Environmental Lecture Series Returns to Abbey this March

This March, Saint Joseph Abbey and Seminary College welcomes Matt Rousso, Director of the Maryknoll Affiliate Gulf South Chapter, who will once again present “Laudato Si Confronts Climate Change 2020.” The three week lecture series will closely examine the challenging Environmental Encyclical of Pope Francis, known as “Laudato Sí: On Care for our Common Home.” Laudato Si is an appeal from Pope Francis addressed to every person on the planet for an inclusive dialogue about how they can best shape the future of this world.

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The lectures take place on consecutive Tuesdays – March 3, March 10, and March 17, 5:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the Hospitality Center on the Seminary campus, located at 75376 River Road in Covington. The series is free to attend and open to the public, including seminarians and teachers/catechists. The Archdiocesan Office of Religious Education is offering CEU’s for those catechists needing renewal credit. A freewill offering for the series will be gratefully accepted. Space is limited. Please RSVP by registering here.

In Laudato Sí, Pope Francis states that mankind has a “vocation as protectors of God’s handiwork” and that this vocation “is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience.” (LS #217)

Rousso explains, “After looking at the basic message of the encyclical, we will discuss the science of climate change; and in our last session we will reflect on Pope Francis’ ‘Gospel of Creation’ and consider specific ways that we might engage in the ecological conversion to which Pope Francis calls us.”

Scheduled lectures will include:

  • A Bold Manifesto on Climate Change (March 3)

  • The Science is Clear (March 10)

  • The Gospel of Creation (March 17)

For more information or to register, contact Rousso at 504-376-4142 or mattrouk@gmail.com.