarding the concept that sees the market as a place for the exploitation and abuse of the weak by the strong, and the concept, which, in line with anarchic-liberalistic thought, sees it as a place that can provide solutions to all the problems of society.
“This way of doing business is differentiated from that of the traditional Smithian economy, which sees the market as the only institution truly necessary for democracy and freedom. The Church’s social doctrine, on the other hand, reminds us that a sound society is certainly the product of the market and of freedom, but there are needs that stem from the principle of brotherhood that can neither be avoided nor be referred solely to the private sphere or to philanthropy. Rather, the Church’s social doctrine proposes a humanism with various dimensions in which the market is not combated or “controlled” but is seen as an important institution in the public sphere—a sphere which far exceeds State control—which, if it is conceived of and lived as a place that is also open to the principles of reciprocity and of giving, can construct a healthy civil coexistence.” (Bertone, 2009, The many dimensions of humanism, L”Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, Wednesday August 5, 2009, p. 4)
“Contrary to what people think, Efficiency is not the fundamentum divisionis for distinguishing between what is business and what is not, for the simple reason that “efficiency” is a category that belongs to the order of means and not of ends. Indeed, efficiency is indispensable in order to achieve as well as possible the purpose one has freely chosen to give one’s action. The entrepreneur who gives priority to efficiency that is an end in itself risks being caught by one of the most frequent causes of the destruction of wealth today, as the current economic and financial crisis sadly confirms.
“To expand briefly on this theme, to say “market” means saying “competition”, in the sense that the market cannot exist where there is no competition (even if the opposite is not true). And there is no one who can fail to see that the fruitfulness of competition lies in the fact that it implies tension, the dialectic that presupposes the presence of another and the relationship with another. Without tension there is no movement, but the movement—this is the point—to which tension gives rise can also be fatal; in other words it can generate death.
“If the purpose of economic action is not synonymous with striving for a common goal—as the Latin etymology “cum-petere” would clearly indicate—but rather with Hobbes’ theory, “mors tua, vita mea” [your death is my life], then the social bond is reduced to commercial relations and economic activity tends to become inhuman, hence ultimately inefficient.
“Therefore, even in competition, “the Church’s social doctrine holds that authentically human social relationships of friendship, solidarity and reciprocity can also be conducted within economic activity, and not only outside it or ‘after’ it. The economic sphere is neither ethically neutral, nor inherently inhuman and opposed to society. It is part and parcel of human activity and precisely because it is human, it must be structured and governed is an ethical manner”.
“ Well, the advantage—by no means small—that Caritas in Veritate offers us is to give special consideration to the concept of market, typical of the tradition of the thought of civil economics, according to which it is possible to live the experience of human sociality within a normal economic life and not outside or beside it. This concept might be defined as an alternative, both regarding the concept that sees the market as a place for the exploitation and abuse of the weak by the strong, and the concept, which, in line with anarchic-liberalistic thought, sees it as a place that can provide solutions to all the problems of society.
“This way of doing business is differentiated from that of the traditional Smithian economy, which sees the market as the only institution truly necessary for democracy and freedom. The Church’s social doctrine, on the other hand, reminds us that a sound society is certainly the product of the market and of freedom, but there are needs that stem from the principle of brotherhood that can neither be avoided nor be referred solely to the private sphere or to philanthropy. Rather, the Church’s social doctrine proposes a humanism with various dimensions in which the market is not combated or “controlled” but is seen as an important institution in the public sphere—a sphere which far exceeds State control—which, if it is conceived of and lived as a place that is also open to the principles of reciprocity and of giving, can construct a healthy civil coexistence.” (Bertone, 2009, The many dimensions of humanism, L”Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, Wednesday August 5, 2009, p. 4)
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Case for Capital Punishment
The recent horror uncovered in California regarding the evil couple—one an already convicted sex offender—who kidnapped, and held for years, a young girl, is the sort of tragic criminal justice result which underlies the reason why our organization's criminal justice principles calls for increasing the use of capital punishment for pedophiles and rapists, a sanction some states already use.
The New York Times reports on this case and how it may impact pending legislation to reduce the prison population as a budget saving measure.
An excerpt.
