The papal visit to the United Nations on September 25th, 2015 will be the fourth papal visit to the United Nations in its 70- year history. This leg of the Apostolic Journey reveals the commitments of a pope who seeks “to enter into dialogue with all people about our common home” so that they may seek together “a sustainable and integral development” (Laudato Si’, 3,13). Catholic colleges and universities have a unique opportunity on this occasion to pause and reflect on their mission to be “an ever more effective instrument of cultural progress for individuals as well as for society” (Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 32), and are well positioned to contribute to this dialogue about our common home. As such, it is important to take note of this historic and symbolic Apostolic Journey.
In the opening paragraphs of Laudato Si’ Pope Francis does not mince words about the profound challenges facing the human family in the 21st century. In stark contrast to the familial metaphors of St. Francis of Assisi’s Canticle of the Sun where the exclamations of “praise be” describe a deep reverence for creation, our common home today “cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of goods.” “The violence present in our hearts,” he argues, “is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, water, air and all forms of life.” Pope Francis’ concern echoes the reflections of numerous scientists, philosophers, theologians and civic groups who believe the next few decades of the 21st century may well be the most challenging of any in human history as a burgeoning human population continues to exhaust, deplete, and destroy the very resources required to sustain human life. From environmental refugees displaced by sea level rise to wars over water, from the inequalities of growing urban environments to the acidification of the oceans, the human family must take better care of our common home.
In the Great Work, Thomas Berry identifies four fundamental establishments that shape human culture: governments, corporations, religions, and universities (4). The papal visit to the United Nations indicates a deep respect for the work of the United Nations as a dialogue between three of those fundamental establishments. It also presents an opportunity for Catholic colleges and universities to engage their mission, identity, and values to address the pressing challenges of the 21st century. How will they participate in this dialogue? Three questions can help guide the reflection: what does Pope Francis ask of Catholic colleges and universities in Laudato Si’? How can Catholic colleges and universities enter into dialogue with all people about our common home? What unique perspectives can Catholic colleges and universities bring to the dialogue?
Integral Ecology: the vision of Laudato
Si’
Because today’s problems demand a vision that is big enough to account
for every aspect of our global crisis, Pope Francis uses the phrase “integral
ecology” to orient the discussion about our common home (137). The term
“ecology” is most frequently used to describe the branch of biology that
studies the relationship between living organisms and the environments within
which they develop. Such an approach corrects the fragmentation of knowledge
that occurs when bits of information are examined in isolation, a fragmentation
that can become a form of ignorance
(138). Integral ecology seeks to examine the different relationships
that shape human life including the environmental, economic, social, and
cultural.
When one speaks of the environment, one refers to the relationship
existing between nature and the society which lives within it (139).
Environmental degradation, pollution, and depletion of natural resources do not
constitute a crisis that is somehow separate from others, but rather is one
dimension of a more complex crisis that is simultaneously social and environmental. Pope Francis
describes the need for ongoing research that should give us a better
understanding of how different creatures relate to one another, making up a
larger ecosystem, and how healthy ecosystems provide essential services to
human life, including “dispersing carbon dioxide, purifying water, controlling
illness and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste” (140) to name a few. Part
of the dialogue about our common home must include a more comprehensive
understanding of and appreciation for the ways in which we are embedded in
complex ecosystems. Take, for instance, the lessons from Biosphere 2, an Earth
systems science research facility at the University of Arizona, which was a painful
reminder of our utter dependence on natural systems that we do not fully
understand and are not able to replicate. In the experiment that lasted from
1991 to 1993, eight researchers lived in a closed system they believed was
capable of sustaining human life, but the effort was eventually scuttled when
food and oxygen rates began to diminish and species of plants and animals began
to die off. The takeaway? Humans are not capable of replicating Biosphere 1, the
only home that can sustain human life.
An integral ecology sees that human life is also shaped by economic,
social, and cultural systems where environmental problems “cannot be separated
from the analysis of human, family, work related and urban contexts.” Taking a
more integral and integrating vision into account, an “economic ecology” moves
beyond the traditional focus of economic growth that seeks to standardize,
simplify, and reduce costs (141). A “social ecology” seeks to understand the institutional
nature of human life, moving from the primary social group of the family to the
wider local, national, and international communities (142). A “cultural ecology,”
comprised of historic, artistic, and cultural patrimony, constitutes the shared
sense of identity of each place necessary to build a habitable city (143). The
notion of integral ecology must become an essential learning commitment if we
are to address the challenges of the 21st century. We must have a
much better understanding of our common home, and our place within it.
