Bibliography and Appendices (including an activity and a prayer service for teens)

TOWARD A NEW BIOLOGY

Bibliography

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Asian Hairy Man. On Line. NCF. Available:
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Auel, Jean M. The Clan of the Cave Bear. New York: Bantam, 1980.

Bigfoot: Fact or Fantasy?. On Line. Netcom UK. Available:
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Ellis, Richard. Monsters of the Sea. New York: Doubleday, 1996.

Feduccia, Alan. The Age of Birds. London: Harvard, 1980.

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Gore, Al. Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit. New York: Plume, 1993.

Gould, Stephen Jay. "An Awful, Terrible Dinosaurian Irony." Natural History, February
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Gould, Stephan Jay, ed. The Book of Life: An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth.
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Grazer, Walter G., et al., eds. Renewing the Face of the Earth: A Resource for Parishes.
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Tudge, Colin. Last Animals at the Zoo: How Mass Extinction Can Be Stopped.
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Weinstein, Krystyna. The Owl in Myth, Art , and Legend. New York: Crescent, 1989.

APPENDIX 1

The following is a collection of articles written by me for The Central Issue, the monthly newsletter for Central Catholic High School in Modesto, California, where I taught and served as Theology Department Chairman. My purpose in including the articles here is to allow readers to see not only some of the basic Catholic theology from which an attitude of respect for the physical universe flows, but to give some insight into the attitudes themselves. As you can see from the titles, the newsletter's theme for the year was we believe.

Article 1: October, 1998
WE BELIEVE...

Very often public school teachers seem to be torn in many different directions. This is partly because teachers must do their jobs on behalf of a community, and American communities seem to be more pluralistic than they have been at almost any other time in history. Divisions exist over standards of morality, over the importance of including minority points of view, and even over what specific pieces of literature or scientific theories to include in curriculum. There are many groups lobbying for one or more educational goal, and some of their ideas are certainly influencing the contents of textbooks as well as the lesson plans of the classroom teachers around the country. In addition, public school teachers find themselves having to deal with students who are trying to learn on empty stomachs or who face major problems at home. I certainly don't mean this as a criticism of public school teachers; the fact that they are able to deal with all of these issues and still have learning take place in their classrooms is admirable. Catholic school teachers are also called upon to teach on behalf of someone else.

Theologically speaking, the bishops are the successors of the Apostles, and they are responsible for the unity and the continuity of the Catholic faith. Therefore, the bishops are the primary teachers of the faith. As well as being a sign and focal point of unity in his diocese and a sacrament of Christ's presence there, each bishop is the religion teacher in his diocese. Those of us who teach in Catholic schools, to the extent that we help educate and form young Catholics in the faith, "stand in" for the local bishop. To remind us of this, the teachers of every catholic school in the Diocese of Stockton attend a Mass of Commissioning at the cathedral each year. As part of this Mass, we promise to teach a unified and continuous faith handed over to our care by the bishop, and this in combination with our obligation to stress the Gospel are what make Catholic education unique.

Internal faith is often expressed through the use of creeds or statements of belief. The very earliest statements of belief were those used by the apostles in order to begin spreading the faith. These "golden kernels" of truth are collectively known by the Greek term kerygma, and they are made up of simple statements which sketch out Jesus' saving mission in broad strokes. The oldest surviving Christian creed, in a form which is more recognizable (i.e., it is an "I believe..." statement), is found on the Der-Balizeh Papyrus; this creed dates back to the second century. Like the kerygma, it is a very simple statement; it proclaims belief in the triune God, in the resurrection of the body, and in the Catholic Church. As Christian theology grew deeper, the creeds used to express the faith expanded as well. When we as Catholic educators, assert that "we believe," we must keep in mind our obligation to teach a mysterious truth not of human making, a truth which was told by Jesus and His first followers, a truth which has deepened over time, and a truth which is both universal and continuing


Article 2: December, 1998
WE BELIEVE IN HIS INCARNATION

The ancient Roman festival of the inconquerable sun (a feast drawn from the cult of the Asian god, Mithras) was a celebration that the darkest days of the year would soon give way to longer and longer periods of life-giving light. since this imagery dovetailed so well with Christian spirituality and theology, it is little wonder that the Church adopted the pre-existing feast as the annual celebration of the birth of the Inconquerable Son of God, Jesus Christ. After all, Jesus is the mystical, life-giving Light of the World whose coming means that the darkest days of humanity will soon be over. Both the ancient Roman rite and the Christian celebration of Christmas are forward-looking; one anticipates the new life of spring while the other anticipates new life in the Christian spiritual experience. Thus, the spiritual reality of the Incarnation is paralleled in, and symbolized by, the natural cycle of the seasons.

Reflections on eco-spirituality or the spirituality of creation can lead us to realize that the natural world is a sacrament. When we encounter natural wonders, we can glimpse supernatural wonders as well. There is , indeed, a creative divine presence which shows through every flower's petal, through every bird's song. Without being divine itself, the physical universe mysteriously makes God's creativity, the outpouring of his love in order and beauty and goodness, accessible to us.