“SAN FRANCISCO — The case of Phillip Garrido, a parolee and registered sex offender accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl and holding her hostage for 18 years, has become embroiled in the debate over legislation intended to reduce California’s inmate population.
“The State Assembly is scheduled to vote on Monday on its version of a bill to help cut the budget deficit by $1.2 billion by reducing the state prison population by 27,000 through an early parole program. The State Senate passed its version of the legislation this month. But now, some corrections reform advocates in Sacramento, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, fear the fallout from the case of Mr. Garrido could affect or even derail action on the Assembly bill.
“This demonstrates the problems that we’re going to have if we release thousands of prisoners into our local communities,” State Senator Tom Harman, a Republican from Huntington Beach, told The Sacramento Bee.
“Mr. Harman’s concerns echoed fears that many of his colleagues had expressed even before Mr. Garrido and his wife were arrested and charged last Wednesday in the abduction and rape of Jaycee Dugard, who was taken as an 11-year-old in 1991 and has two daughters, ages 11 and 15….
“Mr. Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, 55, were charged with 29 counts of kidnapping and rape; Mr. Garrido is accused of fathering Ms. Dugard’s two children.
“In 1976, Mr. Garrido was arrested after an interstate kidnapping and the rape a 25-year-old woman. He received a federal prison sentence of 50 years to life. But he was convicted before Congress passed “truth in sentencing” laws that prohibited early release programs until inmates had served most of their sentences, so Mr. Garrido was released from federal prison after serving only 11 years.
“He was granted federal parole in 1988, and was still under federal supervision when Ms. Dugard was kidnapped from a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. She remained missing until last week.”
The New York Times reports on this case and how it may impact pending legislation to reduce the prison population as a budget saving measure.
An excerpt.
“SAN FRANCISCO — The case of Phillip Garrido, a parolee and registered sex offender accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl and holding her hostage for 18 years, has become embroiled in the debate over legislation intended to reduce California’s inmate population.
“The State Assembly is scheduled to vote on Monday on its version of a bill to help cut the budget deficit by $1.2 billion by reducing the state prison population by 27,000 through an early parole program. The State Senate passed its version of the legislation this month. But now, some corrections reform advocates in Sacramento, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, fear the fallout from the case of Mr. Garrido could affect or even derail action on the Assembly bill.
“This demonstrates the problems that we’re going to have if we release thousands of prisoners into our local communities,” State Senator Tom Harman, a Republican from Huntington Beach, told The Sacramento Bee.
“Mr. Harman’s concerns echoed fears that many of his colleagues had expressed even before Mr. Garrido and his wife were arrested and charged last Wednesday in the abduction and rape of Jaycee Dugard, who was taken as an 11-year-old in 1991 and has two daughters, ages 11 and 15….
“Mr. Garrido, 58, and his wife, Nancy, 55, were charged with 29 counts of kidnapping and rape; Mr. Garrido is accused of fathering Ms. Dugard’s two children.
“In 1976, Mr. Garrido was arrested after an interstate kidnapping and the rape a 25-year-old woman. He received a federal prison sentence of 50 years to life. But he was convicted before Congress passed “truth in sentencing” laws that prohibited early release programs until inmates had served most of their sentences, so Mr. Garrido was released from federal prison after serving only 11 years.
“He was granted federal parole in 1988, and was still under federal supervision when Ms. Dugard was kidnapped from a bus stop near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. She remained missing until last week.”
Monday, August 31, 2009
Constancy & the Center of the Church
As a convert of five years, it took me awhile to learn that the true hierarchy of the Church—the Vatican in Rome—supersedes the local and national hierarchies, and though the local and national hierarchies issue statements that I once thought were binding on me as a Catholic, I learned that it is only when those statements are congruent with the teaching from the center: the Holy Father and the teaching expressed in the universal catechism, the Vatican’s Catechism of the Catholic Church, that I am so bound, to remain in league with the Church.
The actions of local and national Catholic leaders—whether clergy, theologians, or politicians—if followed without reference to the center, can often lead us astray, and that is what happened this weekend with the funeral mass of a Catholic politician, as expressed in this story from The Catholic Thing.
