About the Environmental Justice Program
The Environmental Justice Program
(EJP) of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
began in the fall of 1993 and is located within the Department
of Social Development and World Peace (SDWP).
EJP seeks to educate and
motivate Catholics to a deeper reverence
and respect for God’s creation, and to engage
parishes and dioceses in activities aimed at dealing with environmental
problems, particularly as they affect the poor. EJP acts as a
resource for Catholic dioceses and state Catholic conferences,
and through them Catholic parishes.
Its distinctively Catholic foundation lies in Pope John
Paul II’s 1990 World Day of Peace message and the
U.S. Catholic bishops’ statement, Renewing the Earth,
issued in 1991.
EJP has close ties to the National Religious Partnership
for the Environment (NRPE) and relies on the partnership to provide
resources and support for many of its ongoing initiatives as outlined
below.
EJP focuses on four activities to advance the mission of
the program:
>
Scholarship
> Leadership
Development
> Public
Policy/Advocacy
> Special
Projects
With the guidance of the U.S. Catholic bishops, EJP is active
in the public policy arena advocating for environmental policies
which protect the poor, promote environmental health and safety,
ensure that the right to private property is balanced with the
claims of the common good, and promotes sustainable environmental
and economic development.
>
Public Policy Overview
> Policy
Archives
> Bishops' Statements
> Regional Bishops' Statements
Catholic scholars continue to explore the unique and important
contributions that our faith tradition can have on environmental
questions and environmental ethics. Two important articles are
offered here:
>
The Good Life from
a Catholic Perspective:The Problem of Consumption,
by Monsignor Charles Murphy
> An
Ecological Spirituality, by Reverend Joseph A. Tetlow,
SJ