Journey Conference is this Weekend!

I knew taking on two courses would be a lot of work - but two courses and planning a conference - yikes! I am so excited (and glad) that our Journey of the Universe film premiere and conference is this weekend. Registration is really healthy and all of the last minute details are coming together. We have a great line-up of presenters on the Saturday, with the whole emphasis being on the implications of this film. Executive Producer Mary Evelyn Tucker is our keynote speaker and will be with us throughout the conference. I've seen the film already and it is very well done. I am actually really impressed that even though it is carefully not anchored in any religious or spiritual tradition - the film provides ample opportunity for people of faith to find themselves in this story. It is true to Thomas Berry's idea that religions can't offer us the solutions we need, but neither can a solution come that does not include religions. The task for those of us who are devout people of faith and take this cosmology seriously is to find the ways in which our stories are found in the great story of the Universe (or as I like to think of it, the really big picture of how truly amazing Creation is when we stop thinking Creation is just about our planet). In many ways this is the inevitable end of the Copernican revolution - we may assent to a non-geocentric cosmology, but we still often get caught up in our anthropocentrism.

Here is the line up:

Opening comments: Dr. Karlijn Demasure, Dean, Faculty of Human Sciences (Saint Paul University)
Keynote address: Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker

Two sets of two concurrent panels:

Panel A: One Earth: Many Religions

• Heather Eaton (Ph.D.) Saint Paul University: Christianity 
• Iman Ibrahim (MA International Affairs): Islam 
• James Miller (Ph.D.) Queen’s University: Daoism 
• Noel Salmond (Ph.D.) Carleton University: Hinduism and Buddhism 
• Moderator: Frank Emanuel (yours truly) 

Panel B: Natural Sciences 

• Simon Appolloni (Ph.D. cand.) University of Toronto 
• William David, Senior Policy Analyst, Assembly of First Nations 
• Aaron Gross (Ph.D.) University of San Diego, Religion and Animals 
• John Stone (Ph.D.) Carleton University, IPCC 
• Moderator: Jessica Hetherington (Ph.D. cand.) 

Panel C: Spirituality

• Cindy Gaudet (M.A.) Metis, Moon Lodge Canada 
• Miriam Martin (Ed.D.) Saint Paul University, Religious Education 
• Ian Prattis (Ph.D.) Carleton University emeritus, Zen 
• Anne Taylor (M.P.S.) Kairos Spirituality for Social Justice Centre 
• Moderator: Kathryn Guindon (M.Sc.) 

Panel D: Social Sciences and Political Action 

• Tony Clarke, Director Polaris Institute 
• Joe Gunn, Director Citizens for Public Justice 
• Elizabeth May MP, Leader, Green Party of Canada 
• Vern Neufeld Redekop (Ph.D.) Saint Paul University, Conflict Studies 
• Moderator: Marlene Kelly (gsic), Team member of Kairos Spirituality for Social Justice Centre

Hope to see you there!