 |
 |
At 10:35 AM 12/27/00 EST, you wrote: >In a message dated 12/27/00 8:00:25 AM Eastern Standard Time, [log in to unmask] >writes: > >> that's unfair, i think, to lots of religious people and leaders. i >> actually think that francis of assissi is a patron saint of >environmentalism. >> >Well, at least Francis _talked_ to birds and animals. But I think the big >problem is humanism, the assumption that the lives of human beings might be >somehow more meaningful than the lives of clouds or trees or stars. Many >religious leaders were passionately involved in the civil rights movement, >because they could relate to the idea that all human beings ought to be >treated with respect. It was almost de rigeur that any march began with a row >of rabbis and priests and ministers holding hands. But when it comes to >respect for animals or the oceans or the air, I just don't see that it >resonates with them in the same way. At least they don't seem to me to be >turning out in similar numbers. Maybe one of the few exceptions is the Dalai >Lama, which might account in part for his tremendous popularity. > >pat > I agree with Richarl Landes, Pat; there is a great concern for creation among Christians and Catholics; perhaps they don't express it the same way or with the same terms. As for St. Francis, for the record, he commaned his friars to do several thigns, which environmentalists would perhaps welcome: not to cut down trees for firewood, but rather to cut off only some limbs from each tree; not to throw the fireplace's ash into the wind, but to put it down gently; to feed the birds on christmas day--St. Francis thought this latter was the duty of the ruler of each state; to let caged wild animals go free; and to reserve a part of the garden for the wild plants to grow their as their seeds/spores might happend there. No doubt that St. Francis was moved to this by his conception and love of Christ as the Architect of the world; but also because, as I understand, Europeans have had a long tradition of conservation, due to the scarcity of resources; and unlike Americans are not so wasteful of the natural resources; or so insensitive to chemical pollution. Sincerley in Christ, Br. Alexis Bugnolo