Episcopal Church Women

March 19, 2019 by Michele Roberts

I was in New York City at the United Nations, representing Presiding Bishop Michael Curry of The Episcopal Church. As a third generation Episcopalian, this gives me great joy. My grandmother would be so proud, and I feel her spirit every day. Her name was Alma B. Roberts. She considered it a blessing that she found a church in Wilmington, Delaware, that provided a safe space for her children and family to worship during the height of racial segregation. She was the epitome of love. My grandmother was a virtuous woman. She was grounded in her spirituality, and along with my parents, taught me the meaning of faith and service.

I have spent a great deal of time visiting groups that address gender violence. As I listened, I thought about the women and girls I serve living on the fence line to our nation’s most egregious polluting facilities and industrial operations. These women are bombarded by chemical assaults daily. Many of these polluting facilities assault the reproductive systems of women and men. According to our Native indigenous sisters from the International Indian Treaty Council, this is chemical violence. There are many hazards to the health from exposure to toxic chemicals including:

• Early puberty, abnormal breast development
• Sterility, miscarriages, birth defects, and low birth weight babies
• Reproductive systems cancer and breast cancers
• Uterine fibroids
• Toxics in breast milk, tissues, and cord blood
• Premature ovarian failure
• Damage to fetal reproductive organs, overall development
• Premature menopause

While engaged in this experience, I couldn’t help but think about my own personal environment racism story and stories of others. Being in this space of committed, faith-filled, vibrant women, I thought about my aunt, Loreda White, grandmother, Paulyne Dickerson, and their sisters.

Opening day of the United Nations 63rd Commission on the Status of Women would have been my aunt Loreda’s 99th birthday. However, due to the strains of racism and patriarchy, she died from a very painful cancer after also living with no pension. Aunt Loreda was a domestic worker and later worked in a segregated bomb-making facility where the majority of the workers were women. All of her sisters, including my grandmother, were also domestic workers with no pensions.

My grandmother, Paulyne, died in a state-operated, separate, and unequal tuberculosis facility. My aunt, Loreda, and grandmother lived along the Route 9 industrial corridor in Wilmington, Delaware, which got started as an answer to separate and unequal housing. Thanks be to God, my aunt Loreda, was able to raise my mother along with her husband, Charles White, after the death, of my grandmother. She eventually died from urethral cancer as well at age 86.

“I live in the center of a toxic donut,” said Mrs. Hazel Johnson, a keynote speaker at a legal conference in Washington, D.C., where I was in attendance about 30 years ago. Mrs. Johnson was a wife, mother, and grandmother who struggled to raise her family in Altgeld Gardens, a public housing project on the south side of Chicago.

Her story went on to describe the years of caregiving she provided to her family and herself. Hazel’s husband suffered and eventually died from cancer; her children had asthma, a daughter miscarried, and she herself had diabetes and high blood pressure. Mrs. Johnson was not alone. Her neighbors also lived through the same experiences. In essence, their lives were compromised daily due to what Mrs. Johnson considered to be the hundreds of hazardous waste and industrial facilities that surrounded her community.

The proliferation of these facilities was the result of policies that allowed their concentration to be low-income neighborhoods and communities of color. Mrs. Johnson learned about the impact toxins had on the human body, water, soil, and air and how communities like hers did not have the right “complexion for protection.”

She became a fighter for environmental justice. She became an organizer and activist grandmother who, on more than one occasion, would deny authorities by putting her body in front of a truck to stop it from unloading hazardous materials.

As I sat reflecting on these various stories, I gave thanks for the women who came before me. Women who were brave and courageous enough to create their own resistance. We must have a “do no harm” approach to creating and regulating chemicals. Too many of our sisters of color and the poor have been traumatized by chemical violence. This is indeed a reflection of man’s inhumanity to humanity.

As we call for an end to gender-based violence, I hope that the UNCSW will also see the need to include the narrative of chemical violence as well for the sake of Mother Earth and her children. Now is the time.

About the Author:

Michele Roberts (Diocese of Delaware, Province III) is a scientist, advocate and 3rd generation Episcopalian. She is one of several founding members of Delaware Concerned Residents for Environmental Justice (DCR4EJ), an environmental justice ministry at the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew (Wilmington, DE).

She is national Co-Coordinator of a National Coalition known as the Environmental Justice and health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform (EJHA) and Director of Outreach for Coming Clean, which DCR4EJ is an affiliate of. She has participated in several UN COP meetings on Environmental Justice issues and Climate Change. Roberts has co-authored reports on environmental justice issues. She is also the environmental justice producer for a weekly radio program the On the Ground Show: Voices of Resistance From the nation’s Capital.

