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By Msgr. Charles Pope, Posted on Catholic Education Resource Center, 2019
(Copyright © 2019 National Catholic Register)
Monsignor Charles Pope. “Man Is Not an Intruder in Creation.” Archdiocese of Washington (October 1, 2019). Reprinted with permission from Monsignor Charles Pope. Msgr. Charles Pope is currently a dean and pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where he has served on the Priest Council, the College of Consultors, and the Priest Personnel Board. Along with publishing a daily blog at the Archdiocese of Washington website, he has written in pastoral journals, conducted numerous retreats for priests and lay faithful, and has also conducted weekly Bible studies in the U.S. Congress and the White House. He was named a Monsignor in 2005.
There is a fundamental precept among climate change activists and radical environmentalists that man is an interloper in the natural world. All would be pristine if it weren’t for us.
Man is no mere observer or denizen of creation; he has the authority of a steward. The Hebrew word used in this passage is a strong one: kabash (subdue). It means to bring something into submission, to impose a kind of order. Scripture also says, Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it(Gen 2:15). …
