Our Lady of Hope parish fosters civil discussion about climate change

Our Lady of Hope parish is surrounded by winding roads and slumbering mountains in Copake Falls, a hamlet sitting on the lower tip of the southeast region of Columbia county. The land — a stone’s throw from the New York-Massachusetts border — is predominantly rural, with dairy farms making up a majority of the small businesses you’d see while driving on Route 22.

Karen and Bruce Frishkoff, longtime parishioners of Our Lady of Hope, belong to the Columbia County chapter of Citizens Climate 
Lobby, an international grass­roots environmental group that trains and supports volunteers to build relationships with their elected representatives in order to influence climate policy.

The married couple is also earnestly active in their small parish. Karen is on the church’s Human Development Committee; Bruce, a chairman on the Prayer and Worship committee. During their nearly three decades of serving the church, they’ve witnessed their community divide, but always come back together again.

Although the parish does not have a formal Creation Care Committee, caring for the earth is something that’s always been ingrained into the parish’s culture, according to Bruce Frishkoff. It all started with the late Deacon Martin Stosiek, who was a big proponent of farmers’ rights after working on a horse farm as a child growing up in Germany.

Back in 2015, when Pope Francis’ “Laudato Si: Care for the Common Home” was released, the parish organized a group to study the encyclical. Each week, people would take turns reading from a section until the document was completed several meetings later. A few years later, the Human Development Committee, which handles all Creation Care issues, organized a viewing of “Years of Living Dangerously,” an HBO 10-part series about climate change which featured hosts such as Al Gore, Harrison Ford, Arnold Schwarzenegger and many other actors and journalists.

“It was an interesting conversation for those of us who came,” Bruce said, “I would not say anyone walked out feeling better; it wasn’t that kind of series. It was more, ‘This is why we have to do stuff.’ ”

The parish also has been selling Equal Exchange Fair Trade coffee, something Bruce says isn’t just organic, but promotes growth within farm cooperatives. Additionally, the parish is conscious of recycling and has begun encouraging parishioners to use mugs and dishware instead of paper and plastic. Even still, such initiatives can feel insubstantial.

“There are these different levels of trying to keep a consciousness, and then there’s probably the more frustrating one in some ways, which is, ‘what can we actually do in the parish?’ ” Bruce said.

To connect with other parishioners during COVID-19, the Human Development Committee has hosted a weekly series of “thought provoking” films to be watched at the same time, followed by discussion via email, Karen Frishkoff said.

As the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on April 22 approaches, the committee plans on sharing the spirit of Laudato Si virtually. The first offering is a six-minute video created by the Vatican in 2015, followed by “The Story of Stuff,” a short animated documentary about the lifecycle of material goods, and “Out of the Blue,” a short virtual reality film depicting a family of fishermen in Mexico who sacrifice their livelihood to save open ocean sea life from extinction. Or, in lieu of the two short films, parishioners can watch “Plastic China,” a story of a woman and her family living next to a recycling plant, in mountains of plastic waste from Asia, Europe and the U.S.

Because of their involvement in Citizens Climate Lobby, they’re known as “climate change people” within the community. This can be seen as a good thing, as they represent a resource of information, or a threat, causing defenses to rise. 

As a Lenten initiative, the parish came up with the theme, “We’re all in the same boat,” as a way to combat the division felt in today’s political climate. 
The parish goal feeds off of “Civilize It: Dignity Beyond the Debate,” a pledge the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops released in November of 2019. By taking the pledge, you agree to “recognize the human dignity of those with whom I disagree, treat others with respect, and rise above attacks when directed at me.”

“Civilize It” goes hand in hand with the committees’ climate change initiatives, as churches are tasked with following Laudato Si, while also maintaining a loving atmosphere within their community.

“I’m aware there’s kind of a moral conflict that goes on in people without even thinking about it. Especially in a church, in a Christian community, we want to have good fellowship, we want to care for people and extend love for people and if we have to take the time to think about, ‘Oh, after every time we get together we have to wash dishes?’” Karen Frishkoff said, “Some people feel that’s just too much and its kind of taking away from the love and the joy.”

Walking the fine line between reinforcing change within their community, without coming off as “preachy” can be difficult, Bruce Frishkoff said. By practicing “Civilize It,” the two hope to host an honest and vulnerable conversation between two opposing sides.

About 15 years ago, the couple still remembers an incident that left their community divided when a visiting priest criticized the Iraq War, causing long-time parishioners to leave in the middle of the homily.

“We thought, now what are we going to do? We’re a divided family,” Bruce said.

The next week the parish hosted a sit down, with about 30 people in attendance.

“It was like a miracle because by the time we got done people got to vent what they wanted to vent, and there was a sense of ‘oh good, we’re a family again,’ ” Bruce said, adding “it wasn’t that people necessarily agreed.”

Bishop Frank J. Dewane, chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, emphasized the importance of “Civilize It” in the context of the current divisive climate:

“(It) is a call for Catholics to honor the human dignity of each person they encounter, whether it is online, at the dinner table, or in the pews next to them. I invite all Catholics to participate in ‘Civilize It,’ ” Bishop Dewane said. “In doing so, they can bear witness to a better way, approach conversations with civility, clarity and compassion, and invite others to do the same.”

Bruce added: “Can you find a middle ground in which people can reach a little bit out of themselves toward something without pushing them?

“And I think it can be done, it’s sort of what ‘Civilize It’ is talking about, but it’s not ‘please talk politely to other people;’ it goes beyond that, and that’s the challenge — can we take that step beyond being polite?”