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart…great are the deeds of the Lord. His work is full of majesty and splendor, and his righteousness endures forever. He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. Psalm 111

Our Little Roses is a place like none other in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Our Little Roses is a place for abused, abandoned, neglected and orphaned girls that was founded by Diana Frade in 1988. It was no coincidence that Diana was visiting a similar home for boys in Tegucigalpa, Honduras in 1986 and began asking: “Who is doing this for the little girls of Honduras?” No one.

Through the efforts of many people, especially Diana and Bishop Leo Frade, the love of God has broken the cycle of poverty and abuse for many girls in Honduras. These girls now have a safe environment, a chance to learn, the dream of a future and a foundation in faith.

Most of the girls receive high school educations while at Our Little Roses and many even attend university and technical schools, leading to professions such as dentist, attorney, registered nurse, chef, and careers in the military.

The girls of Our Little Roses group home have a family like no other. They have sisters . . . lots of sisters . . . between sixty and eighty in any given year. They have a place to grow up and know that they are loved. They are learning ways to escape the binds of poverty through education. They have learned about God’s love and know that they will never be abandoned again.

With each visit, many of us feel a tug from God to return and do more. We hear a sound that is so captivating that we want to know its source. And then we discover what we seek. The sound is the love of God. The love of our Lord embraces each of these little girls and it embraces us as well. The good news is that we’ve been held by it, embraced by it, all along.

It makes no difference if we know Spanish or not, it makes no difference what our background or where we are from, because we all are united in God’s presence.

We are united together through our faith in a God who is trustworthy and true. This God is with us through the passages of life. The truth is that all of life is a passage. It is movement. And even though we sometimes debate whether we want change or not, the reality is that change is constant. The life of each of the girls at OLR is changed because the love we share with them is God’s love.

Indeed, God has not abandoned them. God has not forsaken them. In our darkest times, God will not abandon us. In the most confused times, God will not forsake us. God wills that good come from bad. God can be trusted to be at work salvaging good from every human experience. Divine love, self-sacrificing love is at work. It never ends.

In 2015, The Rev. Dee Ann deMontmollin, also an R.N., who had made numerous visits to OLR, was led to leave full-time parish ministry, trusting that God would continue to guide her in her next ministry. Part of that next ministry has been an expansion of her medical mission work. Following one of our trips to Our Little Roses, Rev. Dee and I were invited to return and conduct physical assessments of the girls at Our Little Roses and to give them presentations on health and the growth and development of girls and young women.

That visit led to the development of a medical mission team just for serving the children in the San Pedro Sula community itself. Dr. Martha Vasquez, a pediatrician, joined the team and gives of her service each year along with several other medical professionals. Among the children we serve are some of the children of the “people of the Levee,” which means the people of the slums of San Pedro Sula.

On our first mission, in the fall of 2016, we did not know what to expect. We felt a bit anxious and wondered if anyone would even show up at our free medical clinic for children. And then, on our very first morning, we were amazed at the long line of mothers waiting with their children needing medical help. Some of them had walked miles and others waited in the sun for hours until we could examine and treat all of them. The next day was a repeat of the first day and the lines continued. We treated the children for parasites, infections, respiratory illnesses and other sicknesses. And distributed many bottles of children’s vitamins and other medical supplies. We have become aware that tooth decay is leading to many infections of the children. During the last mission trip, we were given fluoride treatments to use with the children. For the first time ever, the children were shown how to brush their teeth.

Yes, they are the “poorest of the poor.” But each mother loves her child as we love our children and wants the best for her child. With God’s help, our medical mission will continue to grow. Recently, in September 2019, we were blessed with additional medical volunteers and a second doctor who committed to give of their gifts that God has freely given to them. This latest trip was even more successful than the first; nearly 500 children and babies were examined and treated in a five-day period.

Hopefully, through our diligence and prayer, these mothers and their children will know what the girls at Our Little Roses know: that God has not abandoned them. And even though their lives are dark, that the light of God will sustain them with love and hope. Our group of doctors and nurses hopes to shed some of the light of God through our love for them.

Over the past years, our worlds have expanded. Now, we not only thank God for each child at Our Little Roses but we also thank God for each child who comes to our clinic. We thank God for this Love.

Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart. Thank you, Lord.

By Sherre Henley, R.N, and Clergy Spouse

Pray—Plan an Earth Day-themed worship service. Find a wealth of Earth Day Sunday worship resources at www.creationjustice.org/educational-resources.

