Rev. Dr/ Shannan Vance-Ocampo discusses the theology of belonging with Erin Weber-Johnson, lead editor of the transformative new book, Pathways to Belonging.

The editors have generously offered a 40% off code for ordering directly from the publisher’s website with a discount : PATHWAYS
https://wipfandstock.com/9798385203321/pathways-to-belonging/#:~:text=Description,%2D%2Dincluding%20our%20faith%20communities.

PSNE 2025 Summer All-Presbytery Book Study
Schedule and Information:
Our summer book study will begin on Tuesday June 17th and run for five weeks, meeting at 12:30PM for an hour over zoom. After five weeks together in community, the second half of the summer will be spent reflecting and developing your own story of belonging, along with an opportunity to share that journey prayerfully with a spiritual companion.

Register: https://psne.breezechms.com/form/pathtobelonging

In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo is joined by Rev. Kathryn Beilke for a discussion on how our faith calls us to care for God's creation, and address the growing plastic pollution crisis.

Together, they explore:

• The accelerating production of plastics and its impact on the current climate and public health crises
  
  
• How practices like fasting from plastics can raise consciousness and catalyze permanent lifestyle changes
  
  
• The PC (USA)'s overture calling congregations to move from disposable to sustainable practices
  
  

Rev. Kathryn Beilke is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and served for a decade as Pastor of a progressive congregation, but the moral and spiritual urgency of our current ecological crises prompted her to leave the pulpit and dedicate herself to effective environmental solutions. Believing that state and local action can spark meaningful change, Rev. Beilke worked with municipalities navigating New York State’s Climate Smart Communities initiative before joining Beyond Plastics as the Development Manager. While she is ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA), she believes in centering a diversity of traditions and indigenous perspectives in her work. She enjoys gardening, camping, hiking, biking, and paddle boarding with her family.

About Beyond Plastics:
Launched in January 2019, Beyond Plastics is a nationwide project based at Bennington College in Bennington, Vermont, that pairs the wisdom and experience of environmental policy experts with the energy and creativity of grassroots advocates to build a vibrant and effective movement to end plastic pollution.

Additional Resources:

Plastic Jesus
https://www.creationjustice.org/plasticjesus.html

Overture from the 226th General Assembly
https://www.pc-biz.org/search/3001145

Connecting our Conversations is hosted by the Presbytery of Southern New England, a regional governing body in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This is our space for conversations that push the edges of our faith and help us deepen discipleship.Connecting our Conversations is hosted by the Presbytery of Southern New England, a regional governing body in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). This is our space for conversations that push the edges of our faith and help us deepen discipleship.

The PSNE's All-Presbytery Antiracism Training with Rev. Dr. William Yoo is coming up on March 1, 2025.

In this episode of Connecting our Conversations, Rev. Nancy Baseel and Rev. Kevin White chat with Rev. Dr. William Yoo about the PSNE’s upcoming Antiracism Training, where Dr. Yoo will be our keynote speaker. We talk a bit about Dr. Yoo’s historical work and how that intersects with the Church in our time and place, and get a preview of what we can expect at the training. Registration link below.

Dr. William Yoo is the Associate Professor of American Religious and Cultural History at Columbia Theological Seminary, where he is also the Director of the M.Div. Program.

He is the author of What Kind of Christianity: A History of Slavery and Anti-Black Racism in the Presbyterian Church (winner of the 2023 Award of Excellence from the Religion Communicators Council), and most recently Reckoning with History: Settler Colonialism, Slavery, and the Making of American Christianity.

“As a teacher, preacher, and scholar, Yoo focuses on the history of racism in American Christianity. He is a professor and public theologian who interprets the most challenging and urgent issues of racial justice with clarity, depth, honesty, and precision.” (WJK bio).

Dr Yoo has a deep commitment to researching, studying, writing about and engaging the histories of settler colonialism, racial injustice, and slavery through the lens of Christianity; and his work invites the alignment of the Gospel with the work of liberation through an honest assessment of the church’s role in these forms of oppression in the United States.

Rev. Nancy Baseel and Rev. Kevin White are the co-chairs of the Presbytery of Southern New England’s Antiracism and Equity Team. Rev. Nancy Baseel is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church, Hartford CT; and Rev. Kevin White is the pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church, Cumberland RI.

PSNE Antiracism Training is Saturday, March 1 at New Haven Korean Presbyterian Church. Click here for the registration link.

Participation is open to anyone in the Presbytery!

This training fulfills the antiracism training required once every three years by the PSNE Antiracism Policy for all active Teaching Elders, Certified Ruling Elders, Inquirers and Candidates under care, and those engaged in Presbytery ministry service (serving on commissions, committees, teams, pulpit supply, etc – see page 5 of the policy).

Read the PSNE Antiracism Policy here.