Tue. Oct. 6 – Care For Our Common Home: Pope Francis and the Environment
Dr. Matthew Shadle

The Spiritual Roots of the Environmental Crisis: Pope Francis’s Ecology Encyclical
12 p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

A number of pundits and politicians have questioned whether Pope Francis, a religious leader, ought to speak so strongly about the scientific questions of climate change and environmental destruction. In his recent encyclical Laudato Si’, Francis makes the case that our environmental crisis is at heart a spiritual crisis and therefore Christians churches must speak out on the issue. This talk will look at what Pope Francis has to say about spirituality, science, and our relationship with the earth.

Everything is Connected: Pope Francis and Integral Ecology
4 p.m. in Patterson Bay, Laird Hall

Throughout his recent encyclical Laudato Si’ Pope Francis insists that “everything is connected”: humankind is connected to the ecosystems in which we live, and social problems such as poverty and technological development are connected to our misuse of the natural environment. Although richly drawing on the Christian tradition, Francis points us in radical new directions by asking us to re-imagine what it means to be human in light of our place in the natural world.

Matthew Shadle is Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia. His expertise is in the tradition of Catholic social teaching and in Christian ethical thought on war and peace and economic justice. He has published The Origins of War: A Catholic Perspective (Georgetown, 2011) and articles in several theological journals. He and his wife live in Woodbridge, Virginia.

Supported by the Global Citizens Fund, proud sponsor of Confronting Climate Change