Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor, In Commemoration of the 5th Anniversary of Laudato Si’
This series will begin on February 11, 2021, 5:30-6:30 p.m. and will continue on Thursday evenings for seven weeks.
Please register here.
These events will be recorded and will be available on our YouTube channel a few days after each event.
Prayer from our opening session, given by Dr. Michael Lovette-Colyer:
Praise be to you, Our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the many blessings of our lives,
especially the magnificent gift of creation.
We ask you to help us slow down,
to resist the frenetic pull toward materialism and consumerism,
the temptation to always increasing productivity and efficiency,
so that we might instead see with new eyes and appreciate with greater depth
the immense beauty by which we are surrounded,
and, in so doing, that we might recognize our inherent connection to every creature with whom we share this precious planet earth.
Praise be to you, Our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the example of St. Francis.
We ask you for the insight and imagination he had,
for the awe and wonder he experienced,
for his movement toward the excluded and suffering,
for his willingness to reorient his life in pursuit of what it means to be truly human.
Praise be to you, our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the brilliance of scientists, researchers, teachers,
the wisdom of spiritual and religious leaders,
the prudence of elected officials and civil servants
the vision of business women and men striving to make their companies sustainable,
the necessary contributions of all those who are helping us understand what is happening to our common home,
and what each one of us can do to care for our earth.
Praise be to you, our Loving Creator.
We praise and thank you for the enthusiasm of our students,
for the passion of the young,
for their insistence that we address pollution, climate change, water scarcity, the loss of biodiversity, the decrease in quality of life and global inequality.
Help us be inspired by them,
to let their energy push us to overcome obstacles, resistance, denial,
to find creative ways to elude the defenders of the status quo,
to overturn the globalization of indifference,
to settle for nothing less than the future they deserve.
Praise be to you, Our Loving Creator.
During this season of Lent, help us examine our lives,
to identify the places in us which are unfree, unloving, ungenerous.
Open our ears so that we may hear clearly
the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor;
and open our hearts so that we may truly care more profoundly for the earth
and all those who share it,
especially the poor.
Praise be to you, our Loving Creator.
Amen!
Feb. 11th - Kickoff to the Series: The inaugural session of the series will feature a welcome from President James T. Harris.
The inaugural session of the series will feature Professor V. (Ram) Ramanathan, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric and Climate Sciences, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UCSD, and will be facilitated by Michel Boudrias, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Environmental and Ocean Sciences and Lead of Care for our Common Home Strategic Pathway
Feb. 18th - Intro and Chapter 1: What is Happening to Our Common Home?
Dr. Michel Boudrias
Moderator/Canticle: Dr. Michael Lovette-Colyer
Feb. 25th - Chapter 2: The Gospel of Creation
Dr. Emily Reimer-Barry, Dr. Maureen Day, Prof. Persephone Lewis, Fr. Emmet Farrell
Panel Moderator: Dr. Jeffrey Burns
Mar. 4th - Chapter 3: The Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis
Dr. Julia Cantzler, Dr. Andy Tirrell, Dr. Kate DeConinck
Panel Moderator: Dr. Jeffrey Burns
Mar. 11th - Chapter 4: Integral Ecology
Dr. Simon Croom, Dr. Sue Lowery,
Panel Moderator: Dr. Emily Young
Mar. 18th - Chapter 5: Lines of Approach and Action
Dr. Trey McDonald, Dr. Chris Nayve, Dr. Darbi Berry
Guided Q & A: Dr. Michel Boudrias
Mar. 25th - Chapter 6: Ecological Education and Spirituality
Dr. Mitch Thomashow
Moderator: Dr. Mark Peters
Closing remarks
Sponsored by Care for our Common Strategic Pathway, the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture, and the Office for Mission
