An ecumenical conscience” “

Born in Sumatra, in Indonesia, and a graduate in biology and zoology from the University of London, Sister Denise Calder , of the “Society of the Sacred Heart”, is an expert in environmental problems. After several years teaching in the UK and ten years spent in Africa, helping refugees in Zambia, Sister Denise was (three years ago) chosen by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to head its environmental department. The appointment was a concrete sign that the Catholic Church also has closely at heart the defence of nature in a country like the UK, which has always been acutely sensitive of the need to protect natural resources and the nation’s flora and fauna. The bishops also published a pamphlet dedicated to environmental issues during the last meeting of the Episcopal Conference and are currently preparing a document to be presented at the UN Conference “Rio+10” on sustainable development due to be held in Johannesburg in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September. The ecumenical initiative is the “Eco-Congregation”, a pamphlet containing meditations and prayers for the safeguard of the creation. In Great Britain the Christian environmentalist organizations – there’s more than one – are represented in the ecological umbrella association, the Environmental Issues Network. Sister Denise participated in the Consultation on “responsibility for the creation”, held by the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe in Venice from 23 to 26 May. We interviewed her. How is the Churches’ commitment to the safeguard of the creation characterized in the UK? “Most of the work is conducted at the ecumenical level, and the environment is undoubtedly one of the sectors in which most harmony and partnership between the various Christian Churches is registered. That’s perhaps because it is self-evident that the environment is a common good that belongs to us all and responsibility for which was entrusted to all of us by God”. Do you think that the consciousness of the need to protect the environment has increased in recent years? “Many journalists with whom I spoke during this meeting in Venice knew nothing about the environmental summit in Johannesburg in August this year, although it’s a meeting of crucial importance in which all the Heads of State will participate. In the view of the Catholic Church, the problem of the exploitation of the environment is linked to materialism. Over the years, our living standards have progressively improved, but the resources of the planet are always the same and they are limited. We must study ways in which we can provide the same goods without damaging the environment, because it’s not us who are having to pay the price of this growing wealth, but the poorest of the planet, the inhabitants of the sub-Saharan regions, of the Indian subcontinent, of the islands of the South Pacific. Our task is especially one of raising people’s awareness. We try to reach the faithful through the newsletters of each parish that are distributed in churches each week. The bishops have supported us and in their last assembly in April they issued a communiqué dedicated entirely to the problem of the environment”. It seems that the inhabitants of the UK have an attitude of profound respect for nature… “Yes, I agree. We are great lovers of the countryside and nature represents for many of us a resource to be contemplated with profound respect, rather than a source of livelihood to be exploited. Without doubt we have a need for nature to remind us of God and also to recharge our spirit. The beauty of nature is an irreplaceable spiritual resource. It’s enough to note the number of television programmes in Great Britain dedicated to the defence of the natural fauna and the protection of the environment. In spite of that, nature today is in grave difficulties even in our country: it’s very survival is at risk, and some resources we ignored in the past have been lost for ever”. Silvia Guzzetti – London