Eighty people joined the virtual Triangle Clergy Dialogue with Rep. Deborah Ross on Climate Action September 27, 2021. This was a powerful coming together of faith leaders and members of congregations all over the Triangle to speak our common voice on the critical need to care for the environment for the sake of future generations.
Hosted by Interfaith Creation Care of the Triangle and Orange-Chatham Interfaith Care for Creation with the assistance of In Solidarity, a faith-based non-profit.
Read the article on our Clergy Dialogue in the National Catholic Reporter online that has a readership of 100,000.
Our country is in the midst of crucial debates over transitioning to a clean energy economy through the infrastructure and reconciliation budget plans in Congress. Faith leaders have a unique and valuable voice in this discussion, with their ability to center the debate on moral and religious principles of caring for all of creation, especially each other.
The dialogue with U.S. Representative Deborah Ross, Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, Retired of the North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, and Fr. Jacek Orzechowski of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Durham was moderated by Charles Coble from Orange-Chatham Interfaith Care for Creation.
Congresswoman Deborah Ross is a civil rights advocate, a clean energy champion, a lawyer, and a proud citizen of Wake County. Sworn into the House of Representatives on January 3, 2021, she represents North Carolina’s 2nd District. Rep. Ross previously served Wake County in the NC House of Representatives.
Bishop Hope Morgan Ward, Retired, a native North Carolinian, was raised on the Morgan family farm in northeastern North Carolina in the community of Corapeake. A graduate of Duke University and Duke Divinity School, she was elected to the Episcopacy in July 2004 and assigned to the NC Conference of the United Methodist Church (Eastern NC from the Triangle to the coast) in 2012 where she served until her retirement in September 2021.
Fr. Jacek Orzechowski, OFM has been a Franciscan since 1997. Prior to becoming pastor of Immaculate Conception in Durham, he worked with Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C. as the director of community organizing and advocacy. Fr. Jacek is a member of the Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) animation committee for the entire Franciscan Order. He has spent many years working with communities of immigrants and has witnessed firsthand the impact of climate change on our brothers and sisters south of the border.
