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"Women's religious communities
along with everyone else,
are called to accept a new role...
that of stopping the devastation
that humans are inflicting on the planet."
Thomas Berry
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Office of Ecological Concerns
The office of Ecological Concerns, established in the late 1990s, responds to our Vision 2000 statement "to reverence creation in a spirit of interconnectedness with all that is, living responsibly." The office, with Sr. Mary Ann Garisto, SC, serving as director, provides a way to educate others about the interdependence and mutual relationship of all life on our planet.
Our goals are education and consciousness-raising. We organize and participate in workshops, discussion groups, advocacy work, and consultant work and are involved in various organizations dedicated to the earth's preservation.
The use of water is the top item on the agenda of the Congregation's Earth Charter Committee and the Sisters have segmented this large concern into 10 distinct issues, such as privatization, local water management, impact on women and children, etc.
Our Sisters have campaigned for water rights in many ways. For example, the Sisters worked with other religious organizations to hold General Electric accountable for cleaning up waterways into which it had discharged toxic PCBs. Their efforts paid off in January 2006 when GE finally acknowledged that it had spent $800 million over 15 years to delay cleanup of waterways such as the Hudson River, which flows by our home at Mount Saint Vincent.
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| Sisters Hill Farm (SHF) |
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The farm is in Stanfordville, NY (central Dutchess County) on property that was willed to our Congregation in 1916. The land was worked until the 1940s; then it was allowed to lay fallow, except for hay production, until we established this organic farm in 1998.
Today, SHF provides its 200 shareholders with:
- Nutritious, chemical-free, organic food at a reasonable cost
- An opportunity to grow in friendship and mutual support of the earth
The mission of Sisters Hill Farm is "to grow healthy food which nurtures bodies, spirits, communities and the earth."
Another important part of the SHF’s mission is to share our harvest with those in need. Each week, we donate a portion of our fresh, organic produce to individual families, to soup kitchens, and to organizations serving
the materially disadvantaged in six New York State counties. These food offerings are a natural extension of the Sisters of Charity's service to the poor. In an average year, our Farmer Dave and his two interns, harvest 60,000 pounds of produce from acres.
Sponsoring the SHF furthers our commitment to ecological and sustainable property management.
To learn more about Sisters Hill Farm:
Contact Sr. Mary Ann Garisto, 718.543.6627, mgaristo@scny.org or farmer David Hambleton, 845.868.7048
Click to visit the Sisters Hill Farm web site »
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| ROAR ~ Religious Organizations Along the River |
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ROAR (Religious Organizations Along the River) is a network of religious congregations and organizations with property in New York State's Hudson Valley.
The mission of ROAR, which was established in 1996, is to be mutually supportive, to educate, to motivate and advocate, to learn together and to address the interrelated issues of poverty, justice and ecology in the Hudson Valley bio-region.
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| ROW ~ Religious on Water |
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ROW (Religious on Water) is an organization of religious congregations concerned with environmental issues specifically related to oceans, coastlines, rivers, lakes, wetlands and watersheds. It was founded in 1999 as an offshoot of ROAR. Our own Sr. Mary Ann Garisto, was one of the co-founders of ROW.
ROW's goals include to collectively reflect on the sacred dimensions of water, as well as on issues related to properties owned by congregations along the New Jersey Coast. Another goal is to seek concrete ways to collaborate with others to protect these waters. ROW's members presently collaborate with members of Clean Ocean Action to protect waters along the New York and New Jersey coasts from further pollution and degradation and to declare these waters as a clean ocean zone.
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| Land Use Committee |
| Our Assembly of 2003 endorsed the ROAR (Religious Organizations along the River) Land Ethic. Our Sisters formed a Land Use Committee to work on a Land Use Policy for our Congregation and on continuing to educate ourselves and others on our responsibility as stewards of the land. |
Earth Charter |
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The Earth Charter is a widely recognized, global consensus statement on ethics and values for a sustainable future. Its development began in 1987, in what has been called the most extensive global consultation process ever associated with an international declaration. The Earth Charter has been formally endorsed by over 2,500 organizations, including global institutions such as UNESCO and the World Conservation Union (IUCN).
The introduction to the Earth Charter explains:
"At a time when major changes in how we think and live are urgently needed,
the Earth Charter challenges us to examine our values and to choose a better way.
It calls us to search for common ground in the midst of our diversity
and to embrace a new ethical vision that is shared by growing numbers of people
in many nations and cultures throughout the world."
The Call
The impact of these words was not lost on the delegates to our General Assembly in February, 2003. Our Sisters endorsed the Earth Charter, seeing it as a context out of which we could respond to the question which expressed the theme of our Assembly – "At this moment in time, to what does the Charity of Christ impel us?"
The endorsement also indicates solidarity with other Congregations of women religious, in particular the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) which endorsed the Earth Charter at their annual meeting in August 2002.
For more information on the Earth Charter, including suggestions for theological education visit: www.earthcharterusa.org and www.earthcharter.org
The Response
To date, our committee charged with organizing the implementation of this Assembly enactment has:
- Continued educating itself and our general membership in the principles of the Earth Charter
- Identified some of the efforts already in place, (see sections on the website, e.g. "How We Serve," "Ecological/Global Concerns" and "The Charity Family")
- Invited all to reflect prayerfully on at least one of the principles of the Earth Charter
- Exhibited at the yearly Archdiocesan Teachers and Catechetical Institutes.
In 2006, the theme was Water; in 2007, it was Global Climate Change. In 2008, it was TBD
Currently our focus is on issues related to water. We are coordinating our efforts with those of other congregations in the Sisters of Charity Federation.
In the final analysis, the Earth Charter is about change, which was clearly expressed in the Preamble to the Earth Charter – "Fundamental changes are needed in our values, institutions and ways of living." This is the challenge we all face.
Click to visit the Earth Charter web site: www.earthcharter.org »
We invite you to learn about
volunteering with the Sisters of Charity:
Click to fill out a form to inquire about becoming a volunteer » |
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Sisters of Charity Center
6301 Riverdale Avenue ~ Bronx, NY 10471-1093
718.549.9200 |
