Western Mass. Episcopalians pass climate resolution at annual convention
Springfield — On Oct. 28, the 116th diocesan convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts unanimously passed a proposed resolution requiring a deeper commitment to climate justice on the congregational and personal levels. This week the presiding bishop and primate sent an Episcopal delegation to Bonn, Germany, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference. On Nov. 3, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times on the moral imperative being faced as altered weather patterns create deadly storms around the globe. Echoing these voices, the resolution asserts the primacy of the Paris accord and the Episcopal Church’s effort to climate change.
The resolution was sponsored jointly with the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ. The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, who works for the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC as well as the Episcopal Diocese of Western Massachusetts, presented a draft of the resolution for approval to the Social Justice Commission before sending it on to the annual convention in Springfield.
The Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, conference minister and president of the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC, was present for the presentation and debate of the resolution and for its passage. Many delegates left the convention with lawn signs to support the mandates of the Paris accord.
