June 18, 2007

GreenFaith, New Jersey's interfaith coalition for the environment, is launching the GreenFaith Fellowship Program, the first comprehensive education and training program in the U.S. to prepare lay and ordained leaders from diverse religious traditions for religiously based environmental leadership.

"This program will offer these leaders the opportunity for educational, spiritual and vocational growth and skill development in religious environmentalism," said Episcopal priest the Rev. Fletcher Harper, GreenFaith's executive director. "We believe they will make a lasting contribution to the development of an environmentally just and sustainable world."

The Fellowship Program will consist of three four-day residential sessions in ecologically varied settings (one urban, one rural, and one suburban), conference calls, mentoring sessions, an e-mail list serve, networking within the program and in each Fellows' region, and substantial reading and writing assignments. The first Fellowship class will consist of at least 12 Fellows and will run from the fall of 2007 through the spring of 2009. Fellows will be selected through a competitive application process.

Rabbi Lawrence Troster is the Fellowship Program director. Troster is a nationally recognized religious environmental leader who has worked with the Coalition for the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), the Jewish Theological Seminary, as a Steinhardt Fellow at the Center for Life and Learning (CLAL), and as a rabbi of congregations in Toronto and New Jersey. A graduate of the University of Toronto and the Jewish Theological Seminary, he has published and lectured widely on theology and environmentalism, and has led GreenFaith's Meeting the Sacred in Creation retreats for religious leaders.

"As the religious environmental movement gains momentum, we see a real opportunity for more diverse and sophisticated leadership to make an impact," said Troster. "We are looking forward to working with Fellows from around the country to help them reach their potential."

Each retreat will feature faculty members with extensive experience in a range of religious and environmental fields. Kurt Hoelting, an experienced leader of wilderness retreats for clergy, will join Troster, Harper and others in leading the first retreat. The retreat will take place at the Garrison Institute in New York's Hudson Valley in the fall of 2007 and will focus on worship, spirituality, sacred texts and the environment.

The second retreat, focused on environmental justice, will be led by GreenFaith and WEACT (West Harlem Environmental Action), a nationally recognized environmental justice organization.

A third retreat will focus on sustainable consumption and "greening" the operation of religious facilities. The leaders of each retreat will develop mentoring relationships with Fellows, and the Fellows will engage with the writings of the best religious environmental authors and write a personal eco-theological statement, grounding their learning in their own religious self-understanding.

Later in the program, Fellows will design and implement their own religious environmental leadership plans, applying for up to $1,000 in matching funds through a Fellowship mini-grant program designed to support their work. Upon graduating, they will join the Fellowship's alumni/ae network and mentor other emerging religious environmental leaders.

An advisory committee of nationally recognized religious environmental leaders have shared their experience and offered strong support.

"The GreenFaith Fellowship Program is a critical initiative for the religious environmental movement," said Drs. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, co-directors of the Harvard Forum on Religion and Ecology. "There is currently no such program of its kind and thus its potential contribution is clear. There is a dearth of religious leaders in the United States who are speaking out regarding the key environmental issues we are facing. This interfaith effort is indispensable."

Dr. Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary, said: "The GreenFaith Fellowship Program meets a palpable need for a select group at a critical time. I applaud the substance and details of the program – if it didn't exist, we would need to invent it."

GreenFaith is a New Jersey-based interfaith coalition for the environment. Founded in 1992, GreenFaith inspires, educates and mobilizes people of diverse spiritual backgrounds to deepen their relationship with nature and to take action for the earth. Initial funding for the Fellowship has been provided by the Richard Oram Charitable Trust and the Kendeda Sustainability Fund. Individuals interested in learning more about the Fellowship or in applying should visit http://www.greenfaith.org/ or contact Rabbi Troster at ltroster@greenfaith.org or 732-565-7740.

Episcopal News Service