Interfaith
Conference on the Environment
To Unite
Faith Leaders in Common Vision
By Susie
Davidson
Advocate
Correspondent
BOSTON -
This Sunday, The Massachusetts Interfaith Environmental Network (MIEN) will
continue its collaborative effort toward safeguarding a healthier planet for
all. Over the past year, the very diverse range of activists who make up this
organization have spearheaded individual efforts to promote environmental
awareness in their institutions and congregations. From 1-6 p.m. at the St.
Anthony Shrine in downtown Boston, these religious and social leaders will
attend workshops and discussions as they compare notes and further refine their
mission.
Workshops
at the symposium, titled “Acting from Our Faith Traditions to Protect Our
Health and Environment,” will concentrate on strategic concerns for the
group, which include the protection of children from illnesses caused by
environmental toxins, the reduction of pollutants in buildings and homes, and
the phenomenon of global warming.
Groups
endorsing this effort include the CJP, the Greater Boston Coalition on the
Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL, a JCRC program), Environmental
Partnerships, Inc., the Massachusetts Council of Churches, Massachusetts
Interfaith Power and Light, Religious Witness for the Earth, Saint Anthony
Cares - Franciscan Center for Social Concerns, the Episcopal Diocese of
Massachusetts, Boston’s Old West Church UMC and the Saint Anthony Shrine.
Delivering
the keynote address will be The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, President and Dean
of the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. “For persons of
faith,” said Charleston, “whatever their religious tradition may
be, taking up action for the sake of our environment is not optional: it is
foundational. It will be the ground on which the relevance of our witness
either stands or falls in this century.”
Bishop
Charleston, who is a citizen of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, comes from a
family with a long history of service in the Christian Native American
community. He has served as Chaplain of Trinity College in Hartford as well as
Assistant Bishop of Connecticut; prior to these posts he was the Diocesan
Bishop of Alaska for many years.
“While
most communities of faith remain focused on the agenda of the moment,” he
continued, “the environmental crisis is at the root of almost all issues
confronting religion today. World hunger, global poverty, the use of oil and
other natural resources, international economic struggle, even terrorism all
have direct connections to the web of environmental realities that circle our
globe. We ignore those realities at our own peril.”
The
inception of this interfaith alliance occurred at an Oct. 2001 conference at
the national headquarters of the Unitarian Universalist Association on Beacon
St., at which writer and energy expert Amory Lovins spoke.
“From
there,” said COEJL Director Judy Lehrer, “we began meeting on a
monthly basis at different churches and offices. Each meeting drew a number of
participants, and today, in all, over fifty people from over 15 churches,
synagogues and other religious organizations have joined in at one point or
another in our discussions and planning.”
Refreshments
will be served at the conference; the requested registration fee is $15 per
person.
“As
long as we allow the degradation of the planet to continue,” said
Charleston, “we aid and abet the ongoing cycles of strife and violence
that seem to endlessly challenge our shared values of peace, justice and
reconciliation. The message is clear: people of faith must unite to work with
God in the healing of the Earth. Until we do, we will perpetuate the world's
suffering. Unless we do, our prayers will remain unanswered.”
The St.
Anthony Shrine, located at 100 Arch St., is off Summer St., near Downtown
Crossing. Called "The Workers' Chapel," it is a center for Roman
Catholic Ministry in Boston, directed by the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name
Province in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Boston. For more information on
the conference, please call COEJL at 617-457-8670, email coejl@jcrcboston.org,
or visit www.religiouswitness.org/massinterfaith.