| The Franciscaans Milieuproject,
or Franciscan Ecological Project (FEP), is located
on thirty acres of land in Stoutenburg, which is
near Amersfoort, in the center of The Netherlands.
FEP combines environmental and religious education
with the practice of everyday life in community.
Funded by the Franciscan Ecological Project Foundation,
FEP enables people to live in an ecologically-sustainable
fashion on the Stoutenburg grounds for short or
long periods of time. Based on the fundamental
conviction that a spiritual or religious perspective
is essential for effectively transforming human-earth
relations, FEP draws on the spirituality of St.
Francis and Clare of Assisi to promote care for
creation. The Project aims to restore a healthy
relationship between humanity and nature by offering
people the opportunity to reflect on and to change
this relationship. In addition to an eco-friendly
conference center, FEP consists of an inter-denominational
religious community of children and adults, who
live simply and spiritually on the land. The community
adheres to a religious way of life, following a
rather monastic rhythm that balances time for work
with meditation, and community life with privacy.
Members of the community also practice ecological
land management in the vegetable gardens and woods
and hold activities and programs on topics relating
to spirituality and the environment. Through workshops
and publications, the FEP Foundation works to raise
awareness about the Project and about the connections
between religion and the environment more generally.
To promote networking, the Foundation has developed
a booklet that lists more than sixty people and
organizations working in the area of religion,
nature, and the
environment. |
| Christianity |
| The Netherlands |
| 1991–Present |
The roots of Franciscan
Ecological Project (FEP) lie in the Franciscan
Movement (a lay movement
in the Netherlands) and its "Honour
the Earth" project as well as in the Franciscan
Formation Programme held in Stoutenburg in the
1990s, which gave young adults the chance to
discover their own spirituality. Gradually a
group of
people evolved that was willing to put their
experiences
and ideas about religious life in the modern
world into practice. When they heard that the
Franciscan
friars were about to give up their friary in
Stoutenburg, they got permission to develop such
a project on
the site, emphasizing the importance of nature
in creating a balanced community and lifestyle.
After one year of preparation, the Board of the
Franciscan Friars approved the project. In the
meantime, they sold the building and the lands
to an organization that specializes in preserving
nature in the Netherlands, from which FEP now
rents the site.
|
The mission of the Franciscan Ecological Project
is to give people who would like to improve their
relationship with nature an opportunity to do so
in practice. Its focus is "the experience
of interconnectedness" that can be felt when
working in
the garden or the woods and by other forms of participation such as meditation
and study. FEP believes that people are willing to change their attitude and
behavior in relation to the natural environment when they experience their intrinsic
connection to it. |
Although FEP does not
have formal partnerships, it relates to other projects
that combine religion
and ecology and has established a network of local
persons and organizations active in this field
with whom it organizes study days and meetings
for the purpose of cross-fertilization and mutual
encouragement. Members of the project visited the
Genesis Farm in the United States and the Iona
community in Great
Britain, projects with which they feel an affinity.
FEP is developing a relationship with the
Franciscans International in Geneva, a non-governmental
organization (NGO).
In the Netherlands, FEP maintains relationships
with:
The Franciscan
Movement
The
Council of Churches
Other
organizations
in the field of spirituality and ecology
|
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
Franciscans
Milieuproject
Stoutenburgerlaan 5
3835 PB Stoutenburg
The Netherlands
Ph: +31.33.494.55.00
Email: post@stoutenburg.nl |
