Good Friends of God and Creation,

Please check out the news release below and consider attending Rev. Michael Dowd’s presentation at the Franciscan Center on September 25.  Also, please spread the word to people whom you think might also be interested.  Thank you!!!

Social Justice Subcommittee, Toledo Chapter of the U.S. Association of Catholic Priests

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

As the Great March for Climate Action heads for Toledo, evolutionary theologian and author Rev. Michael Dowd will present Climate: Great Reckoning, Great Homecoming Thursday, September 25, at Lourdes University’s Franciscan Center at 7 p.m.

In light of Toledo’s recent water crisis, Rev. Dowd’s talk is both timely and important.  He writes, “We each have experienced times of trouble that threaten to overwhelm our individual lives. In such times, a vision of possibility is essential. The same holds for the punctuations in history when whole societies face troubles of an immense and uncharted variety. Truly, we here and now have arrived at such a time. Humans, unwittingly, have become a planetary force. We are changing, irreversibly, the very climate of our world. Henceforth, any actions we take as individuals and societies will be done in the new light of climate change. What vision will carry us forward through such times and inspire us to work together? How shall we frame the need to shed our business-as-usual outlook on life and take on a new vision of possibility that can unite us as a species in joyful self-sacrifice and service? What vision will charge us with a sense of heroic purpose that the future is, indeed, calling us to greatness?” 

The program, geared for adults and teens, builds on Rev. Dowd’s most recent TEDx talk, “Reality Reconciles Science and Religion,” and also expands on material in his bestselling, bridge-building book, Thank God for Evolution: How the Marriage of Science and Religion Will Transform Your Life and Our World, which was endorsed by six Nobel laureates and other science luminaries, including noted skeptics, and by religious leaders across the spectrum.

Rev. Michael Dowd is a prophetic evolutionary theologian, bestselling author, and one of the most inspiring science and religion speakers in America today. He and his wife, Connie Barlow, an acclaimed science writer, have been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, and on CNN, ABC News, and Fox News. He has delivered two TEDx talks and has also spoken at the United Nations. He recently created a 5-part “Factual Faith/Sacred Realism” discussion course for church groups, titled, “God in Big History” and was host of the acclaimed conversation series, “The Advent of Evolutionary Christianity,” in which he interviewed 38 esteemed Christian scientists, theologians, and ministers, all of whom publicly and enthusiastically embrace an evolutionary, ecological worldview.

The presentation prefaces the Great March for Climate Action, which is scheduled to arrive in Toledo the following afternoon.  Sponsored by the Social Justice Subcommittee of the Toledo Chapter of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, the event is free and open to the public. 

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Background info:

• Bio, video and audio clips: http://www.thegreatstory.org/MD-writings.html
• Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dowd
• HuffingtonPost blog: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-michael-dowd/
• TEDx talk in Grand Rapids:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QeTWVw9Fm4
• Endorsements:   http://michaeldowd.org/endorsements

Contact: 

• Tom McDonald, Member of the Social Justice Subcommittee of the Toledo Chapter, Association of U.S. Catholic Priests, 419-474-8801
• Rev. Michael Dowd, 425-760-9941