Last August, I wrote about a six-hour sail that gave new
perspectives on life, faith, and the Catholic understanding of ecology. A few
weeks ago, another outing on the Able—the sturdy sloop owned by my friend
David, a navigational instructor at the Navy base—gave me more to think about.
Last year’s voyage took me north under the Newport Bridge
But the Able sailed well and I valued anew the meaning of
cooperation and community, whether it’s just two friends at sea or larger
groups that benefit by both those who set the course and those who keep it.
In my 23 years as an environmental regulator, I’ve worked
with many communities. And as my writings on Catholic ecology reach a national
audience, I have joined and championed even more. But just before I drove down
to board the Able, a few anonymous posters in the National Catholic Reporter
levied harsh criticism against me for a view I expressed about communities.
These posters were unhappy because I wrote that polluters, being human beings,
are like you and me: made in the image and likeness of God and in need of
salvation.
Their objections stemmed from writing I had done on thedangers of hydraulic “fracking” for natural gas. Fracking is a largely
unregulated industrial process and it’s creating havoc in places like Wyoming , Ohio , and Pennsylvania . The point
I made was that a nuanced, Christian approach—not vengeance—is needed in such
matters. Of course, a Christian approach includes authentic justice, educating
one’s neighbors, and fostering dialogue and virtuous living, as well as helping
those who have been hurt. But Christians also recognize that both victim and
victimizer need prayers. Sinners, after all, must both pay their debt to and be
reconciled with the wider community.
But lately, forgiving communities—like healthy
ecosystems—are difficult to find. Our growing atheistic and secular world
encourages deep mistrust and creates ideological and social schisms that
degrade our world, our planet, our nation, our neighborhoods, our families, and
ourselves. As Pope Benedict XVI has taught, current and looming global
ecological (and economic) crises are at their core global symptoms of
godlessness and sin—the antidote to which is never isolation, but the
self-sacrificial love of authentic communities.
In his new book “How to Think Seriously About thePlanet,” English writer and philosopher Roger Scruton makes a similar case for
the ecological benefits of local solutions to global problems. But his
proposals, while compelling, are built on the sands of political philosophies
and anecdotes. Faith is absent in Scruton’s analysis, which leaves one wanting
more.
This came to mind as I steered the Able around Fort Adams
and back into Newport
Harbor Newport ’s St. Mary Parish, which makes her my
sister in Christ.
This made me wonder: In a world that seeks solutions
without God, that demands a “separation of church and state,” and that
increasingly seeks vengeance over true justice, should a Catholic government
official allow his or her conscience to be informed by their faith?
The answer became evident as the Able approached her
mooring and the lights of downtown Newport
wrapped around her. I thought of how our seemingly secure, well-lit communities
can make us forget the abyss that surrounds us and defines our shared place in
the human family. This means that no matter what our roles in this world,
individuals, communities, and even our governments live best by keeping our
course true, just, and, as unpopular as this may be, guided always by the
Gospel of life that Christ gave his first followers—many of whom, not
surprisingly, knew a thing or two about life on the open seas.
