In an extract from his new book The Minding of Planet Earth, Cardinal Cahal Daly writes that tax evasion by some of our wealthiest citizens contributes to the widening of the gap between rich and poor.
It is sometimes wrongly suggested that the Genesis story of creation bears some responsibility for the ravaging of the planet and the reckless exploitation of its resources by science and technology. The word "subdue" in some translations of the biblical injunction to mankind to "fill the earth and subdue it", is sometimes misunderstood as giving humans licence to treat the earth as their own, to do what they like with it, uncontrolled by any moral restraints.
But the mandate given to humans by God in Genesis is a duty of care. Man and woman are stewards of creation, accountable to God for the exercise of their stewardship.
The human person is the shepherd of creation, the gardener who is set by God in the garden of earth "to cultivate and take care of it".
The Genesis creation account cannot be separated from the account of the covenant which God made with Noah after the Flood.
In chapters 6 to 9 of Genesis we read that God commanded Noah to be careful to take two of every species of animal into the ark, so that the propagation of every species over the whole earth after the Flood might be ensured. During the Flood, God had thoughtfulness for the animals as well as for the humans: "God had Noah in mind, and all the wild animals and all the cattle that were with him in the ark."
After the Flood, God established a new world order, making a Covenant with mankind, which extended also to "everything that lives on the earth".
The Covenant had practical implications for the earth and its animals, as well as for the people of Israel.
In Exodus and Leviticus we read that the Sabbath was a "day of rest" for farm animals and for the land, as well as for its human inhabitants; and one year in seven was to be a year of rest for Israelites, and also for their land and animals as well as for farm workers.
The sign of this Covenant was the "bow in the clouds", the rainbow, our sign of hope for the future of our planet and the future of our human species.
The biblical mandate also calls repeatedly for justice and fair sharing of the earth's resources between all of earth's human inhabitants. This is a constant theme of Church teaching.
In 1967, Pope Paul VI asked governments to persuade people to "accept necessary taxes on their luxuries and wasteful expenditures" so as to bring aid to poor countries.
In contrast, one of the great scandals in modern Ireland is the systematic practice of tax evasion by some of our wealthiest citizens. This results in an unfair distribution of tax across the population.
It contributes to the widening of the gap between rich and poor in this country and in the less developed countries of the planet. In the end, it is the poor, at home and overseas, who pay the price. To add to the shame, banks and financial institutions have been complicit in facilitating this scandalous practice.
Pope Paul VI declared that: "it is unacceptable" that wealthy citizens should transfer a considerable part of their wealth abroad, "purely for their own advantage, without care for the manifest wrong they inflict on their own country by doing this". The words have extraordinary relevance to Ireland in the 1990s.
Globalisation abroad and social and class segregation at home can serve to distance richer people from the negative consequences for the poor of their decisions regarding their domicile, their citizenship, their investments and their profits and their tax compliance.
In a globalised world the sin of greed can become depersonalised.
Words written by Barbara Ward are applicable: "Sin can be institutionalised, and governments and corporations and unions can do a man's sinning for him."
This is a moral problem and a spiritual challenge for us all. Moral and spiritual conversion and change of lifestyle are demanded from all of us. It should put us all to shame that among the serious problems of our Western society are obesity, alcohol abuse, waste and waste disposal - all of them problems of superfluity; while a major part of the world's population suffers from malnutrition, disease, lack of educational opportunity - all of them linked to poverty.
Pope John Paul has asked us to take a serious look at our own lifestyle and pleads that moderation and a spirit of sacrifice become part of our everyday life. The season of Lent takes on a new meaning and an acute new relevance in our time.
More young people should be encouraged and enabled to spend some time in underdeveloped countries, sharing the lot of the world's poor, and at the same time, learning from them something about the happiness that can come from living more simply.
The Making of Planet Earth will be launched in Veritas House, Dublin, tomorrow afternoon by Prof Patrick Masterson.