Jesuit Education Resources
- Book and Webinars
Raphael, C., & Matsuoka, M. (2024). Ground truths: Community-engaged research for environmental justice. University of California Press – Luminos.
A comprehensive introduction to doing community-engaged research for environmental justice in many fields, including law and policy, community economic development, public health, food justice, urban and regional planning, and conservation. Available open access. Archived recordings of a webinar series based on the book are also available.
Chad Raphael. Engaged scholarship for environmental justice: A guide.
An overview and guide to designing community-engaged, participatory research and arts projects for faculty, students, and community-based partners. Briefly grounds community-engaged approach to research in Jesuit pedagogy.
- Reading and Discussion Guides to Laudato Si’
Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home
David DeCosse and Brian Green, Ethics and Pope Francis’s Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’: A Teaching Module
Thomas Reese, SJ, A Reader’s Guide to Laudato Si’
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home Discussion Guide
- Additional Statements
Laudate Deum (summary / full text)
A follow-up to Laudato Si’ published in 2023, this apostolic exhortation calls on governments, institutions, and individuals to accelerate their efforts to address the intensifying climate crisis.
Journeying toward Care for Our Common Home (summary / full text)
Document developed by several Vatican Dicasteries marking the five-year anniversary of Laudato Si’ includes more detailed steps toward integral ecology for universities and other institutions, including fossil fuel divestment.
Fratelli Tutti (summary / full text)
Papal encyclical letter of 2020 addressing justice and social friendship in relationships, social life, politics, and institutions
- Laudato Si’ Action and Activism
Goals and action steps, including for universities.
A national social and environmental justice network for Jesuit higher education and Catholic social ministry organizations. See their 21-Day Environmental Justice Challenge, an excellent collection of videos, podcasts, readings, and activities focused on different environmental justice issues each day. Includes a network of educators, an environmental legislation advocacy program, the 21-Day Racial Justice Challenge, the Catholic Community Ethical Purchasing Alliance (for institutions), and other campaigns.
A national organization addressing climate change and climate justice through an array of programs, including advocacy, community organizing, education, and reducing the climate footprint of Catholic institutions.
Catholic Charities
Some chapters have EJ programs, such as the Diocese of Stockton, and the organization has several advocacy initiatives
- Sustainability and Justice in Jesuit Education
AJCU Ecology Educators and International Jesuit Ecology Project
Reflections on, and visions of, an Ignatian pedagogy of sustainability.
AJCU Integral Ecology Affinity Group
Strengthens research, education, and community engagement to advance environmental and economic justice.
DeCosse, D., & Ladrigan-Whelpley, T. (Eds.). (2016). (special issue). Explore, 19 (Spring).
Essays on Laudato Si’ and Silicon Valley, climate science and climate justice, environmental justice, public policy, social action, and a sustainable economy.
An online journal for the exchange of ideas and practices on a broad array of ecological and social issues around the world, especially water and watershed management, mineral development, food security, climate change, disaster risk resilience, renewable and alternative energy, Indigenous Peoples, and cultural integrity, and sustainable development.
Ladrigan-Whelpley, T. (Ed.). (2018). Is there a common good in our common home? (special issue). Explore, 20 (Spring).
Essays on the common good and the Jesuit university, racial and ethnic justice, economic justice, gender justice, and environmental justice.
Leighter, J., & Smythe, K. Ignatian Pedagogy for Sustainability: An Overview. Jesuit Higher Education, 8(1), Article 3.
Develops an Ignatian approach to teaching about sustainability and justice.
Schmidt, E. W. (Ed.). (2016). Laudato Si’: Responsibility, conservation, sustainability (special issue). Conversations in Jesuit Higher Education, 50 (Fall).
Essays on Laudato Si’ and Jesuit universities.
- Campus Sustainability
Center for Sustainability, Santa Clara University.
Example of the scope of activities Jesuit campuses can undertake to achieve climate neutrality, practice mindful consumption, develop a culture of sustainability and use the campus as a living laboratory in the curriculum and co-curriculum. See especially the teaching resources for faculty and living lab project database.
- Environmental Ethics
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Environmental Ethics Resources
Lesson plans, curriculum guides, and teaching tools for environmental ethics education.
- Environmental Science
Schuck, M. (Ed.) (2016), Healing Earth
Loyola University Chicago’s open access e-textbook integrating environmental science, ethics, spirituality, and action on major challenges of biodiversity, natural resources, renewable energy, water, food, and climate change.
- Social Entrepreneurship and Economic Development
Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
Programs, research, and practical resources on teaching social entrepreneurship in a Jesuit university.
Sachs, W. (2017). The Sustainable Development Goals and Laudato Si’: Varieties of post-development? Third World Quarterly, 38(12), 2573-2587.
Compares and contrasts the U.N. SDGs and Laudato Si’ as roadmaps to sustainability.
Warner, K. D. (2018). Social entrepreneurship for Laudato Si’: Pedagogies of acceleration and accompaniment. Educatio Catholica, 4(1), 151-162.
Explains methods for teaching social entrepreneurship and their relationship to Catholic social teaching.
