The Fellowship of Life
a Christian-based vegetarian group founded in 1973

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Letters
Genesis-based role in guarding creation

If green Catholics follow your editorial advice (June 23) and turn to their parishes as a place to express their concern for the state of the world, it will be most likely as missionaries.

Catholics show no sign of being less than averagely addicted to consumerism. The majority of the clergy are steeped in a human-centred (as opposed to God-centred) view of the world. They are unable to give us parishioners a lead on the moral status of a tree, a farm animal or the ozone layer, other than Aquinas's now outdated idea that they have no moral status and have no basis for being valued for themselves, but are merely useful economic resources for humans.

Christianity is a God-centred view of life. From the stories of creation in Genesis to the fourth Gospel, God creates, loves and redeems the whole of creation.

In contrast, the Church always uses the Genesis stories selectively and human-centredly to illustrate the relationships of God, humans and the rest of creation.

When my vegetarian friends ask me why we take so seriously the Genesis mission to be masters of all living animals but completely ignore the Divine command to be vegetarian, I have no answer other than we have lost our way. Imagine the reaction of the average congregation to that command, or of a parish priest asked to preach on it!

Dr. R.A. Hamilton

Catholic Herald
(14/7/89)

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