UN Sustainable Development Goals: a
plan for the 21st century
Pope Francis’ visit to the United Nations on
September 25th is not a global speaking platform to “pontificate” on
the ills of the 21st century or to preach to the Catholic faithful;
it is a profound, public, diplomatic endorsement of the United Nations as a
place - the only place - where all people dialogue about our common
home. Nor should the timing of the papal visit be lost on Catholic colleges and
universities; on this occasion, more than 150 world leaders are expected to
attend the Sustainable Development Summit at the UN headquarters to formally
adopt the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon describes poignantly:
This
is the People’s Agenda, a plan of action for ending poverty in all its
dimensions, irreversibly, everywhere, and leaving no one behind. It seeks to
ensure peace and prosperity, and forge partnerships with people and planet at
the core. The integrated, interlinked and indivisible 17 Sustainable
Development Goals are the people’s goals and demonstrate the scale,
universality and ambition of this new Agenda. (Nino, 2015)
Pope Francis is not only
drawing attention to the need for
dialogue about sustainable and integral development, he is also recognizing that this dialogue has been
taking place for many years and that the SDGs are an outcome, a road map, a
blueprint, an actionable vision for governments, corporations, religious
institutions, and colleges and universities as well.
Throughout 2015 the United
Nations will continue to celebrate 70 years of dialogue among all people in
search of a sustainable and integral development. Its history marks a profound
expansion of thought emerging from the debris of World War II and the
courtrooms of Nuremberg. By resolution 217 A (III) on
December 10th, 1948 the General Assembly formally adopted the UN
Declaration on Human Rights to guarantee the rights of every individual
everywhere. Eleanor Roosevelt
chaired the committee that drafted the document and later recounted the
challenges of that dialogue:
Dr.
[Peng Chung Chang of China] was a pluralist and held forth in charming fashion
on the proposition that there is more than one kind of ultimate reality.
The Declaration, he said, should reflect more than simply Western ideas and Dr.
[John Humphrey of Canada, Director of the UN’s Human Rights Division] would
have to be eclectic in his approach. His remark, though addressed to Dr. Humphrey,
was really directed at Dr. [Charles Malik of Lebanon], from whom it drew a
prompt retort as he expounded at some length the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.
Dr. Humphrey joined enthusiastically in the discussion, and I remember that at
one point Dr. Chang suggested that the Secretariat might well spend a few
months studying the fundamentals of Confucianism! (United Nations, Universal
Declaration of Human Rights History of the Document, 2015)
Dialogue is not easy,
especially among people with different worldviews, but there have been and
continue to be many breakthrough moments.
In the second half of the 20thcentury, the United Nations saw that human
rights are not the sole responsibility of government, but that all four fundamental
establishments need to commit to them.
In 2000, under the leadership of Kofi Anon, the UN Global Compact was
launched as the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative so that
business, and the social sector, could work together as a force for good,
guided by their commitment to Ten Principles on human
rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, in addition to the
broader SDGs.
The experience of the United
Nations over their 70-year history has been a living example of dialogue in search of sustainable and integral
development, a dialogue that has evolved from a focus on the public sector
exclusively to a focus on all sectors of society. This expansion of scope
affirms one of the abiding principles of Catholic social thought, the principle
of subsidiarity, which recognizes the importance of intermediate groups that
operate between the State and the individual (Laudato Si’, 157). The 17 SDGs are the outcome of a broad dialogue
between all sectors of society about our common home that began at the Rio+20 Conference in 2012. With a common aim, a shared
platform, and common metrics such as the Human Development Index, the dialogue at the United Nations provides the kind
of actionable principles and outcomes that make sustainable and integral
development possible, which may be why the Catholic Church and the United
Nations have been mutually supportive. On June 22nd Archbishop Bernardito
Auza, Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United
Nations formally endorsed “the verbatim inclusion of the sustainable development goals
and targets” (Archbishop
Bernardito Auza. 2015) and the Directors of the UN Global Compact enthusiastically
endorsed the vision of Laudato Si’:
We believe Laudato Si’ should inspire the private sector to do more to protect
the environment and address climate change. We offer the UN Global Compact and
our network-based infrastructure as a bridge, connecting the encyclical’s vision of integral ecology with practical efforts underway to mobilize
responsible business (Kell et al, 2015, italics added).
Perhaps Pope Francis’ visit to
the United Nations is less about introducing papal teaching to the world, and
more about introducing Catholics to the profound work of the United Nations as
a place for dialogue about our common home.
The Cultural Patrimony of Catholic Colleges and Universities
As one of the institutions that shape culture, according to Thomas Berry,
Catholic colleges and universities have a unique role to play as
instruments of cultural progress for individuals as well as for society (Ex Corde Ecclesiae, 32), if cultural
progress is understood to mean the kind of sustainable and integral development
described in Laudato Si’. Cultural
progress can come about through participation and advocacy in various
capacities at the United Nations, through ecological education, and by
transforming the world of work.
Through organizations like The International Federation of
Catholic Universities, Catholic colleges and universities have an opportunity
to participate and advocate in various United Nations bodies such as UNESCO
(the United Nations System) and the Commission of Human Rights (Geneva). Many
religious orders that sponsor Catholic colleges and universities already engage
the United Nations through the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United
Nations. These are essential forums for participating in a dialogue among all
people.
