Biography
Marcus Timothy Haworth is a Doctoral Student in Theology in the World Religions and World Church program at the University of Notre Dame. His research interests focus on the intersection of modernity/coloniality/decoloniality and peace, especially as it pertains to the development of theological imaginaries and the promotion of the common good.
Paper Abstract
In 2015, Pope Francis released his encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home. In it, he stated: “Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what He desired when He created it and correspond with His plan for peace, beauty, and fullness. . . . The establishment of a legal framework which can set clear boundaries and ensure the protection of ecosystems has become indispensable” (no. 53). Taking this statement as my point of departure, in this paper I argues for the intra-ecclesial recognition of living systems as legal bodies within the Catholic Church’s Code of Canon Law as but one means of immanently instantiating the cosmic dimensions of Christian soteriology, specifically Saint Paul’s notion of co-operative salvation as “new Creation” (cf. 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).