The theologian wore Carharts. As part of Unity College's lecture series, Connie Lasher, who teaches at a small Catholic college in southern Maine, spoke at the theater Wednesday night. A lecture framed by two R.E.M. concert clips that didn't use the g word. A former Outward Bound instructor gets a lot of respect here, and although her talk told of her journey from that job to her present profession, the questions at the end, politely phrased by students, amounted to what's a nice girl like you doing in a religion like that. She directs something called the John Paul II Center for Theology & Environmental Studies at St. Joseph's College. Reading the glossy material she provided about the center, I can see what she's up to. It's something I think we'll see more of soon now that the global warming light bulb has finally clicked on and people will start to think of ways to avert an environmental holocaust. She finds all these quotes from J2P2 about saving the environment ("...a new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge which, rather than being downplayed, ought to be encouraged to develop into concrete programs and initiatives.") and claims that Catholicism has a long-standing tradition of honoring the Earth or at least of stewardship. I may disagree about these things, but I have to say that what she is doing is a brilliant and necessary subversion/conversion. Most people are religious. Mysterious but true. Humans are just built that way. For the massive change of consciousness required if we are to keep earth livable, religion has to be mobilized. We are watching religion evolve in order for humans to survive. Nor is there any inauthentiticy on her part; she is a believer. That's how it works. She is the mutated gene that enables the organism to change.

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