Laudato Si' Events
Conversations with Governor Bob Ferguson
Rise of the Governors: Navigating contrasts, chaos, and the Constitution
Thursday, April 3rd at 1:30 pm
Pigott Auditorium
Free and open to the public! Click here to RSVP
Please join the Department of Public Affairs and Nonprofit Leadership for their quarterly Conversations event. On Thursday, April 3, they will be hosting the newly-elected Washington state governor, Bob Ferguson, in conversation about pressing issues facing the state and the nation. The conversation will focus on how governors are managing the change in the relationship with federal government and the budget cuts that states are experiencing to a variety of programs: for veterans, people living in poverty, health care, medical research, climate, forest and energy management, and more.
Twilight Garden Meditation Walk
Click for more information and to register
Join CEIE and SU Gardeners for a walk through SU gardens accompanied by simple sensory meditations.
This event celebrates Earth Day and the 10th anniversary of Laudato Si with simple tools for deepening your connection with the earth.
After our walk, we'll have time to gather for food and conversation.
This event is cosponsored by CEIE, Seattle U Facilities & Grounds, SU Psychology Department.
Come, Have Breakfast
Book Discussion Group
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- Wednesday, April 23, 12-1:30 pm in person, lunch provided
- Tuesday, April 29, 12:30-1:45 pm on Zoom, in discussion with Sr. Johnson
“‘Come, have breakfast’ (Jn 21:12) These three simple words followed by generous action open a portal into an ecological image of the living God who is active with cordial hospitality toward all creatures, nurturing their lives, desiring that all should be fed.”
Join ICTC for a two-session group where we will read and discuss prize-winning theologian Elizabeth Johnson’s views on planet Earth, its beauty and threatened state, through the lens of scripture. Each luminous meditation offers a snapshot of one aspect of the holy mystery who creates, indwells, redeems, vivifies, and sanctifies the whole world. Together, they offer a panoramic view of the living God who loves the earth, accompanies all its creatures in their living and their dying, and moves us to care for our uncommon common home. For the first session, participants will have read a good portion of the book and will participate in preparing questions for our second session, a Zoom discussion with Sr. Johnson.
Elizabeth A. Johnson, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph, is Distinguished Professor of Theology Emerita, Fordham University, NYC. A former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America and also of the American Theological Society, an ecumenical association, she is winner of the John Courtney Murray Award for distinguished achievement in theology, and numerous other awards. Her book She Who Is received the Grawemeyer Award in Religion. Following her retirement, she was inducted into Fordham University’s Hall of Honor. Among her many books are Friends of God and Prophets: A Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints; Quest for the Living God: Mapping Frontiers in the Theology of God; Truly Our Sister: A Theology of Mary in the Communion of Saints; and Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love. Her previous Orbis books include Creation and the Cross and Abounding in Kindness: Writings for the People of God.
Past Events
Northwest Jesuit Advocacy Summit
The Northwest Jesuit Advocacy Summit brings together Jesuit students, volunteers, parishioners, faculty, priests and other leaders to use the power of our collective voices to put our faith into action.
Held from February 27, 28, and March 1, 2025, in Seattle and Tacoma, the event takes high-school students through a 3-day experience of Ignatian reflection towards prophetic action, with university students, Jesuit volunteers, parishioners, faculty and other adult allies joining for evening programming and a direct-action town-hall on Saturday morning
In the spirit of the Jesuit Apostolic Preference to “walk with youth toward a hope-filled future” parishioners, priests, teachers and community members are encouraged to join the summit to network with other Ignatian justice leaders, join in meaningful spiritual conversation with Jesuit students leading the next generation of justice work, and -most importantly- stand with these young leaders and Native-led activist groups as we engage in faithful collective action in solidarity with the Se Si Le and the Sacred Salmon Campaign.
Adults are invited to attend any of the below programs. You do not need to attend every event. The Saturday morning student-led town hall with elected officials is particularly important moment to stand with students as they take action, so if you can only attend one event, we encourage you to be there!
- Thursday February 27th at Bellarmine High Tacoma
5:15 pm: “Already Ignited” Adult Justice Leader Dinner
6:00 pm: Story Slam on Indigenous Climate Solidarity - Friday February 28th at Seattle University
6:30 pm: Intergenerational Conversation on Creation, Justice and Spirituality with Jesuit students and Jesuit Volunteers - Saturday, March 1st at Seattle University
10:00 am: Sacred Salmon Town Hall: Public Witness in Solidarity with Native Peoples on Salmon Watershed Protection
Faculty Research Presentation: Shared Concerns, Competing Perspectives
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Dr. Stacey Jones and Dr. Dean Peterson, Albers School of Business & Economics
Wednesday, March 12, 2025
12:00pm to 1:30pm (lunch provided)
Pigott 107, Seattle University
The project makes a case for the inclusion of Catholic Social Thought (CST) in the introductory economics course. We argue that the contrast between the perspectives of CST and economics, especially with regard to the environment, can deepen students’ understanding of the underlying assumptions of economics and enable students to see the role that economics should play in an interdisciplinary effort to address climate change. The paper provides practical guidance to economics faculty who wish to bring the urgent call of Laudato Si' and Laudate Deum into their classrooms effectively.
