St Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata
and
Ecology Commission, Calcutta Jesuit Province
in association with
Alumnorum Societas

invite you to a webinar

Care of our Common Home

A discussion on ecological conditions affecting the vulnerable

Welcome Address

Rev Dr Fr Thamacin Arulappan sj
Principal, St Xavier’s Collegiate School & President Alumnorum Societas
Convenor, Ecology Commission, Calcutta Jesuit Province

Theme Address: Care of our Common Home

Rev Fr Raphael Joseph Hyde sj
Provincial, Calcutta Jesuit Province

Jesuit Contribution in the Field of Ecology

Dr Fr S Ignacimuthu sj
Former VC, University of Madras,
Former Principal, Loyola College, Chennai

MiniGrids: Transforming Rural lives and livelihoods in Harmony with Nature

Col (Ret) Vijay Bhaskar
Managing Director, Hamara Grid Pvt. Ltd.

Climate Literacy: Building Bridges to the Future Generations

Ms Karuna Singh, Regional Director Asia &
Country Director, India, Earth Day Network

Target Group

Teachers, parents and students of all the Jesuit Institutions of Calcutta Jesuit Province including:

St. Xavier’s Collegiate School, Kolkata
St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata (Park Street)
St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata (Rajarhat)
St. Lawrence High School, Kolkata
St. Xavier’s Durgapur
St. Xavier’s Burdwan
Members of Alumnorum Societas (St. Xavier's School Old Boys' Association)
Well wishers, public-at-large and selected media.

Conference Background

On 19^th February 2019, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, Rev. Fr. Arturo Sosa, announced four Universal Apostolic Preferences for the Society of Jesus.

One was to collaborate in the Care of the Common Home (Environment). The Common Home today is crying out as never before, labouring to be set free (Roman 8). Today’s environmental crisis is impacting in a particular way on the poor and vulnerable. Action is needed urgently by the members of the Society and by all people of good will. To become honest custodians of this wonderful planet, by the way of ecological conversion, the Ecology Commission of the Calcutta Province of the Society of Jesus, chooses to undertake four processes of ecological conversion, namely 1) to know oneself that one is of the earth and earthly 2) to know oneself that one is in constant relationship with other living species 3) to became aware of the imbalances that one creates knowingly or unknowingly to the environment and 4) to collaborate in the sustainable development of ecology.

As highlighted by various natural disasters, most recently Cyclone Amphan, human-led modification of the environment reduces the ecological resilience and can lead to large-scale devastation. Due to Amphan, trees were uprooted, fields were flooded and many homes were destroyed leading to significant human tragedy. By spreading the message of "Care of Common Home" we can build awareness about the unsustainable modes of development and work together to identify how humans and the planet can co-exist with each other in a harmony keeping in mind our responsibility towards all living things.

To spread this message, St. Xavier’s Kolkata together with the Ecology Commission of the Calcutta Jesuit Province and Alumnorum Societas is organising a virtual conference to spread the message of “Care of Our Common Home” and work with the various practitioners, stakeholders and thought leaders find ways to define an action plan

Some key questions and issues we hope to explore in the webinar are:

What measures do we take to protect our Common Home from the natural disasters?
How do we bring about the global consciousness with regard to our planet earth?
How do we restore our broken relationship with the common home?
What are the concrete ways in which we can help to restore the damage that we have caused to our Common Home?