11 minute read
CLIFF TeRRy
Religious communities go green
Responding to the call to care for the gift of God’s creation, religious communities are working to be more eco-friendly.
ShOwING OFF organic produce grown at the Sisters of Providence’s white Violet Center for Eco-Justice in St. Mary-ofthe-woods, Indiana are Candace Minster (left), education and farm projects manager, and Sister Jean Fuqua, S.P.
by Cliff Terry
everal years ago the sisters, servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in Monroe, Michigan took a hard look at the condition of their motherhouse—a large building that serves as the community’s headquarters and includes a retirement community of sisters. The beautiful art Deco building had been completed in 1932, one of the largest private construction projects in the United states during the Depression.
sThough engineers told the sisters, “This building is going to be here for another couple of centuries,” most of the infrastructure needed to be replaced. The plumbing was bad, and the only way to cool the building in the summer was by opening windows. “We became convinced,” says sister Janet ryan, a member of the I.H.M. leadership council and liaison for the motherhouse project, “that we had to become more attentive to sustainable practice and the non-renewable resources of our world so that those who come in the next generation have these resources, and that we should focus on more renewable energy sources.” To put this commitment into action the community decided to undertake a
Cliff Terry is a Chicago-based freelancer and former writer and critic for the Chicago Tribune. Carol Schuck Scheiber, content editor of VISION, and Joel Schorn, VISION managing editor, also contributed to this article.
major renovation of the motherhouse using state-of-the-art green methods. Renovation started in December of 2000 and the sisters moved back in February of 2003.
The I.H.M. Sisters are not alone. Across the country—and indeed around the world—a number of Catholic religious orders are “going green” and engaging in eco-friendly practices.
Blue nuns go green
As part of the I.H.M. motherhouse renovation, the community installed geo-thermal heating and reduced its use of water by 50 percent and natural gas by nearly the same amount. They also recycled about 42,000 square feet of carpet and “something like 800 doors and windows,” says Ryan. “We salvaged the marble and used it for countertops and window sills. And we had the old Art Deco lamps refitted. We also planted over
Enter #094 at VocationMatch.com 100 trees native to Michigan. And we have St. Mary’s Organic Farm, a twoacre community garden where people purchase plots for a minimal amount
and cultivate their vegetables. It’s great outreach, involving people who would never have any connection with the sisters otherwise.”
“The vision was that it would become a kind of a learning laboratory,” says Danielle Conroyd, project director for the renovation and the Monroe campus long-range master plan. “People could come here and learn about how to live more sustainably in the world today. Education is the I.H.M. congregation’s legacy. We have a tour program in which we bring people in and they watch a DVD called The Blue Nuns Go Green, a reference to the blue habits the sisters once wore. School groups come in, as well as professional associations, architects, engineers, senior groups. They come to see what was done here and what they might do.”
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Community: More with less
At Saint Norbert's Abbey in De Pere, Wisconsin, Norbertine Brother Steve Herro, chairman of the community’s justice and peace ministry, has been promoting greening efforts.
“Environmental concerns have been a passion of mine for many
SISter BarBara Battista, S.P. with one of the 62 alpacas that are part of the Sisters of Providence’s White Violet Center for eco-Justice in St. Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana. years,” he says. “I grew up in the ’70s when Earth Day was spanking new, and we had our first energy crisis. One of the reasons I joined religious life was because a religious community can live a lifestyle which is less demanding on natural resources and can share more resources with its local community. Today, I think young people are aware and concerned.”
The abbey decided to buy a portion of its electricity from renewable sources and replaced computer hardware with EnergyStar equipment. It also determined that cards, envelopes, and newsletters would come from nonbleached recycled paper and that thermostats be lowered. To save energy and reduce the need for air conditioning, 300-watt bulbs were replaced with ceiling fans and energy-efficient bulbs. Converting all exit sign lights to LED bulbs increased bulb life to 219,000 hours. The community also agreed to restrict the purchase of plastic bottled water and juices while promoting the use of tap water and fresh juice.