Educate—Have bulletin inserts or handouts for congregation members. Most of Creation Justice Ministries’ Earth Day Sunday worship resources have bulletin insert handouts included, but you can also opt for something your congregation is currently working on. For instance, “Ten Steps to Green Your Home” or “Products to Green Your Home” – include energy-efficient light bulbs, environmentally friendly cleaning supplies, low-flow faucets and showerheads, information on energy-efficient appliances, 100% post-consumer waste recycled printer paper and more.

Invite a guest speaker to your church for after worship to talk about your Earth Day theme with a local focus.

Lead by Example—Host a special “Creation Justice Fellowship Time.” Serve organic, fair-trade coffee and treats from a local organic bakery; use re-usable plates, cups, silverware and napkins, or if that isn’t possible, recycled or biodegradable disposables; and post big, easy-to-read signs to educate people about what makes your fellowship oriented toward “Creation Justice.”

• Have a Creation Justice Church workday to set up rain barrels, install faucet aerators, do native landscaping on church grounds and replace incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient bulbs.
  Examine your church’s energy use by per-forming an energy audit and present your findings on Earth Day Sunday.
• Hold a “town hall” discussion about how your church can reduce energy use.
• Plan to officially join your denomination, fellowship or communion’s ecological ministry and announce/celebrate it on Earth Day Sunday.

Serve Your Community—Plan a community service project like a cleanup in a local park, along a local body of water or near a highway.

Revel in – and Celebrate – God’s Good Creation—Organize a hike at a local trail, park or natural area. Make sure you organize carpools for transportation to and from the site. If you’re not sure where to go, check www.findyourpark.com for ideas.

Plan an Earth Day Festival—Ask local environmental groups to set up informational booths. Invite local growers/food producers and artisans to set up booths to showcase and/or sell their products. Arrange for a variety of brief informational or practical workshops where people can to go learn about Eco-Justice issues (especially your Earth Day theme) or learn how to do something (like make an effective call to an elected official, adopt sustainable office practices or start a compost pile at home).

“Gracias por esta comida. Esta comida. Esta gloriosa y maravillosa comida. Y los animales. Y los vegetales. Y los minerales que lo hacen posible.”

Recuerdo haber entrado al salón durante la cuarta semana de nuestro primer verano de campamento, y las voces de más de 70 jóvenes cantando me abrumo de una manera distinta. Habíamos cantado estos versos semanalmente desde el comienzo del entrenamiento del personal, y a pesar de ello, la reverencia que expresaban al cantar me maravillo profundamente.

Un campamento de verano alberga a campistas en el rango de edades de 5-18 ano de edad, muchos que experimentaron una vida sostenible en la granja por primera vez. Yendo hacia atrás en mi infancia, me sentí un poco celosa acerca del como entenderían acerca del como la comida es sembrada y cosechada y por la influencia enorme del conocimiento tendría en sus años formativos. A la edad de 23 años, encontré mi voz por medio del abogar por un Sistema de comida regenerativa. ¿Qué harán estos jóvenes con sus voces con tan solo 16, 11 o 6 años? Nuestro objetivo en la granja Bellweather es el equipar a los niños y adultos para que estén más informados, inspirados, y sean los líderes del futuro en lo atinente a un futuro sostenible ambientalmente hablando.

A lo largo del verano, los campistas llevan a cabo tareas tradicionales como campamentos, montar en canoa, pesca, y fogatas. También participan en actividades que se enfocan en el cuidado de animales, la cosecha de vegetales para la cena, lecciones de cocinas, y ser parte del Sistema de abono.

Siendo un campista de por vida y un amante de todo lo relacionado a granjas, siempre me encuentro anonadado por lo bravío que nuestros jóvenes son, quienes se hacen las preguntas más difíciles que muchos adultos fallan en contestar:
“¿Si no podemos cosechar verduras aquí, porque el supermercado la vende n california?”
“Esta no sabe cómo las otras zanahorias que he probado anteriormente. Estas tienen un excelente sabor. ¿Por qué?”

“¿Aguarda, la tocineta viene de estos cochinos?”

La magia de la granja no se acaba con la clausura del campamento de la semana pasada. Hemos disfrutado de la compañía de interminables viajes de escuelas, retiros, y conferencias, y voluntarios bastante entusiastas, añorando el poder ayudar en la granja en las labores manuales de recolectar huevos y aguantar pequeños corderos.

