USF Welcomes International Speaker Br. Michael Perry for Sustainability Presentation

Joliet, Ill. – The University of St. Francis (USF) welcomes international speaker Br. Michael Perry, OFM, for a special one-hour sustainability presentation to the community on Tuesday, April 25, beginning at 7 p.m. The presentation, Addressing Sustainability: Becoming Partners with Creation for the Sake of the Poor and the Planet, will take place in the Moes/Presidents Room in Tower Hall on USF’s main campus, which is located at 500 Wilcox Street in Joliet. Virtual access through Zoom will also be offered. “Pope Francis told me the only way forward for humanity is for people to abandon the temptation to exercise control over land and peoples and to pursue the path of holiness, the path of becoming saints. That path, said the Pope, that journey, is made by seeking sincere human friendship, fraternity and solidarity. I suggested this is what it [means] to becoming ‘Saints.’ The Pope told me this is a very good thing to do,” Perry said. The presentation is being made possible through the Catholic Franciscan Charism Council and Sustainability Committee efforts, free of charge. RSVP for the event (both in-person and virtual) no later than April 20th by contacting Arlene Finkle at 815-740-3398 or afinkle@stfrancis.edu. About Br. Michael Perry, OFM Brother Michael Anthony Perry, OFM, is a Midwestern American Franciscan friar who from 2013-21, served as General Minister of the Order of Friars Minor, the 120th successor of St. Francis of Assisi.  Currently, he is the Franciscan Scholar in Residence and Director of the Laudato Si’ Center for Integral Ecology at Siena College in New York. Perry also worked at the International Office of Justice and Peace at the United States Conference of Bishops and at Catholic Relief Services, and at Franciscans International, which works on human rights, poverty, peace, and integral ecology at the United Nations.  For ten years, Perry also worked in the manner of St. Francis as a missionary in the Democratic Republic of Congo. He also taught cultural theology and global Catholicism at Washington Theological Union in Washington. : : The University of St. Francis, in Joliet, Ill., serves close to 4,000 students nationwide and offers undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and certificate programs in the arts and sciences, business, education, nursing and social work. There are over 53,000 USF alumni across the globe. For information, call 800-735-7500 or visit stfrancis.edu. University of St. Francis: Bigger thinking. Brighter purpose. # # #