The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
March 2008
Green Vocation
 The Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish has asked all to accept a calling—a
vocation as it's referred to in spiritual terms. It is a "green
vocation." The Bishop told a Utah State University conference
that such a vocation is a "holistic calling that not only supports
the integration of all we are, know, love, and do, it points us to
an ethical and responsible way of living on earth."
Bishop Irish adds that we are the only one of earth's species
that can look ahead to the consequences of our actions. She cites Genesis,
which states humanity was given life and the purpose to till and keep
garden. Today it is every human's task to take care of the earth.
This includes the creatures we are interconnected with on the planet.
The Bishop quotes the principles of the 4H organization, which are
Head, Heart, Hands and Health. Faith traditions call these pathways
of knowing, loving, and doing. Conference goers clearly saw that we
must know the environmental condition of the earth and who we are,
love the earth, and then make behavioral changes necessary to help
us strive to serve our "green vocation."
 A portion of the “Green Team” is seen in its first meeting
at the Episcopal Church Center of Utah to help formulate the “Green
Vocation.” The Bishop has assembled the group from throughout
the Diocese.
The Diocese now
has a "green team" that held its first meeting to plan
ways to help fulfill the vocation. Additionally, the clergy and seminarians
of the southwestern part of the diocese (representing St. Jude's,
Spirit of the Desert, St. David's and Grace) has committed to
planning programs to serve the region and others in a green ministry.
The
Bishop joined several clergy members and 250 others in a recent St.
George rally against the Toquop Energy Project, a coal fired power
plant proposed for the area. Plant critics and scientists fear both
environmental and health problems associated with the plant that is
to be located in nearby Nevada.
The Rev. Dave Sakrison, Mayor of Moab, makes a point during a presentation
at an Utah State University workshop concerning the stewardship and
ethics of protecting the earth. Fr. Sakrison has led Moab to the nation's
first EPA Green Power Community destination.
Congregations throughout the diocese
are encouraged to embrace the green vocation. The Dialogue will have
additional "green" ways to help the earth over the next
issues.
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