Jesus is green too

In a parish long ago, far far away, our youth group became involved in Heifer International. Now Heifer is an organization which provides livestock to people in poor and under-developed nations and regions. The livestock provides food and a livelihood for many. It is a solid organization that sort of takes on the adage of teaching on to fish, so as to thrive for a lifetime. Anyway, at this particular parish in order to collect monies for the calf we were going to purchase, we had a fundraiser in which we served black cows. It was loads of fun for the youth, the parishioners enjoyed it, and we got to male a mess. Most importantly we raised most of the money for our bovine.

It was a great lesson for the children on the economy, the various needs of peoples, and even culture. The youth also began to understand the inter-connectedness of other nations economies, and politics and public policies can affect large amounts of people. And while the notion was not as popular yet, our use of resources does make a difference in the lives of people a half of a globe away.

As to the latter there was a news story on one of the catholic news services which spoke about environmental studies on catholic campus' The author of the article said that this is not a topic in the philosophy of religious studies areas. While I do not know whether we want a whole course on this, it is an area of stewardship. Discipleship would challenge us to understand that our use, or misuse, of natural resources can profoundly effect others. Most of us remember that as children we were told to finish our meals; with the reminder that there are starving people in the world.

I cringe often times when we use Styrofoam at parish functions, or purchase cases of bottled water for retreats and workshops. As good stewards we want to be aware of what is happening in nations that we might not ever have heard of. Because we really are our brother's keeper. The environment, politics, the economy, and even cultural concerns become the concerns of us as well. While black cows make it fun, we will always have those teachable moments in order to catechize and reflect on our faith response.

I don't think the article meant to make us tree huggers, we might recycle more often, be careful with our purchases, by local produce, and read the paper more. Make more of a spiritual impact as opposed to an environmental one.