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Box 60205
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www.catholicsandclimatechange.org
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Obedience to the voice of the earth is more important for our future happiness than the voices of the moment, the desires of the
moment… Existence itself, our earth, speaks to us, and we have to learn to listen.
Pope Benedict XVI, July 2007

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
December 6, 2010

For further information, Dan Misleh, 202-309-5754

danmisleh@catholicsandclimatechange.org.

Catholic Climate Ambassadors Ready to Spread Church Teaching on the Environment

WASHINGTON, DC. From December 3-5, 2010, twelve Catholic leaders from across the country gathered
outside Washington, DC, to immerse themselves in Catholic teaching on care for creation in light of climate
change and to prepare to share this teaching and help promote the Catholic Climate Covenant: St. Francis
Pledge to Care for Creation and the Poor in Catholic parishes, schools and other organizations.

Most Reverend William Skylstad, recently retired bishop of Spokane and the honorary chairman of the
Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, welcomed the ambassadors via a video link on the first day of training
by reminding the newly formed Catholic Climate Ambassadors how important this work will be in the months
and years ahead.

“Pope Benedict has inspired millions of Catholics around the world through his words and by his example and
is now known to many as ‘The Green Pope,’” said Skylstad. “By your enthusiasm for this project and
willingness to visit parishes, schools and gatherings of the Catholic faithful, many more will come to appreciate
the need to recapture and live out ancient biblical teaching about proper stewardship of God’s gift of Creation.”

“The Catholic community across the country will soon have access to Catholic Climate Ambassadors: men and
women who understand and can articulate the messages of Pope Benedict XVI and the U.S. Catholic bishops
on care for creation and climate change,” said Dan Misleh, Executive Director of the Catholic Coalition on
Climate Change. (The work of the Coalition is supported by 11 national Catholic organizations including the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.) “We are delighted with the caliber and enthusiasm of the new
Ambassadors,” he continued.

The three presentation sessions were led by Dr. Glenn Juday of the School of Natural Resources and
Agricultural Sciences at the University of Alaska, and Professor Lucia Silecchia of the Catholic University of
America’s Columbus School of Law. Juday has been professionally involved in climate change issues from a
scientific perspective for over thirty years, and Silecchia has written extensively on Catholic social thought and
the environment, with a particular focus on the writings of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II. She was
a participant in the 2007 Vatican conference on Climate Change and Development, organized by the Pontifical
Council for Justice and Peace.

Juday’s presentations introduced participants to the complex science of climate change. He covered
the science of climate change, with a special focus on climate history, the varied causes of climate change, the
role of humans as agents of environmental change, the trajectory of climate change, and the use of science to
assist in planning public policy and personal choices. Silecchia then followed with sessions on Catholic social
thought with respect to environmental stewardship. Her focus was on traditional principles of Catholic social
thought – stewardship, solidarity, intergenerational responsibility, subsidiarity, the option for the poor,
personal sacrifice, service to the common good and, above all, respect for the dignity of the human person –
come into play when addressing complex ecological questions.

Silecchia stated, “At a time when too much of the secular environmental debate is caught up in partisan
rancor, politization of science, and, quite frankly, a negative view of the dignity of the human person in
creation, the Church has much to contribute by way of proposing moral principles to guide decision-making
and planning in this field. Pope Benedict spoke recently of ‘our royal vocation as stewards of the created
order.’ It is my hope that initiatives such as this one will inspire more people to take that ‘royal vocation’
seriously and joyfully.”