An excerpt.
“The Catholic Church in America suffered another grave scandal this weekend. As was the case in the priestly abuse crisis, it was centered in Boston. If you are a Catholic and did not feel distressed and scandalized watching Senator Kennedy’s funeral at Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Boston Saturday, I have to ask in all frankness: why not?
“The scandal has nothing to do with his personal sins. I hope he confessed them and was forgiven, as I hope myself to be forgiven. The Church is always generous to sinners who make even the slightest gesture of repentance. In that, she shows that she is not a merely human society bound by certain rules, but the living communion of saints and the presence in this world of the merciful heart of God.
“The scandal likewise has nothing to do with partisan politics. If you think it does, as some of the Commentors on Brad Miner’s gentlemanly Friday column believe, you should compare Brad with the New York Times obituary, which felt obliged to record that Ted’s shoulders were “sometimes too narrow” for the task he inherited. And that, contrary to the eulogies, he could be savagely unjust and demagogic, as even some followers admitted (e.g., in the Bork hearings), tarring mere opponents as racists, sexists, and elitists. All such shenanigans are an unfortunate feature of partisan passions, but only of passing importance.
“The distress – and the scandal – arise from only one thing: the Church’s failure to show the slightest reservation about the man who, more than any Catholic and perhaps more than any American political figure, has led the pro-abortion forces in Washington. Even worse, his longstanding pro-abortion leadership gave political cover to other Catholic politicians and confused simple lay people. That’s what scandal (in the theological sense) does: it becomes a stumbling block for the faithful about the very truths of the faith.”
The actions of local and national Catholic leaders—whether clergy, theologians, or politicians—if followed without reference to the center, can often lead us astray, and that is what happened this weekend with the funeral mass of a Catholic politician, as expressed in this story from The Catholic Thing.
An excerpt.
“The Catholic Church in America suffered another grave scandal this weekend. As was the case in the priestly abuse crisis, it was centered in Boston. If you are a Catholic and did not feel distressed and scandalized watching Senator Kennedy’s funeral at Mother of Perpetual Help Church in Boston Saturday, I have to ask in all frankness: why not?
“The scandal has nothing to do with his personal sins. I hope he confessed them and was forgiven, as I hope myself to be forgiven. The Church is always generous to sinners who make even the slightest gesture of repentance. In that, she shows that she is not a merely human society bound by certain rules, but the living communion of saints and the presence in this world of the merciful heart of God.
“The scandal likewise has nothing to do with partisan politics. If you think it does, as some of the Commentors on Brad Miner’s gentlemanly Friday column believe, you should compare Brad with the New York Times obituary, which felt obliged to record that Ted’s shoulders were “sometimes too narrow” for the task he inherited. And that, contrary to the eulogies, he could be savagely unjust and demagogic, as even some followers admitted (e.g., in the Bork hearings), tarring mere opponents as racists, sexists, and elitists. All such shenanigans are an unfortunate feature of partisan passions, but only of passing importance.
“The distress – and the scandal – arise from only one thing: the Church’s failure to show the slightest reservation about the man who, more than any Catholic and perhaps more than any American political figure, has led the pro-abortion forces in Washington. Even worse, his longstanding pro-abortion leadership gave political cover to other Catholic politicians and confused simple lay people. That’s what scandal (in the theological sense) does: it becomes a stumbling block for the faithful about the very truths of the faith.”
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Restoring Congruence
The United States Catholic Catechism for Adults has been brought into congruence with the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), in regards to the relationship with the Jewish people, as reported by the Catholic News Agency.
The CCC is the universal catechism of the Catholic Church, but each national conference is able to develop their own catechism for use in their country, as long as it is congruent with the CCC, and often fine tuning is required; as occurred with the CCC itself between the first edition in 1992 and the second (and authoritative) edition in 1997, though the first edition remains an excellent resource for study.
An excerpt from the article from Catholic News Agency.
“Washington D.C., Aug 28, 2009 / 06:19 am (CNA).- The Vatican has given a “recognitio” to a change in the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults which clarifies Catholic teaching about the Jews’ covenant with God, the U.S. bishops said.