St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology, saw God in creation. His unique spiritual perspective leads us to a profound respect for created beings, not only for animals and plants and sun and moon, but for the human form as well. Francis points us in the right direction with his sense of the brotherhood of creatures. All creatures have the one Creator in common, and this single Father makes us truly brothers.

St. Francis is also important at this season of the year for another one of his innovations. He was the first person to set up a Christmas creche or nativity scene in celebration of the Son of God becoming a man and taking on the human form. It is this "becoming" that we celebrate at Christmas, this profound sharing of God's divine life with humanity when He dwells among us as one of us.

Article 3: January, 1999
WE BELIEVE IN HIS SPIRIT

The way in which we, as Christians, most frequently experience the saving action of God is through the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, and this indwelling can have a real effect on our lives. The sanctifying Spirit of God, given its way, will make us holy.

Many people, including me, find the idea of personal holiness a somewhat intimidating prospect. I suspect that some of this attitude stems from the fact that sanctity, at least in the case of the "official" saints of the Church, often denotes exceptional goodness, purity, and heroism of a downright supernatural quality. The Fathers of the Church stood for the truth no matter what the cost; the Holy Founders began orders, congregations, and institutes, ways of life to promote serving God; the Martyrs courageously gave their very lives for the Faith.

These examples are, on one hand, so far removed from what most of us will be asked to do as to be truly intimidating indeed! On the other hand, we must realize that the actions of the saints are supported by the sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit. No Christian really acts alone, and our attitude toward our sanctification must be one of openness and cooperation. I say this as much as a reminder to myself as anything else: our job is to allow God to make us holy, without fear.

Article 4: February, 1999
WE BELIEVE IN HIS LOVE

There are a number of important ways in which God shows His love for us. In December, we celebrated God's love in sending His only begotten Son for our salvation. At the present time of year, when orchards and gardens and natural settings seem ready to reawaken, perhaps it would be fitting to remember God's love shown to us in His creative action.

In the Christian tradition the physical universe is closely connected to the spiritual one. This is because of the view that all that exists in the cosmos is the result of the direct and creative act of the personal Divinity. Much more than a divine watchmaker, a cosmic mechanic, God is intimately bound in love to what He has made. All that exists does so not merely because God set the universe in motion at the inception of space and time. All created being exists because God loves it and in so doing continues to create it. Apart from the mind of God (and His love) is nonexistence, is nothing in the strictest sense of the word. God's creative act is ongoing, therefore. It is not a "once-and-for-all," completed action. How could the creativity of God be thought of as anything but a moving, continuous, and living reality? The creative action of God is not purely in the past; God's creativity, as a proper characteristic of His divine nature, is eternal just as He is eternal. Because He is the eternally perfect Being, the whole of God's action can be thought of as present to Him. Therefore, the creation of the universe is an act which is always in the "now." It should be remembered that all of His acts, the creation as well as the Incarnation, Redemption, and eschaton (the end times) are all present in eternity to the Divine. For God, existence is eternally "all at once" in a way that we who are subject to space and time cannot hope to understand much less explain. Perhaps this would be a good place to note that, as Pope John Paul II has pointed out, creation by a loving and personal God does not contradict a view of evolution by natural selection so long as God is seen as the continuing author of the processes involved (just as He is author of all). This makes for the convergence of religious and scientific truths which demonstrate the fact that the family tree of life is not a static thing, a sort of stiff hierarchy of beings, but an active, growing reality.

It is not only in terms of God's creativity, however, that the physical and spiritual realms are interconnected. Creation is also a reflection of the Creator in other ways. Matter points toward God and shows the marks ("tracks") which he has left behind to tell us about Himself. This idea of learning about God by looking at the creation around us is called natural revelation. It is called that precisely because God is thought to reveal Himself to us through what he has made, the natural world. In this way, creation is a sacrament (a visible sign of some greater reality), a sacrament of the Creator. Creation is the visible sign of the invisible Divine Presence. We should approach life and the natural world with a sense of awe and filial devotion. We should show respect for "Mother Nature" because when we do, we show respect for the symbol of and the presence of our creating Father.

Article 5: March, 1999
WE BELIEVE IN HIS RISING

Christ's central salvific act is celebrated with the Easter Triduum. The Triduum begins with a vigil service on the evening of Holy Thursday, in keeping with the ancient Hebrew custom of measuring a day's beginning from sundown. The celebration lasts for three days and commemorates such events as the Passover meal, the agony in the garden, the arrest and trial, the scourging, the crucifixion, the entombment, and the empty tomb. In short, it is the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ which are observed. Although we sometimes think of these three things as separate, distinct events, it is more proper to think of them as a single saving unit.

