Posted on 05/30/2016 7:48:11 PM PDT by ebb tide
A young Israeli rabbi, Yonatan Neril, especially committed to developing the relation between faith and ecology, has taken to heart Pope Francis’ repeated call to take action to protect the environment against climate change. Rabbi Neril is founder and director of the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development in Jerusalem, which just completed a groundbreaking new survey of 48 Catholic seminaries in North America, Rome and the Holy Land aimed at discovering the extent to which these institutions are taking seriously Francis’ warning and plea. ICSD is a nonprofit organization that works to catalyze a transition to a sustainable human society through the active leadership of different faith communities.
The report on “Catholic Ecology Courses in Catholic Seminaries”, (funded by the Julia Burke Foundation) reveals the range of their efforts to incorporate environmental issues into seminary coursework.
Sixteen classes devoted specifically to Catholic ecology teachings are offered at seven of the institutions, and many other institutions integrate environmental issues into courses on different topics.
Seven Catholic seminaries offer courses on faith and ecology. In the US, they are the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago; Catholic University of America: School of Theology and Religious Studies in Washington D.C.; Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas; Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity at Saint Thomas University in St Paul, Minnesota.
The Pontifical universities in Rome that have introduced such courses include the Gregorian University, St. Anselmo and the Salesian Pontifical University.
In addition, the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA, and the Latin Patriarchate Seminary in Beit Jala, Palestine, “go to great lengths to incorporate sustainability teachings and practices in their seminaries,” although they do not have courses specifically devoted to faith and ecology.
Pope Francis has specifically urged Catholic institutions to incorporate this subject into the curriculum. In a press release, Rabbi Neril recalls that Pope Francis in his encyclical “Laudato Si’ “ specifically called on Catholic seminaries to teach about ecology, saying: “It is my hope that our seminaries and houses of formation will provide an education in responsible simplicity of life, in grateful contemplation of God’s world, and in concern for the needs of the poor and the protection of the environment” (Paragraph 214).
Neril states that the ICSD is hoping that the Pontifical Congregation for the Clergy, which is expected to release new guidelines for seminary education this year, called Ratio Fundamentalis, ìwill make courses on Catholic ecology teaching a requirement for thousands of Catholic seminaries globally.
ICSD has also published two related studies of seminary education in faith and ecology, one of which is a study of how different religions in Israel and Palestine have begun to approach this vital area.
In the Report on Faith and Ecology Teaching in Holy Land Seminaries, issued in March, ICSD and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung partnered to investigate how twenty Christian, Jewish and Muslim seminaries in the Holy Land – including four Catholic schools -- are teaching about environmental issues.
In addition, ICSD’s Report on Faith and Ecology Courses in North American Seminaries revealed that more than 160 specific faith-and-ecology courses are being taught at over 50 seminaries.
Rabbi Neril will be meeting with leaders of Catholic institutions in Rome in June to further cooperation in this area.
Gotta hand it to the left. They infiltrate every institution for the long haul.
Do these lessons include encounter groups, or the making and display of dioramas and collages?
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