Interfaith retreat brings San Juan Islands faith communities together on environmental stewardship
Published 1:30 am Thursday, October 1, 2026
Submitted by event organizers.
Faith communities from across the San Juan Islands will gather at Grace Episcopal Church on Lopez Island for Sacred Earth, Sacred Duty, a one-day interfaith retreat on environmental stewardship. The retreat runs from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, and is open to people of every tradition.
The gathering responds to a charge shared across faiths: to care for creation and for one another, especially those most exposed to harm. Faith-based organizations are historically the single largest and most reliable source of support when disaster strikes. This gathering seeks to unify faith groups around the shared goal of increasing local resilience in the face of an uncertain and rapidly changing future.
Participants will sit together around a set of honest questions: What role can each community play in helping people understand climate change and its local impacts in San Juan County? How do we prepare for these while protecting the most vulnerable? How can communities pool knowledge, care and resources — including private support — to fill gaps as public funding at every level grows uncertain? And how can congregations keep offering their people education, practical help and genuine hope?
The retreat’s longer aim is a countywide resilience plan for extreme weather and disaster preparedness — a shared resource for mutual aid, education and hope across every faith community on the islands.
Featured presenters
Anastasia Jespersen works with the G20 Interfaith Forum, an international network that brings religious and faith-based voices into global policy discussions, and serves on the San Juan County Climate Advisory Committee.
Nikyta Palmisani is a board member of the Madrona Institute and a climate facilitator and expert instructor at Terra.do.
Rev. Myra Ryneheart Corcorran is vicar of Grace Episcopal Church on Lopez Island, host of the retreat.
The event includes conversation, fellowship and a shared meal.
RSVP at https://luma.com/oww19oqf.
All are welcome. Faith-based community members and members of the press are invited to attend; please RSVP at the link above.