Estamos continuamente compartiendo nuestro amor por el Sistema de abono, las condiciones y el bienestar del suelo, sistemas de comidas locales, y una gran reverencia por lo increíble de la creación de Dios.
Quizás el aspecto más satisfactorio de nuestro trabajo es el observar las transformaciones personales a medida que empiezan a preguntarse: ¿Como puedo entender esta experiencia? ¿Por dónde comienzo?
Nuestro trabajo yace en el plantar semillas físicas y espirituales y confiar que el Señor nos ayudara.

Esta tierra ha sido trabajada por más de 100 años, proveyendo productos lácteos y pastos de caballos morgan, explotación forestal, cultivos de soya, trigo y mazorcas. Ahora le da la bienvenida a una nueva era de actividades de finca que se avoca a lo orgánico y las practicas regenerativas, tanto las contemporáneas como las antiguas. La granja Bellweather provee un modelo replicable de agricultura y la producción de comida, lo cual engloba el standard más exigente a la hora de hacernos cargo del ambiente. Un programa clave es la enseñanza de una cocina que se enfoca en los alimentos locales, el comer por temporada y una nutrición balanceada.

Los suelos de Granja Bellweather producen variopintas frutas y vegetales y también cosechan cultivos de pastoreo para nutrir a los animales de la granja. Con un plan de agricultura integral, producimos comidas sanas para nuestros programas educativos y de campamentos. Al ser partícipes de la vida de la granja, visitantes, campistas y los participantes de retiros experimentaran recompensas físicas y espirituales al trabajar la tierra.
Los ecosistemas

Escrito por: Amy Melena, directora del programa. La granja

Enclavado en el corazón del rio Vermillion, nuestra tierra es dinámicamente formada por el agua: Bosques de montanosos y praderas dominan las áreas no cultivadas de la parte este de la granja, mientras que el lado oeste de la gran Bellweather esta copada por campos recreacionales, planicies, un estanque, y corredores ribereños.

La diversidad fomenta una tremenda biodiversidad y sostiene:
• más de 250 especies de plantas herbáceas, muchas ellas en peligro de desaparecer en el estado de Ohio.
• Mas de 40 especies de arbustos y árboles, y 50 acres de bosques.
• Docenas de aves migratorias, al igual que un sin número de habitantes desde pavos hasta águilas calvas.
• Animales nativos como sapos, coyotes, castores y venados.

Vemos a esta tierra como un regalo, al igual que nuestra presencia como ser miembro de su increíble ecosistema. Nuestra meta principal es el proteger la tierra y su conservación ambiental, para poder mantener su biodiversidad e integridad.

Centrados en una espiritualidad ecológica, nosotros en la granja Bellweather buscamos el cuidado de la tierra, le damos la bienvenida a nuestros visitantes, y tomamos decisiones que reflejan una continua concientización de nuestra responsabilidad y nuestra algarabía de poder vivir en harmonía con lo todo lo que en ella existe. Estudiamos, oramos, vivimos en comunidad, trabajamos dentro de un formato que promuevo la honra de las dimensiones sagradas de la creación.

www.bellwetherfarm.com
www.facebook.com/bellwetherfarmohio

La Granja de Bellweather es un Nuevo cam-pamento, lugar de retiro, centro de educacional de la diocesis episcopal del Ohio. Al fungir como el ge-rente de la granja, una de mis metas principales cuando recorro la granja con los jóvenes es el facili-tar un encuentro con el sitio desde donde extrae-mos la comida, lo cual se traduce en una experiencia con la tierra misma. Algunas veces me pongo nervioso de que necesito comunicar una verdad profunda sobre el universo, del como todos estamos conectados o del como todos nosotros entramos en decadencia día, tras día. Y luego caigo en cuenta de que lo único que necesito hacer es que los jóvenes sean ellos mismos en la granja –con las plantas, con los animales y con el suelo. Comerse un pepino extraído de la planta es magia pura, aunque tu no entiendas de fotosíntesis. Es curativa. Despierta algo muy adentro de nosotros.

Antes de proseguir, ¿qué es un Bellweather? Muchas veces escucho esta pregunta mientras trabajo en un lugar llamado la granja de Bellweather. El termino en su acepción en ingles proviene de la edad media, cuando los pastores escogían a un carnero de la manada para llevar una campana e indicar hacia donde se dirigía la manada-El Bellweather. En los tiempos modernos, el Bellweather ha venido a significar un heraldo de los que está por venir. En ese sentido, es la vocación de la iglesia el ser un Bellweather del reino de Dios, y la vocación de cada cristiano es el ser un Bellweather del amor de Dios, lo que conlleva a sanar nuestra madre tierra.

