USCCB - (Office of Media Relations) - Bishops Seek Action on Global Climate Change

Bishops Seek Action on Global Climate Change

WASHINGTON (June 15, 2001) -- The U.S. Catholic bishops call for action on global climate change which reflects "the virtue of prudence, a priority focus on the needs of the poor, and a search for the common good." In issuing a major statement: Global Climate Change: A Plea for Dialogue, Prudence and the Common Good, the bishops state that "global climate change is a test and an opportunity for our nation and the entire Catholic community." They "enter this debate not to embrace a particular treaty, nor to urge particular technical solutions, but to call for a different kind of national discussion." They note that "{A}t its core, global climate change is not about economic theory or political platforms..." but "about the future of God's creation and the one human family."

According to Cardinal Roger Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles and Chairman of the Committee on Domestic Policy of the United States Catholic Conference, said he hopes that "the statement represents a constructive Catholic contribution to this (national and international) dialogue." In addressing the issue, the bishops express a concern that the debate has been conducted far too often in the language of "winners and losers," and that the "{V}arious irests use the airwaves and political process to minimize or exaggerate the challenges we face." The bishops want to refocus the discussion on the common good and the need for a sense of genuine international solidarity.

The bishops "offer a distinctively religious and moral perspective to what is a necessarily complicated scientific, economic, and political discussion." They stress that "{I}naction and inadequate or misguided responses to climate change will likely place even greater burdens on already desperately poor peoples. Action to mitigate global climate change must be built upon a foundation of social and economic justice that does not put the poor at greater risk or place disproportionate and unfair burdens on developing nations."

The bishops also comment that "{C}hanges in lifestyle based on traditional moral values can ease the way to a sustainable and equitable world economy where sacrifice will no longer be an unpopular concept."

The full statement is available on the web site of the United States Catholic Conference at www.nccbuscc.org.