The Faith and the Environment Committee addresses the relationship between environmental issues and our Christian faith.

The Province I bishops’ pastoral letter on the environment of March 2003 calls us to think again about Creation and all communities as "neighbors." Environmental damage ensues as a result of war and poverty. It is intricately part of racism; the feet of the oppressed usually stand on threatened or contaminated land. And privileged people also suffer from physical and economic effects of ecological damage. Parishes and the Diocese need to make the physical choices in our lives (at home, work, play and worship) cognizant of people in the next community, the region or the globe and with creatures whose lives are interdependent with ours.

The dream of the Committee on Faith and the Environment is to extend its concept of environmental stewardship and its awareness of the incarnational aspect of our faith. We recognize that community decisions about land use create economic and environmental health conditions directly affecting the poor; that zoning, transportation planning, and protection of rivers, parks and open space affect our health and ability to realize our connectedness to nature. We will make decisions about grounds care knowledgeable about impacts of watering and pesticide use; our understanding of what makes land beautiful will grow. We will feel the connection between table fellowship at church and food and stewardship of the land. Our youth programs will offer outdoor experience and technological tools (like GIS mapping) to display the wonder and interconnectedness of local ecosystems and humans’ places in them.

For more information, contact:
emailcolettebw [at] yahoo [dot] com