“The first version of the catechism, in its discussion of God’s covenant with the Jews, said “Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them.”
“The revision reads “To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his Word, ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ.’”
“Romans 9 and paragraph 839 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church are cited in the revised passage.
“The Vatican’s “recognitio” is a statement that a document is in keeping with Catholic teaching. The change was approved at the U.S. bishops’ 2008 June meeting in Orlando, Florida.”
The CCC is the universal catechism of the Catholic Church, but each national conference is able to develop their own catechism for use in their country, as long as it is congruent with the CCC, and often fine tuning is required; as occurred with the CCC itself between the first edition in 1992 and the second (and authoritative) edition in 1997, though the first edition remains an excellent resource for study.
An excerpt from the article from Catholic News Agency.
“Washington D.C., Aug 28, 2009 / 06:19 am (CNA).- The Vatican has given a “recognitio” to a change in the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults which clarifies Catholic teaching about the Jews’ covenant with God, the U.S. bishops said.
“The first version of the catechism, in its discussion of God’s covenant with the Jews, said “Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them.”
“The revision reads “To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his Word, ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ.’”
“Romans 9 and paragraph 839 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church are cited in the revised passage.
“The Vatican’s “recognitio” is a statement that a document is in keeping with Catholic teaching. The change was approved at the U.S. bishops’ 2008 June meeting in Orlando, Florida.”
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Caring for Creation
The Holy Father reminds of our responsibility to be good stewards of the Lord’s creation in his weekly audience last Wednesday.
An excerpt
“The Earth is indeed a precious gift of the Creator who, in designing its intrinsic order, has given us guidelines that assist us as stewards of his creation. Precisely from within this framework, the Church considers that matters concerning the environment and its protection are intimately linked with integral human development. In my recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, I referred to such questions recalling the “pressing moral need for renewed solidarity” (no. 49) not only between countries but also between individuals, since the natural environment is given by God to everyone, and so our use of it entails a personal responsibility towards humanity as a whole, particularly towards the poor and towards future generations (cf. no. 48). [see section 48 below]
“How important it is then, that the international community and individual governments send the right signals to their citizens and succeed in countering harmful ways of treating the environment! The economic and social costs of using up shared resources must be recognized with transparency and borne by those who incur them, and not by other peoples or future generations. The protection of the environment, and the safeguarding of resources and of the climate, oblige all leaders to act jointly, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the world (cf. no. 50). Together we can build an integral human development beneficial for all peoples, present and future, a development inspired by the values of charity in truth. For this to happen it is essential that the current model of global development be transformed through a greater, and shared, acceptance of responsibility for creation: this is demanded not only by environmental factors, but also by the scandal of hunger and human misery.”
Section #48 from Caritas in Veritate
“48. Today the subject of development is also closely related to the duties arising from our relationship to the natural environment. The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole. When nature, including the human being, is viewed as the result of mere chance or evolutionary determinism, our sense of responsibility wanes. In nature, the believer recognizes the wonderful result of God's creative activity, which we may use responsibly to satisfy our legitimate needs, material or otherwise, while respecting the intrinsic balance of creation. If this vision is lost, we end up either considering nature an untouchable taboo or, on the contrary, abusing it. Neither attitude is consonant with the Christian vision of nature as the fruit of God's creation.
“Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life. Nature speaks to us of the Creator (cf. Rom 1:20) and his love for humanity. It is destined to be “recapitulated” in Christ at the end of time (cf. Eph 1:9-10; Col 1:19-20). Thus it too is a “vocation”. Nature is at our disposal not as “a heap of scattered refuse”, but as a gift of the Creator who has given it an inbuilt order, enabling man to draw from it the principles needed in order “to till it and keep it” (Gen 2:15). But it should also be stressed that it is contrary to authentic development to view nature as something more important than the human person. This position leads to attitudes of neo-paganism or a new pantheism — human salvation cannot come from nature alone, understood in a purely naturalistic sense. This having been said, it is also necessary to reject the opposite position, which aims at total technical dominion over nature, because the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure; it is a wondrous work of the Creator containing a “grammar” which sets forth ends and criteria for its wise use, not its reckless exploitation. Today much harm is done to development precisely as a result of these distorted notions. Reducing nature merely to a collection of contingent data ends up doing violence to the environment and even encouraging activity that fails to respect human nature itself. Our nature, constituted not only by matter but also by spirit, and as such, endowed with transcendent meaning and aspirations, is also normative for culture. Human beings interpret and shape the natural environment through culture, which in turn is given direction by the responsible use of freedom, in accordance with the dictates of the moral law. Consequently, projects for integral human development cannot ignore coming generations, but need to be marked by solidarity and inter-generational justice, while taking into account a variety of contexts: ecological, juridical, economic, political and cultural.”
