Is Learning the Language of Creation a pathway into the good life for Christians today? Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist, Sister Damien Marie Savino, FSE, explores this question through the complementary languages of science and faith, drawing upon her recent book, Learning the Language of Creation: Catholic Social Teaching and Integral Ecology (2025), in conversation with themes from Pope Leo's encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. How can learning the language of creation inform the faith life of Christians, and how might engineering in accord with the language of creation inform how humans live in the created world?
Sr. Damien Marie Savino, FSE is 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, from whom she received the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award in 2022. She also holds master’s degrees in theology and soil science. Her scientific and engineering research focuses on environmental remediation of soil and groundwater contamination, the environmental impacts of endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and the application of resilience theory to ecosystem health. For the past ten years, she has become increasingly involved in interdisciplinary projects and has lectured and written widely on Laudato Si’ and integral ecology, science and faith, ecology and theology, and questions of technology.
Date: Monday, November 2 (7:00 - 8:30 PM)
Location: Penn & Drexel Newman Center Lounge (111 S 38th St, University City Philadelphia)
This lecture is supported by a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63614). It is co-sponsored by the Thomistic Institute.