The Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (DPIHD) has advocated for a Church-State “synergy” in the realization of the “Green Church Program”, an initiative of Benin’s Cotonou Archdiocese that “aims to bring about an ecological conversion among the faithful of the Catholic Church.”
Speaking at a Round Table in Cotonou on Saturday, January 20 as part of the Green Church Program, Michael Cardinal Czerny said, “It would be difficult for the Church, even with the support of financial partners and the contribution of the faithful, to provide resources that fall within the sovereign domain of the State.”
Sustaining the Green Church Program, Cardinal Czerny said, “requires mobilization, and ownership by the population is therefore essential.”
“This is also where synergy between Church and State is needed. The Church could be of service to the State and the population through its teaching and research institutions, such as the Catholic University of West Africa,” he said on January 20, the final day of his four-day pastoral trip to the West African nation.
The DPIHD Prefect went on to pledge the Church’s intention to realize its mission as outlined in the May 2015 Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si', and that through collaboration, help the State accomplish its mission of “management”.
He said, “The Church will do what falls within its mission and strive to set an example by acting in a way that is consistent with what is taught in Laudato Si' and, within the framework of synergy, the Church will thus facilitate the task of the State, which is ultimately responsible for management.”
The Vatican-based Cardinal lauded the Green Church Program as an initiative whose objectives and strategies have been formulated with inspiration from Laudato Si'.
“To contextualize these objectives, the Church of Benin has chosen to focus on two axes. On the one hand, environmental education, in particular waste management and the training of pastoral agents and those working in diocesan structures; on the other, environmental, and ecological promotion, highlighting the promotion of renewable energies and the ecological development of diocesan spaces and structures to combat climate change,” he explained.
The 77-year-old Czechian member of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) went on to highlight some of the targets of the Green Church Program, saying, “Work will be carried out with pastoral agents, schools and health structures, as well as the people working in them.”
“The Church in Benin has chosen to reach out directly or indirectly to families, parishes, dioceses, schools and universities, healthcare structures, lay movements, the economic sector, religious circles, etc. These different targets are all key players in the fight against climate change,” he added.
The Vatican-based Cardinal further said, “These different targets are potential waste producers and energy consumers. At the same time, they are subjects concerned by the quest to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the fight against poverty, the fight against hunger.”
In the attempts to achieve the SDGs, he said, the highlighted targets work towards “universal access to drinking water, sustainable cities and communities, and so on.”
Acknowledging the “peaceful cohabitation between believers – Christians, Muslims, Voodoo practitioners and all others”, Cardinal Czerny said, “It is my humble conviction that the training and awareness-raising modules that will be produced will not be in contradiction with the ethical values shared with other religions and with the prescriptions of the country's laws.”
One possible challenging reality of the Green Church Program will be “waste management”, the Cardinal said, giving the example of “the sanitation chain that runs from the individual to the State, via the various administrative and social structures.”
“If the individual doesn't know how to dispose of the banana peel and the plastic bottle in the right place, the result is a mixture of waste that is difficult to manage,” he warned.
The Cardinal continued, “The same applies to renewable energies and the ecological development of public areas.”
“Benin is a coastal country whose environmental management is obliged to consider the effects of climate change on firm soils and the ocean,” Cardinal Czerny said.
He called upon all stakeholders to get involved in the Green Church Program, adding that with the involvement of all, “we'll soon see results that will help safeguard our common home.”
“I encourage you to continue in this spirit of networking, patient, action-oriented dialogue and sharing,” the DPIHD Prefect said.