More on Catholics & the Environment…
After posting yesterday I did some digging online and found a very long, but very good article on the subject. You can read Catholicm and the Natural World at http://catholiceducation.org/articles/environment/en0002.html.
While it doesn’t address all of my questions, I thought the following excerpt was interesting:
Part three of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “Life in Christ,” deals with Christian moral life. The paragraphs here are from a discussion of the Seventh Commandment, You Shall Not Steal. For to misuse any created thing is surely to take what does not belong to us, since all creation belongs to God and is granted to us for our use, not our misuse.
This section of the CCC sets forth the dual truth about created natures: they have an integrity, and thus a goodness, of their own, “their mere existence” blesses and glorifies God, but yet at the same time they are “entrusted … to [our] stewardship” and “Destined for the common good of … humanity.” The limits of our use of animals, and even plants, however, lie not only in the effect of such use on mankind but in “a religious respect for the integrity of creation,” and in the kindness we “owe” them. We may safely assume, however, that we are not violating this “kindness” as long as we use animals and plants for the true welfare of mankind. But the mere piling up of goods, as we saw above, is likely to be a misuse rather than a use.
Basically, it’s okay to take what you need from the environment, but more than that is considered “stealing”. I wouldn’t have thought to use the commandment in this context, but it works.
I think a gray area still remains though. How much is too much? If the environment gets “damaged” for the betterment of mankind, is this okay? Who decides what is a “good” use vs a “misuse”?
