The Call of Creation

Faith and the Environmental Imperative: Responding to The Call of Creation An Ecumenical Day Conference (residential if required) - hosted by The Newman Association and Christian Ecology Link - to explore and reflect upon this recent document from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England & Wales (copy of 15 page booklet available to all participants)

Speakers will include: Abbot Paul Stonham OSB, Abbot of Belmont, Sir John Houghton CBE, FRS Rt. Rev. John Oliver, Bishop of Hereford

For full details and booking form, please give your name and address and send to:- either Aidan Reynolds, Ty Carreg, Govilon, Abergavenny, NP7 9PT Tel: 01873 832220 E-mail: aidanreynolds@tycarreg.freeserve.co.uk or Robert Williams, 77, Bearcroft, Weobley, Hereford, HR4 8TD Tel: 01544 318022

Read further: the document The Call of Creation, issued by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales

HOMILY

given by Abbot Paul at

A SERVICE FOR ANIMAL CREATION
CLIFTON CATHEDRAL
4TH OCTOBER 2003

left, Abbot Paul with faithful friends Badger and Bertie

Some time ago I wrote an address for this afternoon's service, an eloquent and exaggerated piece, but as today drew near I realised that it wasn't right. Christianity, like Judaism and Islam, has never been particularly kind to animals or even, at times, to humans. War, slavery, the death penalty and torture have all been sanctioned by the Church and often used by her or on her behalf. The hunting and rearing of animals, whether for food, clothing and sport or, indeed, for the higher purpose of worship and religion, pales into insignificance when compared with the abuse, cruelty and injustice perpetrated on our fellow human beings in the name of true faith or political ideal. Can anything in the history of cruelty to animals compare with genocide, holocaust, ethnic cleansing and apartheid?

There is little in the Bible, in both Old and New Testaments, or in the Koran that would bring joy to a tiger, an albatross or an eel. Animals are to be subjugated and made to work. "By the sweat of your brow you shall eat," God said to Adam and animals were made to share in the dignity, and often the indignity of work. They were also a sign of wealth and of power. Think of Jacob and the speckled sheep or of Muhammad, who bought his wife for twenty camels. What if tonight's lottery prize was counted in flocks rather than in millions of pounds? Animals are, of course, more beautiful than humans. "Not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these," Jesus told his disciples. Were they hummingbirds or cockatoos or just house sparrows? In Psalm 36 we read, "And he shall save both man and beast." In Nineveh even the cattle donned sackcloth and ashes and fasted when they heard Jonah preach repentance. So conversion and salvation are not beyond the grasp of claw and paw even in the Scriptures. Just think of the ark.

However, the real purpose of animals in the Bible and in most religions is for sacrifice. And what about flowers? Should they be cut? How the Temple in Jerusalem must have stunk with the blood of all those sacrifices and the rancid fat of bullocks and rams, and we know that Mecca was no different before the coming of the Prophet. I lived in Peru for twenty years before I had the grave misfortune of being elected Abbot of Belmont, like a lamb to the slaughter, you might say!
I always remember my first visit to the "campo" which was to be my parish there, an area the size of the Diocese of Clifton with a population of about 120,000, most of them subsistence farmers scraping a living from desert and scrubland. "Padrecito," I was told, "we have sacrificed a goat for you." There, to kill any animal for food and clothing is to sacrifice, and it's done in public and, like crucifixion, not a pleasant sight. It was something I was to experience over and over again, countless times, and I never found it easy.

Every village fiesta or family celebration, be it baptism, first communion, wedding or funeral made me realise the importance of sacrifice, both animal and human. The young mother who died giving birth to her baby, the child dying and rising again with Christ in waters of baptism, the children who received the Body and Blood of Christ for the first time in the Sacrifice of the Mass, the young couple who made vows to live out the sacrifice of marriage, dying daily to self to make another happy. Yes, sacrifice lies at the very heart of Christian faith, of Christian life and of Christian worship, which is focused on the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And in this sacrifice, animals have a very important part to play. They, too, are conformed to Christ as they give their lives in sacrifice that we might be fed and so live. Jesus said, "I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly." Animal creation, in all its beauty and richness, is fully involved in that sacrifice.

Animals, like humans of course, are very cruel to each other. That noble lion is neither vegetarian nor pacifist. The poor zebra and gazelle don't stand a chance when hunger calls. Reptiles, birds and fish all eat lesser mortals. It's all a question of cat and mouse, but unlike humans, animals do not destroy their habitat or ruin the environment. They don't set out to upset the order of nature or genetically modify their food or keep their embryos under refrigeration.

This week I have been stunned by the number of articles in the press about the imminent demise of so many animals. Millions of years ago dinosaurs and their contemporaries found it impossible to carry on and died out, never to return. Today we can only imagine what life was like when dinosaurs ruled. But what will be left in our own lifetime of the species we know and love? Will anything survive what we have done to our world in such a short space of time? Only 23,000 lions left, 8,000 tigers, 3,000 black rhino, 1,000 pandas, 600 Iberian Lynx. Whether they are mammals, birds, fish, insects or plants, numbers are dropping at a catastrophic rate: 90% in 20 years. The figures are frightening. More frightening, perhaps, is the amount of money spent by our governments on arms and war, balanced by the amount of lip service paid to such important issues as conservation and the eradication of poverty.

Terrorism in so many parts of the world, the war in Iraq, Africa devastated by AIDS, the shortage of water, the imbalance and injustice of world trade, refugees and immigrants, global warming, deforestation, the very future of our planet: these are all problems that worry and concern the world community, but for most of the animals that God created to share the earth with us the Third World War has already been lost and we have no-one but ourselves to blame.

As we give thanks to God today for Animal Creation, let us also ask forgiveness for destroying the very gifts that God has given us. We also ask for grace, even at this eleventh hour, to put right those things we have done wrong. To God, who created all things good, be honour and glory and thanksgiving now and for ever. Amen.