Chaplaincy for Climate and Earth: Doing the Work
Chaplains who ground their work in the healing power of being in relationship with Earth — particularly a climate-changed Earth — are shaping a new field of practice: climate conscious chaplaincy.
As the real effects of the climate crisis are felt across all nations and peoples, there is such great need for responsive, skilled, compassionate spiritual care to address the short-term and long-term needs of those who are, and will be, affected by these new realities. The conditions to which we must adapt, and the changed landscapes of which we must make sense, require adjusted spiritual understandings for each of us, as well as the support that will enable us to make those adjustments.
But what exactly is “The Work”? Our presenter, Lauren Van Ham, has asked and answered this question for herself in roles as varied as our society itself: working with multi-national corporations and non-profit organizations; teaching, coaching and mentoring; and creating ceremonies, prayers, and writings.
Lauren will join us for this special conversation about the work of chaplaincy rooted in relationship with Earth in these times of crisis and change.
We’ll be joined by:
Lauren Van Ham is an ordained interfaith minister. She served as a hospital chaplain for nine years, focusing in psychiatry, palliative care, and bereavement support, and later served with a consulting firm where she custom-designed employee engagement programs for multi-national companies committed to sustainability and culture change. Her passion for spirituality, art, and Earth’s teachings infuse her focus in eco-ministry and sacred activism.
For more than a decade, Lauren was Dean at The Chaplaincy Institute, an interfaith seminary based in California, US. Her essay, “Way of the Eco-Chaplain,” appeared in the collection, Ways of the Spirit: Voices of Women; and her work with Green Sangha was featured in Renewal, a documentary celebrating the efforts of religious environmental activists from diverse faith traditions across America. She is a guest writer for “Progressing Spirit,” an online publication exploring theology, spirituality and public events.
Lauren is a spiritual director and guest faculty for several schools in California and serves as Earth Restoration Coordinator for the United Religions Initiative, a global interfaith grassroots organization. She holds degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and Naropa University.