Laudato Si' Action Platform Summits and Celebrations
Inauguration
October 20, 2022
Year T2
February 15, 2024
Other Events - Care for Our Common Home
Our Common Home And The Climate Crisis: A Multi-Disciplinary Discussion - Laudate Deum Panel
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Le Roux Conference Room, Student Center
Learn more about Laudato Si' and Laudate Deum and how different sectors integrate the documents of Pope Francis into their work. Join us for an interdisciplinary panel with faculty from across campus:
- Moderator: Jeanette Rodriguez, ICTC Executive Director and Professor, Theology and Religious Studies
- Overview of LS and LD: Jessica Ludescher Imanaka, Associate Professor, Albers School of Business and Economics and Department of Philosophy
- Panelists:
- Ajay Abraham, Associate Professor, Marketing at Albers
- Colette Taylor, Professor, College of Education
- Jason Wirth, Professor, Philosophy
Ecological Spirituality from the Ancestral Testimonies of the Nahua People with Ignacio Torres Ramírez
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Student Center 130
Presentation will be in Spanish with English translation
Ancestral Testimonies of the Nahua People:
I will share with you some of the Nahua cosmovision within a pre-Hispanic historical context as well as one of conquest. We will travel to the past, long before the arrival of the Aztecs and the Spanish conquest to introduce you to the deep cosmology of our ancestors. We will journey through an historical path covering the arrival of the Aztecs, the Spanish conquest and indigenous, black, and popular resistance. Over the course of our journey I will present the powerful traditions, uses and customs such as ceremonies of the earth and the communal planting of the three sisters (corn, bean and squash) as a sacred practice of our cosmovision.
About Ignacio Torres Ramírez:
I am proud to be one of the original peoples of the indigenous community of Amatlán de Quetzalcoatl, in the Municipality of Tepoztlán in the State of Morelos. It has deep ancestral roots from which I receive my traditional name Nahui Cuauhtli, meaning Four Eagle. Amongst the original peoples we keep traditions and customs based on our land, our spirituality and our cosmovision. One example being the Communal Council naming the guardian of the sacred conch, for the use of general ceremonies. In 1992, I had the great honor of being named guardian of the community’s conch. As in many indigenous communities, Amatlán is one of the spaces that we practice curandería and many of our families come from this carefully preserved lineage to care for the community’s physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. For 2000 years my family has come from this line of healing.
I graduated from the Metropolitan Autonomous University in CDMX as a veterinarian doctor. My interest is the health of animals but also the health of the owners of the animals. This led me to graduate from the Centro de Desarrollo Humano hacía la Comunidad-Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos (CEDHEC-UAEM) (Centre for Human Development for the Community) as a Corporal Therapist offering massage, chiropractic and traditional herbal medicine. I continue my training for a diploma in acupuncture and in this way I am able to serve the health of animals and humans.
Turning the Tide for Ecology - 2023 Catholic Earth Day Summit
Saturday, April 22, 2023
Student Center
Join the Creation Care Network for its annual environmental justice summit! The day will provide space to ground our collective work spiritually, discern how the Spirit is calling us to build reciprocity with the Earth, and act together for climate justice! The day will include:
• Mass with Archbishop Paul D. Etienne
• Keynotes on integral ecology and salmon recovery
• Discernment on how the Spirit is calling us to care for our common home
• Panel on climate action
• Group reflections on environmental justice
• And more! This free in-person event is open to all and includes a vegetarian lunch & parking.
Hosted by: Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, and Creation Care Network Sponsored by: Archdiocese of Seattle, St. James Cathedral Seattle, St. Joseph Parish, Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, Catholic Climate Covenant, and Intercommunity Peace & Justice Center
- Watch the following sessions videos here:
Caring for Our Common Home: A reading of Laudato Si' through the lenses of Querida Amazonia
Thursday, October 27, 2022
Le Roux Room, Student Center 160
Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si' calls for an ecological conversion. In his view, we are no longer the owners of creation, nor is nature available at our disposal. Yet, the ecological conversion that Pope Francis seeks is almost impossible without problematizing traditional substance ontology or ways of being. We need a complete overhaul of how we understand reality. I suggest Pope Francis offers us a pathway forward in his apostolic exhortation letter Querida Amazonia. I invite you to navigate the richness that emerges from reading Laudato Si' through the lenses of Querida Amazonia.
Decolonizing Religious Landscapes for a Pluriversal Church
Friday, October 28, 2022
Casey 515
An event for faculty and staff
Across the Abya Yala continent, indigenous people, many Christians themselves, are decolonizing the religious landscape, placing their epistemologies and philosophical/spiritual principles at the theological table. In this presentation, I suggest that the first step to incarnate Francis's cultural dream of intercultural encounters among cultures, is to pause, and make sure that we truly comprehend indigenous complex philosophical systems. Then, through an inter-religious, intercultural hermeneutics, place in dialogue indigenous philosophical/spiritual systems and the foundational theological and metaphysical assumptions that sustains Christian dogmas. The result could be a richer pluricultural Church.