Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology members Cynthia Cameron and Hilda Koster have received a “Moving Foward in Mission” grant from the Association of Theological Schools for US$ 25,000.  

The “Critical Conversations in Catholic Education: Educating Towards Ecological Resilience in a Climate Justice Curriculum” project aims to foster robust conversation around important theological and social issues facing Catholic educators in ways that empower these educators to think in theologically and pedagogically creative ways. The climate crisis, in particular, impels people of faith to engage the griefs and anxieties of students and teachers as we come together to build communities committed to socio-ecological resilience.  As a Faculty of Theology, building conversation about climate anxiety, resilience, and place-based pedagogy enables us to better serve those who teach the next generations of Catholics committed to climate justice.  

This grant will fund a series of three events, both in-person and live-streamed, at school board sites around the GTA during the 2023-24 school year with a final half-day conference on the University of St. Michael’s College campus in early summer 2024.

The project is co-directed by Dr. Cynthia Cameron, Patrick and Barbara Keenan Chair of Religious Education and Assistant Professor of Religious Education and Dr. Hilda Koster, Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Associate Professor in Ecological Theology and Director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology, Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology, University of St. Michael’s College. 

Rosemary Boissonneau is a climate justice activist and a doctoral student at St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology, where she studies ecotheology and scripture. Her research involves applying ecofeminist and decolonial methods to the interpretation of Old Testament texts in order to retrieve an understanding of the land as an active participant in the covenant with God and the people of Israel. Before embarking on graduate studies, Rosemary enjoyed a long career as an elementary school French teacher.

This Friday, April 22 marks Earth Day, an event that has grown into global prominence since its first iteration 52 ago during the heady days of the U.S. college protest movement. Now recognized as the largest secular observance in the world, Earth Day is commemorated by over a billion people each year as a day of action centred on our planet’s well-being and its protection from human-induced degradation and destruction. Residents in over 190 countries use this day to raise awareness about pressing environmental challenges and demand the individual behavioural changes and the multi-level policy changes that are needed to stop the damage we are unleashing on the Earth.

Friday, April 22 marks Earth Day, an event that has grown into global prominence since its first iteration 52 ago

Occurring during spring and the Easter season, Earth Day ought to be a celebration of renewal and hope but, increasingly, it is an occasion for lamentation, despair and desperation as year after year the cries of environmentalists and the Earth itself seem to go unheeded, and the devastation of the planet continues at an ever more rapid pace. The interrelated crises of biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change pose an unprecedented threat to the health of the planet. Referring to the most recent report of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released earlier this month, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, warns that without drastic reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions in the next few years, we are “firmly on track to an unlivable world” thanks mainly to “a litany of broken climate promises” by governments and corporations still banking on the fossil fuel economy and blocking efforts to enact a just transition to a decarbonized future.

And yet … despair need not have the final word. There is still reason for hope on this Earth Day. The same IPCC report details how, if the global community takes immediate and significant action using existing technology and methods, it can still keep the Earth within the 1.5C degrees of warming as pledged in the 2015 Paris Accord and avoid the worst of the impending climate catastrophe. For an overview of the many initiatives and behavioural changes that we must undertake or ramp up to achieve net zero emissions, take a look at the list of the climate solutions and their many social co-benefits outlined by Project Drawdown at https://drawdown.org/ . As you will see, these solutions respond to both the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor.

The future can be bright, healthy and equitable! Alleluia! However, none of these positive paths forward can take effect until we humans first experience what Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’ calls an “ecological conversion.” This is especially true for those of us living in the so-called developed global North, where our normative worldview understands humanity to be separate from and superior to the rest of creation. If we remain stuck in this anthropocentric mindset, even our most noble efforts to “save the planet” this Earth Day will lead to failure. Because the truth is we humans cannot single-handedly save the planet even though we are in the process of single-handedly destroying it.

