The theme “Everything Is Connected” framed the dialogue of an April 28 panel discussion at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. that explored how Catholic social teaching themes found in both Laudato Si’ and Teilhard de Chardin’s work offer a moral framework for addressing the ecological crises of our time and foster a deeper sense of solidarity with all of creation.  The panel of four included Frank Frost, who wrote and directed the documentary, TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist, which was produced in collaboration with his wife, Mary. The event was co-sponsored by Georgetown’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. 

Speaking of the film, Frank described it as a “human story of a very complex person,” and noted that the audience for the film – like the audience that Pope Francis called to Laudato Si’ – is the whole world.  The moderator for the discussion, Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life and member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, asked Frank to speak to a particular line in the film – “Teilhard bridges theology and science.” As part of his response, he pointed to an inscription under the arch of the hall in which the discussion took place – a line that ends the documentary: “The age of nations is past. It remains for us now, if we are not to perish, to set aside the ancient prejudices and to build the earth.” “That,” he added, “says a lot of what Laudato Si’ is saying too.”

View the entire panel discussion at this link.  Read more about it on the Georgetown University website, as well as in this article in Today’s American Catholic.

We celebrate the May 15, 2025 announcement that TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist has been nominated for an Emmy Award in the category, Historical Documentary.  The awards will be given out June 21.  Stream this documentary on the life and legacy of this French Jesuit priest and scientist on the free PBS app (download at https://bit.ly/DownloadPBSApp), or use PBS Passport. Or use this direct link, https://to.pbs.org/3R89ycC, available to international viewers as well. This website has many resources related to the film.

NOTE: While TEILHARD: Visionary Scientist did not win the Emmy, it was an honor to be nominated and to be part of the event.

This year is the 70^th anniversary of Jesuit mystic and scientist Teilhard de Chardin’s death in New York City.  Maryland Public Television (Channel 22 in the Baltimore-Washington region) will broadcast the film, Teilhard: Visionary Scientist, on April 20, Easter Sunday 2025, at 3:30pm.  The film tells the story of the early 20th Century French Jesuit priest and scientist and his transformational insight into science and faith.  The film can also be streamed at your convenience here: https://www.pbs.org/…/teilhard-visionary-scientist-pt9dc1/    Find resources here connected to the film. For further reading from Teilhard de Chardin, click here. This link includes further reading by scholars.

Link to interview in L’Osservatore Romano, official newspaper of the Vatican.
(April 10, 2025 | By Roberto Cetera)

ENGLISH TRANSLATION
The life of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin has an adventurous character, spiritual and otherwise, that is well suited to a film representation. The intuition was picked up in the United States by the American filmmaker Frank Frost who made — in collaboration with his wife Mary — the docufilm Teilhard: a visionary scientist, released last year and now available on a streaming platform. «L’Osservatore Romano» reached Frost in his home in Washington DC.

Mr. Frost, why a film about Teilhard de Chardin? What inspired you?
I have always admired the figure of Teilhard, both from a spiritual point of view and as a scientist. I believe he represented a central figure in the thought of the last century, but whose fame did not go beyond the confines of insiders. So I thought of making a film that would make him known to the general public, not just the religious one.

What fascinated you about Teilhard?
I think he left us a strong legacy of knowledge of creation together with a spirituality rich in hope for the future. His evolutionary approach not only profoundly innovated theological thought, but above all paved the way for a no longer fearful understanding of anthropological changes, in a different Christological perspective. And then some of his essential themes, let me say, combine perfectly with a cinematic representation; I think for example of his taste for adventure, the search for existential meaning, the unresolved conflict with authority, the primacy of the spirit and the infinite power of love. And so also his biography: from the passion for geological and paleontological sciences that he took on during walks in the mountains with his father as a child, to the transmission of a deep and spiritual faith transmitted to him by his mother.

What does Teilhard say to today’s man, also through his film?
A lot. Starting from a necessary and renewed awareness of man’s destiny: his studies and his reflections force man to deal with his origin and his destination. As a species and as an individual. And then there is the stringent reference to themes that have become of pressing topicality today, such as the application of artificial intelligence and “transhumanism”.

How has the film been received?
The film was presented for the first time last May on the public network of Maryland and is now accessible through the app of the Pbs platform. We are working right now on an Italian-language edition, again through our production company, Frank Frost Productions, LLC.  It’s a work that from conception to completion took 13 years, includes 35 interviews that — together with the sourcing of documentary material — involved 25 locations in four countries on three continents. The feedback from the public and critics that we have collected so far has been extremely positive, and rewards the dedication with which we have approached this important work over the years. Teilhard was very important for our generation: we would like him to be known through this film also by a younger audience.

A year before Teilhard de Chardin’s death, his nephew heard him say, “I should like to die on the day of Resurrection.” He said he would take that as a sign the Lord approved of his life’s work. The next year, on April 10, 1955, when Teilhard died, it was Easter Sunday.

On this 70th anniversary of his death, as we remember the sentiment overheard by his nephew, we also recollect Teilhard’s contemplation on death, found in his essay, “The Heart of Matter”: “Lord, since with every instinct of my being and through all the changing fortunes of my life, it is you whom I have ever sought, you whom I have set at the heart of universal matter, it will be in a resplendence which shines through all things and in which all things are ablaze, that I shall have the felicity of closing my eyes.”

Our gratitude for the witness of his life and his legacy of thought is well-expressed in this prayer from the Episcopal Liturgical lectionary for today, the Feast of Teilhard de Chardin: “We give you thanks, Creator God , for your servant Teilhard, and for all those who help us to see you in your universe.”