The Lattey Lecture, hosted by the Von Hügel Institute on 30 April 2026, was delivered by Sister Damien Marie Savino and explored the relationship between theology, ecology, technology, and the human person through Catholic social teaching and Pope Francis’ vision of “integral ecology”.
Drawing on her book Learning the Language of Creation, Sister Damien Marie invited the audience to reconsider humanity’s place within creation and to reflect on how a deeper sense of responsibility, attentiveness, and hope might be recovered in response to the ecological crisis.
A central theme of the lecture was Pope Francis’ call in Laudato Si’ for “a new way of thinking about human beings, life, society, and our relationship with nature.” Integral ecology was presented as a holistic framework that integrates science and religion, interior and exterior life, and human relationships with God, others, and the earth. Sister Damien Marie also engaged critically with what Pope Francis calls the “technocratic paradigm”, the tendency to treat technology, efficiency, and control as the primary solutions to human problems. She emphasised that technology is not inherently negative but warned against allowing technological reasoning to become the only way of interpreting reality.
The lecture challenged two extremes in ecological thought: the view that humanity is solely entitled to dominate nature, and the opposing idea that humans have no distinctive value. Instead, she argued for a relational anthropology rooted in Christian thought, stressing that humans are responsible for three fundamental relationships: with God, with others, and with the earth. Reflecting on the Genesis account, she reinterpreted the vocation “to till and keep” creation not as exploitation but as entrusted care modelled on God’s own relationship with the world. From this emerged the image of the “gardener” as a metaphor for the human vocation: attentive, relational, and participatory rather than controlling.
“Few matters are more pressing in our time than care for our planet and our common home. Through his encyclical Laudato si’, Pope Francis offered a compelling call to this, as well as guidelines to inspire global collaboration on a matter that could and should transcend all differences, and unite humanity towards a common goal. Sister Damien Marie Savino has contributed to this urgent work in compelling ways, and it was a true honour for us to welcome her to St Edmund's and the VHI to deliver the 2026 Lattey Lecture”.
From left: Dr Lisa Caulfield, Sister Damien Marie Savino, Dr Vittorio Montemaggi, Mr Joshua Copeland.
The lecture concluded with a discussion touching on contemporary issues including war, urban ecology, interreligious dialogue, and the need for a shared cosmological perspective in a technologically driven age. Despite the seriousness of the ecological crisis, the overall tone remained hopeful, with an emphasis on small, concrete actions within local communities. Overall, the lecture offered a theological and ethical invitation to rethink human existence as fundamentally relational and to recover a sense of vocation as “gardeners” of creation.
Sister Damien Marie Savino is a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist who holds a doctorate in Civil/Environmental Engineering and masters’ degrees in theology and soil science. Her interdisciplinary research interests include integral ecology and Catholicism, theology and science, technology and faith, ecological restoration, and resilience theory. Currently she serves as the Melchor Visiting Research Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame, with a concurrent appointment in the McGrath Institute for Church Life. Sister Damien Marie is author of the 2025 book, Learning the Language of Creation: Catholic Social Teaching and Integral Ecology, available from Liturgical Press. She was also an editor and contributor to the 2023 book, Responding to the Global Pandemic as a Systemic Crisis: The Economy of Francesco as a New Paradigm. She has published and lectured widely, both nationally and internationally, on integral ecology, Laudato Si’ and creation care, the integration of science and faith, and questions of technology.
The Lattey Lecture was endowed in commemoration of the tireless work of Cuthbert Lattey SJ in founding the Catholic Biblical Association of Great Britain in 1940, the first meeting of which took place at St Edmund’s College, and all his pioneering works of scholarship and dissemination to promote the reading and study of the Bible amongst Catholics.
