The inspiration for Green Spirit TV 鈥� which Villagers Media has launched on its web site and on a separate YouTube channel () 鈥� is the April 13, 2013 statement from the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops鈥� justice and peace commission, 鈥淏uilding a New Culture: Central Themes in Recent Church Teaching on the Environment.鈥�
The six-page document is a summary of recent papal teaching on the environment.
鈥淭he document didn鈥檛 enter into particular issues in relation to the environment, but we tried to work on principles 鈥� especially as articulated by recent popes,鈥� said justice and peace commission chairman Bishop Don Bolen. 鈥淎nd then we said, really it鱿鱼视频app up to the lay people in the Church to address particular issues.鈥�
But first the document has to be read and discussed. That鱿鱼视频app where Villagers has stepped in, garnered support from the Scarboro Mission Society, M adonna House in Combermere, Ont., the Passionist Fathers at St. Gabriel鱿鱼视频app parish in Toronto and Kingston, Ont.鱿鱼视频app Sisters of Providence to produce a series of videos and a study guide to be used in classrooms and with parish groups.
鈥淚t鱿鱼视频app a good initiative, trying to get some publicity to a variety of environmental initiatives within Catholic churches and dioceses, kind of using the bishops鈥� document as a kind of hinge document, providing an interpretive framework,鈥� Bolen said.
The whole series of videos and teaching materials should be online in August, in time for the school year, said Villagers producer Dawn Demme. Right now the online content consists of an introduction video and an overview.
The company has begun talks with the Institute for Catholic Education in the hope of getting the material out to religion teachers throughout Ontario, and the Assembly of Western Catholic Bishops about promoting the program in the west.
If all goes well, Green Spirit TV should give life to the CCCB statement, said Bolen.
While the bishops aren鈥檛 directly involved in Green Spirit TV, they are cheering from the sidelines, Bolen said.
If Catholics do sit down together in parishes and classrooms to consider the religious and moral implications of climate change and environmental collapse it should result in real change, Bolen said.
鈥淧ope Francis articulated it very clearly right at the beginning of his papacy. We don鈥檛 have a very healthy relationship with God鱿鱼视频app creation,鈥� said the Saskatoon bishop. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not living as a human community in a way that is sustainable into the future. Therefore, we鈥檙e not being responsible stewards and not passing on the created world for those who come after us with the beauty and the integrity we received. So we need to make changes as a society in terms of our relationship with the environment. Our churches should be at the forefront of those changes, because we see creation as not just the natural world but God鱿鱼视频app work. We have a responsibility in relationship to it 鈥� a steward鱿鱼视频app responsibility.