The Gospel tells us that on the night before he died, He took bread and wine, transformed them into Himself, and offered them to the Father as a unique and perfect sacrifice. On Good Friday, we are told, He opened His arms to embrace our sinfulness and, again, to offer the sacrifice of Himself to His Father. Are there, then, two unique and perfect sacrifices of Christ? No, of course not. There is but a single sacrifice, perfectly valid and effective, once and forever. God's action is mysterious and beyond human understanding; Jesus, as God, is able to make His one sacrifice present to His Apostles on Holy Thursday night, before the crucifixion took place in time.
We sometimes speak of the Mass as a sacrifice as well; what about that? Here, too, it is the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus that is celebrated. Every Mass is a commemoration of Christ's Passion, Death, and Resurrection, a "making present" of His saving action on our behalf. The spiritual reality of the Mass is that Jesus, our loving Lord, is suffering, dying, and rising for us, and we are in contact with that saving event. The Mass is more than a symbolic re-enactment of a past occurrence, it is a profound mystery which brings us face to face with our Savior and our salvation.

Article 6: April, 1999
WE BELIEVE IN HIS WORD

At the beginning of the Gospel of John there is a wonderful statement of faith in Jesus as the Word of God. The Greek term used to express this reality is Logos. This term combines a sense of the living and creative Word, as spoken by the Father in Genesis, with a sense of eternal Wisdom, as demonstrated elsewhere in the Hebrew Scriptures, and finally with a sense of the ultimate intelligibility of reality, as expressed in Greek philosophy. John's point is to establish Jesus Christ as the pre-existent "revealer" of God.

In verse 14, the Gospel continues:

...the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us.
and we saw his glory,
the glory of the Father's only Son,
full of grace and truth.

Here the incarnational mystery of Jesus is stressed (that Jesus is truly God "in-the-flesh"), but the terms used to express this mystery are also quite interesting. Literally, the original language says that the Word "pitched His tent" among us. This is a very significant image in the context of Israel's history as a nomadic people, a people who were well aware of their own Exodus experience, when the presence of God, as symbolized by the Ark of the Covenant, was once before housed in a tent among the people.

Finally, in an exploration of the term Word, we should direct our attention to the Holy Scriptures as the living Word of God. Just as Christ is the Word of God in human nature, the Bible is the Word of God in human language. Here, too, an "incarnational" mind set can be useful in a Christian's understanding. Jesus is divine and human at the same time; this is also true of the Bible, a book which is divinely inspired and the result of the human understanding of the experience of God-- simultaneously.

Article 7: May, 1999
WE BELIEVE IN HIS WORK

Jesus returned to the image of laboring in the vineyard many times in His preaching as an allusion to doing God's work. Jesus used the vine dressers, harvesters, and the vines themselves as symbols for the Christian life. We are even taught that the laborers in the vineyard are worth their wage.

Considering our context (in both history and setting), it seems quite fitting to think of Central Catholic High School as an extension of the vineyards found around it. The CCHS staff, parents, and community act as the caretakers of the valuable vines entrusted to our care. The young vines are nourished, watered, protected, and lovingly tended here as is the case in any vineyard.

We try to provide our students with the nourishment that will enrich the soil into which their young roots are planted; this is accomplished by means of meaningful classroom, athletic, and interpersonal experiences. The students are watered with the many spiritual activities which are made available to them. They are protected and tended by caring staff, family, and friends.

Obviously, the goal of all the care which young vines receive is fruitfulness, a productivity as recompense for all the hard work. This fruitfulness comes in the form of sun-sweetened grapes in actual vineyards. It comes in the form of knowledge, maturity, service to others, faith, etc. in our allegorical CCHS vineyard. These fruits will truly make all the labor and care worthwhile.

Article 8: June, 1999
WE BELIEVE IN HIS LIFE

As part of the central event in Israelite history, the Exodus, God revealed Himself to Moses. As Moses led his father-in-law's flocks to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God, he came across a startling sight: a bush burned but was not consumed by the flames of the fire which engulfed it. As Moses came near to the wondrous sight, he heard a divine voice which instructed him to remove his shoes because the place he approached was holy ground. Moses obeyed at once.

From within the flames, the voice said to Moses, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, afraid of this encounter with God.

God's message continued, "I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt."

Moses then asked, "When I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is his name?' what am I to tell them?"

God replied, "I am who am. This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you... This is my name forever, this is my title for all generations."

This episode is a very important part of the Living God's revelation to humanity. Here God gives Himself a name, but more than that He says something very important about who and what He is. God defines Himself in terms of existence, being, life. He is the great I AM. He is "He who is." He tells us that he is real and that he is there for us.

APPENDIX 2

The following is an activity which I have used successfully with heterogeneous classes of high school sophomores many times. In its current form, however, it could be used with even younger students quite effectively. It could be modified for older or honors caliber students by assigning the rolls ahead of time and allowing the students either to accumulate their own set of facts through library research or by allowing them to supplement the provided sets in the same way. In its current form, the activity is a jig-saw simulation; it is split into parts or "puzzle pieces" of information, one of which each group member has. The process cannot be completed meaningfully unless all group members contribute their parts to the overall activity.

The purpose of the activity has been two-fold in my religion classroom: 1) to familiarize the students with theological teachings and attitudes about environmentalism, resource utilization, and eco-spirituality 2) to expose students to points of view on all sides of the issues involved.