The Earth is not a damsel in distress waiting for us humans to save it. The Earth is the regenerative, creative, living masterpiece of God’s creation, which has been creating, regenerating and regulating the dizzyingly diverse array of life in its biosphere for many millions of years, since long before humans emerged as one of the most recent members of God’s community of creation. As Laudato Si’ reminds us, “Rather than a problem to be solved, the world is a joyful mystery to be contemplated with gladness and praise.” If we enter mindfully into the mystery of creation, the living embodiment of God’s love, we humans can learn how to collaborate with the Earth and its regenerative powers, how to live and indeed thrive within its means, so that we can unlearn and cease the destructive activities and attitudes that are preventing the Earth from saving itself, and saving us humans along with it.

Fortunately, none of this is new. Before modernity and before we developed our unquenchable thirst for empire-building, we humans more or less knew how to live in right relationship with the rest of the community of creation. And Indigenous peoples continue to live out the knowledge and wisdom intrinsic to such relational ways of being despite the genocidal brutality of colonialism past and present. In fact, as a hopeful sign of our growing recognition of this reality, the latest IPCC report for the first time ever listed colonialism as a historical and ongoing driver of climate change, suggesting that the paths of decolonization and decarbonization are united. This view is echoed in the final document from the Synod on the Amazon released in 2019. It recognizes that being attentive to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, especially the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon, calls us to “a personal and communal conversion which commits us to relate harmoniously with God’s work of creation.” It also acknowledges that this conversion involves honouring “the pattern of thinking of indigenous peoples [that] offers an integrated vision of reality, capable of understanding the multiple connections existing throughout creation.”

On this Earth Day we must not remain blind to the grave threats that imperil our planetary home, but neither should we disregard that the Earth itself is humanity’s formidable and wonderous ally on our path of conversion toward ecological and social healing. I will conclude with advice from Laudato Si’. On this Earth Day, “let us sing as we go. May our struggles and our concern for this planet never take away the joy of our hope.” To learn more about Laudato Si’ and St. Michael’s ecotheology offerings, please visit the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology.

Read other InsightOut posts.

Join Dr. Hilda Koster, the new holder of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Toronto Chair in Theology, at her first St. Michael’s conference November 11 and 12. Learn more about the conference from Dr. Koster’s description below.

  • Thursday, November 11: 7 p.m. –8:30 p.m. ET
  • Friday, November 12: 8:30 a.m. – 1:15 p.m. ET
Information on Doing Theology Amid a Changing Climate: Crossing Divides, an online conference Nov. 11-12 being hosted by the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology

As world leaders gather at the COP 26 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow to implement the Paris climate agreement, the web-conference “Doing Theology Amid a Changing Climate: Crossing Divides” explores Christian theology’s contribution to the cultural, social, and spiritual transitions needed. Together with scientists and leaders from other faith traditions, Christian churches and communities have provided common witness on climate change. Yet because climate change is not simply an issue to be addressed but signals a need for a radical change in the way we inhabit a damaged planet, theologians and scientists discuss what more is required at this crucial geo-historical moment.

The speakers and panelists will ask how we can more effectively collaborate across disciplines and align our theology with cosmology and evolutionary science. How can we overcome divisions on climate science in a post-truth world? Which revelations of the sacred will nurture our interdependence with one another and the more than human world? And, as climate change further divides climate privileged and vulnerable communities along lines of race, gender, and ethnicity, how may theologians and community leaders work together to address questions of climate justice?

This conference is hosted by the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology at the University of St. Michael’s College (Toronto), a leading interdisciplinary Institute for scholarship and dialogue rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition.

Thursday, November 11 

7–8:30 p.m.

A keynote speech delivered the night before by Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio of Villanova University in Pennsylvania will set the scene for panel discussions of climate justice, gender justice, climate science and climate anxiety and the Church’s response. (The Catholic Register, Oct. 23, 2021)

Keynote: Earth’s Fragility and the Crisis of Transcendence:  Why Science and Religion Must be Reconciled”

Speaker: Dr. Ilia Delio, OSF Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University

Friday, November 12

Session 1: Climate Justice and Gender Justice: Addressing Inequities and Working across Difference (8:30 – 10:00 a.m.)

