When asked what I hope to pursue after retiring as bishop diocesan of Kansas, I have a three-fold answer: more time with my family; writing a sequel to my novel Of Green Stuff Woven that has the working title Bishop of Blue; and assisting Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe and other bishops to create Eco-Region Networks with special emphasis on our own Grasslands Network. The first two parts of my answer are simple and clear, but the last item is more mysterious, and so I’ll endeavor here to explain it.
What is an Eco-Region Network? Episcopal dioceses, parishes, individuals, and their neighbors are forming networks based on shared ecosystems and watersheds. These networks provide a collaborative space to link people of faith, projects, and properties and to implement nature-based solutions that meet local and regional needs. General Convention 2024 passed a resolution B002 that organizes and offers modest funding for this effort. Currently, five Eco-Region Networks are in the very first stages of development:
- Grasslands
- Province I (nature name tbd)
- Appalachia
- Mid-Atlantic/Chesapeake Bay
- Province IX (nature name tbd)
Three more may come into existence in the remaining two years of this Triennium.
Three Pillars of each network: Nature~Food~Faith
There is no pathway to protecting and restoring ecosystems, staying within +1.5 degrees of warming the planet, and safeguarding biodiversity, as well as feeding 10 billion people by 2050, without transforming the ways we produce, distribute, and consume food and inhabit our land and our waterways.
People of Faith, grounded in God’s love, must be part of the whole society transformation toward sustainability. Through “nature-food-faith” networks, we seek to:
- Preserve and restore native plant communities
- Model transformative agriculture and food systems
- Preserve and clean water sources
- Build a community of people of faith, sharing prayer, worship ideas, spiritual practices, the bible and sacred creation texts
- Help one another across dioceses if and when climate disasters strike in the region
Rooted in Kansas
This expanding movement is rooted in our experiment in trying to discover Creation Trustees in the Diocese of Kansas. I hope that and have already witnessed many EDOK Creation Trustees participating in the Grasslands Network. To date, we have hosted one Grasslands Gathering in person (last April) and one online Grasslands Get-Together.
The Rev. Madison Bishop Knoth, of St. Andrew’s in Derby, is assisting me as our Grasslands Eco-Region Fellow, and she will help keep track of our network members and will also publish Grasslands Gazette e-newsletters. The Rev. Caroline Howard has done invaluable work centered at Bethany House and Garden and is a gifted native plant educator and creation care advocate. Over the next 4-5 months, she will spend time out and about in our parishes preaching and celebrating, and sharing creation care.
Tim and I are rooted in Kansas. It is the landscape we love, the home base for our nuclear and extended family, and our faith home. We hope to reside, inconspicuously, in Topeka. If I can assist Bethany Garden to flourish literally and in mission, I will do so until the 11th Bishop of Kansas arrives. I pray daily for the Spirit to move powerfully to raise up the next bishop for this beloved diocese.
If you are interested in being part of the Grasslands Network, please contact:
Rev. Maddy Bishop Knoth – revmaddyk@gmail.com
Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom – bishopcathleenkansas@gmail.com
by the Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom
835 SW Polk St.