The teacher should break the class up into groups of 5 and allow the group members to choose one of the following rolls:

CONFERENCE LEADER
THEOLOGIAN
INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY DELEGATE
THIRD-WORLD SOCIETY DELEGATE
ENVIRONMENTALIST AND BIOLOGIST COALITION DELEGATE

If the class will not divide evenly into groups of 5, the teacher may wish to create the sixth roll of RECORDER or SECRETARY.


World Environment Conference Activity: Operation Rain Forest

CONFERENCE LEADER Role Packet

I. The CONFERENCE LEADER should read the following statement to his or her group:
You are members of a world-wide conference on environmental issues. Each conference member is to use his or her fact sheet to help in reaching a decision as a group. Also, please feel free to interject your own ideas or reflections, but make it clear that they are your own.

II. Have each group member read his or her first "role packet" paragraph (e.g.: CONFERENCE LEADER: You are...) QUIETLY to themselves, and read your own to yourself.

CONFERENCE LEADER: You are the leader of the conference, and your job is to record all decisions made by the conference as a whole as well as any important minority opinions. It is your responsibility to be sure that the AGENDA AND GROUP QUESTIONS which have been previously approved be all the governments and groups which are represented here is stuck to EXACTLY. You are also a voting member of the conference and should share your own views during the discussion (You may share any of this paragraph with the group if you wish). When your group has finished reading, go on to III below.

III. AGENDA AND GROUP QUESTIONS

A. Have each conference member share his or her facts (in the order shown).


THEOLOGIAN
INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY DELEGATE
THIRD-WORLD SOCIETY DELEGATE
ENVIRONMENTALIST AND BIOLOGIST COALITION DELEGATE

B. As a group, answer the questions below on one sheet of paper:

1. In dealing with this issue, what were the most important facts (at least one from each group member) that were shared? Explain your response in detail.

2. From what has been shared, create a realistic time frame for dealing with the problems or issues that have been brought out. (What would you attempt to deal with first? When? How long will it take? What would you do next? etc...) Explain this time frame in detail.

3. Considering the various points of view and facts shared, the environmental hazard which concerns the entire world, and the intricacies of the present political and economic situation, what would be the best fair and permanent solution of the current crisis? Make your answer specific and explain it in detail.

4. What specific actions do you recommend that each of the parties involved take? Explain your answer in detail.

5. (EXTRA CREDIT) What other world-wide environmental issues should be dealt with in a similar conference? What should be done about them? Explain.

IV. INDIVIDUAL FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITY

After your group has completed the questions above, instruct each member of the group to answer the following item individually for homework.

Examine the process of group problem solving which you have just gone through, and explain your thoughts on it. Do you feel that the group's decisions were honestly the best for all parties concerned? Why or why not? What was the most important or interesting thing you learned from doing this activity? Explain (1 page minimum).

THEOLOGIAN Role Packet

THEOLOGIAN: You are a Catholic theologian whose expertise is both eco-spirituality (seeing the environment from a spiritual point of view) and social justice. Your presence has been requested by the Third-World delegate from the Latin American nation of TERRA INCOGNITA who represents a large Catholic population. Since this conference is an advisory body and not a law-making agency, you have full speaking and voting rights in this assembly (You may share any of this paragraph with the group if you wish).

The following facts must be shared with the group:

ECO-SPIRITUALITY
Scripture
"God created the heavens and the earth"--Genesis 1:1


"Let everything that lives and that breathes give praise to the Lord"--Psalm 150:6


"God so loved the world that he sent his only son"--John 3:16


"He (God) is everything and he is in everything"--Colossians 3:11


Tradition


"The divinity is not in a place but neither is God absent from any place, for God fills all things; God is all-pervading and is inside all as well as outside all"--St. Cyril


"All things are within God"--St. Hilary


"This work of God is so great and wonderful that not only man, who is a rational animal... but even the most diminutive insect, cannot be considered attentively without astonishment and without praising the Creator"--St. Augustine


"Be praised my Lord for all your creatures"--St. Francis


"One could say that by being in contact with nature we absorb into our own human existence the very mystery of creation... beckoning us toward what is hidden and invisible"--Pope John Paul II


Other


"Every part of this land (the Earth) is sacred"--Chief Seattle

SOCIAL JUSTICE


The Principal Human Rights


--life and a worthy manner of living*


--respect for one's person regardless of sex, race, religion, or national origin


--freedom in the pursuit of truth and its expression


--to be informed truthfully about matters of concern


--basic education


--to worship God freely


--to choose one's state in life


--gainful employment, decent working conditions, proper compensation, private property, freedom to organize*


--freedom to meet and associate


--freedom of movement


--freedom to participate in and contribute to the common good*

* These items are the most relevant to the current debate. They mean that a person has the right to live in human dignity, to house and clothe himself or herself and family, and to work at a job which will pay enough for him or her to live on or to own property that will give him or her a living. All of these basic rights are outlined in Pope John XXIII's Pacem in Terris



INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY DELEGATE Role Packet

INDUSTRIALIZED SOCIETY DELEGATE: You are a delegate chosen to represent industrialized countries. You are an official of the EURAMERPAN government. Historically, your people have used your natural resources to make your country both rich and powerful. Most of these resources have been used up or are in limited supply. Your country has cut down 90% of its original forests, and although limited replanting of a few species has occurred, your country imports much of the raw wood it uses from countries such as TERRA INCOGNITA, a poor Latin American country. Now the world economy is experiencing a recession (A recession can be defined here as a "slow down" which keeps money from moving around and keeps people from buying products; this, in turn, keeps factories from producing products and hiring new workers, and this keeps potential workers from being able to buy products and so on. This slows things down even more in a kind of downward spiral). Your country also has a HUGE national debt which is being dealt with only by raising taxes and cutting programs, and this may cause even greater unemployment (You may share any of this paragraph with the group if you wish).

The following facts must be shared with the group:

--EURAMERPAN cannot afford to give aid money to all the countries that need it.


--Although many of EURAMERPAN's citizens are in favor of preserving rain forests and endangered species, there are industries there which depend on raw lumber from rain forests.


--If lumber supplies were cut off quickly, hundreds of thousands of jobs in EURAMERPAN would be lost.


--The EURAMERPAN government might be willing to guarantee limited loan amounts for some countries like TERRA INCOGNITA (that is, agree to help pay off the loans if the borrowers later default on them because they cannot pay). This will only be considered if these countries agree not to abruptly cut off raw lumber supplies and EURAMERPAN is fairly sure it won't cost its taxpayers money in the future.


--Although the standard of living in EURAMERPAN is much higher on average than that in most countries of the world, it is somewhat lower than it has been in the past. EURAMERPAN also has its share of rural and inner-city poverty and, due to its own economic crisis, may be forced to cut programs which have been helping with this problem.



THIRD-WORLD SOCIETY DELEGATE Role Packet

THIRD-WORLD SOCIETY DELEGATE: You are a delegate chosen to represent third-world countries. You are an official of the TERRA INCOGNITA government. Since the time when your Latin American country was a colony of a European empire, it has been poor in everything but the natural beauty of its vast rain forests and its teeming wildlife. In the modern era, its only fertile soil has come under monoculture (growing single crops, like coffee or bananas, on plantations which don't sustain native species). This provides jobs and money for only a small percentage of your huge population. large areas of rain forest are being clear cut to sell lumber to countries like EURAMERPAN and to provide grazing for the cattle of a few large landholders. This, too, provides jobs and money for only a few of your people. Your own government's scientific studies show that most of the soil under the rain forest is poor and will sustain farming or grazing operations for only 2-5 years after clear cutting; the ground would then remain infertile for as much as hundreds of years. Since many of your citizens are Catholic, you have requested the presence of a Catholic theologian at this meeting (You may share any of this paragraph with the group if you wish).

The following facts must be shared with the group:

--TERRA INCOGNITA's population is large and is growing rapidly.


--Many poor families are living in shacks within and around TERRA INCOGNITA cities; homeless and unemployed men, women, and children line the city streets in some areas.


--Those families without land who can afford to move are going to the rain forest and illegally clearing plots of land by the slash-and-burn method (trees are clear cut and the wood and leaf litter is burned) in order to make tiny farms for themselves, even in government wildlife sanctuaries. These farms support the families only a very short time because much of the fertility of the forest is found in its leaf litter which is burned up in this method. Therefore, the families must move regularly, creating new plots and leaving more and more infertile land behind them.


--Despite the wealth of a few of its citizens, the vast majority of TERRA INCOGNITA's population is poor by anyone's standards.


--TERRA INCOGNITA's national economy is very weak; its government is on the edge of economic disaster due to its many debts and the world-wide recession, and it desperately needs the tax money that exporting coffee, bananas, beef, leather, and especially lumber provides.


--TERRA INCOGNITA's government really wants to help all of its people but continues to favor rich landholders, plantation owners, and lumbermen because they are its only source of tax income.




ENVIRONMENTALIST AND BIOLOGIST COALITION DELEGATE Role Packet

ENVIRONMENTALIST AND BIOLOGIST COALITION DELEGATE: You are a delegate chosen to represent a world-wide coalition of environmental groups and biological researchers. Among the groups you represent is Green Place (a group which keeps a high media profile because of its sometimes militant tactics), The World Wild Beast Fund (an organization which raises billions of dollars each year to be used to protect habitats and species), and The International Bio-Medical Research Group (made up of scientists who study the chemicals found in living plant and animal species for possible medical uses). The coalition also has the support of various other environmental and biological organizations (You may share any of this paragraph with the group if you wish).

The following facts must be shared with the group:

--Groups like Green Place fully intend to act as "watchdogs" and to increase the harassment of those who practice unsound environmental policies.


--Species of plants and animals are becoming endangered or extinct at a faster and faster pace.


--The world's rain forests are shrinking at an astronomical rate (over 1000 acres per day).


--Scientific studies show that the planet cannot lose its rain forests without this causing major global climate changes and desertification--in short, a total loss of rain forest could cause a world-wide environmental breakdown with major effects in all parts of the world, including famine, mass extinction, etc.--real "end-of-the-world" stuff!