To many poor and minority communities, climate change means death and destruction on an ever-larger scale. Women and gender-diverse people are especially vulnerable. Speaking from various contexts and in solidarity with communities in both the global North and South this panel of renowned Catholic women theologians discusses these inequities and injustices with a focus on resource extraction and gender justice.

Session 2: Theology and Climate Science: Addressing Indifference, Fear, and Denial (10:1511:30 a.m.)

To address climate change, theologians and climate scientists need to further engage in dialogue across disciplines. This panel explores the possibilities and challenges for this collaboration. How can climate science inform Christian theology? How can they both challenge religiously motivated climate change denialism? How can theology address fear and deep-seated anxiety about the consequences of climate change? What role do climate scientists see for the wisdom and power of religion and spirituality?

Session 3: Working across Ecclesial and Colonial Divides (11:45 a.m.13:15 p.m.)

Despite considerable ecumenical efforts towards a common witness, Christianity remains deeply divided on ethical issues, including climate change. Theologians representing various confessional and ecclesial traditions and communities address the challenges of ecumenical collaboration. Can Catholics come together with other Christians around the vision for climate justice and sustainability that Pope Francis unfolds in the encyclical Laudato si’? Can Christians from the global South and North work together to address issues of climate injustice amidst the enduring legacy of colonialism?  

Dr. Koster (centre) and Dr. Syvester (far right) with the Sisters of St. Joseph Leadership Team members Sister Nida Fe Chavez, Sister Georgette Gregory, Sister Anne Purcell, Sister Anne Marie Marrin, and Sister Mary Anne McCarthy.
Dr. Koster (centre) and Dr. Syvester (far right) with the Sisters of St. Joseph Leadership Team members Sister Nida Fe Chavez, Sister Georgette Gregory, Sister Anne Purcell, Sister Anne Marie Marrin, and Sister Mary Anne McCarthy. 

Dr. Hilda Koster, a professor of feminist theology and ecotheology, has been named the new holder of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Chair in Theology. Dr. Koster joined the University of St. Michael’s College’s Faculty of Theology in July 2020 and was appointed head of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology (EAITE) earlier this year.

“We welcome Dr. Hilda P. Koster to the Chair for 2022 onward and look forward to how her eco-feminist perspective will enrich theological studies for students and faculty,” says Sister Georgette Gregory, who is Congregational Leader for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto.

Calling it “a great honour and pleasure” to be named Chair, Dr. Koster says she is grateful for the Sisters’ support for her work, and for that of the Faculty overall, noting that “this Chair reflects the Congregation’s longstanding commitment to theological education in feminist and ecological theology.

“The fact that this important Chair is now attached to the Faculty position in ecological theology offers important recognition of the leadership in the field of ecological theology that the Faculty of Theology, through the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology, has provided for the past 30 years,” Dr. Koster says. “I look forward to a closer collaboration with the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto and hope to create opportunities for our students to learn from and get involved with the Congregation’s important eco-justice ministry and its advocacy work on clean drinking water.”

 The Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto established a Chair in Systematic Theology at St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in 2007. Dr. Koster is the third person to hold the Chair, previously held by Dr. Margaret O’Gara and then Dr. James Ginther.

 “We welcome this opportunity to support the Faculty of Theology, to commit to the advancement of theological education, and to honour the legacy of our Sisters at St. Michael’s College,” Sister Georgette says. “For 110 years we have contributed to St. Michael’s College as students and as educators in undergraduate and graduate studies. This includes opening St. Joseph’s College (1911 – 2006), a Catholic women’s college and residence. The Sisters and the University of St. Michael’s College will be forever linked by a shared dedication to Catholic education,” she says.

