-
September 28, 2018By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
WORCESTER – Massachusetts is a leader in addressing climate change, according to a Catholic school graduate and government official who connects faith with public policy.
Matthew A. Beaton, secretary of the Commonwealth’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, spoke about “Environment and the Role of Government” at the Worcester Catholic Environmental Stewardship Conference Sunday at the College of the Holy Cross.
Speakers from Holy Cross were Jesuit Father William Campbell, vice president for mission, talking about “Why is this a Catholic Issue?” and Katherine Kiel, economics professor, addressing “Scarcity and the Economics of Pollution.” Parish leaders on a panel spoke briefly about their projects.
The conference, sponsored by the Worcester Diocese, was a response to Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si’” about care for the human and natural environments.
About 40 parishes and schools registered, most from the Worcester Diocese, and more than 150 people attended, according to organizer Peter Dunbeck. A member of St. Luke the Evangelist Parish in Westborough, he is chairman of the new diocesan Environmental Stewardship Ministry which Bishop McManus announced in April.
Bishop McManus participated in the conference’s prayer service, which included the video “Laudato Si’” from the website and Youtube channel www.thepopevideo.org. The bishop said climate change is an urgent moral issue which adds to the hardship of the poor, and that the climate is a good which belongs to everyone.
Closing the conference with prayer was Father Paul T. O’Connell, associate judicial vicar and a member of the diocesan environmental stewardship ministry.
Father Campbell said some people considered the encyclical “Laudato Si’” controversial: some question “that we are living in era of global climate change brought about…by human activity,” some question the pope’s competency to discuss science and economics, and some are threatened by the encyclical’s implications.
Pope Francis wrote that questions of justice must be integrated into debates about the environment, “so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor,” (#49) Father Campbell noted.
He said people are so taken with exploitation of the gift of creation that they’ve lost awareness of the Giver. The pope called for a dialogue that includes everyone, looking at how people are shaping the planet’s future, he said.
Professor Kiel said she appreciated Pope Francis’ urgent tone, saying climate change is happening now and people must act to slow it down.
She applied economists’ thinking to ecological issues, such as reducing pollution by making its producers pay for it.
Holy Cross has “committed to be carbon neutral by 2040 as our contribution to reducing climate change,” she said. And individuals there led efforts to recycle, and to install hydration stations to reduce use of bottled water.
Individuals can bring about change by making sacrifices, educating others, consuming less and providing for the poor, she said. Small changes made by many people can lead to large changes. She encouraged listeners to discuss what they can do at home, in their neighborhoods and in the larger community.
Mr. Beaton talked about Catholics identifying opportunities to incorporate ideas from the encyclical and their faith into public policy.
A member of St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury, he credited his education at St. Mary Elementary School and St. John High School in Shrewsbury with helping get him where he is today. He spoke of taking ecology classes and studying
microorganisms.“God must have had something to do with this,” he reasoned. Seeing himself as one piece of a larger environment created by God rooted him in his career and personal passion for the environment, on which human beings are having a dramatic impact, he said.
“The solution begins right here,” he told listeners, speaking of the need to educate others. He said he thinks of his children, who are students at St. Mary’s, where he started a recycling program that is still used and has grown. That sixth-grade project and the project it emerged from sparked in him an interest in the environment and became a turning point in his life, he said.
He went on to earn a bachelor’s in biotechnology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a master’s in energy and environmental analysis from Boston University. He said he started an energy efficiency business and was a state representative.
Massachusetts has some of the most aggressive targets for emissions reductions, which would mitigate the state’s contribution to climate change, Mr. Beaton said. The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008 requires that greenhouse gas emissions be reduced from their 1990 level – by 25 percent in 2020, and at least 80 percent in 2050.
The state is also working to prepare for and adapt to the impacts of climate change, he said. The environmental bond bill authorized the spending of up to $300,000,000 over five years to mitigate the effects of climate change, and there are plans to work in concert with nature when possible, he said.
Massachusetts is also planning the largest offshore winds farm in the United States, he said. And it is seeking to buy hydroelectricity from Canada.
Mr. Beaton talked about the need to balance competing factors in seeking environmental justice. People who are exposed to larger or more frequent negative impacts on the environment are often those with fewer resources, he said. Just policies need to focus on those who need help most.
“I don’t go to anything,” Assumptionist Father Aidan Furlong said after the conference, leaning on a walker and accompanied by a younger Assumptionist. “But I wasn’t going to miss this.” He said the conference addressed a critical issue at the top of the list and that it was wonderful to see so many people devoting time to it.
Editor’s note: The Environmental Stewardship Ministry and Mass Interfaith Power and Light are holding a workshop from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Oct. 27 at St. Joan of Arc Church in Worcester. It is to give options and strategies for lowering energy bills, which will reduce parishes’ and schools’ carbon footprints. The cost is $20 per person. Clergy, lay leaders, building and creation care committee members are especially invited to attend. Those seeking more information or to watch a video of the conference can go to environment.worcesterdiocese.org.
