Here you can find a variety of articles I have written about religion and the environment. I hope you find them interesting and thought provoking. There is so much to say about our relationships with the natural world, and I use the plural because how we interact with the world around us is so diverse.

I am a regular contributor to The Tablet  and Faith Today

Dark Shadows of the Past

A collection of extracts from interviews I did for the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, published in The Tablet on 27/1/2012.  The 10 interviews I did can be heard in full in the Fifth Column website from January 30th.

Spoonies - Reasons to Cherish Nature

The Tablet - 30th December 2011.  We don't need a "reason" to protect nature, its existence is reason enough.

Letter to Editor - The Tablet

A shift in thinking?

Cardinal Pell - The Tablet

Cardinal, put down your sword.  A response to the lecture in Westminster Cathedral Hall by Cardinal George Pell on October 26th 2011, published in The Tablet on Friday November 4th 2011.

Greening the Pilgrim's Way - The Tablet

Published on October 29th 2011, an article on the launch of the Green Pilgrimage Network in Assisi which I helped organise.

Humanity - and Earth - Cry Out - The Tablet

Published on March 17th 2011 in The Tablet - an article on our perception of ourselves in relation to the earth.  Is it time to rethink who we are?  When the earth quakes and thousands die we are in a state of confusion if we only see God in the good and beautiful.

Cuttle Fish, Clones and Cluster Bombs - Jesuit website

Published on 17th Feb 2011 in the Jesuit online magazine Thinking Faith, a review of Michael Northcott's book of environmental sermons.  Published by Darton, Longman and Todd.  This is the second article I have written for Thinking Faith - see Merging Worlds below.

Oil Spoil

Published in Faith Today, February 2011.  the BP oil spill was a disaster on any measure - what lessons can we learn?

Ethiopian Sacred Forest - The Tablet

Published in The Tablet in the special Christmas double edition 2010.  Are the sacred forests that surround Ethiopian Orthodox churches a model for all the religious world?

Not So Happy Families - The Tablet

Published in The Tablet on 13th November 2010.  Neglect and cruelty towards children is throughout society, even in our church communities.

Creation Time - The Tablet

Published in The Tablet, 2nd October 2010 on the move to create a season to contemplate our relationship with nature, from September 1st to October 4th, St Francis feast day.

Solomon's Dove - Faith Today

An article published in Faith Today about the dramatic decline of this beautiful migrant to the UK.  Solomon refers to it in the Song of Solomon and is the symbol of peace and love.

A Biodiverse Gift - Faith Today

An article published in April 2010 by Faith Today on the importance of maintaining biodiversity.

photo by James Broscombe

Just Around the Corner - Faith Today

An article published in Justice Magazine in April 2010 on the death of Baby P.  I also made a half hour programme with the same name, you can listen to that HERE.  You can hear the voices of those who lived near where Peter lived, a poet and a woman from Bristol who lives by people she suspects of hurting their children.

 

More Than Gold

How can the churches in the UK get involved with the Olympics in 2012?  Is this an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy for justice and peace?  Published in Faith Today, March 2010

Encyclical

Caritas in Veritate is Pope Benedict's social encyclical which came out October 2009.  I gave a lecture on February 24th 2010 at a study day on its message on the environment.  Some parts are very good, some not bad and other sections (in my opinion) need more work.

Haiti

The earthquake devated the lives of thousands of innocent people - so why does this happen?  Published in Justice Magazine, January 2010

Windsor

In November 2009 the Alliance of Religions and Conservation and UNDP put on a wonderful inter-faith event at Windosr Castle showcasing the commitments the world faiths have made towards protecting the environment - a heart-lifting alternative to the Copenhagen Cop one month later.  Published in Justice magazine, November 2009

Preach the Green Word

Article in The Tablet, November 11th 2009, on bringing environmental concern into the daily life of the church.

 

Environment is a Moral Issue

Article in The Guardian, September 23rd 2009.  It got some debate going...

Loreto Speech

Mary Ward lived in the early 17th Century, a pioneer of education for women.  her legacy has been immense, although she died thinking her work had been abolished by Pope Urban V111 - she was even imprisoned as a heretic for a while by the Inquisition.  Loreto schools are founded on Mary Ward's vision and I gave the centenary speech to the school in Manchester on Sept 8th 2009

Severn Estuary

An article published in JUSTICE magazine, 4th September 2009.

