Sister Rosemarie Greco, Administrator of Wisdom House, was interviewed as part of a documentary of the Humane Society titled, "Eating Mercifully." Please take a look! The film explores the intersection of animal welfare and religion. Visit www.hsus.org or click on the video below.
Not included in the documentary were the following statements of the Catholic Church concerning care of animals.
In 1915, Pope Benedict XV encouraged priests in Italy to join the Association for Protection of Animals to protect animals from cruelty and roughness and lead people to see animals as a beauty of creation from God.
The Catholic Catechism (#2418) says that it is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer and die needlessly.
Pope John Paul II, in 1990, said "animals possess a soul and people must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren.... Animals are the fruit of the creative action of the Holy Spirit and merit respect; they are as near to God as people are."
Pope Benedict XVI said (2002) " industrial use of creatures, so that geese are fed in such a way as to produce as large a liver as possible, or hens living so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds; this degrading of living creatures to commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible."
The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales, in their teaching on the Natural Environment said (2002) that individual actions may seem insignificant but together the small steps of many people can have an astonishing impact. Public pressure becomes so powerful when it reflects the moral vision that respects the rights of others.
2 comments:
I ordered the free copy from the HSUS website humanesociety.org/allcreatures.
Hopefully Pastors will show this great video to their parishioners. "Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy." Jesus
Someday we will be held accountable (please see Hebrews 4:13).
Jan Fredericks
Catholic Concern for Animals-USA
I particularly liked the comment of the pastor who noted that the focus should be more on human mercy and compassion, rather than on animal rights. It is not that I don't believe in rights for animals, but I think that the terminology of that implies a radical extremism that turns people off to the entire subject of animal cruelty. Human mercy is a much more accessible and understandable notion to make appeals to, particularly in the religious realm.
Jill O'Brien
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