The Core Resource Team

We are a team of parishioners from East Vicariate parishes who have come together to serve as resource persons to assist in fostering an awareness of, and commitment to, “Care for God’s Creation.” We are offering our time, energy and expertise to parishes who would like to expand their current education/formation programs or other parish activities in this area.

Katie Hirschboeck (Our Mother of Sorrows) — Katie is the chair of the OMOS Christian Life Commission and is also a professor of climatology in the University of Arizona’s Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. She chairs the UA Global Change graduate program and has over 20 years of experiencing in teaching undergraduate non-science majors about the Earth’s environment and global climate change. She is involved in the OMOS Care for Creation initiative and, in 2008, co-facilitated a Just Faith/Just Matters program titled: God's Creation Cries for Justice: Climate Change Impact and Response. katie@ltrr.arizona.edu

Giulio & Joan Grecchi (St. Cyril) — Giulio and Joan co-founded the New Jersey Catholic Coalition for Environmental Justice in 2002 (sponsored by the five NJ dioceses). They also organized Statewide Environmental Conferences on "A Vision for Environmental Justice: Our Responsibility for God’s Creation" April 25-27, 2003 at Princeton University; “Creating an Environment for Life” October 15, 2005 at Georgian Court University, Lakewood, NJ and several other events. They returned to Tucson in 2005 and in 2007 led a Lenten reflection series on Caring for God’s Creation at St. Cyril’s. ggrecchi@aol.com

Mike & Theresa Crimmins (St. Pius X) — Mike and Theresa co-facilitated the Just Matters program on God's Creation Cries for Justice with Katie in 2008. They are also Ph.D. research specialists at the University of the Arizona. Mike is a Climate Science Extension Specialist in the UA’s Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science. In this position he supports resource managers by increasing climate science literacy as well as developing strategies to adapt to a changing climate. Theresa is a Research Specialist in plant ecology with the Arid Lands Information Center and is involved in citizen scientist initiatives and adult education. crimmins@email.arizona.edu