2024 Integrity of Creation Conference

Pathways to Achieving  the Sustainable Development Goals

March 26-27, 2024 

Duquesne University | Power Center

No registration is required for the Conference

This ninth conference focused on the topic of Pathways to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, recognizing the challenging deadline of 2030 to meet the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. The interdisciplinary conference invites participants from different disciplines to engage in civil discourse on a different topic each year. The format of the conference includes workshops, presentations, and posters.

The conference series was commissioned by former President Charles J. Dougherty as an endowed academic event. Current University President, Ken Gormley, continues to inspire excellence in support of the Spiritan mission as the conference series develops. 

The conference has three goals:

  • Provide a scholarly opportunity to engage established and emerging research on the conference topic
  • Foster interdisciplinary discourse on each topic, such as science, health, philosophy, religion, and policy
  • Enlighten public awareness and discussion of the conference topic

Submission Guidelines

Guidelines for Posters & Presentations

Guidelines for Essay Submissions

Accessing Past Conferences

Parking Information

2024 Conference Speakers

Cardinal Christophe

Opening Plenary: The Evangelical Inspiration of Laudato Si and Laudate Deum.
March 26, 2024, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.

His Eminence Cardinal Christophe Pierre
Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America

Cardinal Christophe Pierre was born on January 30, 1946 in Rennes, France. He completed his primary education in Antisirabé, Madagascar, and his secondary schooling in Saint-Malo, France, and in Marrakech, Morocco. He attended the Major Seminary of the Archdiocese of Rennes (1963-1969) and the Catholic Institute of Paris (1969-1971).

He did Military Service from July 1965, to October 1966. He was ordained a priest on April 5, 1970, in Saint-Malo, France and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Rennes. He was Parochial Vicar of the St. Peter and St. Paul Parish in Colombes, Diocese of Nanterre, France (1970-1973).

He has a Masters in Sacred Theology (Paris, 1971) and a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University, Rome (1973-1977).

He completed his studies at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, in Rome (1973-1977), and joined the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See on March 5, 1977.

He was appointed first to the Pontifical Representation in New Zealand and the Islands of the Pacific Ocean (1977-1981). Subsequently he served in Mozambique (1981); in Zimbabwe (1982-1986); in Cuba (1986-1989); in Brazil (1989-1991); at the Permanent Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (1991-1995).

He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio and elected Titular Archbishop of Gunela on July 12, 1995, receiving Episcopal Consecration on September 24, 1995, in Saint-Malo, France.

Cardinal Pierre served as Apostolic Nuncio in Haiti from 1995 until 1999. He was then appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda (1999-2007) and subsequently to Mexico (2007-2016). On April 12th, 2016, Pope Francis appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America. 

On July 9th, 2023, Pope Francis announced his intention to elevate him to the College of Cardinals. At the Public Consistory of September 30th, 2023, he was created Cardinal Deacon of San Benedetto fuori Porta S. Paolo.
Cardinal Pierre speaks French, English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese. 

Precis of Cardinal Christophe Pierre’s Presentation 

In his Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, written shortly before COP28 took place in Dubai, Pope Francis makes an urgent call to responsibility: “Our care for one another and our care for the earth are intimately bound together. Climate change is one of the principal challenges facing society and the global community” (Laudate Deum, 3).

The address of Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States of America, describes how Pope Francis in his encyclical letter Laudato sí expands the horizon of Christian social thinking.
 
Laudato sí has its roots in the reflections of Pope St John Paul II upon the “Gospel of Life” (Evangelium vitae). The Christian event offers good news about the meaning of human life and of its destiny: Gloria Dei, vivens homo. Vita autem hominis visio Dei (St Irenaeus, Against heresies, 4,20). Christian reflection on the value of human life orients the position of the Church on all kinds of challenges affecting the human person: abortion, prenatal screening, euthanasia, and other ‘life issues’.
 
In his turn, particularly with the encyclical letter Caritas in veritate, Pope Benedict XVI examines the risks that arise for the meaning and value of human life when the understanding of the human condition is reduced to a kind of technical rationality.
 
For Benedict, human life is at risk when its personal dimension and inalienable dignity are not explicitly recognized in a global system marked by a merely instrumental vision. Such limitations can be seen in certain contemporary interpretations of reality and in the manner in which important decisions are sometimes taken.
 
In Laudato sí, Pope Francis elaborates a broad reflection, bringing into relief the link between the deterioration of the natural environment, the growth of social inequalities, and the lack of concern for human life: “The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together” (LS 48), he remarks. As “everything is connected” (LS 117), “the gravity of the ecological crisis demands that we all look to the common good, embarking on a path of dialogue which requires patience, self-discipline and generosity, always keeping in mind that ‘realities are greater than ideas’” (LS 201).
 
