Someone has asked me to write a blog post about the Catholic Church, climate change and sustainable development.

I sensed that perhaps the person was writing from a conservative point of view and was a climate change denier and that I am supposed to be opposed to the Church people in the Vatican being supporters of U.N. sustainable development and that I am supposed to get on a soapbox and get angry about this. But maybe I’m wrong and the person asking is a keen climate change activist and is gung ho for the sustainable development agenda and wanted me to jump on the bandwagon.

Who knows? Anyway–here’s my two cents for what it’s worth.

On a scale of one to ten with one being a huge yawn and ten being an angry activist, my personal interest in these issues hovers somewhere slightly above 2.5.

Why?

The first reason is common sense. Sustainable development is a good thing. It’s like being kind to your grandmother. Who can be against it? Sustainable development is good for everybody. However, I realize that this is a train onto which they have hooked lots of other boxcars. I realize it can be a vehicle for the globalist agenda, birth control and the expansion of abortion. I realize the eugenicists and secular ideologues might be on the same bandwagon. I also realize a group of them are quite happy to hijack the Vatican and use the Catholic Church as a propaganda tool.

So what? This has always happened. The people who want to control the world have always tried to use the Church to condone their power grab. It used to be kings and emperors who wanted the pope to crown them. Now it’s the globalists who want the pope to crown them. It will come to nothing.

But all this doesn’t mean that sustainable development–in and of itself–is a bad thing. When sustainable development is implemented and inspired at the local level I’m all for it. When it is imposed by governments and international NGOs it may trample on individual communities and individuals and that’s not good.

The second reason I’m not very interested is because of my old mantra, “So what are you going to do about it?” I’m just not one to get excited about global issues that I can’t really do anything about. I don’t worry myself that much about heretical bishops in Germany, corruption in the Vatican bank and gay orgies in Rome. That doesn’t mean I approve. It just means I can’t do anything about these things.

Likewise with climate change. Is man made climate change real? I don’t know. I’m not an expert and I’m willing to take the experts word for it. On the other hand, I’m old enough to remember previous apocalyptic scenarios that proved to be silly. Most of all I say, “So what are you going do do about that?” If you are a person who is qualified and expert enough and have enough power to do something about climate change, then get on and do it.

I’m not one of those people. I can live more simply and try not to pollute and re-cycle and maybe turn down the air conditioning, but otherwise I can’t see that my getting worked up about climate change makes much difference. If terrible things happen because of climate I’m sure we’ll all rally round, adapt and help one another. Bad stuff has happened in the past. Humanity soldiers on.

Like sustainable development, I think globalists are using climate change as a vehicle for taking political power and advancing a globalist, secular agenda, but again–what am I going to do about that? Not much.

The third reason for my apparent indifference is because I believe God is always doing his work in secret and behind the scenes. All this hubbub, all this political posturing, all these power grabs and money grabs–whether in the church or in the world–all these things are the concerns of worldlings.

God’s work is always secret and small– local and real. He’s born in a stable in a backwater of the Roman Empire. His saints always start by doing something small and real.

That’s what really interests me. I’m interested in not in big global concerns, but in the lives of the people around me–my family, my parish, my colleagues, my students and staff. That’s where I might be able to make a difference.

If certain high up Catholics think it is their mission to hold hands with the globalists and crown the emperor–well good luck with that. History shows it will end in tears and the Bible says, “what fellowship has light with darkness?” If they are priests and prelates who think their mission is to save the environment, they’re deluded. They should work to save souls not trees.

PS: What DOES interest me greatly on a similar subject is population decline and the demographic winter…something I’ll write about further when I’ve got the time.