“The religious community needs to speak out on the environmental crisis,” say the Episcopal bishops of New England, and to underscore their concern they have issued a pastoral letter, the first of its kind. The letter, “To Serve Christ in All Creation,” is being mailed to all of the Episcopalians in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.

“This letter comes at an important, even pivotal, time in our nation and region,” said The Rt. Rev. Bud Cederholm, Bishop Suffragan of Massachusetts. “Our national leadership, as we write in this letter, ‘is failing to acknowledge the urgency of the planetary crisis in which we now find ourselves.’ Our letter calls for us to repent of our greed and waste and commit ourselves to energy conservation and the use of clean, renewable sources of energy. All around the country we are seeing religious leaders beginning to talk about our environment—for example, the National Religious Partnership for the Environment—and one of the results is that we are putting more pressure on our governmental leaders to meet their commitments to us and to the future.”

This unprecedented pastoral letter comes as a strong scientific consensus has emerged that global climate change is underway and threatens to dramatically alter, for the worse, the world we leave our children if we do nothing to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Present national leadership, however, is waging an unprecedented assault on the environment and environmental protections and laws. At the same time, there is important environmental leadership from Governor Mitt Romney and other New England governors.

Accompanied by a list of resources, suggested practical actions, and a proposed curriculum for churches to use in raising congregational awareness of environmental issues, the letter is designed to educate Episcopalians to be proactive stewards of creation.

On behalf of the Episcopal Bishops of New England, Bishop Cederholm has scheduled a press conference for February 27, beginning at 2 PM, at the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts, 138 Tremont Street, Boston.

Joining Bishop Cederholm to comment on the importance of this pastoral letter in terms of national and regional environmental policy will be Kevin Knobloch, Executive Director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, Stephen MacAusland of New England representative of the Episcopal Ecological Network and founder of Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light, and The Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, an author and environmental activist from All Saints Church in Brookline.

Copies will be made available to the press on request and at the press conference itself.