Agenda

AGENDA

Subject to change; all in-person seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

Tuesday, April 18 Poverty and Sustainability Panels
Villanova Room, Connelly Center

Morning

Opening Remarks

Rev. Peter M. Donohue, OSA, PhD, '75 CLAS, President of Villanova University
Paul Tufano Esq., '83 VSB, '86 JD, Chief Executive Officer of AmeriHealth Caritas Family of Companies
Stephanie Sena, Anti-Poverty Fellow at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law and Founder of Student-Run Emergency Housing Unit of Philadelphia (SREHUP)
The Rev. Kevin M. DePrinzio, OSA, PhD, Vice President, Office for Mission & Ministry
The Rev. Anthony Banks, OSA, Assistant General of the General Council of the Order of St. Augustine (Invocation)

Panel 1: Laudato Si’ Action Platforms: A Call to Conversion, A Vision for Action

Introduction by Mark C. Alexander, JD, the Arthur J. Kania Dean and Professor of Law at the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law
Cardinal Robert McElroy, Archbishop of San Diego
Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
Moderated by Jose Aguto '94 JD, Executive Director of Catholic Climate Covenant

Panel 2: The Road to Repairing our Broken Ecosystem, and the Right to be Hopeful

Naomi Klein, Senior Contributing Writer for The Intercept and New York Times bestselling author of How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Earth and Each Other (2021)
Raj Patel, co-director of The Ants & the Grasshopper and co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and The Anatomy of Injustice (2021)
Moderated by Bill McKibben, author of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon (2022) and co-founder of 350.org

Panel 3: Healing the Land, Ending Poverty Through Kincentric Wisdom and Indigenous Storytelling

Robin Wall Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants and Distinguished Teaching Professor & Director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (virtual)
Melina Laboucan-Massimo, Founder of Sacred Earth Solar
Yanenowi Logan, co-vice president of the National Congress of American Indians and Student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the American Indian and Indigenous Studies Program at Cornell University
Moderated by Meg Martin, First Nation Student featured in I Am Still Here

Panel 4: Pathways to Sustainability at Villanova University: Innovations and Challenges

Fr. Robert P. Hagan, OSA, Prior Provincial of the Augustinian Province of St. Thomas of Villanova
William Lorenz, Director of Sustainable Engineering Program, Villanova University
Fr. Art Purcaro, OSA, Assistant Vice President of Mission and Ministry, Villanova University

Panel 5: Inequality, The End of Nature, and the Fight for a Fairer Future

Bill McKibben, author of The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon (2022) and co-founder of 350.org
Moderated by Scott Ferguson, Emmy Award-winning Producer known for Succession (2018), The Night Of (2016), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013) and Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Panel 6: Global Perspectives in Climate Crisis Solutions

Wanjiku "Wawa" N. Gatheru, Founder and Executive Director of Black Girl Environmentalist
Raj Patel, co-director of The Ants & the Grasshopper and co-author of Inflamed: Deep Medicine and The Anatomy of Injustice (2021)
Sean Callahan, President & CEO of Catholic Relief Services
Moderated by Chiji Akoma, Professor and Chair of the Department of Global Interdisciplinary Studies, Villanova University

Panel 7: Local Perspectives in Climate Crisis Solutions

Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson
Dimka Braswell, owner of R and B Farms and member of the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council
Moderated by Luz Escobar Zapata '24 CLAS

Closing: Ritual Closing Interfaith Prayer Service