Welcome to the Creation Care Resource Page!
We're glad you're here.
As Episcopalians, we celebrate God’s creation and acknowledge our duty to be faithful stewards of our environment. Here in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania, we are blessed to live in an area of beautiful and rich natural resources. Yet our rivers, streams, forests, and mountains are not immune to the effects of pollution and greed. And the global crisis of climate change impacts all of God’s creation, no matter where we live.
The Creation Care Committee is a group of people from all over the diocese who share a commitment to this ministry with a goal for supporting this work throughout our region in a variety of ways. Our mission is shaped by the three goals of the Episcopal Creation Care Covenant: loving formation, liberating advocacy, and life giving conservation.
If you’d like to be involved with this committee or have questions, please contact our convenor Katie Ruth at katieimruth@gmail.com
Story Collection
We believe in the power of stories to inspire and influence change—and here’s where YOU come in! We’d love to hear about ways you or your parish are caring for creation. These stories can be anything from sharing a favorite prayer, telling us about how you’ve reduced your church’s carbon footprint, or making us aware of how you’ve advocated for environmental policy change. These stories will inspire us all to further action. We’ll hope to eventually share some of these stories and pictures here.
Click here to share your creation stories with us: https://bit.ly/3JVY88S
Education Program
We are hosting a quarterly event on Diocesan Facebook/Zoom.
2023 programs are scheduled for:
- March 23rd – Introduction & Panel Conversation w/ Bishop Scanlan, Katie Ruth, & Phoebe Chatfield
- June 22nd – Energy Usage & Savings for your Congregation
- September 20th – Creation Stories around the Diocese
- December 6th – Celebrating Creation Care in the season of Advent
More information and presenters will be announced in the Diocesan Digest closer to each date, so stay tuned!
Funding for Creation Care Projects
Our committee has a small amount of funds available to distribute to support the implementation of creation care projects. We anticipate funding 10 projects in 2023, at an average of $300 each. Projects must be led by and in support of an Episcopal parish/ministry located in the Central Pennsylvania Diocese. Applications are due by the end of May. Decisions will be made by the end of June and funding distributed as quickly as possible after that. Interested parishes are encouraged to apply, with endorsement from church leadership.
For more information or to apply: https://bit.ly/42oX1Wm
Suggested Resources
Below are some resources that we find especially helpful and relevant.
Please let us know if you have other suggestions for us to add to the list. Please note that resources shared here are not equivalent to organizational endorsements by either our committee or the Diocese.
Episcopal Creation Care
https://www.episcopalchurch.org/ministries/creation-care/
Episcopal liturgical resources, learn about the Episcopal Creation Care Covenant framework, information about national church advocacy at the United Nations, and more!
Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light
Free native trees available in the Spring & Fall, environmental education programming, congregation resources & multi-faith network, information on PA-specific advocacy, and more!
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
International multi religious project contributing to a new academic field and an engaged moral force of religious environmentalism.
Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake
https://www.interfaithchesapeake.org/
Watershed resources, green leader training program, site assessments (limited to Lancaster County), and more!
Interfaith Power & Light
https://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/
Cool Congregations Grant Program, Faith Climate Action Week, and more!
Articles/Books/Other Resources
(coming soon…)
Articles/Books/Other Resources
Articles
- What is a Watershed?
https://www.chesapeakebay.net/discover/watershed - Landscaping with Native Plants
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/Conservation/WildPlants/LandscapingwithNativePlants/Pages/default.aspx - Climate change is a justice issue – these 6 charts show why
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-a-justice-issue-these-6-charts-show-why-170072 - PA’s polluted Susquehanna River is poisoning the bay. What can be done
https://www.ydr.com/in-depth/news/2021/02/02/pennsylvania-polluted-susquehanna-river-poisoning-chesapeake-bay-what-can-done/3766011001/ - Rain gardens are a practical, ecological and theological solution for houses of worship
https://religionnews.com/2022/02/09/rain-gardens-are-a-practical-ecological-and-theological-solution-for-houses-of-worship/
Books
- Watershed Discipleship, Ched Murray
- Longing for Running Water: Ecofeminism and Liberation, Ivone Gebara
- What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care, Elizabeth Cripps
- Devotions: The Selected Poems of Mary Oliver
