 |
Catholic Perspectives on Land Use
United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops Statement on Takingscont.
From a religious and moral perspective, what
seems to be lacking in the current discussion
is talk about notions of stewardship which imply
not only responsibility for the care of those
things in our possession, but even notions of
voluntary restraint and sacrifices of our uses
of private property for the sake of the common
good. In his most recent encyclical, "The Gospel
of Life," Pope John Paul II states that:
... Man has a specific responsibility towards
the environment in which he lives, towards the
creation which God has put at the service of
his personal dignity, of his life, not only
for the present but also for future generations.
It is the ecological question — ranging from
the preservation of the natural habitats of
the different species of animals and other forms
of life to “human ecology” properly
speaking which finds in the Bible clear and
strong ethical direction, leading to a solution
which respects the great good of life, of every
life. In fact, “the dominion” granted
to man by the Creator is not an absolute power,
nor can one speak of a freedom to “use
and misuse,” or to dispose of things as
one pleases...
Read
the complete statement. |
|
Faithful to Otero Mesa
Ricardo Ramirez, Bishop of the Catholic Diocese
of Las Cruces
Albuquerque Tribune, March 16, 2004
(Excerpts)
I have watched with great interest the public
debate over whether the publicly owned land known
as Otero Mesa should be leased to private companies
for the purpose of extracting natural gas...
It is my firm belief the protection and stewardship
of our natural resources are important mandates
for human society, and the management we do of
our environment should be informed by the lessons
of Christian doctrine...
Significantly, Pope John Paul II has spoken to
these issues frequently. In a 2001 address, the
pope stated: "The human creature receives
a mission of governance over creation to make
all of its potential shine.... Unfortunately,
if one casts a gaze over the regions of our planet,
one notices immediately that humanity has not
fulfilled the divine expectation.
"Especially in our times," the pope
continued, "man has devastated without hesitation
plains and forested valleys, polluted the waters,
deformed the Earth's habitats, made the air un-breathable,
disturbed the hydro-geological and atmospheric
systems and turned green spaces into deserts."
|