Jesuits release document advancing ‘ecological justice’

11/16/2006 Ed Langlois Catholic Sentinel
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Jesuits of the Northwest are adding the environment as a criterion for selecting ministries.

The largest Catholic men’s religious community in the region this month released a 17-page plan that defines sustainable development. The document is meant to guide Jesuits as they advance what many church leaders are calling “ecological justice.”

The move “simply widens our vision by bringing the critical problems of the environment into focus,” says Father Bill Watson, an official in the Portland-based Oregon Province of Jesuits. “Serious environmental degradation on land and sea threatens all life systems. The current challenges are so significant that our province apostolic efforts must be re-envisioned.”

The plan calls for the use of renewable resources, re-use, recycling and restoration of nature. Buildings at Jesuit institutions ought to meet high standards of sustainability, it says.

The plan also urges economics that take into account human and environmental costs of production. That means, for example, that the price of treating sickness caused by pesticides and fertilizers will be figured into the price of a crop.

“We believe the mandate for Catholics is clear: to become fully informed of the magnitude and seriousness of the problem, to acknowledge our interdependence and our responsibility for the well-being of others, and to work for lasting change that will benefit all within the community of life.”