An excerpt
“The Earth is indeed a precious gift of the Creator who, in designing its intrinsic order, has given us guidelines that assist us as stewards of his creation. Precisely from within this framework, the Church considers that matters concerning the environment and its protection are intimately linked with integral human development. In my recent encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, I referred to such questions recalling the “pressing moral need for renewed solidarity” (no. 49) not only between countries but also between individuals, since the natural environment is given by God to everyone, and so our use of it entails a personal responsibility towards humanity as a whole, particularly towards the poor and towards future generations (cf. no. 48). [see section 48 below]
“How important it is then, that the international community and individual governments send the right signals to their citizens and succeed in countering harmful ways of treating the environment! The economic and social costs of using up shared resources must be recognized with transparency and borne by those who incur them, and not by other peoples or future generations. The protection of the environment, and the safeguarding of resources and of the climate, oblige all leaders to act jointly, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the world (cf. no. 50). Together we can build an integral human development beneficial for all peoples, present and future, a development inspired by the values of charity in truth. For this to happen it is essential that the current model of global development be transformed through a greater, and shared, acceptance of responsibility for creation: this is demanded not only by environmental factors, but also by the scandal of hunger and human misery.”
Section #48 from Caritas in Veritate
“48. Today the subject of development is also closely related to the duties arising from our relationship to the natural environment. The environment is God's gift to everyone, and in our use of it we have a responsibility towards the poor, towards future generations and towards humanity as a whole. When nature, including the human being, is viewed as the result of mere chance or evolutionary determinism, our sense of responsibility wanes. In nature, the believer recognizes the wonderful result of God's creative activity, which we may use responsibly to satisfy our legitimate needs, material or otherwise, while respecting the intrinsic balance of creation. If this vision is lost, we end up either considering nature an untouchable taboo or, on the contrary, abusing it. Neither attitude is consonant with the Christian vision of nature as the fruit of God's creation.
“Nature expresses a design of love and truth. It is prior to us, and it has been given to us by God as the setting for our life. Nature speaks to us of the Creator (cf. Rom 1:20) and his love for humanity. It is destined to be “recapitulated” in Christ at the end of time (cf. Eph 1:9-10; Col 1:19-20). Thus it too is a “vocation”. Nature is at our disposal not as “a heap of scattered refuse”, but as a gift of the Creator who has given it an inbuilt order, enabling man to draw from it the principles needed in order “to till it and keep it” (Gen 2:15). But it should also be stressed that it is contrary to authentic development to view nature as something more important than the human person. This position leads to attitudes of neo-paganism or a new pantheism — human salvation cannot come from nature alone, understood in a purely naturalistic sense. This having been said, it is also necessary to reject the opposite position, which aims at total technical dominion over nature, because the natural environment is more than raw material to be manipulated at our pleasure; it is a wondrous work of the Creator containing a “grammar” which sets forth ends and criteria for its wise use, not its reckless exploitation. Today much harm is done to development precisely as a result of these distorted notions. Reducing nature merely to a collection of contingent data ends up doing violence to the environment and even encouraging activity that fails to respect human nature itself. Our nature, constituted not only by matter but also by spirit, and as such, endowed with transcendent meaning and aspirations, is also normative for culture. Human beings interpret and shape the natural environment through culture, which in turn is given direction by the responsible use of freedom, in accordance with the dictates of the moral law. Consequently, projects for integral human development cannot ignore coming generations, but need to be marked by solidarity and inter-generational justice, while taking into account a variety of contexts: ecological, juridical, economic, political and cultural.”
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