CAFOD: Campaigning for a World that is 'Destined to Die'

Mercy, Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye

According to CAFOD 'Our climate is in our hands'...

I understand that the effects of 'climate change' have a more prolific and devastating outcome upon developing nations than our own. Yet, at the same time, CAFOD is a Catholic charity, present in disaster zones at times of desperation and need. Much like Amnesty International, however, CAFOD appears to be losing its Catholic roots, severing itself from the Vine that has fed it and given it so much moral and financial support for such a long time.

The Catholicity of the secular branches of the Church seems to be waning and handing themselves over to the World. Amnesty International now seem to view gay marriage and abortion as 'rights' in the same way that the secular world view them as rights, neglecting the rights of the unborn and the sanctity of Marriage. CAFOD repel the teaching of the Church with regard to contraception, pay their boss over £70,000 a year and keep banging on about the environment, which, vital as it is to our continued existence, is not half so vital to our continued existence as the fact that if we don't breed, if we keep contracepting or sleeping with the same sex and then when we do breed we only have one child and abort the rest, then the human race will become extinct of its own accord.



I don't know. There is something particularly depressing about a Catholic organisation which stand on roadsides protesting telling everyone, 'The climate is in our own hands.' It is debatable even whether this is true. Is the climate really in our own hands? And, even if it is, is this the most important issue of the day? Can we rescue a World, which, as Marvin Gaye so beautifully sang, 'is destined to die', in his song 'Save the Children'.

Secondly, campaigning for the climate is as vague and unsatisfactory a campaign as there could possibly be. Is there anything more intangible than 'the climate'? Much like standing on roadsides and campaigning for an end to poverty with banners saying, 'End Poverty Now!' it is highly dubious whether any poverty will be reduced by such a campaign. How much more dubious, then, is campaigning on roadsides saying, 'save the climate', with no, or little evidence to hand that the environment is improving even if people act upon the advice?

It is important to recall that the Early Church did not go around with placards saying, "Look everyone, this World is so precious and beautiful, it's time we saved the rainforests." The Early Church said, "Brothers and sisters! Repent and believe in the Gospel! The Messiah has come! His name is the Lord Jesus Christ! He was crucified for our sakes! We fully expect Him to return any minute now so you'd better gets your arses onside pronto and live according to God's will!"

The Apostles and the Early Church expected the 'consummation of the World' within their own lifetimes. The fact that the World has lasted this long and has not yet been consummated is clearly another demonstration of God's unfathomable love and mercy for His Creation. Yet still, at every Mass, the Church cries out, "Come, Lord Jesus!"

And when the Lord Jesus comes, what will He ask of His people? Will He ask us about whether we campaigned for the environment? Or will He enquire into the state of our souls? Will He ask whether we fed the hungry, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, visited the sick, the imprisoned, protected the most vulnerable and defenseless? When Christ is gazing into our souls on the Last Day, I don't think the environment will be His chief concern, for the environment as we know it shall have been thrown into disarray and we shall be before Him, face to face.

So-called Catholic charities are campaigning for an end to torture, death and the salvation of the environment. Yet, at the same time, the policies with which they acquiesce lead to death, torture and human extinction. The Lord Jesus did not come in the flesh to save the environment, because He knew, and told the Apostles bluntly, that this world was passing away. Suffice to say, that important as the environment is to our continued survival on planet earth, the real seeds of self-destruction are within us, as the Holy Father recently said, not in the atmosphere. It is in our hearts and our souls which make choices whether we shall live, or whether we shall die. There is only one climate which is in our hands...and that is our moral climate. And as you can see from the newspapers, that really is the only campaign worth fighting for...but as the Gospel writers firmly declare, it starts with us.