Ecological conversion

Last Monday the Church in Italy celebrated the Day to Protect Creation. We do not celebrate this day in Malta, but its message is as significant here as it is in Italy.

This celebration reminds us that the world is our common home and all of us have the duty to take care of it. Christians have a special duty in this regard. Paolo Tarchi, an Italian bishops' aide, noted on Vatican Radio on Tuesday the special duty, especially of Christians, in this regard. "Christians, in their way of approaching Creation, through the teachings of sacred Scripture, are called to discover it every day as something beautiful and a gift."

Christians are being called towards an ecological conversion. "Thou shalt not waste" should be the 11th commandment. The limited resources of Mother Earth are not distributed in a fair and equitable manner. Besides our duties to those who have less, we have a very important duty towards future generations.

In their message, the Italian bishops stressed that the planet "is what has been given to us to live on responsibly, safeguarding its viability also for the next generations". There is a need to "use energy efficiently, as well as to appreciate the sources of renewable and clean energy", in addition to "an intelligent sobriety", which will allow for "lessening the problem of waste".

Using resources judiciously and without waste is a moral duty. What we waste is not ours, but it is somebody else's dire need. Recycling is another important aspect of the moral duty that impels us not to be wasteful.

Recycling, separating waste, using alternative energy and energy-saving bulbs are not just economic necessities but moral ones as well.

*Indian Catholics have been in the news lately. It was the kind of news that we would prefer not to listen to. Churches, homes and people were attacked. A number were killed. The media, though, found no space for Catholics in another country who are also suffering.

Last Sunday, the Vietnamese police used tear gas against a group of Catholics who were participating in a religious procession at a Redemptorist monastery in Hanoi. At least 20 were hospitalised.

The Redemptorist monastery is at the centre of a controversy after the government decided to confiscate Church-owned property.

Last Sunday's raid was the latest in a series of confrontations at the site. In Ho Chi Minh city, Cardinal Jean Baptise Pham Minh Man, confirmed that Redemptorists have all necessary documents and witnesses to prove that the Hanoi property belonged to the religious order.

The media are part of the arsenal that the government is manipulating to harm the Redemptorists. As a reaction in Catholic churches around Hanoi, priests had read a statement at every Sunday Mass, asking the government "not to use any sort of violence against the Catholic faithful to settle the dispute," and pleaded with the state-run media "not to distort the truth and falsely accuse Catholic priests and faithful."

Cardinal Jean Baptise Pham Minh Man issued a pastoral letter complaining that the way the state media, in their coverage of property disputes involving the Church, only "serve the privileges of the powerful, and of parties, not the common good of the nation."

We should keep the Vietnamese Catholics in our prayers.