By Shawn Ryan
Staff  writer

Plattsburgh -  At St Peter’s Parish, Earth Day isn’t something that comes along just once a year.
Through their “Environmental Stewardship Committee,” parishioners at St. Peter’s are re-connecting with the environment, working for environmental social justice, and hoping that their example will spur others to do the same.

The group was originally started five years ago when Father John Yonkovig was pastor at St. Peter’s, under the auspices of the US Conference of Catholic Bishop’s 2009 Catholic Coalition on Climate Change. According to their 2009 introductory guidelines, the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change aims to:
… submit a seven-year plan to expand the involvement of the Catholic community in the United States. Doing so will allow the U.S. Catholic church to:

•demonstrate greater respect and reverence for the gift of God’s bountiful creation

•accept personal and communal responsibility for caring for this gift

•ensure that the lives of those most impacted by our neglect - namely the poor and the vulnerable around the globe - do not suffer any greater hardship either through climate change or efforts designed to address the problem.

After the initial seven week “Just Matters” campaign, it was decided that the group would continue as the Environmental Stewardship Committee. The group is committed to exploring the Catholic, spiritual aspects of Environmentalism, as well as the Social Justice aspect of caring for our environment. They are raising awareness of environmental issues, and trying to help people become more environmentally friendly by their examples.
“We’re particularly blessed with the natural resources of this area,” committee member A. Paul Scott said. “Our commitment is to expand and address the conversation, [and] engage in as respectful and helpful a way as possible to move this matter forward.”

The group has participated in a number of hands-on activities as a way to further their mission. The projects include distributing reusable shopping bags, tours of the local wind farm, visits to state parks to reconnect with the environment, working with both Habitat for Humanity and students from Plattsburgh State on environmental issues, and efforts aimed at recycling both typical items such as cans and bottles, but also non-typical items such as batteries. “If we don’t have a healthy, clean environment, how can we go on,” said Alice Scott, another member of the Environmental Committee.

A primary goal of the committee is to educate people on the dangers facing the environment, and the social justice aspect of environmental stewardship. As committee member Celine MacDougall points out, echoing the sentiment of the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change, it is the least wealthy who will be the first as well as the most impacted by global climate change. “It’s the little things that add up,” she said. “It’s a cumulative effect.”   

Members of the group are hoping that the idea will catch on throughout the Diocese, and that other churches might form Environmental Stewardship Committees as well. Some Dioceses, such as the Archdiocese of Montreal just to our north,  have a Diocesan representative for environmental issues. The idea of environmentalism is certainly no longer outside of the Catholic consciousness, with environmental issues being embraced by both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as the Pope himself.

According the Sheila Harrison, leader of the Environmental Committee, “There’s not a Diocesan link just yet. We think that the time is right to advance the issue of social justice…It’s consistent with our faith and part of living it.”

Members of the Environmental Stewardship committee of St. Peter’s Parish in Plattsburgh, are shown during a recent meeting. Front, from left are Diane Cudworth, Carol Holzer, Eunice Trombly, Marie Nacht, Alice Jones and Alice Scott; back, Jack Hills,  Karen Farrel, Jon Votraw, Debbie Meier, Sheila Harrison, Jack Beaumant,Mary Centofanti, Alan Trombly and Paul Scott.