Gun Violence Prevention Training Aug 25 Deadline

Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Dear Friends, I'm following up because you indicated that you are considering attending the Atwood Institute for gun violence prevention ministry training, Sept. 15-18 near Kansas City, MO. I hope that's the case! ---and that you may have others on a team to attend. Below you can see the event schedule and faculty -- all top-notch. Our firm deadline to register is Aug. 25 and scholarships are still available. If you would like to visit by phone about it, please email me HERE and we'll get a time to talk. Many thanks, Jan Orr-Harter, Moderator, Gun Violence Prevention Ministry, Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Aug. 25 is the last day to register for gun violence prevention training at the Atwood Institute, Sept. 15-18 near Kansas CIty, MO. Whether you are a seasoned faith activist or want to explore gun violence prevention for your congregation, please join us in September for training in the practical, pastoral and prophetic calling to help save lives. Frequently Asked Questions HERE. See the Atwood Institute Schedule HERE. Meet the Faculty HERE. Why Come? Because we all need to learn how to effectively communicate about this issue, from the adult education class to sharing our own stories to the pulpit to the public square. Learn what's working in the urban centers of the midwest, including the role of congregations with community violence interruption programs. Learn how to help your community heal from the trauma and fear of gun violence. And, together, let's learn what steps can best prevent gun violence now. Plus, find a spiritual community to keep us all going --and transform a gun into a garden tool! Learn More & Register Here. See a 1 minute video HERE on what last year's participants took home to their churches. Find a recent news article on the Atwood Institute HERE Photos below from Atwood Institute 2024 and 2025. Thanks to Generous Sponsors, Scholarships are Available. 2026 Sponsors (as of 7/16/26) First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe, NM Wisconsin Council of Churches Webster Grove Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, MO Fellowship of Reconciliation, Atwood Family Doug and Cheryl Hunt, Jeff Wild, Doris Mabrey New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence Heartland Presbytery, The Presbyterian Outlook RAWtools South, Kansas City Guns to Gardens Wisconsin Guns to Gardens Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Sponsor/Donate Here/Atwood Institute 2026 presbypeacefellowship.org/gun-violence-prevention  Rev. Margery Rossi, Minister for Gun Violence Prevention margery@presbypeacefellowship.org Rev. Jan Orr-Harter, Editor & Moderator, Gun Violence Prevention Working Group gvp@presbypeacefellowship.org Presbyterian Peace Fellowship 845-786-6743 | presbypeacefellowship.org Instagram | Facebook | Twitter

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WCC News: Music video for the song “The Path of Justice” launched

