Call for Papers and Panels!

International Forum

14th Ecumenical Social Week

«Promoting The Common Good: Towards Sustainable Development»

Lviv, October 5-9, 2021

(hybrid format, with online option)

 

The annual International Forum “Ecumenical Social Week” (ESW) unites the resources of academia, the community, public authorities, churches, social organizations, charities, and mass media to discuss and solve social issues, based on the principles of common good and the Social Doctrine of Christian churches. Last year’s discussions (the theme was “Hear the Cry of the Earth: Integral Ecology in Action”) hosted attendees from 15 countries, who have lead us to the decision to dedicate the next issue of the ESW to sustainable development. We aim to host a series of discussions on sustainable development goals, approaching them from the perspective of ecumenical social doctrine and creating a platform for interdisciplinary exchange.

Organizers: The Institute of Ecumenical Studies, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv City Council, Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Ukraine.

Expert support and partners: Lviv Regional Council and Administration, National University “Lviv Polytechnics”, NGO “Center for Eco-theology and Sustainable Development”, UGCC Ecobureau, “Ecology, Law. Human Being” and others.

We invite scholars, experts and activists interested in the topics of sustainable development, religious social thought and integral ecology to send us proposals for both panels/events and papers focused on, but not limited to, the following subject areas (sustainable development goals):

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The Institute of Ecumenical Studies representative took part in the meeting of The Initiative of Christians for Europe (IXE)

The participants of the online meeting published a statement encouraging the Churches and governments to support a sustainable future and preservation of the creation more actively.

On March 12-13, 2021, an online meeting of the IXE - The Initiative of Christians for Europe, an association of lay organizations and committed Christians from different European countries, took place. Feeling responsible for building a fairer world, the participants discussed important issues of peacebuilding, environmental protection, inequality and social justice. The meeting resulted in a joint statement calling to respond immediately to the climate crisis and to join forces to contribute together to “ecological and social justice and peace, becoming one single human family”.

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Cardinal Peter Turkson - Integral Ecology in Laudato si’

Introduction:

Dear President, Rev. Dr. Iwan Dacko, Dear Director, Dr. Pavlo Smytsnyuk, Distinguished Professors and Members of Staff of this great Institute of Ecumenical Studies: I wish to express my gratitude for this invitation and the prayerful wishes of our entire Dicastery for a very successful conference on a most relevant theme.

In order to appreciate integral ecology as taught by Pope Francis in Laudato si’, I will offer my remarks today in three parts:

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MARIA G. SERETI - “Integral Ecology”: The common message of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Rome Francis

“Hear the cry of the Earth

and the cry of the poor”

WCC

One of the main subjects of modern reflection is the protection of the environment. The ruthless and methodic man-made vandalism of nature lead nature, as well as the entire inhibited world, to disaster. Recent incidents worldwide demonstrate man’s thoughtlessness towards nature[1]; for example the huge oil slick in Siberia, the fires in Australia, the explosion in Beirut (Lebanon) etc. Man is firmly convicted that sun will always rise the next morning[2]. But, when will he take into serious account that things are getting dangerous?

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Prof. Markus Vogt

“Signs of the Times” – a Theological Basis of Ecotheology and the Christian Competence within the Frame of the Environmental Discourse

My contribution has two parts: First, a theological reflection on the topos "signs of the times", which is the basis of our conference. The aim of the argument is the development of five criteria of the signs of the times and their application to the ecological crisis in order to decide why and in what way they are a theological issue.

The second part deals with the question which competence the churches can contribute to the ecological discourse of a pluralistic, partly secular or atheistic society. I will speak also about the encyclical Laudato si’.

  1. Ecological Awareness as “Sign of the Times”
  2. Signs of the times are those phenomena that shape an era due to their universality and frequency. Signs of the times are characteristic for the distinctively new conflict situations within each historical context. Moreover, they refer to an epochal process of change that is historically significant. They do not only concern individual groups and their interests but mankind as a whole. They are universally meaningful for the development and future of mankind. Theologically they aim for a pastoral aggiornamento in order to see the traces of the future in the present.
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