Peace to God's People and Earth

by Tobias Winright

Pope Benedict XVI's World Day of Peace Message for January 1, 2010, was "If You Want to Cultivate Peace, Protect Creation." Initially published on December 15 to coincide with the international climate gathering in Copenhagen, this brief reflection builds on a few paragraphs concerning the environment that were included in his social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, which was issued last summer.

If you have read Ragan Sutterfield's EP pamphlet, "God's Grandeur: The Church in the Economy of Creation," you may be interested in reading the pope's statement. While there is not a whole lot that is new in this World Day of Peace Message, its linking of peacemaking and care for the environment is indeed noteworthy, with both stressed as positive moral obligations impingent upon Christians.

In advance of this papal statement, I presented a short reflection on a more theological approach to sustainability, anchored in biblical shalom, at a conference on "Sustainability and the Catholic University" in October 2009 at the University of Notre Dame. There are also other papers at this website, such as one on "Liturgical Cosmology" by Notre Dame's David Fagerberg, that may be of interest to EPers.

I suspect we can expect to see much more on the topic of theology and the environment in the year ahead.