The Severn estuary is a unique treasure, it is a dynamic and rich habitat for many thousands of birds, fish, insects and plantlife.  But its huge currents could provide us with carbon free energy, so what is more important

Faith on the Farm

The Tablet Article published on 4th September 2009. 

Victor Barry is a Catholic farmer in his 70s, passionate about organic, low carbon "old fashioned farming" but can this type of food production really feed 6 billion people - and rising?

Victor Barry Interview on YouTube

Methodist Ladies and Cavewomen

An article for the Methodist Recorder for July 2009.  What do Methodist ladies and a cavewoman have in common?  Read on...

Come Let Us Pod

An article for The Tablet, July 24th 2009,  on podcasting.  Is it easy?  How do you do it?  Why bother?

Environment is a Moral Issue

This is the full version of an article that appeared on Friday 24th April 2009 in the Guardian Online about a US climate change initiative.

Population article with Tina Beattie

This is an article I wrote with Prof Tina Beattie on Jonathan Porritt's proposal to the government to encourage a limit on family size to 2 children, in an attempt to curb the burgeoning population of the world. It was published in the Western Daily Press in February 2009

 

Merging Worlds

Published on Thinking Faith, the online journal for Jesuits worldwide

10/03/09

click here to go to website of Thinking Faith

Call of the Wild

With so much pressure on the Amazon Basin, what can really save it?

Published in The Tablet - 6/03/09

click here for Tablet website

        Drink and be Thankful

A reflection on gratitude and how we should be wary of relying solely on our ingenuity to get us out of the environmental crisis.

Heaven and Earth

This was written after the visit to the UK by Bishop Chris Toohey, who was present at the opening of Sound of Many Waters

Silent Cliffs

The disappearance of our seabirds is horrifying!  I wrote this after filming some seabird colonies in Scotland for the BBC 4 series I made  Born to be Wild

Dialogue with Nature

A speech given to the Union of Monastic Superiors at Ampleforth Abbey in 2007.  Simple living, community, humility, quiet observance, tolerance, mutual respect are all values deeply embedded in monasticism, and values we need to find in our lives if we are to face a sustainable future.

 2007 Communicate 2007

This is a short resume of the conference I spoke at ??? it is a vary interesting meeting that draws together anyone who wants to communicate about the environment. This is the website for this year, where I also spoke. www.festivalofnature.org

Divided We Fall

An article published jointly with Mark Dowd by The Tablet in March 2008

Gardens of Harmony

An article I wrote after making the radio series Gardens of Faith.  It explores how a garden is a non-threatening and hopeful place to find out what binds the great religions of the world, and that is love and care for the natural world.

Green Witness

I think many of us are a bit confused by organic, sustainability and green living! This was published by The Tablet in 2006

Sea Creatures

My son wrote this when he was 8 after hearing on the news that the Japanese wanted to resume whaling.

 2007 Is catholicism Really Green?

A published article on Catholicism and the environment.

Age of Loneliness

Another published article that looks to a future without other species to live alongside us.

Too Big for the Planet

An article on population published by The Tablet in 2007

 2007 Rise and Fall of Stewardship

Published by The Universe, are we really competent stewards? I wrote this after visiting ???managed retreat??? sites for Radio 4.

 2007 On a Wing and a Prayer

Another seabird article published by The Tablet.

 2007 Crammond Island

I wrote this reflection after visiting this Scottish island with my Jesuit friend Chris Boles.  It was published by The Universe.

2006 Warming to Religion

The end of the last ice age was utterly dramatic and had profound consequences both environmentally and in the minds of those who witnessed it.  Is Genesis a vestigial memory of the greening of the land once the ice had left the N hemisphere?  And what will happen if we enter another phase of dramatic environmental change?

Parish Pump

An article I wrote for the Parish Pump newsletter.

The World is Your Oyster

Published by The Universe, are we really free to do whatever we want?

In the Beginning

I wrote this after reading about the proposed drilling in the Alaskan wilderness area ANWR (Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge www.arctic.fws.gov.  I had also just read Cardinal Ratzinger's (as he was then) book of the same name.

Aubrey Manningon Population

Mark Dowd article Article given at The Oxford Science Festival

Abbot Christopher Jamieson's address on Changing Climate and Spiritual Steps

Sr Margaret Atkins - Passenger Pigeons and Polar Bears