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On
the Feast of St. Nicholas of Myra, members of the Leadership
Team of the Episcopal Ecological Network (EpEN) – the
Rev Franklin "Skip" Vilas (Diocese of Newark),
Hall Hammond (Diocese of West Texas), and Phyllis Strupp
(Diocese of Arizona) – met with Presiding Bishop Katherine
Jefferts Schori to discuss the results of the ministry review
and visioning session in Chicago in mid-November. The meeting
lasted over an hour and covered the advantages and challenges
of a wide range of topics.
The
EpEN representatives presented a new vision for the EpEN:
A "Shalom Home" for all God's Creatures
here on Earth. Bishop Katherine offered that the
EpEN should work towards this vision by engaging and collaborating
with the new Environment & Economic Justice Office to
be established in Seattle during 2008 and with the Episcopal
Public Policy Network in Washington, DC. She was amenable
to collaboration with both Episcopalian groups and ecumenical
organizations.
Discussions
on the EpEN mission statement covered aspects of equipping
congregations and the Episcopal Church to bring a fuller
life to all God's creatures. The Presiding Bishop felt that
the EpEN and the Episcopal Church have a prophetic opportunity
to take the initiative now and the EpEN should work to clarify
its mission and then use its prophetic voice for creation
to call individuals, congregations, and dioceses into a
sustainable and caring relationship with all of creation.
The Presiding Bishop expressed an awareness and enthusiasm
for celebrating a "Creation Season". She said
that while attempts to get the Creation Season placed in
the Book of Occasional Services in the past may have
failed, growing interest in ecological issues make the present
time more appropriate for a renewed effort.
In
terms of areas of focus for the EpEN, discussions focused
initially on collaborating with groups such as Episcopalians
for Global Reconciliation, the Committee on Science,
Technology and Faith, the Episcopal Public Policy
Network, the Episcopal Network for Economic Justice,
the Socially Responsible Investing Group, and various
youth projects. Collaboration with groups of similar focus
in other denominations would work to the improvement of
the common good of the mission of Christ in our world. She
also opined that the focus of the House of Bishops last
March on Millennium Development Goal #7 would give the EpEN
an opportunity to approach dioceses regarding the EpEN's
action plan, especially the 11 dioceses represented in the
EpEN Working Group (Maine, Massachusetts, Newark, Tennessee,
Minnesota, West Texas, Arizona, Los Angeles, California,
and Oregon).
The
EpEN can do its best work by having an informal relationship
with the structure of the Episcopal Church. As such the
EpEN would need to look in the mid-term at setting itself
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