--There are vast numbers of species in the rain forests which are unknown to science, and some of these species are becoming endangered or extinct even before their discovery.


--Our major source of new medical cures has always been the tissue of living species (note recent discoveries like possible cancer cures from the bark of the hemlock tree of the Pacific Northwest, a tree which has almost been lost due to the clear cutting of natural mixed-species forests in favor of faster growing single-species plantations, or another cure made from the leaves of the periwinkle of Madagascar, a plant which is almost gone due to loss of habitat). What cures (perhaps even for AIDS) are being wasted in the clear cutting of the rain forests?


--This is one problem that can't be left to the next generation to solve; by then it will be too late.


--Clear cutting must be replaced by limited selective logging: Advantages--Only certain species of trees of a mature size are cut (those whose wood is most useful). This allows lumber to be taken from a forest without destroying it as a habitat for other plants or wildlife. The removal of mature trees allows immature ones to naturally take their places and acts as a thinning which encourages new growth rather than a clearing which stops all growth. This would be habitat management and not habitat destruction. Disadvantages--Because this operation is selective it can't be done with a few men and heavy machinery the way clear cutting is. It would take a lot more labor to selectively remove trees while keeping the forest intact. Financial Impact--Because more hand labor and workers are required, a better price would be needed by lumbermen, but since only the best, largest, and most useful trees are cut, this lumber is worth top dollar anyway. Therefore, the loss of income would be fairly small, but it would be a loss which will result in smaller profits for lumber companies and less tax income for strapped third-world governments. However, this sort of logging can go on forever, with no habitat destruction, provided only mature trees are cut. A government may have to hire and train forest rangers to be sure everyone is cooperating.


--The World Wild Beast Fund frequently loans money to countries for habitat management programs or training for these programs. It has also paid off the loans of small countries with the condition that these countries used the money saved to preserve or improve the wildlife habitats in the countries. However, the fund is NOT large enough to help all countries with threatened rain forests.


--"When the last individual of a race of living things breathes no more, another heaven and another earth must pass before such a one can be again"--William Beebe





APPENDIX 3

A Celebration in Thanksgiving for Creation

Leader-- + Let us begin in the name of the creating Father and of the
redeeming Son and of the counseling Spirit.
All-- Amen!

Leader-- O heavenly Father, we thank you for your many gifts to us and especially for the world around us. May we come to treat it with greater respect as the physical symbol of your love for us. We ask this through Christ Our Lord.

All-- Amen!


Leader-- A reading from the Book of Daniel:

Daniel 3:57-88, 56

Bless the Lord, all you
works of the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above
all forever.
Angels of the Lord, bless
the Lord.
You heavens, bless the
Lord.
All you waters above the
heavens, bless the Lord.
All you hosts of the Lord,
bless the Lord.
Sun and moon, bless the Lord
Stars of heaven, bless
the Lord.

Every shower and dew,
bless the Lord.
All you winds, bless the
Lord.
Fire and heat, bless the
Lord.
Cold and chill, bless the
Lord.
Dew and rain, bless the
Lord.
Frost and chill, bless the
Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the
Lord.
Nights and days, bless the
Lord.
Light and darkness, bless
the Lord.
Lightnings and clouds,
bless the Lord.

Let the earth bless the
Lord.
Praise and exalt him above
all forever.

Mountains and hills, bless
the Lord.
Everything growing from the
earth, bless the Lord.
You springs, bless the
Lord.
Seas and rivers, bless the
Lord.
You dolphins and all water
creatures, bless the Lord.
All you birds of the air,
bless the Lord.
All you beasts, wild and
tame, bless the Lord.
You sons of men, bless
the Lord.

O Israel, bless the Lord
Praise and exalt him above
all forever.
Priests of the Lord, bless
the Lord.
Servants of the Lord, bless
the Lord.
Spirits and souls of the
just, bless the Lord.
Holy men of humble heart,
bless the Lord.
Hananiah, Azariah, Mishael,
bless the Lord.
Praise and exalt him above
all forever.


Let us bless the Father, and
the Son, with the Holy
Spirit.
Let us praise and exalt him
above all forever.
Blessed are you, Lord, in
the firmament of heaven.
Praiseworthy and glorious and
exalted above all forever.




Leader-- The Word of the Lord:
All-- Thanks be to God!





Response: Let streams and rivers and all creatures that live in the
waters sing praise to God.

Psalm 42
Like the deer that yearns for running water,
so my soul yearns for you, O God, my God.
My soul is thirsting for God, the God of my life.

Response: Let streams...

When can I enter and see the face of God?
My tears have become my bread, by night, by day,
as I hear it said all the day long: "Where is your God?"

Response: Let streams...

These things will I remember as I pour out my soul:
how I would lead the rejoicing crowd into the house of God,
amid cries of gladness and thanksgiving, the throng wild with joy.
Why are you cast down , my soul, why groan within me?
Hope in God; I will praise him still, my savior and my God.

