ABSTRACT
When the Vatican announced plans in 2007 to become the world’s first carbon-neutral state (CNA Staff 2007), it challenged Catholic and non-Catholic leaders alike to acknowledge the seriousness of anthropogenic climate change. In recent decades, beginning with Pope John Paul II naming Saint Francis of Assisi patron of ecology in 1979, he and his successor, Benedict XVI, increasingly underscored the moral and theological import of environmental issues, and of anthropogenic climate change in particular (Benedict XVI and Koenig-Bricker 2009; Keenan 2002). In his 2010 World Day of Peace address, typically reserved to highlight a theme of significance for the whole Church, Benedict XVI (2010) affirmed the theological grounds for Catholic concern over climate change, warning that peace between peoples and justice for the poor depended on respect for God’s creation. The next year, prior to the Durban climate negotiation meetings, he again spoke out forcefully, urging “a responsible, credible and supportive response to this worrisome and complex phenomenon, keeping in mind the needs of the poorest populations and of future generations” (Thavis 2011). At its highest levels the Roman Catholic Church has promoted an environmental ethic that is combined with an understanding of justice, and underscored the urgency of climate change. In order to shed light on Catholic mobilization in response to climate change, this chapter examines how one local Church, that of the United States, has taken up the challenge of climate change.
