Robert V Thomann

Environmental Fear or Christian Environmental Love Robert V Thomann

Our relationship with our environment is in crisis. Decision making, evaluation of alternatives and specification of objective are clouded and overwhelmed by multiple interests and perspectives. Crisis demands penetration to the root of the problem. Our existential fear of the environment is seen as fundamental in our relationship to the world around us. This fear, often exacerbate by the medial and a form of environmental Gnosticism arises out of the human desire to remain in a "horizontal" plane, where a type of environmental paradise on earth, constructed by human means is believed to be possible. History has proved otherwise. So, a different path is necessary, a direction that requires a fundamental choice. That choice is to admit the existence of a Creator God, the existence of a transcendent environment, the presence of an entirely refocused vision - a vision built on the Love of the Creator God in creating the totality of the environment. Such a Love is found uniquely present in the Catholic Church, its Scripture, Traditions and Teachings which provide the most reliable foundation for proceeding in environmental matters and decision making from a perspective of Christ's love for all that is created. Other environments then appear and the Divine ecology of the Church together with the "gates" of Baptism and Eucharist are seen as fundamental to loving the reality from the perspective of the Creator. All things environmental are then seen and can be acted upon with a new vision and a new hope. _______________________________________________Robert V. Thomann, D. Min., Ph. D. is a Permanent Deacon married to Joan. They have ministered in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Ridgewood, New Jersey for more than 40 years. He is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science at Manhattan College, NJ and is an Emeritus Member of the National Academy of Engineering. He has taught in the diaconate programs of the Dioceses of Newark and Paterson, New Jersey.