Of Giraffes, Turtles, and Frogs

Unam Santum reports on a school being reopened not under the direction of the diocese by a group of progressive nuns. he also notes this statement taken from Reconciling With the Land: A Lenten Reflection on the IHM website:

Recently, the members of the Earth Charter Committee decided to place a representative symbol of this community in their prayer corners. It is amazing how the presence of a giraffe, a turtle or a frog next to a candle or icon helps bring a deeper consciousness to our prayer. God is in us and in all. If we are polluting or wasting water, if we help destroy needed habitats by our demands for particular products, if we carelessly dispose of recyclable materials, our relationship to the earth community needs healing.

Well I guess that is appropriate. The giraffe symbolizes their sticking their necks out concerning heterodox theology. The turtle represents their true progress, even though they think they are going somewhere fast their actually crawling slowly along in not even the right direction. In fact it reminds me of an old children’s story – The Tortoise and the Hare-sy. Now as for the frog it is rather easy to associate the frog with this old folk warning of which I have heard used many times by Catholics.

If you throw a frog in boiling water he will quickly jump out. But if you put a frog in a pan of cold water and raise the temperature ever so slowly, the gradual warming will make the frog doze happily . . . in fact, the frog will eventually cook to death, without ever waking up.

Now it certainly makes for a nice illustrative example, but unfortunately it suffers from not being scientifically true. A frog will indeed jump out of the water if the temperature starts to gradually rise. So I will go with another comparison for what the frog means in their prayer corners. You often hear that frog tastes just like chicken. Just as their school will seem to be Catholic without actually being Catholic. Just as frog meat is a poor substitute for chicken, especially when chicken is more easily available, so will their school be a poor substitute for a true Catholic education.

"our relationship to the earth community needs healing."

Maybe they can setup earth reconciliation rooms. Inside the rooms can be some animals, flowers, and dirt. They can choose to enter the reconciliation room face-to-earth or behind a screen. "Forgive me earth community for I have sinned. I have used a product without recycling.", "Say three Our Gaias and say an act of recycling."