A medida que lo antes mencionado enraíza en nuestro corazón, comienzo a preguntarme: ¿Como sanamos a la tierra? Se siente como una abrumadora aspiración en estos tiempos cuando la crisis global, el cambio climático y las especies en extinción hacen titulares. Hemos perdido tanto, y seguimos perdiendo mucho más. Esto es para sufrir y estar de luto.

Y mientras me siento aquí, enlutada por esa perdida, recuerdo todos esos pasajes bíblicos, donde los personajes gritaban, ¿“Que debo hacer para ser salvado?”

Yo me pregunto si la interrogante más urgente hoy en día es: “Que debemos hacer para salvar la tierra? ¿Como podemos hacernos cargo de esta hermosa tierra? Las respuestas científicas abundan, y debemos atenderlas con sumo cuidado. Sin embargo, una respuesta de carácter se necesita de igual manera, y la cual tiene que ver con el afecto. ¿Como nos enamoramos de los lugares a los que llamamos hogares?

Parafraseando al ambientalista senegalés Baba Dioum, no salvaremos lugares que no amamos, no podemos amar un lugar que no conocemos y no podemos conocer lugares que no hemos aprendido.

La diocesis de Ohio ha escogido un lugar en la tierra que de manera afectiva llamamos la granja de Bellweather para ser nuestro lugar de aprendizaje, enseñanza, amor, y compartir con los demás. Es nuestro para detenernos, olfatear, escuchar y permitir que nuestras raíces lleguen a lo más profundo. La propiedad misma colinda con el rio Vermillion e incluye una finca, carpas para acampar e ir de picnic, campos de juego, un bosque, y un estanque de cinco acres. Este Nuevo centro ejemplifica un edificio ambientalista y demuestra estructuras que ahorran energía, tecnología energética renovable, sistemas de reclamación de agua y materiales reutilizables. Juntos, el sitio y sus instalaciones sirven como vehículos para ensenar a una comunidad amplia sobre una vida sostenible y cuidar de la tierra.

En noviembre del año 2017, fuimos honrados para agasajar al Obispo Curry en la dedicación de la granja Bellweather. Durante su discurso, él tuvo una visión donde vislumbro que este lugar sería una fábrica principal.
Él dijo, “No solamente estas construyendo un centro de conferencia, pero estas creando una fábrica de raíces, donde las personas pueden venir y reconectar con sus raíces, con la fuente de la vida misma, encontrando fuerza en el suelo, la fuerza de la vida, para encontrar al Dios que nos creó y al Dios que nos da la energía para seguir.

Observamos esta visión materializarse este año mientras personas de todos los niveles arribaron a Bellweather y experimentaron la belleza de la tierra, divisaron las estrellas en el vasto y descampado cielo, caminaron la granja, extrajeron vegetales de raíz para sus comidas, y se conectaron con animales y todos los seres de Dios.

Escrito por: Kyle Mitchell, Gerente de la granja

Pudimos ofrecer programas de inmersión y experiencias a los grupos escolares, 4 clubes H, Boy scouts, voluntarios, y retiros- Buscando ensenar practicas sociales sanas, nutricionales, y prácticas ambientales, mientras proveemos un contexto seguro en el que encontrar la creación de Dios. Entre los grupos de retiro, nos deleitamos especialmente de agasajar a la junta del Grupo de Mujeres de la Iglesia Episcopal a nivel nacional en octubre del año pasado.

Mientras reflexiono sobre el año que transcurrió, ojalá hubiese podido escribir todos esos momentos profundos que la gente paso en la granja tras haber conectado con la tierra, y de donde viene nuestra comida.

Sin embargo, recuerdo una historia en la que se plantó maíz junto a nuestros consejeros de campamento. Con los pollos tan cercanos, las flores comenzaron a florecer a nuestro alrededor y con más ahínco alrededor de nuestras manos debido a la plantación de maíz. Pude observar a nuestros consejeros sin palabras para poder describir lo que ella experimentaron.

Ella intento explicar en unas pocas líneas y finalmente dijo, “Me siento como una persona real” Yo sonreí y asentí, sin poder entender completamente, pero de alguna manera entiendo en parte. Ella estaba conectando con sus raíces.

Son estas experiencias que buscamos para cultivar en nuestro trabajo, lugar de culto, servicio y de esparcimiento. Desde nuestra vida en esta tierra hasta nuestras comidas en la granja, nuestras particas de vida sostenible en la granja y afecto por este lugar que llamamos la granja de Bellweather.

A medida que nos acercamos a la celebración del día de la tierra en el año 2020, ¿qué lugar en la tierra estas cultivando?