Speaker: Br. Michael Perry, OFM
One of the most challenging messages of Pope Francis’ encyclical on integral ecology, Laudato Si’, is the call to recognize the interconnectedness of all living things, deepen our knowledge of the common threats the earth and all its inhabitants face, rediscover the spiritual bonds that unite us, and engage our collective energies to address underlying causes in an effective and sustainable manner.
The Center for Integral Ecology, a Laudato Si’ Initiative located at Siena College is working with faculty, administrators, and those involved in the physical structures and natural environment at Siena College to promote a culture and ethics of sustainability that might contribute to the healing of the earth. The Center is working to establish effective partnerships with Franciscan colleges, universities, and studies centers in the U.S. and in other parts of the world (Latin America, Asia, Africa, Europe) towards these same goals.
The lecture will discuss ways our center seeks to engage the Franciscan spiritual, moral, and social imagination in a creative and effective manner, identify obstacles, and propose a way forward for transformative collaboration. The demands of ecological justice as they relate to unsustainable lifestyles promoted by the current economic models of domination and unlimited growth will be examined and challenged.
Bio: Michael Perry, OFM is a member of the new Province of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Atlanta, GA). Born in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1954, Michael began studies in pre-law at Indiana University. He transferred to Quincy University where he entered the Franciscan formation program. He attended Catholic Theological Union where he completed a M.Div. and M.A., with concentration in missiology. Later, he completed a Ph.D. in religious anthropology at the University of Birmingham, U.K. He lived and worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo for 10 years as a student, formator, educator, and researcher. Michael served the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as a foreign policy advisor; Franciscans International as director of the Africa program; and Catholic Relief Services as a policy expert in peacebuilding and reconciliation. In 2008, he was elected to serve as Minister Provincial of Sacred Heart Province, OFM in St. Louis. The following year, he was elected to serve as the Vicar General of the Order of Friars Minor (Rome) until 2013 when he was elected Minister General and Servant of the Franciscans, a service he performed until 2021. Following a sabbatical year, Br. Michael moved to Siena College to assume the role of director of the new Center for Integral Ecology.
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