why care about creation?

The modern world faces a grave dilemma... 

"A vision of man and things that is sundered from any reference to the transcendent has led to the rejection of the concept of creation and to the attribution of a completely independent existence to man and nature. The bonds that unite the world to God have thus been broken. This rupture has also resulted in separating man from the world and, more radically, has impoverished man's very identity. Human beings find themselves thinking that they are foreign to the environmental context in which they live. . . . There is a need to place ever greater emphasis on the intimate connection between environmental ecology and 'human ecology'."   

~Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, 464 

What we affirm about Creation...

• Creation is worthy of our veneration, not our worship. Like the saints, Creation helps us to grow nearer to the One True God, the one worthy object of our worship. 

• The created world is holy, but not divine. Creation is a cathedral made by God’s own hands: it calls us to contemplation and praise of its Creator. 

• Creation is our friend, such that St. Francis of Assisi would call Wolf his Brother, Water his Sister, and Earth his Mother. 

• God made His Creation perfect, but it was made imperfect by sinful man. 

• As Christians, we are called by God’s grace to re-attain harmony with this perfect Creation—the paradise lost in the Garden of Eden. In Christ, the promise of redemption extends not only to the faithful, but to the natural world as well, “that creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). 

We are called to look to Creation for inspiration, to regard it as a friend, and to recognize it as a co-heir in the redemption that Christ has merited for us. But the modern world has largely rejected this thoroughly Catholic understanding of nature. It too often views the created world as simply a commodity to be bought and sold, while neglecting any personal relationship with it. In this way as in so many other ways, the modern worldview has robbed us of our spirituality. 

On the other hand, those in our society who care for ecological health and sustainability far too often fall into the error of creature-worship. Many of these people view care for nature as an end in itself, rather than as a means for the spiritual and emotional growth of human beings. As Catholics, we reject both extremes. We must revere Creation because it brings us closer to our Creator.