BEACON: Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield
February 2012
Valentines in the Snow
Rev. Dr. Clare Butterfield, Community Minister
Executive Director, Faith in Place
clare@faithinplace.org
I suspect the Valentine’s Day traditions have something to do with the time of year and the need for a little color and fun as we wait (and wait) for spring. February at Faith in Place is when we turn our attention to policy matters, and the Illinois General Assembly session. Always a good time, and never moreso than this year. Many of you worked on our fracking bill in 2011 in various ways – postcards, phone calls, letters, emails and visits to your elected officials got the bill through the Senate unanimously but then it stalled in the House. It takes more than a procedural stall-out to discourage Faith in Place, so we’re back at it, running our agreed language from last year in both the House and the Senate this year. We’ll bring you up to date on that at a special Policy Workshop at Unity Temple on Sunday, February 26 from 2:00-4:00p.m. And I’ve been talking to Scott Aasang, who’s brought me up to date on the desire of many at Unity Temple to get more involved in public advocacy. Have we got a bill for you – and a workshop. At which we’ll once again play Public Policy Bingo with M&Ms as the bingo pieces.
Seriously, doing good things for the earth, in community, with games and chocolate? It’s like a Valentine’s Day party all by itself. So please plan to be there. And mark your calendars now for this year’s Springfield Day. Thursday, March 29 the bus(es) will head from Chicago and Oak Park for a one-day trip. We’re still working on the details but we expect one bus to depart from near Unity Temple at about 6:30a.m., returning at about 8:00p.m. The cost of the trip, including lunch and dinner, will be $50 per person. Not to start any friendly competition or anything, but I’m sure there will be people there from Euclid Avenue United Methodist Church. And Good Shepherd Lutheran. So, ahem, Unity Temple.
We joke about these things, but the pressures to strip fossil fuel resources from our state, at great cost to the rivers, the soil and the people, are no laughing matter. The destruction they could do will be real and potentially permanent. We want some restriction on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, now that leases have started to be signed and permits applied for. And we have another bill in mind as well this year which will expand the ability of citizens to enforce environmental restrictions in case the agencies charged with doing so are not. Find out more by joining us at Unity Temple for the workshop on Sunday, February 26 at 2:00p.m., and plan to be on the bus for Springfield on Thursday, March 29. Ask anyone who’s done it and they’ll tell you you’ll be glad you did. Faith in practice is a beautiful thing. Just like a Valentine.
