Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2013
Capstone Advisor
Simon Perez, Broadcast and Digital Journalism Professor
Honors Reader
Seth Gitner; Newspaper, Online, and Multimedia Journalism Professor
Capstone Major
Broadcast and Digital Journalism
Capstone College
Public Communications
Audio/Visual Component
yes
Audio/Visual Location
Honors Library
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Creative
Subject Categories
Film and Media Studies | New Religious Movements | Religion | Television
Abstract
“Green Sisters: Bringing Spirituality and Environmental Awareness together at Homecoming Farm,” addresses the topic of the “green sisters” movement and its presence at Homecoming Farm, a Community-Supported Agriculture project located in Amityville, New York. The green sisters movement, started in the 1980s in Caldwell, New Jersey, entails groups of Catholic nuns who are beginning to pursue “Earth ministries,” and dedicating their lives to environmental education and practicing sustainability. One example of this is found at Homecoming Farm, where the Sisters of Saint Dominic in Amityville created an organic farm in 1992 to nurture the surrounding community in body and spirit. This project describes the movement, while also highlighting the unique religious and spiritual benefits that come as a result of Homecoming’s works and mission.
The story of the green sisters and Homecoming Farm is told through a five-part news series. Part one describes the foundation of Homecoming and its relation to the green sisters movement. In part two, the organic practices and farming methods are explained, in addition to a description of the spiritual value of the farm. Part three expands on part two, discussing the various outreach programs the farm either started or helps. Part four is the discussion of spiritual benefits from the farm, where people from various religious backgrounds describe how they all find some religious benefit from working at the farm. Finally, part five approaches some of the critiques of the green sisters movement, and explains how Homecoming Farm is working to combat those remarks.
The medium for the project is broadcast news video, in order to convey the story in a way that would be interesting to all different types of viewers. The video was shot and the interviews conducted over a period of six visits to Homecoming Farm in the summer and fall of 2012. The project includes interviews with eleven different founders, organizers, and members of Homecoming Farm. Everything was shot, written, edited and produced by Marisa DeCandido, and is displayed at the website www.homecomingfarmcapstone.com.
Recommended Citation
DeCandido, Marisa, "Green Sisters: Bringing Spirituality and Environmental Awareness Together at Homecoming Farm" (2013). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 22.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/22
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
