Friends and colleagues,
The diocesan Commission on Creation Care and Environmental Justice (or CCEJ) convenes to support the leaders and faith communities of the Diocese of Southern Ohio for their efforts in caring for and seeking relationship with all God’s creation.
Specifically, we:
- Offer activities across the diocese to help people grow in their understanding of creation care and environmental justice as part of our expression of Christian faith.
- Coordinate diocesan financial resources to grant funding to parishes seeking to improve energy efficiency in their buildings.
- Sponsor formation/education events and advocacy opportunities.
- Support parishes as they transition their energy source from polluting sources to clean, renewable sources.
- Empower and support congregational creation care ministry teams to consider sustainable land use, local food production, waste reduction, creation-inclusive worship experiences, and other ministry concepts.
- Partner with other diocesan ministry teams to align activity in the areas of racial reconciliation, strategic planning, formation, and advocacy.
As part of meeting that charge, the commission has partnered to develop several resources and opportunities as part of our “Catechism of Place” program to engage and deepen local creation care initiatives. I invite you to read below this note to explore ways that we might partner with your community.
Learn more about our work on the CCEJ page of our diocesan website. Please contact me with any questions at ccej@diosohio.org.
Yours in Christ,
The Rev. Craig Foster
Chair, Commission on Creation Care & Environmental Justice
Deacon, Diocese of Southern Ohio
ccej@diosohio.org
Other members of our commission:
Dana Carlson – Good Shepherd, Athens
Michelle French – All Saints, Pleasant Ridge
The Rev. Iva Joyce-Miesse – Trinity, Capitol Square
Ariel Miller – Ascension and Holy Trinity, Wyoming
Megan Suttman – Advent, Walnut Hills
Jacob Taylor – Advent, Walnut Hills
Dave Thomson – Christ Church Cathedral
Bill Ubbes – Holy Trinity, Oxford
Kyle Vath – Christ Church Cathedral
Ken Wright – Christ Church, Glendale
Jerusalem Greer – Procter Center, Staff Liaison
Catechism of Place
Catechism of Place is a resource and mentorship program available to any Episcopal community of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. Its goal is to provide opportunities for churches to deepen their ecological and theological commitments and land use practices.
Through group study, planning, designing, and connecting with community resources, participating communities will receive a solid framework for fostering eco-theologically oriented and land-based initiatives in their respective contexts.
This initiative is funded by the diocesan budget and is offered at no-cost to DSO faith communities. To engage the Catechism of Place resources, please email Megan at msuttman@adventcincy.org.
Catechism of Place will assist participating groups in:
- Tending and bolstering imagination for environmental restoration and healing
- Holding an ecological and liberatory lens to scripture and tradition
- Developing bioregional literacy
- Cultivating deep listening through contemplative and creative practice
- Considering how use of church land can reflect theological commitments to creation care.
- Building connections with local advocacy groups, and land.
- Developing their own Catechism of Place
To begin working with us in your community we invite you to chose from the following workshops:
Introducing Ecotheology in Place
A two week primer for developing a Catechism of Place
Week 1 – Creation, Incarnation, Sacrament: Eco-theology and the Crisis of Alienation
Week 2 – Watershed Discipleship: Materiality and Place
Terra Divina Retreat
Terra Divina is the contemplative practice of beholding and listening to the land prayerfully. During this one day retreat, participants will learn to craft a practice of reciprocity, remembrance, and imagination for what can be! This can be a one time offering or together we can craft a liturgy and practice format for routine communal prayer with the land.
Garden Planning Workshop
Topics and timeframe based on community and site needs:
- Practical skills for working with the land
- Assessing community desires and goals for a community garden space
- Welcoming all into the garden; crafting spaces with accessibility and play in mind
- Additional work day support and supply funding available by request
Community Compost Workshop
We will cover the basics of starting up a community compost collection onsite, Providing info and training on logistics, with the option of additional material and work day support.
Rewilding Workshop
Rewilding is the practice of replacing non-native monocultures of lawn grass with native and biodiverse herbs, grasses, and flowers. In facing our current ecological moment, rewilding invites us into closer relation with the native flora and fauna of our bioregion and challenges us to mindfully reimagine the responsibilities of creation care. This work involves explorations into climate grief, the storied nature of plants, ceremony, and the call to love one’s neighbor — human and more-than-human.
Along with providing informational and contemplative resources on rewilding as a practice, we can offer a hands-on project day for all ages, building tools that will support the flourishing of local species.
Choose one of the following projects:
- Seed Bombs
- Bee houses
- Bat houses
Program Coordinators
Megan Suttman
Megan has a Background in environmental education, contemplative and biblical studies, and Waldorf education. She has spent most of her adult life in gardens and forests, cultivating and facilitating place-based programs and experiences for children and adults. She recently graduated from the Center for Action and Contemplation and serves as the Minister for Land Justice at Church of the Advent in Walnut Hills. She also runs Terra Divina, an outdoor contemplative prayer gathering that meets in Price Hill, Cincinnati.
Jacob Taylor
Jacob is a resident and student of the Maketewah watershed. A recent graduate of the Methodist Theological School in Ohio, his work focuses on constructive ecotheology and faith practice in the Anthropocene. His experience as an artist, farmer, lay theologian, and food justice educator across southern and central Ohio situates him to work with adults around formation of faith and theology at the crossroads of bioregionalism, radical discipleship, and climate justice. He holds a Master’s of Theological Studies and a Master’s in Practical Theology degrees from MTSO and currently serves as the Minister for Arts, Media, and Community at Church of the Advent in Cincinnati.
Tess Dankoski
Tess is an undergraduate student studying theology and literature at Xavier University and is graduating in May 2025. An avid reader and lover of wildlife, her areas of interest lie in the intersections of poetics and localized community-oriented creation care. She has been working at Church of the Advent since 2024 as the Land Justice Intern, helping implement Advent’s Good News Garden and studying rewilding as a spiritual discipline.
