After instructing the audience to close their eyes for a minute, Christina Bagaglio Slentz asked them “to think about a place in nature in your lifetime where you have profoundly felt the presence of God.” She added, “I have never conducted this experiment and found somebody who couldn’t find a place.” Slentz’s lecture was part of an evening at the University of Notre Dame called “Care for Our Common Home,” sponsored by the university’s minor program in sustainability and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend. The event, held at McKenna Hall on Wednesday, September 18, included livestreamed lectures on the climate crisis and the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ action platform. Laudato Si’ is Pope Francis’ 2015 encyclical on care for the environment and those living in it. Photos by Kasia BalsbaughMembers of the University of Notre Dame community and the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend converse before a pair of lectures on caring for our common home were held at McKenna Hall in South Bend on Wednesday, September 18. “The fact that we are here is exactly the point, because remember that … this is a gift of creation,” presenter Philip Sakimoto said of the earth. “It’s here so we can be here. And if we mess up so we can no longer be here, we’ve destroyed the gift. So it’s not just about us. This is preserving the gift that God the Creator gave us.” Sakimoto, the director of Notre Dame’s minor in sustainability, gave a lecture on the climate crisis from a scientific and Catholic perspective. He began by telling the story of the earth and the formation of so-called “fossil fuels,” and how burning those causes carbon dioxide trapped millions of years ago to reenter the atmosphere, causing climate problems. Sakimoto also detailed the science behind some increasingly common erratic weather patterns, such as severe hurricanes and rising temperatures in the Arctic. Some disasters hit close to home, such as the severe flooding of the St. Joseph River due to heavy rainfall in 2016, which the South Bend Tribune called a “1,000-year flood.” Philip Sakimoto, the director of the University of Notre Dame’s minor in sustainability program, explains the science behind the climate crisis during a lecture. Sakimoto also showed a prediction from the Institute for Economics and Peace stating that as many as 1.2 billion people may be displaced by midcentury due to a rise in the sea level and other ecological threats. “As Pope Francis reminds us, it’s always the poor, the disenfranchised, who bear the biggest brunt of this,” Sakimoto said. Sakimoto briefly detailed some of the solutions available for some of these climate problems. Some require a more robust power grid, and others, such as hurricane-proofing houses and restoring farmland, he called “easy.” “All we have to do is get up and get active,” Sakimoto said. University of Notre Dame alum Christina Bagaglio Slentz gives a presentation on the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ action platform at McKenna Hall. Slentz’s presentation on the Vatican’s Laudato Si’ action platform was meant to inspire just that action in an organized form. Slentz, a University of Notre Dame graduate, works with parishes in the Diocese of San Diego to implement the platform, which helps schools, businesses, organizations, parishes, and families take action in the vein of Laudato Si’. Slentz walked the audience through enrollment in the action platform. She emphasized that formally committing to action means having seven years to implement a practical plan for whatever makes sense for a community, whether that is planting gardens or incorporating renewable energy sources. “We don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” Slentz said. “We encourage taking baby steps.” Slentz also encouraged the audience to approach the climate crisis as Catholics with an ethic of life, who don’t believe that answers lie in limiting population before “giving up lives of excess.” As Slentz said, Pope Francis’ call to “care for our common home” means addressing the climate crisis as one complex social and economic crisis to be addressed with love. Slentz also emphasized the importance of reliance on God in these ventures. “Hope is the critical pivot point to action, and as Catholics, this is what we bring to the global challenge,” Slentz said. Ann Voll, a longtime parishioner at St. Joseph Catholic Church in South Bend, attended the lectures and said she learned “so much.” She said she has been interested in social justice issues for a while. Even personally, Voll said she was thinking about how the talk might push her to make changes in her own life, particularly with consumption. “How do we liquidate all the stuff I have acquired?” Voll reflected, referencing the sets of wedding china and silver accumulated in her house. Voll spoke with fellow parishioners at the event about initiating conversations at their parish about Laudato Si’ and related issues. Voll said she thought getting involved with Laudato Si’ would be constructive for the entire parish community. “We need to engage the generations,” Voll said, adding, “this is something we ought to be able to share.” The post Caring for Our Common Home: Notre Dame, Diocese Host Lectures on Laudato Si’ appeared first on Today's Catholic.