Around 90 global participants joined the webinar “Strategy and Mission under Ecological Crisis: From Ricci and Laulanié to Today” on 11 December.
This session was co-organized in partnership with JENA, joining the Down to Earth Dialogues webinar series’ hosting institutions – the Integral Ecology Research Network (IERN) and the Laudato Si’ Research Institute (LSRI). The organisers were thrilled to welcome a geographically diverse group of participants – with initial registrations spanning 54 countries.
Rooted in Spirit, Grounded in Practice: Laulanié, Ricci, and the Call to Local Action
Inspired by Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’, the session offered a spiritually grounded, action-oriented reflection. It was co-hosted by Dr Austen Ivereigh and Sr Mūmbi Kīgūtha, CPPS, with an opening meditation led by Rutendo Ngara, and concluded with an Ignatian-inspired movement of listening, discernment and action, followed by a rich Q&A that welcomed the experiences and examples of participants.
The focus was on Henri de Laulanié, S.J., the Jesuit agronomist who developed the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) in Madagascar – a method that doubles yields while reducing water use and emissions. The webinar’s guest speaker, Dr Adam Parr (Hertford College, Oxford), highlighted Laulanié’s core insight: “If the Holy Spirit wills it, it will happen. The only way to know is to start and try.” He encouraged participants to adopt a “90-day breakthrough” – small, measurable actions using only what they already have. Parr also drew a parallel with Matteo Ricci, noting that both Jesuits responded to ecological crisis not with grand strategies, but with humble, local action – observing that Ricci, in 17th-century Beijing, “saw famine and chose to introduce Western science to help regenerate society – not to convert, but to heal.”
Voices from the Field: Participant Insights and Global Questions
Drawing on Dr Adam Parr’s comparison between Laulanié and Matteo Ricci, respondents Cyrus Habib, SJ, and Fernando Azpiroz Costa, SJ, connected their legacies to contemporary ecological challenges. They emphasised the importance of clear theories of change, policies centred on smallholder farmers, and the foundational role of friendship and mutual respect in fostering lasting ecological transformation. In the Q&A, participants from Malawi, Uganda, Kenya, India and elsewhere raised questions on combining indigenous knowledge with new technologies, strengthening political will for agroecology, and balancing food security with food sovereignty, underlining the need for locally rooted yet policy-aware strategies.
This webinar was co-organised by IERN and LSRI, with JENA serving as co-organiser for this session.
The IERN and LSRI teams behind the event include: Amishi Agrawal, Marianna Beltrami, Harriet David, Vinícius Ferreira da Paixão, SJ, and Dr Rebekah Wallace, under the leadership of Dr Peter Rožič, SJ, Director of IERN.
Learn more
Learn more about IERN’s mission and upcoming dialogues here.
Links and papers
- Parr, A. (2024). Ecological Crisis and Strategy in the Jesuit China Mission. Journal of Jesuit Studies, 11(4), 521-543. DOI: 10.1163/22141332-11040001
- Parr, A. (2025) ‘Ecological Crisis and the Jesuit Way of Proceeding in the Mission of Henri de Laulanié’. Journal of Jesuit Studies, 12, 521-547. DOI: 10.1163/22141332-12340008
