Education and spirituality are the keys to ecological conversion, explained author and philosopher Father Joshtrom Isaac Kureethadam in a nearly one-hour video presentation to members of the Care for Creation Green Team at St. Matthew’s Cathedral on Sept. 18.
“When we see Earth as our common home – it becomes dear to us,” he said.
According to Father Kureethadam, the very subtitle of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’ “Care for Our Common Home,” signaled an important shift by conceiving the environmental crisis in human rather than purely scientific terms. This moved the conversation of humanity’s place in the natural world from research and climate data to “reminding us of something deeper,” he said.
“It’s like the Eucharistic Table – we all sit around the table, being part of this common home – and sharing it,” the priest added.
The Book of Genesis describes how God is the creator of all, Father Kureethadam noted. “God so lovingly crafted this human home – a home that makes everything possible,” he added, including economics, theology, philosophy, music – all of it.
In one of many scripture references through his presentation, the priest who serves as chair of philosophy and science at the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, summarized Genesis 2:15: “Now keep and cultivate this garden – that is the very first commandment that humanity received.”
In his book, The Ten Green Commandments, Father Kureethadam, former coordinator of ecology and creation at the Vatican Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development helps explain Laudato Si’ and ways to implement it, making the document even more accessible.
As Father John Pawlikowski, professor emeritus of Social Ethics at the Catholic Theological Union wrote in one review, “Father Kureethadam has provided an invaluable guide. He shows how ordinary Catholics can turn this vision into a personal action plan for assuming ecological responsibility.”
The Care for Creation Green Team at St. Matthew’s invited Father Kureethadam to speak about his book as part of the parish’s involvement in the Season of Creation, a month-long period of prayer, reflection and action for the environment. The Season of Creation began on Sept. 1 (the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation) and ends on Oct. 4 (the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi).
The author was unable to join in the parish’s Zoom meeting but Simone Seym, co-chair of the environmental ministry and Clayton Nickel, both parishioners at St. Matthew’s pre-recorded an interview with the author and presented it at the meeting.
In his recorded interview Father Kureethadam elaborated further on Laudato Si’ and the evidence how the natural world points to God’s existence.
“God’s first revelation is creation,” he said, noting Saint Thomas Aquinas's teaching of creation signifying God’s intelligence and Saint Francis Assisi’s experience seeing everything in the world as an icon, a symbol of God.
The second way God is revealed is in words of the Bible, Father Kureethadam said. “Pope Francis spoke of an ecological conversion. We need to reconcile; we need to recover the vision of creation as Gospel.”
The faithful need to remember in images of Jesus praying, he is often depicted in nature, on a mountain or by the sea. “That’s something we forget,” Father Kureethadam said. It is time for individuals and parishes to “pray in creation, pray with creation.” He advised parishes, families and individuals to help invest in ecological education and spirituality in the journey to implement Laudato Si’.
The priest said his own journey to specializing in ecological philosophy included his wonder at Earth as a unique place in the universe and three decades of missionary work in South Central India witnessing the suffering of the poor and the suffering of the planet.
“Economies should involve everyone,” Father Kureethadam said. “Profit is getting concentrated in the few.”
However, he stressed, the planet is for everyone – “it is our common home, not for the privilege of the few.”
“Every person, every flower is a love letter from God,” the priest said.
When people begin treating people and creation as such, rebuilding the common home can begin. “We are invited to be caretakers,” Father Kureethadam said. “My vision of ecumenism is the whole of humanity – everyone – we all come together and love, care and heal our common home.”
Father Kureethdam ended his presentation with a blessing from Psalm 127 and thanked the paris hioners for their great work.
Earlier the meeting opened with a video of Pope Leo XIV’s prayer recorded on the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. “Inspired by Saint Francis, we might experience our interdependence with all creatures who are loved by God and worthy of love and respect,” the pope prayed.
Parishioner Betty Sullivan called the presentation “powerful” noting Father Kureethdam’s generosity in time and gentle affect speaking about ecology. “He is extremely thoughtful, well-educated and brilliant,” she said.
Nickel agreed, noting that The Ten Green Commandments of Laudato Si’ “is a valuable resource.” Seym added her own appreciation for Father Kureethdam and his ecological work.
“He has a spiritual tenderness that is unmatched as well as living what he preaches.”
She called the environmental crisis facing humans a moral crisis. “As Christians we have to care for our common home. We have to approach it together. We have to love each other, we have to care for each other, we have to care for Mother Earth.”
