Biography
Fr. Gil Stoy is a Catholic Priest in the Congregation of Holy Cross. He is currently pursuing a doctoral in Moral Theology at the Catholic University of America, and is interested in the intersection of Political Theology, Economic Ethics, and Ecology.
Paper Abstract
Despite the great work done by many climate activists, the world is not going to reach the 1.5 degree Celsius goal set by the Paris agreement. Untold numbers of species may go extinct, millions of humans will suffer, and even more unknown consequences lie in wait for the earth as it will be. Drawing on the work of theologian Bethany N. Sollereder, this paper will explore how the Christian practices of lament, liturgy, and expectation inform a realistic hope in the face of certain death. Such a hope draws on the tragic certainty of the Cross as a source of comfort, accusation, and missioning that energizes continued action even if the goal is unattainable. This realistic form of hope looks to the witness of evolutionary history, in which Divine Providence has allowed for the existence, flourishing, and death of not only individuals, but of entire species which exist now only in the memory of God. The looming ecological catastrophe is not the first major extinction event in history, even if it is the most significant caused by human action. The evolutionary record challenges unrealistic ecological hopes which seek to avoid inevitable death and loss. But the Christian witness necessarily resists despair. Hope, for the Christian, is not found in temporal outcomes or success, but rather in the God who remembers. Such hope, rooted in the Cross of Christ, reimagines Christian action and fuels continued ecological action, even as the earth walks its path to Calvary.