WFU Faculty Panel on Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the Environment

Media Contact: Mark Batten

Who and What: “Laudato si’ (“Praised be”): The Impact of Pope Francis’ Encyclical and Reflections on Our Common Home” is a panel discussion featuring three Wake Forest University faculty:

• Elizabeth O’Donnell Gandolfo, Earley Assistant Professor of Catholic and Latin American Studies, School of Divinity
• Justin Catanoso, Director of the Journalism Program Associate Professor of the Practice, Wake Forest College; and
• Miles Silman, Professor of Biology, Wake Forest College.

The panel will be moderated by Fred Bahnson, Director of the School of Divinity’s Food, Faith, and Religious Leadership Initiative and Assistant Professor of the Practice of Ecological Well-Being.

Why: Conversations about climate change are often isolated among different disciplines. Scientists use the language of analysis and data; people of faith speak of morals and ethical obligation; journalists speak of social impact. And yet climate change is no respecter of geographic borders or academic disciplines; it is an issue that affects all. With the publication of his widely-hailed encyclical Laudato si’ (“Praised Be”), Pope Francis has called for a holistic way of approaching climate change, one that cuts across nationality, academic discipline, or religious difference.

The School of Divinity will convene a lively panel discussion featuring a theologian, a biologist, and a journalist, whose work in the context of Latin America can help us understand the impact of Laudato si’ and rethink how this earth, as a common home, is shared.

When and Where: Tuesday, October 6, 2015, 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m., in the Kulynych Auditorium of the Porter Byrum Welcome Center on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC. » More Event Details and RSVP

The event is free and open to the public, but RSVP is required.

The event is sponsored by School of Divinity’s Food, Faith, and Religious Leadership Initiative and is co-sponsored by Wake Forest University’s Humanities Institute and Center for Energy, Environment and Sustainability (CEES).