Church and Society

Reverend Paul Timothy Roberts is the President of Johnson C. Smith Seminary in Atlanta, GA. He will explore with us how Christian educators can embody and teach justice by embracing the prophetic call to disrupt systems of exclusion and inequality within and beyond the church. Drawing from Scripture, and from Black and womanist theologies, participants will examine how educational ministries can become spaces of sacred

disruption and healing.

Paul has been president of the seminary since the spring of 2010. Under his leadership, JCSTS has redefined itself—and is helping redefine theological education through the lenses of social justice and humanitarianism.

With more than 30 years of ministry experience, Paul is gaining recognition as a Christian mystic. He is in demand nationally as a speaker and educator. His writings and work have been featured in numerous publications including the Presbyterian Outlook Magazine, Journal for Preachers, Feasting on the Word (Westminster John Knox Press), Pastoral

Theology from a Global Perspective (Orbis Books), and the Princeton

University Alumni Weekly.

Roger will provide an overview of Pope Francis’s landmark encyclical Laudato Si’, its roots in Church teaching, and its relevance 11 years after its release. While the U.S. Church has not universally embraced its principles, Laudato Si’ continues to shape the global Catholic Church through the ongoing emphasis of Pope Leo XIV. Laudato Si’ is unusual because encyclicals are typically addressed to bishops and the Catholic faithful. However, Pope Francis intentionally broadened the audience beyond the Church to include people of all faiths, thus it has had a strong ecumenical influence.

Roger will also share how the encyclical inspired his own ‘ecological conversion’ and led him to become more deeply involved in climate and creation care. His hope is that clergy and laypeople across the archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will increasingly embrace these principles and take meaningful personal and community action to protect our common home for the sake of the poor and future generations.

Roger worked 33 years in the oil and gas industry and was involved in coastal, offshore and arctic projects worldwide. Late in his career, he noticed significant change occurring in the Alaskan Beaufort sea region. After retiring, Roger joined Citizens Climate Lobby, a non-partisan climate advocacy group of nearly 200,000 members. He is the group leader of CCL's Woodlands-Huntsville Chapter, and a member of the Catholic Action Team and Conservative Caucus. Upon retiring, he took up scuba diving and has great concern about the ongoing loss of coral reefs around the world. Roger is also a founding member of St Anthony and St Simon & Jude’s joint Creation Care Team in The Woodlands. He has given over 30 climate change presentations to universities (UH, UST, SHSU, Lone Star), numerous parishes, and St Mary's Seminary, typically from a faith perspective