ABSTRACT
The emerging field of sustainability and the global call to address climate change and other environmental justice concerns are a new landscape for nurturing vocations in the natural sciences. Pope Francis’s vision of integral ecology in Laudato si’ models vocational discernment elements of values/moral dimensions, the spirituality of encounter with humans and other parts of creation, personal reflection, and dialogue to find solutions and take action. Examples for formal classroom, cocurricular events, and reference letter interviews are given on guiding students in using questions for personal reflection and group dialogue as doorways to vocational discernment for career and life roles. The tradition of spiritual direction/companionship and the roles of peer–peer mentoring in cultivating leadership provide insights on listening and action in response to call. Instructors and students can be transformed as we engage together in inter- and transdisciplinary encounters and create a just, hope-filled, and sustainable future.
