Talk to the inaugural Diocesan Environmental Leads Conference, November 2025
Fast forwarding a few thousand years, and recognizing the signs of the times after two centuries of industrialisation, Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis made the protection of the environment an absolute priority within the corpus of Catholic social teaching. And Leo XIV is following in their footsteps.
Our response must have solid foundations: it must involve a process of conversion. As the Bishops’ Conference document, The Call of Creation puts it:
The crisis we face is a summons to a profound interior conversion, whereby the effects of our relationship with Jesus Christ become evident in our relationship with the world around us.
Caring for God’s creation is part and parcel of our Christian life.
Some climate campaigners say to me “this is not about what individuals do, it is about what businesses and governments do”. Others (perhaps climate action sceptics) say, “it does not matter what we do in the UK because we are only responsible for 1 per cent (or 3 per cent, depending on how you measure it) of emissions, so what we do makes no difference.”
We must go beyond this. What individuals, parishes and dioceses do matters for three reasons.
Firstly, people notice hypocrisy. It does not do for politicians, business leaders or religious leaders to promote the importance of reducing carbon emissions whilst, simultaneously, not changing their own lifestyle or the way they work. We must be authentic. Pope Francis was always keen to remind us that changing what we do as individuals, as Church organisations and dioceses helps change culture in a positive way. As he wrote in Laudato si:
We must not think that these efforts are not going to change the world. They benefit society, often unbeknown to us, for they call forth a goodness which, albeit unseen, inevitably tends to spread.
Secondly, we cannot bifurcate our lives. We must act ethically in every sphere of our lives, as individuals and families, as parishes, in business life, and in political life, as appropriate, and according to our calling. It doesn’t work to say “I will vote for better climate change policies but not do anything as a parish finance committee member, parish priest or as an individual.”
Finally, even if what we do makes an infinitesimal difference to the planet; even if the world was going to burn to a frazzle in the next few days (and, somehow, we knew that), we should be guardians of God’s creation because it is God’s gift to us. We are better people if we treat creation with respect even if what we do is small in magnitude relative to the extent of the problem. Again, to quote Laudato si:
The human person grows more, matures more and is sanctified more to the extent that he or she enters into relationships, going out from themselves to live in communion with God, with others and with all creatures.
So small actions do matter. As well as having direct benefits, they are also right in and of themselves.
But practical action within parishes and dioceses is difficult. From my own experience on a parish finance committee and, until recently, on the executive committee of a Catholic university with a challenging building stock, I have seen that taking action can be costly and complex. Sometimes resistance comes from people, and we have to make the case that respect for God’s creation is part and parcel of a well-ordered Christian life.
But, more often, there are genuine practical obstacles to taking action. The Catholic Church’s historic building stock can be a challenge. However, learning to love our beautiful (even if not always carbon-efficient) buildings is something that is also intrinsically important. As Pope Francis wrote in Laudato si, referring to the built environment more generally:
This patrimony is a part of the shared identity of each place and a foundation upon which to build a habitable city. It is not a matter of tearing down and building new cities, supposedly more respectful of the environment…Rather, there is a need to incorporate the history, culture and architecture of each place…Ecology, then, also involves protecting the cultural treasures of humanity in the broadest sense.
There are no magic wands, but it is important that the decarbonisation of Church building stock is considered explicitly and strategically, addressed over an appropriate timescale, using capital and income resources as appropriate.
Reducing emissions should also be addressed efficiently – that is a simple matter of prudence. The parish church might be uppermost in people’s minds, but if it is only heated on 30 days a year, it might be better to look next door at the presbytery, parish hall or school to reduce emissions by more for a given cost. The Church’s Guardians of Creation project offers a route to resolve some of these challenges.
It is always worth bearing in mind a quotation from Pope Benedict’s encyclical, Deus caritas est. If we feel that what we are doing is not making a difference, we shouldn’t worry. Pope Benedict said that we should neither assume that it is our job to fully resolve every problem in the world nor succumb to the temptation of inertia because we believe we can do no good. He wrote:
There are times when the burden of need and our own limitations might tempt us to become discouraged. But precisely then we are helped by the knowledge that, in the end, we are only instruments in the Lord’s hands; and this knowledge frees us from the presumption of thinking that we alone are personally responsible for building a better world. In all humility we will do what we can, and in all humility we will entrust the rest to the Lord.
This is good advice as we try to overcome the obstacles to reducing carbon emissions and nurturing the natural environment.
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