Bishop Provenzano and the Creation Care Community of the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island are hosting a “Fight for Earth” Day Retreat and Spring Festival partly in response to the rapidly unfolding and catastrophic developments at the federal level with regard to the environment.
“The President has announced, and begun to implement, plans to dismantle environmental actions,” said Fr. Matthew Moore, Missioner for Environmental Justice and Co-Chair of the Creation Care Community Leadership Team. “These plans include withdrawal from the Paris Accords, drastic rollback of national commitments to reducing greenhouse gases, and opening up previously protected lands in furtherance of his administration’s ambition to ‘drill, baby, drill’. This requires a vigorous and intentional response from all of us as Christians.”
Knowing that climate change is a clear and present danger not only to us on Long Island but to the Earth itself, Fr. Moore stressed that these radical reversals of environmental policy give new urgency to the need for action at the state and local levels.
The May 3rd “Fight for Earth” Day Retreat and Spring Festival will focus on helping Episcopalians and others to be intentional about our roles in climate justice and both learn how to fight for this “fragile earth, our island home” and to celebrate God’s good gift of creation.
There will also be a special session for young people, especially the Diocese’s Youth and Young Adult Ministry (YAYA), who will receive volunteer credits for attending.
After breakfast starting at 8:00, the morning portion of the day (9:30 – 12:30) will be a learning retreat which will cover the following areas:
- Praying for the earth – including Morning Prayer with Bishop Provenzano
- Advocacy, e.g., working on campaigns to pass environmental legislation.
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, e.g., clean energy and installing solar panels.
- Reduce/Reuse/Recycle: How to reduce your carbon footprint at home and in your parish.
- Greening your spaces: gardens, trees, lawns, native planting, butterfly and pollinator plants
- Special advocacy session for Diocesan Youth and Young Adults group. (Youth will be credited with volunteer hours for their schools.)
The afternoon portion (1:00 – 3:30) will be a Spring Festival and will include
- Rogation procession with clergy
- Health fair with the NYC Nurses Honor Guard
- Visit to the Cathedral’s bees to learn about beekeeping
- Foam-free flower arranging for altar guild members and others
- Craft fair
- Gardening, trees and planting demonstrations
- Learning to repair, rebuild and reconstruct
Registration is free, and required for all participants. Free breakfast and lunch will be served for those attending the retreat (morning) session, and Altar Guild members.
For more information, contact the Creation Care team at creationcare@dioceseli.org. To register, click here, or click the button above.
About CCCDLI:
The Creation Care ministry was formed in early 2020, and since then members of the team have been actively involved in spreading the word about the Christian responsibility to act on climate. The leadership team consists of clergy and laypeople from the Diocese who are committed to “the work of seeking right relationship with the created things of our environment through acts of repentance, justice-seeking, healing, activism, education, or witness” – as stated in a 2020 Diocesan Convention resolution.