Response: Let streams...


Leader-- Please stand to greet the Gospel according to Luke.

Luke 2:27-32
When the parents brought in the child Jesus to the temple to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: "Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled: my own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel."

Silent Reading and Meditation

The breadth of people's search for the sacred in nature and life can be observed in an inventory of some of the religious attitudes of people from around the world. Taoists see the Way in nature; it is only when people become one with the natural world around them that they can "clear" (like water which sits still) and begin to reflect the power of the Way. In nature all is interconnected, including people and their activities. In Shinto, there is a sense of the sacred within special natural places. For Hinduism and Buddhism, all being is One; a sense of disconnection and individuality is an illusion. Native Americans see the Earth as a holy place and see themselves as intricately tied to it. Finally, the Judeo-Christian tradition sees the physical universe as the free and loving gift of a personal Creator. This gift of creation is ongoing, just as the Creator is ongoing. Creation is fashioned to be good, and this goodness in creation continues to unfold around us; the Church has been called upon many times in history to reaffirm this goodness. The cosmos is a sacramental reality that is full of God's presence for those who look for it.

More ideas about creation:

Scripture
--"God created the heavens and the earth"--Genesis 1:1
--"Let everything that lives and that breathes give praise to the Lord"--Psalm 150:6
--"God so loved the world that he sent his only son"--John 3:16
--"He (God) is everything and he is in everything"--Colossians 3:11


Tradition
--"The divinity is not in a place but neither is God absent from any place, for God fills all things; God is all-pervading and is inside all as well as outside all"--St. Cyril
--"All things are within God"--St. Hilary
--"This work of God is so great and wonderful that not only man, who is a rational animal-- but even the most diminutive insect, cannot be considered attentively without astonishment and without praising the Creator"--St. Augustine
--"Be praised my Lord for all your creatures"--St. Francis
--"One could say that by being in contact with nature we absorb into our own human existence the very mystery of creation-- beckoning us toward what is hidden and invisible"--Pope John Paul II


Other
--"Every part of this land (the Earth) is sacred"--Chief Seattle

As you reflect on the reading and the music, please take this opportunity to write down anything you would like to pray about or think about later:






Leader-- Christ is the sun that never sets, the true light that shines on
every person. Let us call out to his Father in praise:

Creator of the heavens and the stars, we thank you for your gift, the first
rays of the dawn, and we commemorate your love for us. Continue to create
the unfolding universe as a sign of your care. We pray to the Lord...

All-- Lord hear our prayer!

Creator of the skies, we thank you for your gifts, the birds and insects that
fill our lives with sound, and we commemorate your love for us. Help us to
follow the example of your creation in making a joyful sound unto you. We
pray to the Lord...

All-- Lord hear our prayer!

Creator of the seas, we thank you for your gifts, the swimming, skittering,
and oozing life that teems within the waters, and we commemorate your love
for us. Help us to protect even your most humble creatures from our own
selfish misuse. We pray to the Lord...

All-- Lord hear our prayer!

Creator of the dry land, we thank you for your gifts, the animals and fruits
of the earth which sustain us, and we commemorate your love for us.
Continue to provide for your children. We pray to the Lord...

All-- Lord hear our prayer!

Please add your own intentions either aloud or in silence.
We pray to the Lord...

All-- Lord hear our prayer!

Leader-- Let us pray to the Father in the words our savior taught us.

All-- Our Father...

Leader-- + May the Lord bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us
to everlasting life.
All-- Amen!




APPENDIX 4

The following nature description, although fictional, attempts to speak about real African species of birds which I have had some personal experience with as a hobby aviculturist. The gilded hero of the narrative is the yellow-fronted canary which is usually called the green singing finch in the United States (Ochrospiza mozambica, formerly called Serinus mozambicus). The waxbill could have been a member of any number of species, but the one I had in mind was the gold-breasted waxbill (Amandava subflava, formerly called Estrilda subflava). I first wrote the narrative in 1992.

Savannah Song


The tiny, gleaming speck flew on its undulating course from beyond vision. As it came, sparks of sun-glittered golden yellow flashed from this small gem. Up hill and down, the bird coastered nearer on the hot air's currents. Yard after dry yard of bleached grass and gray scrub sped beneath its buzzing wings. When the weightless serin came close, a pale chirping rose from the shadowed depth of the twisted acacia, the only tree in sight.


Under the umbrella-like canopy, a wart hog grunted and stretched, rubbed its maned shoulders against bark, wagged its tail briefly in self satisfaction, and went back to sleep. The feathered traveler was drawn as by a magnet to the muted chip-chipping within the tree, but he didn't notice the hog below at all. He alit upon a whitened and sun-bathed termite mound a few yards from the deep shade below the thorny tree. The little call notes now seemed to move hesitatingly within the leafy body of the tree as the finch scanned his surroundings for the perfect stage. While his head tilted mechanically from side to side, a quick decision was formed. At once the bird made a long leap onto the slim twig of a nearby bush, and with two more short hops he was in the chosen spot.


