Carmelite Institute Malta, in collaboration with the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta, is organising an Ecology Week between 13 and 17 December 2019. The Institute will be hosting Rev. Dr Eduardo Agosta Scarel O.Carm. who will be lecturing on several occasions on the theme of ecology and climate change in correlation to Christian theology. Rev. Dr Agosta Scarel is an Argentinian Carmelite friar who holds a doctorate in Climate Science and lectures at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in Buenos Aires.
First, since actions speak louder than words, a tree-planting initiative is being organised by The Maltese Association for the Study of Spirituality and Spiritual Companionship, in collaboration with Għaqda Siġar Maltin. This event will take place on Friday 13 December 2019 at Mġarr ix-Xini valley, Gozo, at 11:00 a.m.
Then, on 14 December 2019, Rev. Dr Agosta Scarel will hold a Day Seminar entitled “One with Nature, One with God: A Christian Ecological Spirituality” that will take place at the premises of the Carmelite Institute in Mdina between 09:30 a.m. and 04:00 p.m. Throughout the day, he will offer elements for a spirituality of ecology based on categories of interpretation of the reality of the current ecological, socio-environmental crisis, offered by the encyclical Laudato Si’ of Pope Francis. At the same time, the reflection will be complemented with an update of the theology of biblical creation in dialogue with the sciences and the proposal of a mystical-contemplative pathway, in a Carmelite key, as an ecological alternative of personal healing and sanitation of creation.
Then, on 17 December 2019, he will deliver a public lecture entitled “Climate Change: A Theological Perspective” that will take place at the Faculty of Theology Boardroom (THL317) between 03:30 and 04:30 p.m. On the one hand, he will make a diagnosis of the current state of the earth’s climate in the context of anthropogenic climate change. He will discuss what expectations there are for the future climate according to the climate projections obtained by well-recognized Global Climate Models, with particular emphasis on major projections of the future climate for Malta (Mediterranean area). On the other hand, he will offer a succinct re-reading of fundamental texts of Scripture searching for ecological clues that are offering us a theological understanding of the current global ecological crisis, and a hopeful believing look for the future.
For further information, contact us at istitut@karmelitani.org or at theology@um.edu.mt