The climate crisis goes under the microscope at Laudato Si’ conference in Brisbane
Australian Catholic University’s (ACU’s) Faculty of Theology and Philosophy in partnership with the Archdiocese of Brisbane Laudato Si’ Steering Group will host Laudato Si’ in Oceania: Climate Crisis & Integral Ecology at the ACU Brisbane Campus in Banyo on Monday 2 September.
The threat of climate change for nations in the Oceania region was recently highlighted at the Pacific Islands Forum, making the event a timely opportunity to reflect on Laudato Si’ (“On Care for our Common Home”) and the call from Pope Francis to live in a new paradigm of Integral Ecology while exploring what this might look like for Australia and the Pacific region.
Integral Ecology is a holistic and distinctive way of being, thinking and living that Pope Francis explains in chapter four of Laudato Si’, in the encyclical on care for our common home. It flows from his understanding that “everything is interconnected” and that “today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis.”
Guests will hear from keynote presenter Archbishop Peter Loy Chong, President of the Federation of Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania and Archbishop of Suva, and Archbishop Mark Coleridge, President of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference who will provide the response.
The evening is part of a series of events to launch the ‘Living Laudato Si’ initiative that the Brisbane Archdiocese Living Laudato Si’ Steering Group has put in place to mark the Season of Creation which start on September 1: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and conclude on October 4: Feast of St Francis of Assisi.
Executive Dean for the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy at ACU Professor Dermot Nestor said, “the event represents a clear alignment with and support for the overarching Mission of the University and specifically its concern to advance the cause of equity, of sustainability and of service to the wider community.”
Source: Australian Catholic University