Faith Sebwa is a teenage Kenyan climate campaigner. Her poem, “The Path of Justice,” has been set to music and the song video has just launched, supporting the Hope for Children Through Climate Justice initiative. The music video for the song "The Path of Justice"  features children from "Touch of Eden Academy" in Masiphumelele, Cape Town, South Africa. Photo: WCC 30 July 2026 Sebwa is deaf and speaks Kenyan Sign Language. She says, “Growing up as a partially deaf person, I come from a community where voices are often overlooked or silenced. I decided to be the change. While writing this poem, I wanted to speak up for the environment and simultaneously encourage other voiceless people to share their stories.” Sebwa’s poem opens the World Council of Churches’ Hope for Children Through Climate Justice handbook, which helps churches with legal tools to hold financial organisations to account for funding fossil fuel projects. Sebwa was the youngest member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation to the COP climate talks in Dubai. An English musician linked to the Iona Community, Helen Williams, read the poem and was moved to put it to music for congregations and schools to sing, with this songsheet.  WCC partners in the Netherlands, Bas van Nienes and René Dufry, then recorded it, so it is a truly international Kenyan-British-Dutch composition. Charles Mullis from the Presbyterian Church in North Carolina in the USA loved the song, and produced a version for school wind orchestras, taking Sebwa's message of faith to more new audiences.  The music video makes it more international still, filmed in Masiphumelele, Cape Town, South Africa, at Touch of Eden Academy, featuring the Grade 6 class of 2026 under the guidance of their teacher, Tinashe Mugumisa.  The children were invited to hold signs displaying words that inspire hope, speak life, and remind us of God's promises. These words point beyond present struggles in a community with significant challenges, declaring that light is stronger than darkness, love is stronger than fear, and hope remains even in the hardest places. “I was deeply moved when the WCC central committee sang ‘The Path of Justice' as a rallying call launching the Ecumenical Decade of Climate Justice Action in Johannesburg, in June 2025,” says Frederique Seidel, senior programme lead, Children and Climate, at the WCC.  “Now I’m praying that many denominations and partners will also be moved by it, and will hear the challenge of our children calling us to protect them throug this decade. I hope they find Hope for Children Through Climate Justice a useful tool to put that into practice and plan their own legal approaches to stop banks from fueling the climate emergency .” Nature scenes from the music video "The Path of Justice", shot by filmmaker Bas van Nienes in South Africa. Photo: WCC “The scenes of creation throughout the video reflect the beauty and wonder of God's handiwork,” says Bas van Nienes, musician and filmmaker. “They remind us that creation declares His glory and calls us to care for one another and to be faithful stewards of the world He has entrusted to us.” “I feel very happy that the message is reaching every corner of the world," says Sebwa. “I hope that churches will be inspired to take action to protect the environment, support children, and promote climate justice for a better future. “I would tell bank leaders to invest their money in projects that protect the environment, create jobs, and improve people's lives,” Sebwa adds. “Their investment decisions can make a big difference for the future of children and the planet.” The video launch follows the first legal action towards a bank’s investment in fossil fuels, by churches and faith-based organizations from Colombia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Together with investment and ecumenical partners they submitted a complaint under the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct concerning HSBC Holdings plc and its financial relationship with Glencore, the company operating the Cerrejón coal mine in La Guajira, Colombia. Sebwa attends Kambui School for the Deaf. “My call to action is let us work together, take care of the environment, and we, as the deaf kids, are here and ready to support that,” she said to the Global Children’s Climate Summit, back in 2023. Her words have travelled a long way.  “Financial powers, vast and strong We call them out when they go wrong For with our faith, we fight for right A spark against the darkest night.” From The Path of Justice. Full text here Watch the music video for the song “The Path of Justice” Listen to the song “The Path of Justice” Download the WCC resource “Hope for Children Through Climate Justice: Legal Tools to Hold Financiers Accountable” Sign the open letter supporting churches’ legal action about the Cerrejon coal mine: WCC invites churches, communities to support call for responsible finance, climate justice | World Council of Churches Learn more about the Churches’ Commitments to Children and Climate-Responsible Banking The Path of Justice (music video) See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland

EarthBeat Weekly: Catholics rebuke EPA under Trump for 'devaluing of human life and creation'

