| In an effort to help
the United States Catholic Church develop the
capacity to meet the
environmental challenge, the United States Catholic
Conference’s (USCC) Environmental Justice
Program (EJP) has developed a threefold pastoral
strategy
that is rooted in the spiritual, sacramental, and
social justice traditions of the Catholic Church.
Developed in response to Pope John Paul II’s
1990 charge to Catholics to care for nature as
God’s
creation, this strategy entails integrating environmental
concerns into the lives of Catholic people in
the
United States, connecting ecological and social
justice issues, and addressing environmental matters
at the local level. To implement this pastoral
strategy, specific programs have been established
in the areas
of education and outreach, leadership development,
regional project funding, and public policy. Environmental
issues are addressed in relation to the Church’s
scripture, theology, prayer, worship, and ministry,
in order to facilitate the recognition of divine
presence in creation and in order to enable United
States (US) Catholic
people to commit to caring for nature as God’s
gift to humanity. |
| Christianity |
| United States of America |
| 1993–Present |
| The National Catholic Rural Life Conference’s
(NCRLC) involvement with rural and agricultural
issues led the United States (US) bishops to address
broader environmental concerns in the late 1980s.
In 1990, a symposium was held to discuss how the
USCC could attend to these concerns. That same year,
Pope John Paul II broached the topic in his “World
Day of Peace” message, The Ecological Crisis:
A Common Responsibility. In 1991, the US bishops
reiterated the Pope’s environmental concern
by issuing their own statement, Renewing the
Earth, which helped prepare the way for the
USCC’s official membership in the National
Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE)
and the establishment of the USCC Environmental
Justice Program. |
National
Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE)
National
Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC)
Campaign
for Human Development (CHD)
Catholic
Relief Services (CRS)
National
Council of Catholic Women (NCCW)
|
| To help the US Catholic
Church and US Catholics address contemporary ecological
concerns by working
within the framework of the Catholic tradition
at various levels. |
| Walter E. Grazer, “Strategy for Environmental
Engagement: Building a Catholic Constituency”
in Christianity and Ecology: Seeking the Well-Being
of Earth and Humans, eds. Dieter T. Hessel and
Rosemary Radford Ruether (Cambridge, Mass.: Center
for the Study of World Religions; Harvard University
Press, 2000) 578–87. |
| None Listed. |
United
States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Environmental Justice Program
Office of Social Development and World Peace
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street, N.E.
Washington, DC 20017–1194
Ph: 202.541.3000 |
