EWTN News portal reports: On April 8, 2026, the five “bishops” of Indiana—Archbishop Charles Thompson, Bishop Kevin Rhoades, Bishop Robert McClory, Bishop Timothy Doherty, and Bishop Joseph Siegel—released a pastoral letter urging Catholics to adopt an “integral ecology” framework, echoing the modernist encyclical *Laudato Si’* by antipope Francis. The letter, released during the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope (a conciliar fabrication), calls for sustainable farming, renewable energy, care for the poor, and even gardening as a spiritual practice, while invoking “Christian hope” and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, praised the letter as a “thoughtful contribution.” This pastoral missive is not a call to repentance or the supernatural life, but a textbook example of the conciliar sect’s reduction of the Faith to naturalistic humanitarianism and environmental activism, dressed in the language of piety.
The Omission of the Supernatural: A Gospel Without Grace
The most glaring and damning feature of this pastoral letter is its complete silence on the supernatural order. There is no mention of the necessity of sanctifying grace, the sacraments, the reality of sin, the need for conversion to the Catholic Faith, the divinity of Christ, or the eternal destiny of the human soul. The “ecological and social crises” are diagnosed as rooted in a “human heart enclosed in upon itself, alienated from God,” yet the remedy offered is purely naturalistic: sustainable farming, renewable energy, gardening, and “unplugging from the virtual world.” This is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ; it is the gospel of humanitarianism, a denial of the very purpose of human existence, which is to know, love, and serve God in this world and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
Pope Pius XI, in his encyclical *Quas Primas*, unequivocally declared that “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The Indiana “bishops” offer no such recognition. Their “integral ecology” is a counterfeit of the true *integralism* of the Catholic Church, which demands the social reign of Christ the King over all aspects of human life, including the state, the family, and the individual. Instead, they offer a horizontal, worldly “ecology” that ignores the vertical relationship between man and God.
“Integral Ecology”: The Modernist Synthesis of All Errors
The letter explicitly adopts the framework of “integral ecology” as articulated by antipope Francis in *Laudato Si’*. This concept, far from being a Catholic innovation, is a synthesis of modernist errors condemned by the pre-conciliar Magisterium. It conflates the care of creation with the care of the poor, reducing the Church’s mission to a program of social and environmental activism. This is a direct violation of the Church’s primary mission, which is the salvation of souls through the preaching of the Gospel, the administration of the sacraments, and the teaching of Catholic doctrine.
The *Syllabus of Errors* of Pope Pius IX condemned the proposition that “the teaching of the Catholic Church is hostile to the well-being and interests of society” (Proposition 40). Yet, the conciliar sect has effectively inverted this, teaching that the Church’s primary purpose is to serve the “well-being and interests of society” through humanitarian and environmental programs. The Indiana “bishops” are merely echoing this inversion, demonstrating their complete capitulation to the spirit of the age.
The Cult of Creation: Gardening as a Substitute for Sanctity
Perhaps the most absurd and revealing suggestion in the letter is the encouragement of gardening as a means of spiritual growth. The “bishops” state: “Biblically, our human life originated in the Garden of Eden, a paradise of holy and just relationships among God, ourselves, and creation. Gardening is a way of life that requires humility, attentiveness, gratitude, and faithful obedience to cooperate with the ways of soil and plants.” This is not Catholic spirituality; it is pantheism, a direct echo of the first proposition of the *Syllabus of Errors*: “There exists no Supreme, all-wise, all-provident Divine Being, distinct from the universe, and God is identical with the nature of things.”
The Catholic Faith teaches that man’s relationship with God is mediated through grace, the sacraments, and the virtues, not through “cooperating with the ways of soil and plants.” The saints did not achieve holiness by gardening; they achieved it by prayer, mortification, and the reception of the sacraments. The suggestion that gardening can substitute for these means of grace is a blasphemous trivialization of the spiritual life.
The Sacred Heart: A Devotion Co-opted by Modernism
The letter invokes the Sacred Heart of Jesus, stating: “The Sacred Heart of Jesus seeks to draw each human heart into communion with himself and through him into communion with the Trinity.” Yet, this invocation is emptied of its true meaning. The devotion to the Sacred Heart is a reparation for sin and a call to love God above all things. It is inseparable from the doctrine of the Atonement, the reality of hell, and the necessity of conversion. The Indiana “bishops” strip the devotion of its supernatural content, reducing it to a vague sentiment of “communion” with no mention of sin, repentance, or the need for the sacraments.
This is consistent with the modernist tendency to retain the language of traditional piety while hollowing it out and filling it with naturalistic content. The Sacred Heart becomes a symbol of “ecological citizenship” rather than the source of grace and reparation for sin.
The Conciliar Sect’s Apostasy: A Systemic Failure
The Indiana “bishops” are not acting in isolation. They are part of the conciliar sect, which has systematically abandoned the Catholic Faith in favor of modernist errors. Their pastoral letter is a fruit of the Second Vatican Council, which opened the doors to the world and its ideologies. The “bishops” are merely implementing the program of *Gaudium et Spes*, the conciliar constitution that called for the Church to “dialogue” with the world and its concerns.
The pre-conciliar Magisterium warned against this very development. Pope St. Pius X, in *Pascendi Dominici Gregis*, condemned the modernist tendency to reduce religion to a “feeling” or “experience” rather than a set of objective truths. The Indiana “bishops” have reduced the Faith to a “feeling” of connection with creation and the poor, devoid of doctrinal content.
Conclusion: A Call to Reject the Conciliar Apostasy
The pastoral letter of the Indiana “bishops” is not a call to holiness; it is a call to apostasy. It is a modernist manifesto dressed in the language of piety, designed to lead the faithful away from the supernatural life and into the arms of the world. The true Catholic response is not to plant gardens or invest in renewable energy, but to return to the unchanging Faith of the Church, to receive the sacraments, to pray for the conversion of sinners, and to work for the social reign of Christ the King.
As Pope Pius XI declared, “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The Indiana “bishops” have renounced that reign, and their pastoral letter is a testament to their apostasy. The faithful must reject their modernist errors and cling to the true Church, which endures in the integral Catholic Faith, outside the structures of the conciliar sect.
Source:
In ecological letter, Indiana bishops urge Catholics to care for ‘God’s good world’ (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 09.04.2026