MC Workshop 3

Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation
Sr. Leanne Jablonski, FMI

As God’s children we are to live in right relationship with one another and with the world. While the church has always had a history of charitable work, shifts began to occur in 1891 with the publication of Rerum Novarum from Pope Leo XIII. With this encyclical, Pope Leo began to lay the foundations of Catholic Social Teaching and a call to working for the rights of those who suffer from unjust social and economic structures and empowering them to speak so their voices are heard. Just as Jesus called individuals to transform themselves,  he powerfully challenged the exploiters in the temple to transform their unjust system ….as part of his mission from God.  Sr. Leanne will share her mission efforts for peace and justice and recommend how we might do the same.

Leanne Jablonski is a Marianist Sister and a native of Winnipeg, Canada and a scientist, pastoral minister and educator.
She earned a BSC Hons in Botany/Plant Ecology from the University of Manitoba. At the University of Dayton, she earned an MS in Biology (Plant Physiology) and was a Laboratory Instructor/.Coordinator in the UD Biology Department. She also earned an MA in Pastoral Ministry from UD focusing on faith, science and spirituality issues. Her doctorate in plant physiological ecology focused on plant reproductive responses to climate change.

Dr. Jablonski directs the 100-acre Marianist Environmental Education Center which specializes in restoring communities of land and people and focuses on ecological restoration through research and service-learning, bridging the faith and science communities, and environmental justice. She also coordinates the Ohio Interfaith Climate & Energy Campaign of the Ohio Council of Churches and the Environmental Justice working group of the Ecological Society of America.