Ecological concerns are no stranger to Mission work, but too many people, including missionaries, are yet to be convinced of the central importance of ecology in the Mission of God, says visiting Austrian missionary, Fr Christian Tauchner SVD.
Fr Christian, who works in publications at St Augustine’s Mission Institute in Germany, and has previously been a missionary in Latin America, spoke on the topic of Ecology and Mission at the recent International Mission Symposium in Melbourne.
“Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, has helped to focus attention on the ecology of our planet, of creation,” he says.
“And while it has been warmly welcomed, I think many of us, including in the SVD, are yet to be truly convinced of its importance.”
Fr Christian says in his presentation to the Symposium, he looked at the mission document of the Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes and considered where in the document, published 50 years ago, there might be groundings for the emerging focus on ecology and mission.
“At first sight, there was no mention of ecology, which is not surprising, because very few people thought along ecological lines back then,” he says. “And the truth is, it is still quite marginalised today. Traditionally, and in actual practice, we have been focusing more on redemption than on creation.”
However, Fr Christian says that the issues raised by Pope Francis in his encyclical tie in well with the priorities outlined at the last SVD General Chapter meeting.
“Our thinking on Mission has developed so that now we understand it to mean that our task is to realise where God’s spirit is at work, and to move things towards the Kingdom in that way.
“As SVDs, I think sometimes that we are not really convinced yet of this Mission of God. We are still fighting on our frontier position. We are still at the centre of the Church and not so much on its margins, where we need to be as missionaries.
“And yet, ecological concerns are not strange to mission work, because, for example, for a long time we have tried to live a simple, austere lifestyle and this simplicity of living feeds into caring for ecology.
“Our brothers have done an enormous job in taking care of resources and not using them recklessly, so ecology is really just a different name for an attitude we used to have of austerity or poverty.”
Fr Christian says the new terminology surrounding ecology feeds into a new attitude as well.
“It encourages us to take a prophetic stance, a criticism of our absurd and stupid consumer mentality in western society, this idea that the more you consume, the better off you are.”
It is with the people on the margins, who are experiencing the worst effects of climate change and ecological challenges that dialogue should be undertaken.
“These are our dialogue partners,” Fr Christian says. “It is with these people that we need to build bridges.”
While in Australia, Fr Christian visited SVD communities in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Central Australia.
He is gathering material for the Mission Chronik magazine, which will feature the SVD AUS Province in an upcoming edition.