Learning the Language of Creation

A vision for realizing the promise of integral ecology and putting it into practice.

In his landmark encyclical Laudato Si’ on care for creation, Pope Francis connected contemporary ecological concerns and other issues tackled by Catholic social thought by popularizing the idea of integral ecology. In Learning the Language of Creation, professor of civil and environmental engineering and earth sciences, Franciscan Sister Damien Marie Savino, provides a vision for integral ecology grounded in the conviction that the healing of ecosystems and of human communities goes hand in hand, and that “the external deserts in the world are growing, because the internal deserts have become so vast” (LS 217).

By engaging her expertise in science and theology, Sister Damien Marie frames integral ecology as a pilgrimage guided by a process of listening and learning the language of creation. In this book, she offers a new way of thinking about creation, human beings, and the relationship between them to realize the promise of integral ecology and put it into practice.

Damien Marie Savino, FSE, currently serves as the Melchor Visiting Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences (CEEES) at the University of Notre Dame, with a concurrent appointment in the McGrath Institute for Church Life. She holds a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from The Catholic University of America. She also holds master’s degrees in theology and in soil science, as well as an undergraduate degree in biogeography from McGill University. Sister Damien Marie has lectured and written widely both nationally and internationally in the areas of ecology and theology, science and faith, and ecological resilience.

The Enacting Catholic Social Tradition series is dedicated to the systematic application of Catholic Social Teaching to real-world problems and issues. Written for both academics and pastoral practitioners who want to draw on and learn more about the rich resources of Catholic Social Tradition for the practical work of justice, the series aims to strengthen the capacity of the church to respond lovingly and well to the demands of the Gospel.