What would you say to the Pope?
These are challenging times to be sure but I have some news I think speaks to what is possible if we commit to sincere action.
As time is short I will open with a humble request that requires your action by Tuesday Nov. 24th. Please send a letter of support addressed to Pope Benedict using this form (http://bit.ly/popetocopenhagen) expressing the desire for the Pope to enter the discussion of responding to Climate Change.
Below is an explanation of what is going on.
Our friend (and past guest), Stuart Scott has an audience with the the Pope, Pope Benedict, this Wednesday Nov.25th where he will be encouraging his eminence to take a firm position on Climate Change by asking him to attend the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen Denmark in December. This is where world leaders are meeting to determine the course of our response to climate change over the next decade. Stuart’s journey began about a month ago when he felt a calling to ask the Pope to get involved in solving climate change. He had the vision to get on a plane to Italy and undertake a 209km pilgrimage from Assisi to the Vatican figuring the namesake of St. Francis of Assisi would be an appropriate place to start his quest (St Francis is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment). He left with nothing but good intentions, no commitments, no guarantees. After negotiating through a half dozen gate-keepers, this Wednesday Stuart will personally hand deliver an invitation from UN Climate Secretary Yvo de Boer,as well as the the email responses he gets from us, directly to the Pope as part of the audience he has been granted. This is no joke. If you have something you would like to say to the Pope, now is your chance. Thank you for your time.
If you want to know more about Stuart’s work we will have him on the radio show talking about his work with the Interdenominational Climate Commitment in December. Also look for our interview with his compatriot in the IDCC, Rob Kinslow in two weeks.
Some food for thought, here’s what I wrote:
Your Eminence Pope Benedict,
It is with renewed optimism that I write to you today. The simple fact that an individual like Mr. Stuart Scott can attain an audience with you on the crucial matter of addressing Climate Change tells me that the Church has its eyes and ears open to the crisis we are now confronted with.
Please attend the Copenhagen Summit, and let the world hear a loud and clear message from the Catholic Church that it is the moral responsibility of this generation to solve man made global warming. Unless we adopt carbon neutral policies immediately we will destroy civilization as we know it.
The World now finds itself in the gravest of circumstances. We are currently confronted with the consequences of a failing of our moral resolve. It is a new era when the selfishness, greed, and narrow mindedness of our fathers steal from not only from one’s own son, but all the sons and daughters of the Earth. Our future has no foundation to build upon so long as we allow tricks of accounting to replace real reform. The fact that our shared dilemma finds its roots in the poisoned soil of misguided principal is why we need the leadership of the World’s faiths to come together in a unified moral outcry.
The facts are not in dispute. The Earth is warming. Man is at fault. It is morally irreprehensible for us to continue to get our power from sources that pollute the environment. Our patterns of consumption must change. It is no coincidence that a system that rewards exploitation and holds limited accountability has lead to a crisis that threatens our survival.
I would respectfully ask that you take time to reflect on the demands our population places upon our environment. It is now clear that we cannot continue our current patterns of consumption while also increasing our population at the rate we have been. The Lord’s wisdom is infinite but the resources of this planet we call home are not.
Finally a word about Stuart Scott; I am familiar with Mr. Scott’s work through our mutual involvement in Vice President Al Gore’s The Climate Project for which we are both presenters. Mr. Scott is a sincere and passionate advocate for the environment and a tremendously spiritual individual, and I can think of no one else I would rather see deliver these messages to you. It is a testimony to the Catholic Church that a well-intentioned man, with no formal invitation, following divine inspiration, should be granted an audience with Your Holiness to converse on this issue of paramount performance.
Yours Gratefully,