Environmental Justice

“To know Creation is to know the Creator.” –St. Columban

For more than 30 years, Columban missionaries have been at the forefront of protecting the environment from destructive practices and addressing the urgency of climate change. Our mission experience of living with the natural world and with communities that have been marginalized and exploited impels us to seek ways to restore right relationships with all of Creation.

We advocate for bold action to address Climate Change.

In particular, human-induced climate change is the most serious and pressing ecological challenge facing the world today. The reality of climate change compels us to both personal and structural changes.

Climate change, largely driven by our reliance on fossil fuels, has led to extreme weather events, rising sea levels, severe droughts, a loss of biodiversity, food insecurity, and higher rates of migration which affect the poor and vulnerable in nations across the world.

Columban Missionaries around the globe stand in solidarity with communities impacted by climate change. In Burma and Peru, missionaries watch as glaciers, a main water and irrigation source, continue to disappear. In the Philippines and Fiji, extreme weather events and rising sea levels threaten coastal communities where agriculture and fishing are a main source of economic stability. Severe droughts cause food and water shortages in Pakistan and the U.S.

We advocate for sustainable development and agricultural systems.

Across the world, in countries that are rich in oil, gas and minerals, extractive industries have inflicted lasting damage to poor and indigenous communities and to Creation. Based on their experience in communities negatively affected by mining and other extractive projects, Columbans challenge this model of development based on the intensive exploitation of natural resources.

Large-scale agribusiness has also been detrimental to the land and people. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) threaten the integrity of creation and the life God made good, and they have extremely damaging effects on the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and economies throughout the world.

We advocate for the right to water.

According to the Catholic Church, the right to water, as all human rights, finds its basis in human dignity and not in any kind of assessment that considers water merely as an economic good. Water, the basis for all human life, is a sacred source of life we must protect. Without adequate access to clean water, the health, nutrition, and sanitation of poor communities, and especially women and children, suffer. Without water, life is threatened.

Environmental Justice Resources:

 

Environmental Justice

  • The Church and Mining: What is Happening to our Common Home?

    We live in a world radiant with beauty and one that is also crying out for redemption. The entire Creation is filled with the beauty and colors of the Seasons of Creation, at the same time it is groaning under the impact of climate change: extreme weather events, devastating floods and severe droughts, rising sea levels and melting glaciers, disappearing habitats, and disappearing species of life. But this drama is not confined to the climate alone. In recent decades transnational mining companies...

  • To Everything There Is a Season

    To everything there is a season, a time for everything under heaven. In these next four weeks, we invite you to join us as we participate in a global act of solidarity and reverence for Creation. Beginning on September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, and ending on October 4, the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi, people of all faiths across the world will reflect on this “Season of Creation” by deepening our spiritual roots, changing our lifestyles, and joining in a global...

  • Continue Raising Your Voice on Climate Change

    Intern LiveLaudatoSi

    Over the past few months, Columbans have witnessed many examples of the devastating effects of climate change. From Cyclone Winston in Fiji to record heat and wildfires in the American Southwest to continued drought in Pakistan, Columbans continue to work in places and communities most vulnerable to climate impacts. In response to these Columban experiences, we’ve asked you to take action...

  • Climate Change and Conflict: An Inconvenient Truth

    At a recent hearing “A Review of EPA’s Regulatory Activity During the Obama Administration: Energy and Industrial Sectors,” before the House of Representatives subcommittee on Energy and Power, Janet McCabe, the acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, spoke on behalf of the EPA in front of the committee. She quickly became the face of an “inconvenient truth” for many congressmen who questioned the actions of the Environmental Protection Agency...

  • Don’t Let This Moment Pass: 1st Anniversary of Laudato Si’

    This week we celebrate the one year anniversary of Pope Francis’ widely celebrated encyclical on the environment. During his recent book tour to the United States, Columban Fr. Sean McDonagh emphasized the critical importance of this document. In an interview with National Catholic Reporter, Fr. Sean left us with an urgent message: don’t let this moment pass...

  • Fr. McDonagh Seeks to Make Laudato Si’ Part of Every Day Lives

    What kind of world do we want to leave to those who come after us, to children who are now growing up? (LS160). Columban Father Sean McDonagh, one of the foremost Catholic proponents of raising ecological awareness, is a well-respected author on eco-theological matters and one of the consultants drafting Pope Francis’ environmental encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. Father McDonagh hails the encyclical as the preeminent call to save “our Sister, Mother Earth” and protect the...

  • The Cry of the Earth and the Cry of the Poor

    Exactly one year ago, on June 18, Pope Francis issued his ground-breaking encyclical “On Care for Our Common Home,” known by its Latin name as Laudato Si', which recalls the beautiful words of St. Francis’ canticle in praise of the entire creation. Globally, the response to the encyclical from the media, the major faith traditions and ordinary people has been phenomenal. As we approach the one year anniversary of its publication, the challenge, in the words of Irish missionary Donal Dorr, is for...

  • Tell Congress to Support the Green Climate Fund

    In the southern Sindh province of Pakistan, access to water is becoming more and more unpredictable. Over the last few years, weather conditions have grown increasingly extreme, from massive flooding to prolonged droughts. These conditions leave the Pakistani people without clean water, and crops, and often without livelihoods. Fr. Tomás King, a Columban living and working in Pakistan for the past 22 years, has watched the devastating effects of...

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