By: Dr. Katherine Bulinski 

Every year, Bellarmine hosts a series of events that celebrate what we call the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology. Our celebration acknowledges our institutional connections to the Franciscans who serve in our campus ministry office and our broader commitment to caring for the environment.   

Events include our popular houseplant giveaway, the Bellarmine Tree Pilgrimage, a blessing of the animals, the Transitus of St. Francis prayer service, and a Mass to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Francis on October 4th. This year, we held a new event, dubbed “The Laudato Si’ Lecture.”   

What is Laudato Si’ and how does that fit into the Feast of St. Francis?    

“Laudato Si’” is Italian for ‘Praised be to You,’ a reference to a 13th century prayer written by St. Francis of Assisi and the title Pope Francis chose for his encyclical (official letter) that he wrote concerning care for the Earth.    

Since January 2026, Bellarmine has been an official part of the official Laudato Si’ Movement, a worldwide initiative from the Vatican intended to inspire Catholic institutions to take action towards seven goals for caring for the Earth and each other.   

2026 Laudato Si’ Lecture 

This year’s Laudato Si’ lecture was delivered by Fr. Patrick Delahanty, a retired priest from the Archdiocese of Louisville and trained Laudato Si’ Animator, someone who works to inspire local parishes, schools, and other communities to work for environmental justice and action.   

Fr. Delahanty’s presentation was entitled “Faithful Finance:  Caring for Our Common Home” and discussed his own path to being inspired by the Laudato Si’ Movement.  After beginning with a prayer, he spoke about how Laudato Si’ as a movement is a cry for justice in the world and that each of us are called to examine how the choices we make in our lives have the potential to make a difference in working for environmental justice.   

He spoke about the concept of integral ecology—the notion that everything is connected—quoting Pope Francis directly: “We are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental” (Laudato Si’ 139).   

Fr. Delahanty then tied this concept to our need as humans to recognize that because we are connected, we are also responsible for caring for our common home as it belongs to all of us, recognizing especially the needs of the poor and vulnerable who are most impacted by environmental injustices.

Ecologically friendly investing 

The challenge, as Fr. Delahanty presented, is how we respond to these injustices.  A particular source of these problems stems from humanity’s reliance on fossil fuels which are supported financially through banks and investment portfolios.  

Each person who holds a bank account or investments has the power to make a change, to divest—remove their money—from institutions and accounts that are funding environmental injustice and degradation. 

This divestment movement is taking root globally, Fr. Delahanty shared, with 1,700 institutional commitments representing over $40 trillion in assets that are no longer supporting the fossil fuel industry.   

Fr. Delahanty shared his own story of researching the banks in which he held accounts and learned that there were better options more aligned with the values of Laudato Si’.  Not only did he withdraw and move his funds to another more ethical bank, but he wrote to the CEO of his previous bank explaining his choice, a great example of flexing the power of the purse while also advocating directly for change. Some recommended sites for researching ethical investment and banking options are AsYouSow.org, Fossilfreefunds.org and bank.green.   

This lecture was an excellent start to what we hope will be a new annual tradition where we can highlight one of the goals of the Laudato Si’ Movement in an intentional, educational way.  A big thank you to Fr. Delahanty for sharing his time and expertise with us!