In addition to participating in
dialogue, however, Catholic colleges and universities have an opportunity to
re-frame dialogue about our common home through ecological education and
spirituality (Laudato Si’, 203-210). Ecological
education can help forge a new lifestyle that is not prone to a “compulsive
consumerism” that becomes “a seedbed for collective selfishness,” where any genuine
sense of the common good disappears. Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle,
especially one that few people are capable of maintaining, can only lead to
violence and mutual destruction; however, human beings are capable of making a
new start, despite their mental and social conditioning. A critique of the “myths” of modernity
(individualism, unlimited progress, competition, consumerism, the market
without rules) can be instruments of cultural progress by bringing healthy
pressure to bear on those who wield political, economic and social power (Laudato Si’, 210). As educational
institutions, Catholic colleges and universities can prepare students for a new
ecology of daily life, which is precisely where Catholic colleges and
universities are best positioned to contribute their cultural patrimony. From
the many different spiritual charisms - Franciscan, Benedictine, Vincentian, Jesuit,
Dominican – and the array of Saints and notable figures, there are many
resources for reading the signs of the times, asking critical questions, and
seeking to integrate all facets of human life, including the environmental,
economic, social, and cultural. These traditions provide invaluable resources
for sustainable and integral development. They too are part of the cultural
patrimony that is threatened by compulsive consumerism.
Beyond forming a new
ecology of daily life, Catholic colleges and universities can also help
put the Sustainable Development Goals in motion through the world of work,
which is the key to the entire social question as St. John Paul II
examined in Laborem Exercens. Here as
well, the Catholic tradition has much to offer initiatives like the UN’s Principles for Responsible Management Education
(PRME), whose purpose is to “develop
the capabilities of students to be future generators of sustainable value for
business and society at large and to work for an inclusive and sustainable
global economy” (United Nations, n.d.).
Unfortunately, the term “management” is often associated exclusively with
management education in business schools, but could be seen in a much broader
way as an opportunity to put into practice the values of global social
responsibility as articulated in the UN Global Compact. These principles can guide
all who contribute to the higher educational endeavor to implement the vision
of an integral and sustainable development in their local communities. As a
report from McKinsey and Company recently argued,
[t]he
21st century will not be dominated by America or China, Brazil or India, but by
The City. In a world that increasingly appears ungovernable, cities—not
states—are the islands of governance on
which the future world order will be built. Cities are humanity’s real building
blocks because of their economic size, population density, political dominance,
and innovative edge. They are real “facts on the ground,” almost immeasurably
more meaningful to most people in the world than often invisible national
borders. … In this century, it will be the city—not the state—that becomes the nexus
of economic and political power (McKinsey & Company, n.d.)
As
they have done since the early middle ages, Catholic colleges and universities
can help build cities that are centers of learning, exchange, culture, and
opportunity. Cities in the 21st century, however, must be shaped by
the vision of integral ecology articulated in Laudato Si’ and guided by the Sustainable Development Goals. For
all these reasons, the Apostolic
Journey to the United Nations on September 25th is an opportunity
for Catholic colleges and universities to reflect on their contribution to this
larger dialogue on integral and sustainable development.
Works Cited
Archbishop Bernardito Auza. 2015. “General Statement on the Zero Draft,
Post-2015 Development Agenda.” Accessed August 17. http://www.holyseemission.org/statements/statement.aspx?id=572
Berry, Thomas. 1999. The Great Work: Our Way into the
Future. New York: Three Rivers Press.
Ford, Liz. 2015. “Sustainable Development Goals: All You Need to Know.” The
Guardian, January 19, sec. Global development. http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jan/19/sustainable-development-goals-united-nations?CMP=share_btn_link.
John
Paul II. 1990. Ex
corde Ecclesiae Apostolic
Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff
John
Paul II on Catholic Universities. Accessed August 17. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_15081990_ex-corde-ecclesiae.html
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Laborem
Exercens. Accessed
August 17. http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_14091981_laborem-exercens.html
Kell,
Georg, Lise Kingo,
and Fiona Reynolds. 2015. “Open Letter to His Holiness Pope Francis from the
United Nations Global Compact Responding to Laudato
Si’.” Accessed August 17
McKinsey & Company. (n.d.).“When cities rule the world.” Accessed
August 17, 2015. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/urbanization/when_cities_rule_the_world
Meadows,
Donella. 1994.“Biosphere 2 Teaches Us Another Lesson,” The Donella Meadows
Institute. Accessed August 17, 2015, http://www.donellameadows.org/archives/biosphere-2-teaches-us-another-lesson/
Nino, Florencia Soto. 2015. “Consensus Reached on New Sustainable
Development Agenda to Be Adopted by World Leaders in September.” United Nations
Sustainable Development. Accessed August 13. http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2015/08/transforming-our-world-document-adoption/.
Francis. 2015. Laudato Si’ - On Care for Our Common Home. Accessed
August 17. http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si.html
United Nations. 2015. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. History
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United Nations. N.d. “Principles of Responsible Management Education.”
Accessed August 17. http://www.unprme.org/about-prme/the-six-principles.php