c. 2005 Religion News Service

BLAIRSTOWN, N.J. _ The Dominican Sisters of Caldwell founded Genesis Farm as “a learning center for Earth studies” 25 years ago.

The nonprofit, self-sustaining farm is largely based on the teachings of Catholic “geologian” Thomas Berry, who held that the institutions of economics, religion, education and government were failing to address global ecological problems, said founding member Sister Miriam MacGillis.

And since Genesis Farm began in 1980, ecological problems have gotten much worse, in MacGillis’ view.

“I think we’ve been in a profound sense of denial for about 40 years about how dire this (ecological crisis) is,” MacGillis said.

She cited as problems declining “quality of air, water, soils and nutritional value of food, (rising global) temperature and climate (changes) and all of the species that are just unbelievably in danger of extinction.”

“Our culture, our society is so fast-paced _ we’re aware of things (problems) but it’s easier to bury it in our self-consciousness,” she said.

So, rather than celebrate the farm’s 25th anniversary this year with a big party, the nonprofit organization has decided to hold periodic “commemorative” conferences focusing on each of the four major institutions.

The first conference, on economics, was held in July at Blair Academy in Blairstown and drew 155 people. That gathering buzzed with a feeling of energy and support and a sense that there are many solutions to a myriad of ecological problems, MacGillis said.

The next conference, titled “Religion Enters Its Ecological Phase,” will be a full-day workshop Oct. 1 at St. Paul’s Abbey in Andover Township, N.J.

A keynote address by Mary Evelyn Tucker, a professor of religion at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, will be followed by break-out sessions dealing with the implications of cosmology for the moral, ethical and spiritual aspects of religion. The event will end with the Thomas Berry Award ceremony: MacGillis is the 2005 recipient.

MacGillis expects the religion conference to raise questions such as: What does the faith community of religions have to say about the problems? How can they offer insights from their own traditions?

The third conference, on education, will be held Oct. 22, and the final one, on government, is expected to be held on Earth Day, April 26.

The 226-acre farm has sustained itself through a variety of residential and non-residential programs, including an accredited master’s-level course in Earth Literacy, as well as various fundraisers.

Genesis Farm is also known for its “CSG,” or community supported garden. Under that organic farming program, which began in 1988, members pay to join and then receive regular shares of the food grown and harvested at the farm. The CSG is its own self-sustaining entity, with its own budget, separate from the educational center, MacGillis said.

Genesis Farm seeks to promote human and ecological health by combining spirituality, education and sustainable living. Lori Gold, the farm’s office coordinator, describes it as “a place to come together and ask the deep questions of how humans will live together with the whole of life” on the planet.

“We all live in this ecosystem for good or ill,” MacGillis said. “There are lots of answers out there. It just seems to me that we need vision about how to turn this around as a society.”

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(Jim Lockwood writes for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.)