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The link between respecting the environment and the sacramental life of the church is inseparable according to Bishop Bernard Unabali of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
He says he considers the link to be so unfaltering that when he baptizes a new member of the church or confirms someone or even when he ordains a priest, he asks individuals to plant 10 trees as a way to give rise to new life.
Such an act of faith is one way he prayerfully encourages people to help stem the rapid pace of climate change.
“(I) use this situation, which is going to be affecting us more drastically than probably in the past, to help people recapture our relationship to the environment,” he said.
“We must entrench something in our lives to continue this environmental concern, respect and care.”
Bishop Unabali was in Washington to open a three-day symposium highlighting the urgent calls from Pope Benedict XVI on the importance of Catholics acting on behalf of an increasingly fragile environment in the face of climate change.
The event was hosted by The Catholic University of America
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