Homework help - Religon - High School

[C-ero]

Hey guys, i've been staring at this for a good 10 minutes and I still have no idea on what im suppose to research on.

What is the Catholic view of environmental Stewardship? Look closely at the tension between the economy, energy, and ecology and discuss how this is an issue of moral philosophy

This sounds easy but im just having trouble with it.

[Phaneuf3]

Here would be a good resource to start with:
http://tinyurl.com/ycgng8f

[Cheerio]

What is the catholic view of taking care of the environment? Look at the relationship between the economy, energy, and the environment. How are peoples views different based on their beliefs?

Basically what i got out of that, not a catholic so i cant help

[calgaryrocks]

Hey guys, i've been staring at this for a good 10 minutes and I still have no idea on what im suppose to research on.

What is the Catholic view of environmental Stewardship? Look closely at the tension between the economy, energy, and ecology and discuss how this is an issue of moral philosophy

This sounds easy but im just having trouble with it.
I would re-word the question for myself:
What is the catholic's role or responsibility/view in taking care of the environment. discuss the role of taking care of the enviroment by looking at factors such as economy, energy and ecology and how they are similar and different. how do these 3 factors relate and how is it a problem to pursue all 3 when taking care of the enviroment.
discuss the moral issues related to taking care of the environment and the 3 factors, from a catholic point of view.

hope that helps, or at least makes sense
...this question makes me glad i didn't go to a catholic high school

[Kybosh]

A lot of the Catholics I know have a reckless abandon approach to the environment because they assume that a rapture like event will be coming anyway. A lot of the Catholic people I know are stupid like that.

[Daradon]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

A lot of the Catholics I know have a reckless abandon approach to the environment because they assume that a rapture like event will be coming anyway. A lot of the Catholic people I know are stupid like that.

That would be Christian, not Catholic.

The Rapture is not taught to Catholics, but is accepted in amny other forms of Christianity.

As for the question at hand, it sounds like the answer your teacher wants was probably discussed in class. It's such a specific question a lot of people are going to interpret the Catholic Churches teachings differently.

I mean, just look at how many interpretations people get out of the Bible.

If your really stuck, just google the official church position like was suggested above.

[Sliver]

I think your teacher wants you to relate this back to priests touching alter boys.

[Eric Vail]

I would begin by making a case for environmental responsibility. A great way to show our love of the creator is to show our love for his creation. I often make the conparison that if your best friend gave you their best work of art, as a token of your friendship, and instead of mounting this tapestry in a prominent place and displaying it for all to see, you layed it at the foot of your front door for people to wipe their feet on when they enter your house. When your friend comes over and sees what you have done, she is not going to be very impressed.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2415 to 2418 discusses Respect for the integrity of creation, which could be quoted and expanded to explain the Church's view that we need to care for the earth and be responsible stewards.

In Genesis 1:28, God commanded man and woman to go out into the world:
God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea and of the birds of the airand every other living thing that moves upon the earth."
Part of having dominion over the earth is taking care of it. With rights come responsibilities...

Then I'd talk about other things that are good such as the desire to build up a strong economy for a country or even the world. "The development of economic activity and growth in production are meant to provide for the needs of human beings." (Catechism 2426). Good healthy economies, therefore, help to better provide for the needs of all people - especially the poor.

In Alberta, the energy industry is a key part of the economy, and harvesting the oil sands is a controversial environmental issue. The Bishop of St. Paul wrote a letter about concerns he had about the massive developments and concerns he had for the enviroment that could be cited: http://www.dioceseofstpaul.ca/index....=135&Itemid=11

Then you could talk about the competing goods of both environmentalism and the economy. Problems occur when either good is completely ignored. Describe these. We need to find a balance between the two.

PM me if you have further questions. I will check my box before bed.

[Coach]

Man thats a lot harder essay question than I ever got in high school, and that was only like 4 years ago. Nothing really too add haha good luck man.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

The Catholic view is that if raping alter boys doesn't affect the economy, waste energy, or alter the ecosystem than it is an acceptable practice.

[sclitheroe]

You gotta start with the Pope if you are going to talk about the Church as a whole, and if you are gonna start there, you should probably start with JPII because I doubt the environment was very much on the radar (or certainly not the kind of environmentalism we think about today) before his time.

This link: http://conservation.catholic.org/pope_john_paul_ii.htm looks like it has some very good starting points. You'll want to pick one angle from the many presented there and run with it.

I'd shy away from the simple notion of "God gave man dominion over the earth", it's easy and not very enlightening. Build a line of thought about how we discover God in the various forms of creation, and thus discover ourselves, or examine the tension between environmentalism and the pursuit of greater human dignity and social welfare (Redemptor Hominis). Heck, you could even examine the role of environmental stewardship in liberation theology in developing nations.

[photon]

Well a few years back the Catholic Church did add "polluting the environment" to the list of mortal sins, so that might be an interesting point to work around.

[Sluggo]

Kill them all and let god sort them out?

[simonsays]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

You gotta start with the Pope if you are going to talk about the Church as a whole, and if you are gonna start there, you should probably start with JPII because I doubt the environment was very much on the radar (or certainly not the kind of environmentalism we think about today) before his time.

Or you could recognize that since the environment is a massive issue today and that it wasn't on any Popes radar before Jean Paul the 2nd, that the Pope isn't infallible and therefore cannot be the earthly voice of God and therefore Catholicism is based upon irrational beliefs. Either way I guess.