Overpopulation in World & Chile

Dear Fr. Phil, I studied your intersting homepage and being a catholic with strong belief in GOD, Jesus and the catholic church, but not in all what is coming from the Vatican... SAVE THE WORLD ============== Seeing how we all are living and what happens to the world urges me to give you a short oversight of the situation. The purpose of this memorandum is to make all of you aware of the dangerous situation we are facing in the very next decades and to reach a change in our behaving. Presently the world is loosing its balance due to: - Pollution of the water - Pollution of the air - Pollution of the ground The nature is no longer capable to reach a balance by natural processes. All the projects to clean the contamination produced by industries, towns, transportation and heating etc. are important and urgent. But all these measures are insufficient by them alone. They only change slightly the timeframe of the catastrophe to come, but they cannot prevent it. We will face the collaps of the total global ecological system in a short range of time if we do not combat the prime source of the disaster. This prime source is the OVERPOPULATION OF THE WORLD. At present the world is growing at a very high rate. In 1900 there were 1.6 Billion peoples living on the earth. In 1960 there were 3 Billion. In 1997 we will approach 6 Billion. And every year population grows by 90 Million! Each person has its rights for food, housing and sufficient living space. Each one uses energy for heating, transportation, work and hobby, and thereby contributes to the global pollution. - Continuing the present growing rate means a collaps in a few decades. This means: The nature will loose its ability to produce food and air for its inhabitants. A detailed study of the UN indicates clearly that when the world population exceeds 4 Billion, unrecoverable distortion of the nature begins and extinction of many animal species begins. See http://www.iti.com/iti/kzpg/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Do you want that our children will die due to missing food, contaminated water, or in a war, which probably will begin for the last food available ? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - This disaster can only be prevented by one single means: PREVENT FURTHER GROWING OF THE POPULATION ----------------------------------------- This applies to all nations and continents. Especially for the non-industrialized countries, as the population growing rate is lowest in the countries with the highest living standard and highest in the underdeveloped countries. The number of children per woman should not exeed ONE (max.TWO). (In average LESS THAN TWO, due to the high percentage of young people.) HOW TO REACH THE TARGET ? ------------------------- - Propagate this message all over the world. - Publish the message in newspapers. - Discuss it in the local community and in the church ! - Establish laws to control (e.g. penalty for more than 2 children/family) - and LIVE ACCORDINGLY. (I am against the abortion, but there exist many SECURE METHODS of birth control, and they have to be USED IN THE RIGHT SENSE !) GOD gave to Moses the order: Multiply you and populate the world... and furthermore : I set you over the fishes and all the animals and you have to take care of them... GOD did not say : ... and OVERpopulate the world... Where is the position of the Official Church ? If the doctrine of the Church in respect to Family Size and behaving is not changed in this respect, they will have high responsibility for the GREATEST DISASTER OF MANKIND ! With these thoughts I am wishing you A HEALTHY NEW YEAR 1997 Felix Meyer --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Felix Meyer Casilla 271 / MAIPU / Santiago 16 / CHILE mailto:ce3cwf@cmet.net

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Dear Felix,

Thanks for your e-mail letter and permission to post it on my website. Great to hear from Chile.

Your letter does deal with a topic where Catholics can have legitimate differences of opinion. I see nothing in your letter which would contradict your original paragraph that you believe in God, Jesus and the Catholic Church (which He founded). Even the statment about secure methods of birth control. In fact, Natural Methods which the Catholic Church recommends have a high degree of reliability, as recognized by the World Health Organization.

Going on the assumption that we are on the same playing field, I would like to ask some questions. From your point of view as a Chilean, is overpopulation the greatest threat? When I visited your country in 1993, I saw a dynamic society with a booming economy. I understand a good part of the expansion was due to "agro-industry." While I was in Peru, we certainly enjoyed the excellent food products Chile exported. World-wide, is there really a lack of food or failure of governments in allowing it to be distributed properly?

Would we want to impose a limit on family size, even in developing countries? When I was in Peru, working among the Ayrmara Indians, I saw many large families. I think of the Ventura Lupaca family with seven children. The parents were quite poor, but the raised the children with strong moral values. The oldest are in the local university, all of them besides studying, have part time jobs. These children are part of the solution, not part of the problem. I myself am the third child of six and I would in all modesty, say the same about my brothers and sister.

Part of the command to subdue the earth is discovering how to use resources correctly. Your country contributed huge amounts of copper to the world economy, but now in communications, fiber optics is replacing it. Of course, that resource is virtually unlimited. Looking at the earth as a space ship, can we really say we are losing any resources? (except for the few things we have "tossed overboard" like satelites)

Would enjoy hearing back from you, Felix. This is an important topic and it does affect how we look at key moral issues.

Dios te bendiga,

Fr. Phil Bloom

More on the Overpopulation Question.

View from Father of Nine.

Home Page.

July 1999 Letter from Felix