University President David Sylvester describes the Chair in Theology as yet another way the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto have offered invaluable service and inspiration to St. Michael’s.

“From teaching and administrative work to their mentoring and residence for students, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto have shown extraordinary leadership at St. Mike’s for over a century,” he says.

“Dr. Koster’s work in ecotheology and feminist theology speaks to issues of critical importance to our world, echoing themes raised in papal documents such as Fratelli Tutti and Laudato si’. We are profoundly grateful for the Sisters’ support, which will help our students as they find ways to respond positively and productively to the concerns and challenges of the modern world,” he says.

Dr. Koster, whose courses this academic year include Our Common Home: The Origins, Theology and Implications of Laudato si’, will be hosting her first St. Michael’s conference in November. The online event, Doing Theology Amid a Changing Climate: Crossing Divides, takes place November 11 and 12 and includes keynote speaker Dr. Ilia Delio’s leture, “Earth’s Fragility and the Crisis of Transcendence: Why Science and Religion Must be Reconciled.”

Dr. Hilda Koster

The new director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology, Dr. Hilda Koster, sees the EAITE moving forward in the spirit of Laudato Si’, with particular attention to the needs and concerns of women, minorities and Indigenous communities.

The Institute, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, was created by Fr. Stephen Dunn to address growing interest in the intersection between faith and the natural world.

“It is a great honour to be appointed Director of the Elliott Allen Institute, which has played such a prominent role in the development of ecological theology in Canada, especially by way of its sustained attention for the work of the visionary theologian Thomas Berry,” says Dr. Koster. “I am very grateful for the important work of the Institute’s founder Fr. Stephen Dunn, C.P., and his successor Dr. Dennis O’Hara. It is a privilege to carry their legacy forward.”

Strong leadership of the EAITE reflects the university’s core values expressed in St. Michael’s 180 strategic plan, says University President Dr. David Sylvester.

“We place great importance on our mandate to promote respectful dialogue on care for each other and for our common home. The work of the Institute helps to further St. Michael’s core values, and Dr. Koster will be an invaluable addition,” Dr. Sylvester says.

The Faculty of Theology is especially pleased to have found someone so well equipped to run a centre known around the world for its groundbreaking research and training, says Interim Dean Dr. John L. McLaughlin.

“Dr. Koster’s appointment as Director of the Elliot Allen Institute is good news not only for St. Michael’s but for anyone who cares about ecological theology as well as environmental and social justice,” Dr. McLaughlin says. “Since the EAITE was founded by Fr. Stephen Dunn in 1991 it has been shining a light on the kinds of issues Pope Francis addressed in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’: to recover our relationship with the natural world while also working for environmental justice.”

The need to examine ecological concerns in a theological light has never been greater, Dr. Koster says.

“Historically Christianity has not paid much attention to humanity’s relationship to the natural world but in light of climate change, overconsumption and species extinction this has become an essential area of theological reflection,” she says.

“Studying Theology and Ecology allows students to make connections between their faith traditions with knowledge of and appreciation for the more-than-human world. Yet ecotheology also will allow students to think deep and hard about the spiritual and moral challenges that result from our human caused destruction of precious ecosystems, and the suffering this is causing to vulnerable human communities.

“The Elliott Allen Institute therefore takes its lead from Pope Francis’ insight that ‘a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor (Laudato Si’, 49)’.  We need educators, chaplains, social workers and scholars who have the competency to work with others to realize a more just and sustainable future for all, especially the poor.”

Born in the Netherlands, Dr. Koster received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees from the University of Groningen. After further study at Princeton Theological Seminary and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, she earned her doctorate at the University of Chicago. She joined St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in July 2020, with teaching areas of ecotheology, feminist theology, and ethics. She assumes the directorship of the EAITE on July 1, 2021.

