Faith & the Common Good/Greening Sacred Spaces
By Louise Chatterton Luchuk
April 26, 2010
TORONTO, ON // You've probably heard of the Golden Rule — "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" — but are you familiar with the Green Rule? The Green Rule simply states: "Do unto the Earth as you would have it do unto you" and that sentiment describes the mission of Faith & the Common Good/Greening Sacred Spaces. This organization is a network of people from different faiths and cultures who call Canada home and believe in working towards the common good. While representing different faith traditions, collectively they affirm the common values of peace, participation, human rights, ecological inter-relationship, eco-sustainability and compassion for all beings as cornerstones of a healthy society. Faith & the Common Good/Greening Sacred Spaces is not connected to any one faith tradition. Explains executive director Dr. Ted Reeve, "It is important to emphasize that we are a network. We don't want to be seen as representing or replacing any particular faith or tradition. We respect the spiritual depth of all our religious traditions. We are a network bringing these communities together."
Joint response instead of individual responses
The network dates back to the late 1990s. At that time, Reeve was working with the Moderator of the United Church of Canada and travelling across the country talking about issues related to the moral economy. They found lots of inter-faith groups but each primarily focused on what their religious tradition was all about. The initial organizers of Faith & the Common Good recognized the diversity of religious and cultural practices in Canada and the need to work together on joint responses. Remarks Reeve, "When we talked about a way that we could get to know each other by working on an area of common good, that really resonated with people of a variety of faith traditions. We started by collectively looking at issues of consumerism — how it impacts our spiritual, social and economic ways of thinking — and on heath care as a basic right for all."
The focus of the network has shifted slightly in the last few years. After meetings with David Suzuki and young people with an interest in new spirituality and ecological justice, the focus changed to greening sacred spaces and the need to return to a more balanced relationship with the planet so that all life can survive. This shift has opened up even more opportunities for a variety of different faith traditions with a fundamental concern of health and sustainability of the earth to come together. For example, a visit to the Greening Sacred Spaces website and you'll find a photo of a Methodist Church with solar panels along with a photo of a Taoist Temple with passive solar architecture as well as a carbon neutral Temple in Singapore.
2009 was the "Year of the Award"
In the last year, Reeve's organization has won several awards for their innovative work. The list includes being recognized as one of the Tides Canada Top 10. The Tides Top 10 recognizes the nation's most ground-breaking projects and organizations that have demonstrated outstanding leadership, vision and real-world impact in addressing today's most pressing environmental and social problems. Specifically, Faith & the Common Good was chosen for:
- the "Greening Sacred Spaces" program which encourages 101 faith communities (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai, Unitarian, Zen, and Hare Krishna) to green their places of worship by providing environmental audits, offset options, educational presentations,and support resources;
- bringing people of all faiths together to take action on issues related to sustainability and stimulating practical solutions in scores of buildings of worship across Canada; and,
- inspiring all faith groups to unite over a shared moral perspective to revere the natural world as sacred.
A snapshot of... |
Who: Faith & the Common Good: Greening Sacred Spaces
Mandate/Mission: Greening Sacred Spaces is designed to help people of faith make their places of worship and private homes more energy efficient and generally people-and-planet friendly.
They see care of the earth community as the most pressing spiritual issue of the 21st Century.
Location: Toronto, ON
When established: 2000
Number of staff: 8 part-time
Number of volunteers: 15
Budget: $250,000
Awards won: Trillium CEO Award 2009; Tides Top Ten; Toronto Atmospheric Fund Community Heros
|
|
|
Reeve admits it was a real surprise because it was not a recognition they applied for or actively sought out. "I don't think we ever found out how we were nominated!" muses Reeve. "We found out we had won when we were sent an email with the press release." It was an honour, nonetheless. In addition, Reeve's organization received the Ontario Trillium Foundation's CEO Award and the Toronto Atmospheric Fund Community Heroes award last year. More than just an honour, these awards open new doors for Reeve's organization. Reeve explains it this way: "There is lots of fear about religious organizations, lots of suspicion. So we appreciate that we are modeling safe communities, working at a profound level for the common good. We model a type of spirituality that is both old and profoundly new."
What Faith & the Common Good/Greening Sacred Spaces provides is a safe forum for people to attempt to grapple with deep questions of what it means to be a spiritual person or a spiritual community and deal with the practicalities of day-to-day life. The organization deals with complex, multi-layered questions without any easy answers. While Reeve identifies this as a strength of his organization, he is also aware of the fact that it represents one of its biggest challenges, too. "One of the core things that we find is that people are often paralyzed about where or how to begin on these issues," remarks Reeve. "We read about greenhouse gases, melting icebergs, increasing numbers of hurricanes and it paralyzes people. It is our hardest challenge to address the fundamental fear factor. How do we have the courage to begin to change? That's where faith and spirituality provide some impetus for people. That's why we've attempted to talk about this as a profound issue that needs a prayerful, spiritual response to make change happen." So, in the face of daunting scientific evidence, those involved in Faith & the Common Good/Greening Sacred Spaces have hope and that hope gives courage to take the important initial steps.
Louise Chatterton Luchuk provides research and resources for organizations that want to strategically move forward. She is a consultant and writer who combines her love of writing with research and project management experience at the regional, provincial and national levels of voluntary/nonprofit organizations. You can reach Louise at info@luchuk.com.
Have you -- or your organization -- experienced a stunning success or spectacular failure? How are you creatively and innovatively making your mark? These are the stories we want to capture. Help make the nonprofit sector stronger by sharing your story and the valuable lessons you learned along the way. Email us today at editor@charityvillage.com.
