Don’t know what to do for Lent yet? Don’t drive your car
Two bishops from Liverpool are urging people to cut back on carbon this Lent instead of giving up the conventional chocolate or alcohol. The “sort of” good thing is that they are not Catholic bishops.
I personally think that it is through actions such as these that the environmentalist movement gets caricatured by many and rightly so. I do not have anything against pastors making their flock aware of Christian teaching on the environment and stewardship. On the contrary, I wish we would have a more wholesome approach of Catholic Social teaching in the parishes. I do not oppose either that churches would lead efforts on recycling or starting awareness campaigns about wasting and consuming less. Nonetheless, I do see a huge problem with mixing the sacred season of Lent that requires our sacrifice and penance with reducing carbon emissions. There is a time and a place for everything and the season of Lent should not be understood as “another opportunity” to fight global warming. What do you think?
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It’s kind of hard to cut back on “carbon” since we are carbon based lifeforms…
Hehehe… No kidding! I think they’re referring to carbon “emissions”, but we still do that naturally! :) Oh, I get it… their message is: stop eating fiber during Lent… hehehe
I think you are right on! I’m no environmentalist, but that said, I disdain the using of the church and its seasons for the promotion of political causes like this.
Cutting back on driving during lent is a laudable act – you actually have me considering it myself, Katerina – but it’s worth mentioning that the way our country has chosen to arrange itself (in a sprawling, driving-is-mandatory sub-urban manner) is the real problem here: for most people, *not* driving isn’t a realistic, practical option.
Matt,
Yes, living in Texas I can attest that there is just no way one can do away with driving. We are getting highways built on our backyards because of the bad traffic in Houston instead of getting better public transportation.
If not driving is one of the many things a person chooses to do for Lent, that’s fine (just not the only one), but I don’t want a bishop telling me that, because it minimizes the meaning of the season. I would expect more than that coming from a pastor
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