The Critical Conversations in Catholic Education: Climate Change and Eco-Social Resilience Project is an initiative of the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in the University of St. Michael’s College and is supported by a generous grant from the Association of Theological Schools. In collaboration with Catholic school boards in the Greater Toronto Area, the project explores the Catholic tradition, most notably Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, recognizing it as an invaluable resource for fostering eco-social resilience, and, hence, hope and action towards sustainability and ecological justice.
Event Dates:
- Hosted by Halton Catholic District School Board & Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board
- Date: Event Passed
- Location: St. Francis Xavier Secondary School, 1145 Bronte St. South, Milton
- Speakers: Cynthia Cameron, Hilda Koster, Rosemary Boissonneau, Gabrielle Chan
- Hosted by Durham Catholic District School Board
- Date: Event Passed
- Location: Pope Francis Centre, 652 Rossland Road West, Oshawa
- Speakers: Adam Hincks, SJ, Jean-Pierre Fortin, Deanna Zantingh, Mary Anne Francalanza, fcJ
Conference: Youth Climate Anxiety and Religious Education
- Hosted by Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael’s College
- Date: Saturday, October 5, 2024 from 10:00am to 2:00pm
- Location: 100 Wellesley St. W., Toronto
- Keynote Speaker: Joyce Mercer (Yale Divinity School)
Background
Confronted with climate change related disasters, many young people have an acute sense of dread and fear when it comes to their future and the future of our common home. This anxiety in youth often manifests itself as indifference, grief, or depression. Educators therefore see the task of cultivating eco-social resilience as a first, but necessary, step when engaging students around issues of climate change, climate justice, and the work of imagining an alternative, more sustainable and, hence, hopeful future. Faith traditions play an important role in cultivating counter-narratives for human and more-than-human flourishing. They also offer contemplative practices for living meaningful and purposeful lives in a world faced with climate change related disaster and dread. Through its social teaching and spiritual traditions, exemplified by Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ and Catholic eco-theologians like Thomas Berry, Leonardo Boff, Elizabeth Johnson and Ivone Gebara, the Catholic tradition in particular offers rich resources for reimagining our lives together on a fragile and endangered planet.
The Project
Critical Conversations in Catholic Education on Climate Change and Eco-Social Resilience seeks to engage Catholic educators in the Greater Toronto Area on these important issues. It offers teachers and other school board staff a series of two workshops and a conference exploring Catholic eco-theology and spirituality as resources for engaging climate-related anxiety and cultivating eco-social resilience in youth. Held at two different GTA school boards, the workshops will occur in mid-February, and mid-April and will feature speakers from the Regis St. Michael’s faculty as well as students in our PhD and MRE (Master of Religious Education) programs.
They will be in-person events with live-streaming for those attending virtually, and they will also be recorded and remain accessible as ongoing resources. In the first workshop, we will explore the scope of the problem, including questions about adolescents and vulnerability and the Catholic Social Teaching’s focus on climate justice (particularly in Pope Francis’ Laudato Si and Laudate Deum). The second workshop will invite conversations the role of eco-science, climate suffering, and eco-theology. This conference, which will be open to the public, will feature keynote addresses by leading experts in the field and opportunities to explore ideas of eco-resilience in dialogue with Indigenous spiritualities and practices of synodality.
Meet Our Team
Hilda P. Koster
Hilda P. Koster is the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Associate Professor of Ecological Theology and the Director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology at the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in the University of St. Michael College. A native of the Netherlands, she holds a BA and M.Div. from the University of Groningen (The Netherlands) and a Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary (NJ/USA). Dr. Koster earned her doctorate from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, where she studied with Catholic theologians Bernard McGinn, David Tracy, and Anne Carr. Prior to joining the Regis St Michael’s Faculty of Theology, Dr. Koster taught Christian Theology and Ecology at Concordia College (Moorhead, MN), where she also directed the interdisciplinary Environmental Studies Program. Dr. Koster’s publications on Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics have appeared in Theology Today, Modern Theology, The Journal of Religion, The Anglican Theological Review, and Scriptura. Among her book-length coedited/authored publications are The Gift of Theology: The Contribution of Kathryn Tanner (Fortress Press, 2015); Planetary Solidarity: Global Women’s Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Justice (Fortress Press, 2017); T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Theology and Climate Change (Bloomsbury, 2019) and In Solidarity with the Earth: Multi-Disciplinary Theological Engagement with Gender, Mining, and Toxic Contamination (T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, 2023). Dr. Koster also is the co-editor of the T&T Clark book series Explorations in Theology, Gender, and Ecology (Bloomsbury).
Cynthia L. Cameron
Cynthia L. Cameron is the Patrick and Barbara Keenan Chair of Religious Education and Assistant Professor of Religious Education at the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto. Prior to coming to Regis-St. Michael’s, she taught at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the United States and had a nearly twenty-year career as a teacher and administrator in Catholic high schools. Dr. Cameron completed a BA at Denison University (Ohio), an MAR at Yale Divinity School, and an MA at Catholic University of America. Her doctoral work, completed at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, focused on female adolescence and all-girls’ Catholic schooling. She has recently published in Horizons, as well as in Liturgy+Power (Orbis, 2017) and The Human in a Dehumanizing World (Orbis, 2022). Dr. Cameron is currently working on a co-edited book, Nobody’s Perfect: Adolescents, Mistake-Making, and Christian Religious Education (under contract with Fortress Press) and The Flourishing of Girls: A Theological Case for All-Girls’ Catholic Schools (in preparation for Catholic University of America Press).
Rosemary Boissonneau
Rosemary Boissonneau is a PhD candidate at Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College. She studies both ecotheology and scripture, and her dissertation project explores how the Hebrew Bible portrays fertile land as a maternal co-creator with God and a medium of God’s blessings. She completed a BA (University of Toronto) and a B Ed (University of Western Ontario) prior to her thirty-year career as a schoolteacher, which she spent mostly as an elementary French teacher for the York Catholic District School Board. While still teaching, Rosemary completed her MTS with a Certificate of Specialization in Theology and Ecology at the University of St. Michael’s College. She frequently incorporated Catholic ecotheological thought into her teaching and her school’s environmental initiatives. Rosemary also holds a conjoint MA in Theological Studies from the University of Toronto and the University of St. Michael’s College. As a committed climate activist, Rosemary has collaborated with Friday’s For Future Toronto, For the Love of Creation and the Laudato Si’ Movement Canada. She has also led workshops on climate anxiety and resilience for fellow activists in Toronto.
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