Lake Superior Freethinkers (LSF) is an educational and friendship group that provides mutual support and intellectual growth for Duluth’s humanists, secularists, agnostics, and atheists.
Patrick Elliott will explain how the court is transforming state/separation in devastating ways. Attendees will get insights on current cases before the court as well as important FFRF cases, which demonstrate the need for the separation between state and church.
PATRICK ELLIOTT serves as the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s Senior Litigation Counsel. Patrick hails from St. Paul, Minn. and joined FFRF as an attorney in 2010. Patrick oversees litigation for FFRF, including important First Amendment cases involving religion in schools, religious displays, and free speech violations. Patrick is admitted to practice in Wisconsin, Minnesota, the U.S. Supreme Court, and many federal district and circuit courts around the country.
During the meeting, Patrick will be drawing a name for a free FFRF membership! Both in-person anc Zoom attendees are eligible.
Join us after the meeting for brunch at Pizza Lucé.
Shawna Weaver, Author of Climate Grief: From Coping to Resilience and Action, will speak at Lake Superior Freethinkers on Sunday, July 7th at 10am.
Seldom do you spot such diverse perspectives represented in a book. Shawna Weaver’s 2023 work, Climate Grief: From Coping to Resilience and Action, reflects the fact that Shawna has been around. A couple of chapters in I began to notice the almost circular scope of perspective on this topic of climate.
The journey is long; we change and grow in ways that are more like walking through a labyrinth than running down a straight road.
Weaver earned a PhD in Sustainability Education, runs marathons, enjoys a plant-based diet, is a musician in Duluth, MN, and teaches in environmental education. These are pieces of her life and experience that you feel support this book because she isn’t only talking about it, but lives and feels it.
I learned two new expressions straight away from Weaver’s research and practice. Ecopsychology is that field of study where Weaver draws from the intersection of how we relate to our environment and how our behavior toward our planet impacts human life experience. Ecotherapy is that unique brand of psychotherapy that she has developed in which her practice with clients occurs in natural settings and experiences. Ecotherapy faces the grief where the grief dwells.
Weaver doesn’t explain our climate grief experiences away. Those of us living in Northern Minnesota know that we don’t live in a climate refuge as many outsiders claim. It’s a delicate and unique place. We know it’s changing: the lake is warming, ticks have arrived where they never were before, and white-tailed deer abound.
It’s not the same.
The most inspiring change-makers among us are those who keep learning and changing as they learn. They refuse to preserve a problematic status quo.
Weaver takes us on a tour of natural and oh-so-common biases and binary thinking and how when favored they lock us into a vortex of personal and social self destruction. There are ways to break free when we can see ourselves as we really are.
Any conversation about grief would be lacking without investigation of the work of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross. The stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, sadness, and acceptance. And Weaver adds one, the work of David Kessler, a practical and natural stage of meaning-making.
The secret to a healthy, happy life is figuring out how to live well in spite of and within a heavy and uncertain world.
I began to notice while working through the chapters on grief stages that I wasn’t only examining my own experiences with grief about climate change, but many other areas of my life where I may have checked out of the grief process or perhaps never even noticed that I was grieving.
The book is practical. Anyone can find a strategy that will suit them right where they’re at. Shawna invites you to start where you are, care for yourself and become involved in some way that is natural to you. I felt hopeful even though the tempest is already upon us.
I felt sad many times reading Climate Grief. Surprisingly, it wasn’t a bad sadness. It’s a sweet sadness that allows me to care for myself, and in caring, I’m caring for my community and climate as well. We all benefit when we respect our grief.
Mission and Ethics in the Catholic Social Tradition: Current Challenges in the Age of Trump
The paradox of Catholic Social Teaching and support for authoritarian, fascist leadership by certain members of the Catholic hierarchy and “faithful” is a scandalous feature of the 2024 elections. The discussion will examine some of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching that are in conflict with the ideas and practices of Trumpism. The role of some Catholic bishops and their enablers will be highlighted and critiqued.
Daniel Dwyer has worked in Catholic health care for over 40 years in local, regional, and system level leadership positions. He has served as a mission and ethics leader, educator in ethics and moral theology, medical social worker, and family therapist.
As always, we’ll gather on the first Sunday of the month at the Central Hillside Community Center (12 East 4th Street, Duluth) to hear the presentation, a reflection from one of our members, a question and answer session, and a brunch afterwards. The side door opens at 9:30 and the event begins at 10:00 am, wrapping up by 11:30. Then we’re all invited to the meeting-after-the-meeting at Pizza Lucé.
PIZZA LUCÉ 11 SUPERIOR ST DULUTH MN (218) 727-7400
Gerald “Gerry” Henry Filiatrault, 84, of Duluth Township, passed away peacefully with family beside him on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at St. Luke’s Hospice following a long hospitalization. Gerry was born March 31, 1940, in Duluth to Henry and Mercedes Johnson Filiatrault. He attended St. James grade school and Cathedral High School graduating in 1958 from Denfeld High School. He often recounted tales of an adventurous childhood growing up in West Duluth.
After high school, he studied vocal music at Julliard in New York for a year and later sang professionally in the Twin Cities. Music remained a life-long passion and he sang with the Duluth Symphony Chorus and other groups throughout the years. He was a graduate of the University of Minnesota Duluth and worked in real estate for much of his life. He also worked as a QRC. In his later years, he was employed by Trillium Services where he patiently assisted clients with daily activities.
He was a former long-time member of Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Duluth where he served on the board for a number of years. He was an active member of Lake Superior Freethinkers where he enjoyed the discussions and good friendships. He was a proud Democrat, followed the news closely, and loved to talk politics. Gerry celebrated his 49 years of sobriety and was a believer in and practitioner of the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.
Gerry had a zest for life and was always ready to engage in lively conversation. He treasured time spent on his island in Burntside Lake and took his morning coffee with gratitude for living with a view of Lake Superior.
We will celebrate Gerry’s life at an informal gathering of family and friends on Saturday, June 8th starting at 1:30 p.m. at the Duluth Township Hall, 6092 Homestead Road, Duluth, MN.
Lake Superior Freethinkers 