Chaplaincy and the Environment
There is growing interest in how spiritual care providers can incorporate elements of the natural world into their work, provide chaplaincy in the context of climate change, and otherwise acknowledge the spiritual implications of the present and future of our natural world. Join the Lab and leading thinkers on spiritual care and the environment as we explore this growing field of chaplaincy.
We will be joined by:
Rabbi Katy Z Allen, BCC, founder and rabbi of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope, which holds services outdoors all year long and has a growing children’s outdoor learning program, Y’ladim BaTeva. She is the founder of the Jewish Climate Action Network-MA, a board certified chaplain, and a former hospital and hospice chaplain. She has led eco-chaplaincy programs through JCAN-MA, Open Spirit in Framingham, MA, Energize Wayland, and other venues. She received her ordination from the Academy for Jewish Religion in Yonkers, NY, in 2005. She is the author of A Tree of Life: A Story in Word, Image, and Text and lives in Wayland, MA, with her spouse, Gabi Mezger, who leads the singing at Ma’yan Tikvah.
Rev. Alison Cornish, Program Consultant at The BTS Center. A Unitarian Universalist minister, the Rev. Alison Cornish lives in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, and serves as a Program Consultant for The BTS Center in Portland, Maine. Alison attended Andover Newton Theological School, responding to a felt sense of call directly from Earth to address the ways humanity is destroying the planet we inhabit. While serving UU congregations on Long Island, Alison began studies with Buddhist teacher Joanna Macy; delved deeper into the work of eco-theologian Thomas Berry; became a GreenFaith Fellow; and hosted a half-day conference of faith communities and environmental organizations in the wake of Superstorm Sandy. She has served as Senior Director of Programs and Training at Partners for Sacred Places, Director of Congregational and Seminary Initiatives at Interfaith Philadelphia, and Executive Director of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light.
Rev. Stacy L. Grove, MDiv, Founder of HeartSpace Spiritual Resources. Rev. Grove is a Jewish Interfaith Minister and Spiritual Director with experience in pastoral care, chaplaincy, hospice, palliative and disaster spiritual care. She offers spiritual companionship and healing, currently serving as Pastoral Care Minister for Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Durham, NC.
We thank The BTS Center for its support of this webinar. Learn more at https://www.thebtscenter.org.
The Center also invites you to its program “Lament with Earth,” presented on December 1 on 7:30 PM Eastern. The series offers a time of ritual, music, and prayer as we ground our grief in community. We will come together to lament, and celebrate, the transformative power of fire, holding space for mourning and discovery, sorrow and inspiration.
The BTS Center’s podcast, Climate Changed, offers intimate interviews and conversations around some of the most pressing questions about faith, life, and climate change. Hosted by Ben Yosua-Davis, Director of Applied Research, and Nicole Diroff, Program Director, and produced by Peterson Toscano, the podcast features acclaimed guests such as Corina Newsome, Rev. Mariama White-Hammond, poet Criag Santos Perez, and many more, all exploring what spiritual leadership looks and feels like in a climate-changed world. You can find Climate Changed on your favorite listening platform or at https://thebtscenter.org/climate-changed/.
You may also be interested in a previous webinar on a similar topic, which introduced Nature Sacred to the Lab’s community.