Religious add “green” vow to consecrated life

Heads of Catholic Religious congregations in India have decided to let environmental concerns shape their lifestyle and activities.

Federal Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal (center) inaugurating the national assembly of the Conference of Religious India on Sept. 28 in New Delhi

They have resolved to examine the moral and religious imperatives in their lifestyle including “insensitive use of natural resources” and a tendency to destroy habitable lands in the name of development.

Based on this, they will strive for “a more habitable earth for all species of nature.”

As practical steps, the Religious leaders, who just concluded their assembly in New Delhi, have committed to avoid consumerism and lead a simple, nature-friendly life. They want congregation members to speak out when they see the environment being destroyed and organize people to protest such destruction.

They have also urged their members to shun a focus on future rewards in heaven and encourage people to work together to change the world.

“Greening consecrated life is the most demanding theme, and it has to be incorporated into every aspect of religious life,” the leaders said in a document issued on Oct. 1 by the Conference of Religious (CRI), the national association of Religious major superiors.

Some 550 general and provincial superiors attended CRI’s Sept. 27-Oct. 2 national assembly on the theme, “Toward harmonious India.”

The assembly, which is held every three years, noted that one-third of India’s population of more than 1 billion now face water shortages, with this proportion expected to rise to two-thirds by 2025.

It cited soil contamination through non-degradable plastic and pesticides, air pollution and deforestation as serious threats to the environment.

The CRI wants to empower its more than 125,000 members to promote a consecrated life that “experiences the wholeness of cosmic reality and a mission that proclaims the integrity of creation.”

The document acknowledges that spirituality of Catholic Religious used to be “other-worldly, uncomfortable with the earth and its temporal issues.” It described the traditional Christian mindset as oriented toward fleeing a world mired in evil, with Christians being taught their reward lay in heaven and not on earth.

“Such spirituality viewed God as being far beyond the Earth,” which it considered “a godless place, a fallen world that one has to transcend to attain union with God,” the Religious leaders pointed out.

Conversely, the need today is to search for God dwelling “inside every reality of nature,” they continued. Therefore, people who dedicate their life to God should be taught that religious activity includes environmental preservation and conservation.

“Ecological spirituality is religious spirituality,” the document asserts.

The Religious leaders pledged their support for government environmental initiatives and their intention to get involved in projects such as reforestation.

They also want congregation members to reduce consumption of electricity, fuel and water, start nature walks and nature meditations, and give eco-friendly gifts to friends and benefactors.

Another recommendation is for Religious to spread awareness by introducing environmental studies in their schools ecological themes in camps and other special programs they run for students.

Meanwhile, the superiors want congregational properties to have at least 40 percent green cover including gardens. They also want Religious to avoid the use of plastics, introduce solar energy systems, start harvesting rainwater and publish articles on ecology and eco-spirituality.

For their own part, the leaders plan to make ecology and eco-spirituality an important part of Religious formation programs, to include ecological concerns in their annual budgets and to actively safeguard indigenous groups´ knowledge of the natural world.