Each year, the Capitol Hill Ocean Week Conference offers marine advocates, scientists, and the public a chance to mingle, meet ocean champions, and hear the latest reports from researchers, policy makers, educators, and grassroots activists. This year’s meeting, June 10-12, addressed a breadth of issues of direct concern to the IOEC—climate change, plastic pollution, declining fisheries, and shrinking biodiversity. Yet for those fortunate enough to attend, the overwhelming message from the speakers was about our mutual love for the oceans.

This shared devotion was clear from the opening keynote, when John Podesta—Counselor to President Obama—joyfully announced that nominations will again be accepted for new National Marine Sanctuaries to protect treasured marine resources. Less than 3% of the world’s oceans are protected in any form, and new nominations to the U.S. system have been closed since 1995. Clearly, an expansion of the National Marine Sanctuaries program is vital. This new rule was crafted to solicit nominations from local communities of much-needed additions to the existing network of 14 U.S. sanctuaries. Each of us was asked to identify the ocean and Great Lakes sites we love enough to support saving forever.

Later at the conference, California Congresswoman Lois Capps spoke of her experiences in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, and Michigan Congressman Dan Benishek reflected on his attachment to the wilderness around the Great Lakes sanctuary at Thunder Bay, Their talks and others recognized the diverse values protected in these special places, not simply conservation, scientific, or ecological but also historical, cultural, and aesthetic, as well as personal history, family memory, community identity, and meaningful connections with the future.

The existing sanctuary system of 150,000 square miles honors sites ranging from the Stellwagen Bank off Maine, to California’s Channel Islands, to the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. Protected areas have been chosen to preserve the wreck of the USS Monitor, coral reefs around American Samoa, and underwater archaeological sites around the Florida Keys.

Yet as profound as were the values discussed on stage, no one addressed the need for honoring Creation itself or places of spiritual significance in the sanctuaries. The secular view of sanctuary is of a safe haven, of resources specially protected from human exploitation, but shouldn’t there also be room to protect sacred places in the ocean? Perhaps it’s time for communities of faith to reflect on the ocean sites that mean the most to their history and teachings, and nominate their candidates to NOAA. In identifying ocean places fundamental to our faiths, we would as communities and individuals strengthen our own understanding of the bounty of the sea, our profound responsibilities to protect it – and the Creator’s place in every part of our world.

Details about sanctuary nomination process can be obtained from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Announcing the publication of a major new book by IOEC Director Marybeth Lorbiecki.

Following St. Francis: John Paul II’s Call for Ecological Action (Rizzoli, 2014) is the first book to explore the visionary sermons, encyclicals, and other writings by Pope John Paul II in his heartfelt and scripturally-grounded defense of the Earth. Long before others recognized the role of faith in environmental protection, John Paul II laid the foundation for groups like the IOEC to bring together religious communities in service of a healthier, more just and more beautiful planet.

Director Lorbiecki devoted over a decade to collecting the pope’s most significant environmental writings, and her book gracefully interweaves passages from his works with passages from Scripture and excerpts from Patriarch Bartholomew, Gandhi, Aldo Leopold, and other leading thinkers and ethicists. She draws careful connections between John Paul II’s views and those of St. Francis of Assisi—patron saint of ecology—and of Pope Francis. While based in strong scholarship, Lorbiecki writes engages readers from diverse religious and non-religious backgrounds, whether familiar with Catholic teachings or not, through vivid stories and accessible language.

Especially relevant to IOEC supporters will be sections on how the late pope viewed ocean-related issues such as climate change, biodiversity declines, wasteful fishing practices, clean water scarcity, and the connections between poverty and ecological responsibility. While replete with articulate warnings about the consequences of human action, the book provides uplifting words to urge and to guide fundamental change.

This powerful book will reawaken readers to a message Pope John Paull II often reminded us, “As I have said before: Protect the world, the beautiful endangered world.”

“Lorbiecki provides a wonderful connection Franciscan spirituality and Pope John Paul II’s call to care for all of God’s creation. She not only explains why we are called to action but offers clear examples of how to accomplish it.” ~ Patrick Carolan, executive director of the Franciscan Action Network.