The Diocesan Social Action Office is sponsoring a panel on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) entitled, Fracking: Pros, Cons and Context, on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, from 7 - 9:00 p.m. St. Hilary Parish, 2750 West Market Street, Fairlawn, Ohio will be hosting the program. The Office of Social Action, Youngstown Diocese, has signed on as a co-sponsor.
Our speakers include Mr. Peter MacKenzie, Vice-President of Operations for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, Dr. John F. Stolz, Director of the Center for Environmental Research and Education at Duquesne University, and Dr. Jame E. Schaefer, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology with direction of an interdisciplinary minor in environmental ethics at Marquette University. The forum is educational with both pros and cons as well as a Catholic theological reflection in order to put the issue in context. There will be time for questions. The program is free and open to the public.
Society?s concern for the environment requires that Catholics examine our own stewardship of God?s creation and our responsibility to those who come after us. Echoing numerous appeals from the Holy See and U.S. Catholic bishops in this regard, our parishioners are now taking seriously the need to educate and raise questions about new methods of drilling in Northeast Ohio which have the promise of developing jobs, but also have the prospect of damaging the environment for future generations. In this regard, Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has said: ?Ecological questions highlight the need to achieve a greater harmony both between measures designed to foment economic development and those directed to preserving the ecology, and between (state), national and international policies. Economic development, moreover, needs to take into consideration the integrity and rhythm of nature, because natural resources are limited. And all economic activity that uses natural resources should also include the costs of safeguarding the environment into the calculations of the overall costs of its activity.?
Mr. Peter MacKenzie, representing the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, manages the day-to-day internal operations of the Association. MacKenzie earned his Geological Sciences B.Sc. from Ohio State University in Columbus. He has been successfully directing exploration activities in the Appalachian Basin for oil and natural gas resources for nearly 20 years. Also brought to the table is his pioneering advocacy for the use of 3d seismic and advanced technologies in the Appalachian Basin for the exploration of exploration-class oil and gas reserves.
Dr. John F. Stolz is a professor of environmental microbiology at Duquesne University where he is the director of the Center for Environmental Research and education. His degrees include a B.S. in biology from Fordham University, a Ph.D. in biology from Boston University, a NRC Research Associate at California Institute of Technology and a NFS Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Massachusetts. His current research centers on the physiology and biochemistry of bacteria that transform metals and metalloids as well as microbial structure. Dr. Stoltz?s concern for environmental impacts has led him to moderate a panel at Duquesne and to present on the topic of possible environmental impacts of fracking. Dr. Stolz is well published in his field.
Dr. Jame Schaefer is associate professor of theology at Marquette University where she directs an interdisciplinary minor in environmental ethics. Her degrees include a B.A. in political science from Marquette, an M.A. in history from the University of West Florida, and a Ph.D. in religious studies from Marquette. She is the editor and a contributor of Confronting the Climate Crisis: Catholic Theological Perspectives, and author of Theological Foundations for Environmental Ethics: Reconstructing Patristic and Medieval Concepts. Dr. Schaefer focuses on the constructive relationship of theology, the natural sciences, and technology with special attention to religious foundations for ecological ethics.
The Diocesan Social Action Office, working through the five Catholic Commissions within the eight counties of the Diocese of Cleveland, seeks to shape a more caring society and a more peaceful world through justice education, advocacy, community development and organizing. Our work is based on the call of the Gospel to work for the respect and dignity of all human life, the elimination of poverty, to speak out against injustice, and to promote the common good. We try to offer educational programs that also include theological reflection so that consciences are formed and the virtue of prudence enters into decision-making.
Print out the PDF flier on "Fracking: Pros, Cons and Context">