Catholics rebuke EPA under Trump for 'devaluing of human life and creation'   EarthBeat Weekly Your weekly newsletter about faith and climate change July 31, 2026   Approximately two dozen Catholics held a prayer service July 24 outside the headquarters  of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C.  (Catholic Climate Covenant)   A week ago today, it was a sunny morning in Washington D.C. when a small group of Catholics gathered along Constitution Avenue for a prayer service outside the headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.  There, they read Bible passages, sang songs and recited petitions all aimed toward swaying the EPA to change its ways. To the nearly two-dozen Catholics who attended, the federal agency founded with the guiding charter to protect public health and the environment was no longer doing that under the Trump administration. In fact, they alleged it was doing the opposite by devaluing human life and God's creation.  "Today we urge the Environmental Protection Agency to remember its mission, to do its job of protecting the environment and vulnerable people," Franciscan Sr. Marie Lucey, associate director of Franciscan Action Network, said during the service. It's been nearly 18 months since Donald Trump returned to the White House. And amid a torrent of executive orders and actions — from immigration crackdowns, tariffs, attacks on the free press and wars in the Middle East — the environment has been near the top of the policy realms where his administration has been most active.  In the center of it has been the EPA and its administrator, Lee Zeldin, as I reported today in a story at EarthBeat.  During the second Trump administration, EPA so far has put forward more than 70 proposed rules, finalized rules and other guidance aimed at eliminating or significantly scaling back climate mitigation and adaptation measures, according to a database by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. Many of the actions have sought to void rules and policies put in place under President Joe Biden. Under Zeldin, the EPA has revoked the agency's "endangerment finding," the 2009 scientific determination that found greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare and has underpinned climate regulations through the Clean Air Act for nearly two decades.  Led by Zeldin, the EPA has also: rolled back stronger limits on methane emissions, hydrofluorocarbons and mercury pollution;  worked to repeal new emissions standards for cars and heavy-duty vehicles; backed away from testing for microplastics and proposed rollbacks on forever chemical limits; sought to narrow environmental reviews under the National Environmental Protection Act; delayed compliance deadlines and offered exemptions for hazardous air pollution;  shut down EPA's main scientific research office. Kayla Jacobs, director of advocacy and youth mobilization for Catholic Climate Covenant, which organized the prayer service, told me the flurry of actions at EPA over the past 18 months "has been pretty disastrous and almost impossible to keep up with." "A lot that's been happening is very not in line with our church's teachings. Very not Laudato Si' friendly, that's for sure," she said.  The situation at EPA led to the prayer service, as well as a letter backed by seven faith groups and signed by 2,000-plus Catholics to Zeldin outlining specific actions the agency has taken under his leadership that they say are "deeply concerning" and in some cases "devaluing of human life and creation." Read more: Catholic groups urge EPA to halt actions that devalue human life, God's creation What else is new on EarthBeat:   Texas lawmaker introduces bill to protect Mount Cristo Rey from border wall construction by Camillo Barone The Mount Cristo Rey Protection Act would prevent the federal government from constructing border security infrastructure around the prominent Catholic pilgrimage site overlooking the U.S.-Mexico border. Read more here »   Pope prays for victims of deadly wildfires in Spain, France by Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News Pope Leo XIV offered prayers as firefighters continue to battle massive wildfires in Spain and France that have forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate from their homes. Read more here »   Wildfires in Spain force Augustinian nuns to evacuate monastery by Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News Severe wildfires raging across central Spain have forced a community of Augustinian nuns to evacuate their monastery as record-breaking blazes sweep through the region. The sisters of the Monastery of the Conversion in Sotillo de la Adrada fled their home on July 25, taking shelter at a neighboring Augustinian convent in Talavera, about 26 miles south. Read more here »   Nuns coordinate to rebuild hope after double earthquake in Venezuela by Graciela de los Ángeles Portillo, Translated by Magda Bennásar Religious sisters are working with Venezuela's religious conference, Caritas and others to provide food, supplies and support. Read more here »   Venezuelan bishops urge faithful to reject superstitious view of earthquakes by Junno Arocho Esteves, OSV News In a pastoral letter, the bishops of Venezuela called on the faithful to reject the superstitious notion that the twin earthquakes that struck the country were a divine punishment. Read more here »   'A deal with the devil': Religion motivates data center opponents in Texas by Chloe Landen, Ellie Ashby, Religion News Service Some see the facilities' construction as a sign of the apocalypse, while others see it as an opportunity to advocate for environmental stewardship.  Read more here »   An AI data center is being built on my grandma's garden by Liam Myers When Liam Myers' grandma sold her house last year, she didn't know it was to an AI data center developer. Now, her grandson wrestles with the loss — and what it means to remember. Read more here » What's happening in other climate news: Trump administration is repurposing federal land for A.I. data centers —Brad Plumer for The New York Times Human-caused climate change made Spanish, French fires much more likely, scientists calculate —Seth Borenstein for the Associated Press The EPA halted a study on gas stoves and asthma. But even partial results were striking —Jake Spring for the Washington Post Federal judge orders EPA to administer environmental justice grants —Lauren Dalban for Inside Climate News Bipartisan anger grows at Pentagon's delayed 'forever chemicals' cleanups —Hiroko Tabuchi for The New York Times Trump bets Chevron's fall lets him rewrite rules for imperiled wildlife —Ian M. Stevenson for E&E News Record seaweed blankets Mexico's Caribbean coast, threatening tourism and the environment —Iñigo Alexander and Paola Chiomante for Reuters Meet the woman behind the world's first environmental justice encyclopedia —Jenae Barnes for The 19th* Final Beat: As you can see from the stories above, it's been a busy week on the faith-and-environment beat.  If you like what you read here, support this reporting and more in the future by becoming a NCR Forward member. Members get first access to special events, updates from our publisher and newsroom, and opportunities to give feedback through surveys and polls. You can also forward this newsletter to a friend and ask them to subscribe. As always, thanks for reading EarthBeat.     Brian Roewe Environment Correspondent National Catholic Reporter broewe@ncronline.org     Featured Advertisers   Looking to Hire? Offering Retreats? Selling Books? 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