From the other side of the plant, the panic cry of an even smaller bird was heard as a miniature waxbill, disturbed from his aphid hunting, darted away in a streak of gray and orange. Again, an inquisitive call from the darkness held the yellow bird's attention. The waxbill went unseen.


The place of performance was a leaf-bare, slanted branch which inclined toward the tree, and the sunshine made the little songster's body glow like limelight. After pausing to let the scene take its full effect, the bird threw out his golden breast and began to sing. The sweet and surprisingly complex tune hung on the warm air and swelled around the lone acacia. Time ceased as the serenade continued, and the distinction between now and then faded into birdsong. On and on went the delicious chanting while the yellow singing finch adjusted his body, ever so slightly, in order to trap sunbeams in his feathers and then redirect them toward the female admirer among the leaves. There was nothing of hesitation in the performance; the cock bird was confidence personified, a confidence born of instinct which spanned millennia and ages, back to the first birdsong and back beyond that to the call of the dinosaur.


Soon, the hen emerged from her hide within the tree. She made her first appearance on a small shoot, higher than the rest, at the top of the tree's gray-green mound of growth. Here she sat for a time, listening, but shortly she moved, by hopping in spurts from twig to twig, to the point nearest the male songbird's perch. Here, again, she paused to listen and watch as the melodious sound engulfed her. The rise and fall of the ancient intonation, the glinting sunlight tinged with the gold of the cock's feathers became her universe. The dry dustiness, her arbor home, the roughness of the twig to which she was clinging faded away just as time had done. Focused as she was, she began a quiet, imploring twitter in the language of her sex; perhaps this reedy sound was not as impressive as the male's, but it was equally ancient and equally important.


At once the cock bird came to her side, and his song became even more concentrated and excited. Again the greenish hen begged, this time shaking her wings at the same time. The cock paused in his song to make a soft gluck-glucking sound and fed the hen from his crop.


Meanwhile, dense gray clouds had approached, silently and unnoticed, and now covered up the sun. Slowly at first, rain began to fall. Soon the parched savannah would be transformed and rejuvenated with new life.


APPENDIX 5

BACKGROUND FOR ECO-SPIRITUALITY

Two Extreme Views of Nature

1. DUALISM


Being is split into 2 types: spiritual being and physical being

For the dualists spiritual being is better than physical being.

This means that the physical world is seen as evil. The dualist's job is to overcome the flesh and to avoid its pleasures.

Some History

Gnosticism (100's AD): condemned by the Church
Jesus could not have been a real man because God would never take on evil human flesh. Jesus' body was a mere shell or disguise.

Manichaeism (200's - 400's AD): condemned by the Church
This is an eclectic belief with elements of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Christianity. There is a good god and an evil god.

Albigensianism/Catharism (late 1100's - 1200's AD): condemned by the Church
Jesus is not really a man because flesh is evil. He is not God either.

The Modern Devotion (1400's continues to have some influence today): not condemned
The goal was to imitate Christ. BUT-- it has some dangerous dualistic leanings: "The more nature is suppressed and overcome, the more grace is given"
(a` Kempis III: 54). "Unless a man is clearly delivered from all love of creatures, he cannot fully attend to his Creator" (a` Kempis III: 31).

Jansenism (late 1500's - 1700's AD): condemned by the Church
Nature has been totally corrupted by original sin. Exterior things like nature and other people were a complete obstacle to perfection.

2. PANTHEISM


God and the universe are ONE; the world is God and God is the world.
A pantheist exaggerates divine immanence to the point of identifying God and the universe.

Pantheists take God's intimate presence in creation to show that God and creation are, in reality, one and the same.


The Church Rejects Both DUALISM and PANTHEISM

The physical world is created by the one God who made it to be good. As it says in the Hebrew Scriptures, "God looked at everything He had made, and He found it very good" (Genesis 1:31).

God is more intimately present to any one of His creatures than that creature is to itself! The physical world is filled with God's creative presence, yet He is totally within and totally BEYOND all beings simultaneously. As St. Paul said, God is "over all, through all, in all" (Ephesians 4:5). However, all IS NOT God.

Any authentic spirituality or theology of creation must avoid the twin pitfalls of DUALISM (matter as evil) and PANTHEISM (matter as divine).

Creation as Sacrament

Creation is a visible sign (sacrament) of the invisible divine presence; the creator leaves His imprint on every creature. This imprint "shows" us the Creator.

When the Word of God became flesh (Jesus' Incarnation), all flesh and all materiality were raised to a new, even higher dignity, a new sacramentality (Cummings 34-35).

The Patron of Ecology

St. Francis of Assisi has been proclaimed the Patron of Ecology by Pope John Paul II. In The Canticle of Brother Sun St. Francis said, "Praised be You, my Lord, with all your creatures..."(Payne 38-39).



Bibliography

a` Kempis, Thomas. Imitation of Christ. New York: Doubleday, n.d.

Cummings, Charles. Eco-spirituality: Toward a reverent Life. New York: Paulist, 1991.

Payne, Richard J., et al., eds. Francis and Clare: The Complete Works. New York: Paulist, 1982.