A reversal of fortune ...

On Trump and his disregard for life.

I'm convinced that Trump has no regard for life, despite his pleasing pro-life religious leaders by pealing back healthcare benefits which included contraception mandates and that kind of stuff imposed by the Affordable Care Act.  It's a good thing for the conscientious objectors, no doubt.  As everyone probably knows, Trump used to be pro-choice, now he's pro-life.  Fine.

Oddly enough, he loves hobnobbing with  dictators and thugs who have no concern for the lives of their enemies, and as is often the case, for their own people.  Like his pals, Trump has no concern for the ecology and the life of non humans - especially when laws and regulations enacted to preserve and care for the environment and wildlife inhibit profit.  Trump is only concerned with money, big business, big profits and satisfying an insatiable consumerism - the art of the deal.  We see this clearly in Trump's policies and attitudes, his corruption of the presidency into a family business, and his disregard for “the needs of the poor, the weak and the vulnerable, in a debate often dominated by more powerful interests”.

"Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years." - Laudato si

Yesterday I learned that the Trump administration published new guidelines allowing the importation from Zimbabwe and Zambia of elephant trophies and lions shot for sport.  The Obama Administration had banned the practice - Trump reversed that.

Hunting interests have scored a major victory with the Trump administration’s decision to allow Americans to bring home body parts of elephants shot for sport in Africa. Another totemic species now looks set to follow suit – lions. 

As the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) was announcing it was lifting a ban on the import of elephant “trophies” from Zimbabwe and Zambia, it also quietly published new guidelines that showed lions shot in the two African countries will also be eligible to adorn American homes. 

“This all suggests that rather than being the protectors of wildlife, the federal government is now a promoter of trophy hunting,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. 

“They are rolling out the red carpet to the next Walter Palmer, and that same sort of situation will happen all over again,” Pacelle added, referencing the Minnesota dentist who sparked an international furore after he shot and killed Cecil, a famous black-maned lion that was lured from a protected reserve in Zimbabwe. 

In 2014, American hunters were barred from bringing home parts of elephants shot in Zimbabwe because of concerns over the conservation of the animals in the country. Last year, the FWS, under the Obama administration, also listed the lion as a threatened species and placed tighter restrictions on bringing back heads, paws and other body parts. - Source

This is such an unfortunate development.

I am so disappointed, so sad about this flagrant disregard for life.  I turned to Laudat si, the encyclical of Pope Francis to find references which speak to the issue of protecting animals from exploitation and extinction, and with new insight, I discovered the immense treasure contained in the Holy Father's teaching.  How sad Catholics dismiss the Holy Father's teaching and admonitions, disputing with him over the environmental challenge we are undergoing.

I did a post on Facebook with pull quotes from Laudato si in support of animal/wildlife.  I want to share what the Holy Father said about St. Francis of Assisi and his love for non human life.  Even Franciscans, sons of St. Francis seem to deny this aspect of the Saint's love of nature, just as they try to explain away his love of absolute poverty.  It is sad how infected with the contagion of worldly materialism and consumerism so many Catholics have become - even those who profess to follow in the footsteps of St. Francis.

Saint Francis of Assisi

10. I do not want to write this Encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure, whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.

11. Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it is to be human. Just as happens when we fall in love with someone, whenever he would gaze at the sun, the moon or the smallest of animals, he burst into song, drawing all other creatures into his praise. He communed with all creation, even preaching to the flowers, inviting them “to praise the Lord, just as if they were endowed with reason”.[19] His response to the world around him was so much more than intellectual appreciation or economic calculus, for to him each and every creature was a sister united to him by bonds of affection. That is why he felt called to care for all that exists. His disciple Saint Bonaventure tells us that, “from a reflection on the primary source of all things, filled with even more abundant piety, he would call creatures, no matter how small, by the name of ‘brother’ or ‘sister’”.[20] Such a conviction cannot be written off as naive romanticism, for it affects the choices which determine our behaviour. If we approach nature and the environment without this openness to awe and wonder, if we no longer speak the language of fraternity and beauty in our relationship with the world, our attitude will be that of masters, consumers, ruthless exploiters, unable to set limits on their immediate needs. By contrast, if we feel intimately united with all that exists, then sobriety and care will well up spontaneously. The poverty and austerity of Saint Francis were no mere veneer of asceticism, but something much more radical: a refusal to turn reality into an object simply to be used and controlled.

12. What is more, Saint Francis, faithful to Scripture, invites us to see nature as a magnificent book in which God speaks to us and grants us a glimpse of his infinite beauty and goodness. “Through the greatness and the beauty of creatures one comes to know by analogy their maker” (Wis 13:5); indeed, “his eternal power and divinity have been made known through his works since the creation of the world” (Rom 1:20). For this reason, Francis asked that part of the friary garden always be left untouched, so that wild flowers and herbs could grow there, and those who saw them could raise their minds to God, the Creator of such beauty.[21]Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise. - Laudato si

I don't sign petitions online or in the mail, but I pray.  Please pray for the protection of all life.  As it says in the Book of Wisdom: "For from the greatness and the beauty of created things, their original author, by analogy, is seen."

Prayer

O Lord, seize us with your power and light,

help us to protect all life,

to prepare for a better future,

for the coming of your Kingdom

of justice, peace, love and beauty.

Praise be to you!

Amen.