A greener Lent: sacrificing for the environment

BY BILL DOYLE | CFP CORRESPONDENT

Purple is the color of Lent, but Pete Dunbeck would like the 40-day season of sacrifice leading up to Easter to also become greener.

The season of Lent is a time of preparation, and the liturgical color of purple is often associated with pain, suffering, mourning and penitence because, according to the Gospel of Mark 15:16-20, a purple robe was placed on Jesus before his crucifixion and soldiers mocked him calling him the “King of the Jews.”

Mr. Dunbeck is co-chair of the Environmental Stewardship Ministry for the Diocese of Worcester and a parishioner at St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough. His sister, Peggy Monti, told him about a Greener Lent program that her diocese in Raleigh, North Carolina, had organized. Mr. Dunbeck researched the program, checked with other members of his ministry and decided that they should urge parishioners in the Diocese of Worcester to take part in the program, too.

“It’s aligned with Catholic tradition on Lent in regard to the tradition of prayer, fasting and alms or donations to the poor,” he said. “It just appealed to me and it’s not a complex thing, it’s not a political thing, it’s very much aligned with our Catholic traditions, so I liked it.”
Greener Lent makes three requests of participants: To pray for the poor whose livelihoods are being destroyed by the climate crisis, to reduce or eliminate the consumption of meat beyond Fridays during Lent to reduce the impact of the carbon footprint, and to donate to the poor who have suffered the worst effects of climate change.

Those who choose to participate in the program can register at greenerlent.org and sign up for different levels of fasting and donations through the end of Lent. There’s even a level of fasting for vegetarians who choose to give up cheese.

Mr. Dunbeck and his wife, Kathy, don’t eat a lot of beef, but they plan to reduce the amount of other meat they’ll eat during Lent.

Mr. Dunbeck said the fasting is conducted on an honor system without anyone else keeping track.

“As I think most people agree, we’re seeing rapid changes in our climate,” Mr. Dunbeck said, “and that it’s caused by fossil fuels and other greenhouse gas emissions. This program is designed to bring attention that eating meat is a big cause of greenhouse gas emissions, particularly beef.”

Mr. Dunbeck pointed out that beef comes from cows, whose belching releases harmful methane gas into the atmosphere, contributing to the climate crisis. The amount of energy used to grow crops fed to the cows also contributes to the crisis. Eating less beef would reduce the demand for as many cows.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said cows account for 3.7 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
“It’s a small number, but it’s meaningful,” Mr. Dunbeck said.

He urged parishioners to make donations to Catholic Charities, the Mustard Seed, St. John’s Food for the Poor and other local non-profit organizations.

Mr. Dunbeck’s sister, who teaches theology at Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, is one of 12 Greener Lent representatives.

Most of the parishes taking part in this Greener Lent program are in North Carolina, but there’s also one in Ohio and two in Massachusetts.

Studies have discovered that burning fossil fuels aggravates asthma and can lead to lung cancer, coronary heart disease, strokes and early death. People who live in less affluent neighborhoods reside closer to bus depots and factories which emit such harmful gases.
“So, the poorer people of Worcester County have much more exposure to environmental degradation,” Mr. Dunbeck said.

Climate change affects everyone, no matter where they live.
“It’s kind of this continuous effort,” Mr. Dunbeck said, “to remind the parishioners and members of the Diocese of Worcester of the urgency of taking actions in our daily lives in regard to climate change and this is one that’s focused on beef, but there are many other things we need to be doing in regard to reducing our emissions and it’s not like one tool is going to solve everything. It’s staying attuned to the fact that we need to change our lifestyles to be more environmentally sustainable.”

Mr. Dunbeck is the chair of Sustainable Westborough, a committee that works with the town manager, planning board and select board to implement a climate action plan. He is also helping organize a town environmental fair from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, at Westborough High School, featuring solar companies, heat pump companies, and experts teaching about native plants and water conservation.

Mr. Dunbeck said St. Luke the Evangelist will be one of the fair’s 40 exhibitors who will discuss what they’re doing to help the environment. St. Luke’s has community gardens, a pollinator garden and other environmental programs.

Father Paul T. O’Connell started the Environmental Stewardship Ministry in 2017 after he was inspired by Pope Francis detailing his concerns about the warming planet in his 2015 encyclical, “Laudato Si,” which is Latin for “Praise Be.” Dissatisfied with the amount of progress on climate change, Pope Francis issued another document last fall, “Laudate Deum,” which is Latin for “Praise God.”