Land Stewardship Committee

Mary Help of Christians Church, Parkland, FL

 When the Mary Help of Christians Church in Parkland, Florida constructed its church, they also established a Land Stewardship Committee to provide a starting example and continuing inspiration about caring for the environment that surrounded them. The Committee was founded by parishioners Paul Gore, Helen and Roy Reynolds and Fr. Thomas Wisniewski and upon the mission to provide homiletic messages on land stewardship concepts at the church, local and state level through the publication of a monthly newsletter, The Green Leaf.

Gore, who serves as both editor of the newsletter and director of the Committee, describes the efforts of the six Green Leaf staff members to overcome the initial skepticism of the Mary Help of Christians Church members when they started publishing in 1999. In time, though, parishioners grew to look forward to receiving the publication each month, distributed once a month at Mass and containing a mixture of nature news and wildlife sightings in the church’s garden and personal or inspirational essays on sensing the sacredness of nature and humankind’s call to protect it.

While not openly activist in its tone or content, The Green Leaf’s valuable contribution to faith-based environmentalism is its personal focus: urging parishioners to reconsider the land around them as a part of the gift of creation; highlighting those elements of the environment peculiar to its region, and rejoicing in the many manifestations of nature’s beauty.

Through Green Leaf editorials and the other efforts of the Land Stewardship Committee, Gore and his associates encourage parishioners to make individual connections with the corner of nature contained in their own backyard, by using the Church garden for prayer, for meetings, for contemplation, for games, as a site for memorials and time capsules, and as a small-scale representation of the holy circle of life, death and rebirth.

Contact:

Mary Help of Christians Church

Parkland, FL 33067

Phone: (954) 323-8012

Website: www.mhocrc.org