Describing the new Director as a “wonderful addition” to the Faculty, Rosemary Boissonneau, Dr. Koster’s research assistant, says Dr. Koster “challenges her students to look deeper and investigate theologically the conceptual frameworks and structures of domination underlying the socio-ecological crises of our times. I am confident that under her directorship, the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology will be reinvigorated to continue its legacy as a vital centre of ecotheological learning and research.”  

The EAITE is a collaborative teaching and research institute which offers a certificate of specialization in Theology and Ecology, as well as stand-alone Graduate Diploma in Theology and Ecology. Its interdisciplinary, collaborative nature brings a range of academic voices from the sciences and humanities into conversation on matters of the day.

The 10-course diploma is aimed at professionals and students who wish to integrate the study of environmental issues and theology in their professional careers, as well as for those who wish to study the theological and ethical dimension of environmental problems. It includes five foundational courses, one in-depth course, two ecology and theology-specifics courses, one experiential course, and one capstone course.

The newly revised certificate is open to anyone enrolled in any of the graduate programs at the Toronto School of Theology seeking to specialize in Theology and Ecology. Certificate requirements vary depending on the program being completed.

“The Elliott Allen Institute will continue to be a place for innovative theological education and scholarship, with attention to the voices of women, minorities and Indigenous communities,” says Dr. Koster.

For more information on the Elliott Allen Institute’s offerings, please contact Programs Coordinator Anthony De Feo or Dr. Koster directly.

The crest of the University of St. Michael's College
Image depicts Dr. Hilda Koster

Dr. John L. McLaughlin, Interim Dean of the Faculty of Theology, is pleased to announce that Dr. Hilda P. Koster will be joining the Faculty of Theology as an associate professor in Ecotheology. Dr. Koster comes to St. Michael’s from Minnesota’s Concordia College, where she held joint appointments in Religion, Gender Studies and Environmental Studies.

“The addition of Dr. Koster to our Faculty underscores the importance of both ecological and feminist theology to the University of St. Michael’s College,” says Dr. McLaughlin. “She will carry forward the groundbreaking teaching and research of eco-theologians Fr. Stephen Dunn and Dr. Dennis O’Hara, as well as the important work in feminist theology conducted by professors such as Sr. Ellen Leonard and Sr. Mary Ellen Sheehan.”

Dr. Koster will teach courses for the Faculty’s three basic degree programs—the Master of Theological Studies, the Master of Divinity and the Master of Religion Education degrees—as well as teach and supervise graduate students through the Graduate Centre in the Toronto School of Theology. In the 2020-2021 academic year her courses will include Introduction to EcoTheology, Catholic Social Teaching, and a new course titled Ecofeminism, New Materialism and Ecological Theology.

She will also help shape the activities and certificate program of the Faculty’s Elliott Allen Institute of Theology and Ecology (EAITE), which was established in 1991 to allow students to acquire a specialization in theology and ecology.

“The University of St. Michael’s College has been a leader in ecological theology through the Elliott Allen Institute. It is a privilege and an honour to further this tradition of visionary ecotheological education and scholarship,” says Dr. Koster. “My own work in ecological theology is done from an eco-feminist perspective. To me environmental and gender justice are interconnected.”

Born in The Netherlands, Dr. Koster received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Divinity degrees from The University of Groningen. After further study at Princeton Theological Seminary and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, she earned her doctorate at the University of Chicago.

Dr. Koster has published articles and book chapters on eco-feminist theology, and edited two books on Theology and Climate Change. The book Planetary Solidarity: Global Women’s Voices on Christian Theology and Climate Justice (Fortress, 2017), co-edited with Grace Ji-Sun Kim, gathers eco-feminist theological reflections on the intersection of gender and climate justice by feminist/womanist/mujerista theologians from both the minority and majority world. Together with Ernst Conradie, she published the T&T Handbook of Christian Theology and Climate Change (Bloomsbury, 2019) to create a dialogue between religion scholars, ethicists and theologians situated within a high carbon footprint context and those representing climate vulnerable communities in low carbon footprint world.