Group Aims For Environmental Justice Spokane Catholic Bishop Meets With Gore, Helps Promote New Religious Coalition

Spokane Roman Catholic Bishop William Skylstad met with Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday to discuss issues both men are passionate about: faith, justice and protecting the environment.

Skylstad was joined by two dozen other religious leaders. The group is blazing a trail through Washington, D.C., this week to announce a religious coalition designed to address environmental justice issues.

The National Religious Partnership for the Environment is one of the broadest coalitions on the political scene. It combines national leaders from the Roman Catholic church, mainline and evangelical Protestant denominations and all three divisions of the Jewish faith.

Normally soft-spoken, Skylstad is fervent when he addresses issues of justice and poverty. As chairman of the U.S. Catholic Conference Domestic Policy Committee, he is the church’s ranking member and spokesman on policy within the United States.

Skylstad and other coalition leaders spent an hour with Gore, who mostly listened to their views.

“Our primary focus was that true environmental justice must exhibit a sensitivity to the poor,” Skylstad said afterward. “We have to look at recapturing appreciation and reverence for creation and nature.”

The coalition hopes to become a religious conscience on environmental issues at the federal and local levels, said Paul Gorman, executive director.

In this country as well as throughout the world, poor people and minorities bear the brunt of environmental destruction and pollution.

In the United States, children in poor communities suffer from asthma at more than twice the rate of their middle-income peers. In Harlem, bus emissions are the leading cause of pediatric breathing illness. In one Dallas neighborhood, many childhood health problems can be traced to a nearby lead smelter, according to a report prepared by the coalition.

“Environmental protection without economic justice lacks moral integrity,” Gorman said.

After talking to Democrat Gore, the religious leaders plan to focus their lobbying efforts today on congressional Republicans.

“We are especially reaching out to the Republican congressional leadership to say this is a theological concern for all faiths,” Gorman said. “Scripture teaches that justice among God’s people and protection of God’s land are indivisible.”

Today, the group also will announce a $4 million fund raised by various denominations to be spent on local programs fostering environmental justice.

One example of such a program is the Seattle-based Coalition for a Livable Washington. That organization, in conjunction with the Washington Association of Churches, worked to promote “civility” during the recent election campaign regarding environmental issues, particularly in rural parts of the state.

The new coalition also plans to highlight the Christian Environmental Association in Colfax, Wash., during a news conference today. That organization works with churches and Washington State University students on various environmental issues.

Skylstad said he hopes churches throughout the Spokane area will work on the same issues.

, DataTimes