In Laudato Deum, Francis proposes an ecology informed by the light of the Gospel. His vision is articulated in three dimensions:
1.    Respect for nature is based on the creative act of God.
2.    To illustrate the role of human beings in nature, the Pope develops the notion of “situated anthropocentrism”, as a corrective to the “techno-scientific paradigm”.
3.    He places the emphasis upon spiritual motivations rather than political ideologies. The Pope wants a “Christian civic activism”, based on dialogue and cooperation between people from different social & religious backgrounds, echoing his encyclical letter “Fratelli tutti”.

Watch Livestream

 

Kachi Adindu

Closing Plenary: Ecological Justice - From Prophetic Dialogic Disruption to Sustainability 
March 27, 2024, 6 - 7:30 p.m.

Fr. Kachi Adindu, C.S.Sp.
VIVAT International, Geneva, Switzerland

Fr. Kachi is a Spiritan priest from Nigeria. Ordained 24 years ago, he served for 12 years as the Dean of Studies and later as the Rector of the Spiritan Seminary at Ihiala, Nigeria. He later transferred to UK where he served as the Provincial Secretary of the British Spiritan Province, JPIC coordinator and the British Province Representative at the African-European Faith and Justice Network based in Brussels. Trained as an International Lawyer and Diplomat at University of Lancaster, UK, Fr Kachi is currently the head of VIVAT International operations at the United Nations secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Abstract

The current ecological crisis rallies the cry for urgent global action. Ecocide demands remedial Ecological Justice. Imperatively, all who seek ecological justice for our bruised planet must approach equity with clean hands. As activists jostle for the gavel with conflicting interests, justice swings from the lucid to the elusive. A realistic advancement of the SDGs must initiate a prophetic dialogic disruption of our current roadmap for eco-justice and sustainable development. This presentation showcases how Spiritans at the United Nations are birthing a return to the less charted prophetic pathway of disruptive dialogue to ensure a credible sustainable development agenda. 

Watch Livestream

Conference Schedule

March 26, 2024

6:00 - 7:30 p.m. 

Opening Plenary Presentation
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States
The Evangelical Inspiration of Laudato Si and Laudate Deum

Livestream

7:30 p.m. 

Conference Social - Shepperson Suite
March 27, 2024
10:00 - 10:50 a.m. Plenary Workshop
Student Class Participation
11:00 - 11:50 a.m. Plenary Workshop
Student Class Participation
12:00 - 12:50 p.m.  Plenary Workshop
Student Class Participation
12:50 - 1:00 p.m.  Lunch
1:00 - 1:50 p.m.  Plenary Workshop
Student Class Participation
2:00 - 2:50 p.m.

Plenary Workshop
Student Class Participation;

Sustainability Partners’ Discussion

3:00 - 3:50 p.m. 

Plenary Workshop
Student Class Participation;

STARS Report; and

University Sustainability Committee Meetings

3:50 - 6:00 p.m.  Break
6:00 - 7:30 p.m.

Closing Plenary Presentation
Kachi Adindu, CSSp. 
VIVAT International, Geneva, Switzerland.
Ecological Justice - From Prophetic Dialogic Disruption to Sustainability

Livestream

7:30 p.m. Conference Social, Shepperson Suite

Community Partners in Sustainability

University Sustainability Committee

The Integrity of Creation Conference partners with the University Sustainability Committee.

The charge of the University Sustainability Committee (USC) is to support, promote, and grow Duquesne University’s efforts to build a sustainable campus. The Committee fosters opportunities for multidisciplinary engagement across academic units, facilities, and University leadership. The USC’s activities enhance recruitment, retention, and DEIA initiatives; highlight faculty and student research; and support all five 2023 Strategic Plan imperatives and the Bridges Common Learning Experience. They also help to position Duquesne University as a premier Catholic institution and leader in Sustainability Studies. This work is informed by Duquesne University’s Catholic mission, which conveys the University’s commitment to serving God through ethical and ecumenical service to the community, the nation, and the world.

This Committee develops and promotes a culture of sustainability across campus and the Pittsburgh community by being an advocate, resource, and catalyst a for social, environmental, and economic responsibility aligned with Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”) and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. The Committee and its advocacy are part of a vision for why and how a collaboration between faculty, staff, and students can expand the value of and be able to tell compelling stories about why students and scholars should come to Duquesne University to be part of our sustainability efforts.

The Steering Committee

Chair: Dr. Sarah Wright, Associate Professor of English

Vice Chair: Dr. John Stolz, Director of the Center for Environmental Research & Education, Professor of Environmental Microbiology

  • Martin Black: Director of Corporate Relations and Community Partnerships, School of Business
  • David Chismar: Supervisor, Energy Management and Forecasting
  • Faith Cook: SGA VP for Academic Affairs, USC Undergraduate Student Representative
  • Dr. Luci-Jo DiMaggio: Director of Mission Animation and CETR Coordinator for Co-Curricular Community Engagement
  • Dr. Leda Kloudas: Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
  • Maria Mlinarcik: Graduate Assistant, Center for Environmental Research & Education and Biomedical Engineering

 

 

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