In addition, Herro said, recycling bins for paper, plastic, and glass were made available in common areas, offices, and Norbertine bedrooms throughout the abbey, and toner and ink-jet cartridges were saved and contributed to a fund-raising activity for Our Lady of Lourdes Grade School. Composting began four years ago, and the community has reconsidered how it deals with food waste.
These eco-friendly measures “are partial responses to the Norbertines’ attempt to live out the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change’s call for all members of the church to pray, learn, assess, act, and advocate to in order to limit carbon emission,” Herro says. Some members of the community have signed on to the coalition’s St. Francis Pledge (“We pledge to pray and reflect on the duty to care for God’s Creation and protect the poor and vulnerable; learn about and educate others on the causes and moral dimensions of climate change. . . .”).
“If you look at the evangelical vows and the vow of poverty, it’s about doing more with less, using fewer resources so that those with
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Greening goes global
religious communities in the United States aren’t the only ones going green. For 900 years the augustinian monastery of Klosterneuburg has risen above the banks of the river Danube just north of Vienna. though it is one of the oldest monasteries in austria, it has, since 2003, become a leader as well in a quite modern enterprise: the environmentally friendly heating of its immense facilities. two state-of-the-art biomass furnaces have replaced a number of obsolete heating systems or systems fired with fossil fuels in the monastery, a leisure center, the hospital, and two municipal buildings in the city of Klosterneuburg. this new equipment has reduced CO2 emissions by 97 percent. Installed underground to preserve the monastery’s façade, the construction of the biomass boilers also allowed the community to build a new wine storage hall (the region is famous for its winemaking) and new underground visitor parking.
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SISterS Mary Bea Keeley, I.H.M., Carol Janowiak, I.H.M., and Gretchen Webb, I.H.M. stand in front of their Monroe, Michigan motherhouse, which the community renovated into a model sustainable building.
less can live more abundantly,” Herro said. “When you have 30 people living together under one roof, sharing computers, televisions, cars, you can be better stewards of resources. Anyone concerned with a good relationship with God is going to embrace the call to be stewards of God’s creation.”
Back to the farm
“We are a reminder to people that there is more out there than consumerism,” says Sister Maureen Freeman, C.S.J., director of the Sisters of Providence’s White Violet Center for Eco-Justice in St. Mary-of-theWoods, Indiana. “We also show the
Tips for a greener lifestyle
JuSt aS religious communities are becoming more eco-friendly, there are some simple steps you can take to do the same. • Change to energy-efficient lightbulbs. • turn off computers at night. • use both sides of paper; print double-sided if you can; recycle used paper. • take showers instead of baths and shorten your showers. • Don’t use bottled water. • turn the water off when you brush your teeth. • recycle glass. • use warm or cold settings on the washer. • turn down your thermostat in winter and up in summer. • turn off lights. • take things you are not going to wear and give them to a charity or someone who will use them. • Stop paper statements and pay your bills online. • Get a reusable bag. • Buy local products. • Walk or ride your bike when you can.
connection between faith and ecology. . . . When the pope said on [the] World Day of Peace that if you want peace, protect creation, well, we are the face of that in the larger community.”
The community has embraced a green ethic on many levels: spirituality, lifestyle, and ministry. The White Violet Center for Eco-Justice (www. whiteviolet.org) operates on 1,200 acres of land the sisters once used for food and income. The center has a staff of eight and sponsors a variety of organic farming, eco-justice education, and advocacy projects, including:
• 343 acres of certified organic cropland, growing hay, corn, soybeans, wheat, oats, and rye in rotation. • 7 acres of organic vegetable gardens and orchards. The yield is used for food at the motherhouse and sold at their own seasonal farm stand and the local farmers market. Local people can buy $450 shares in the garden and then receive 18 weeks of fresh, organic produce. • A herd of 62 alpacas provide manure for farming and fiber for yarn that is sold or made into goods for sale. • Four beehives produce honey and wax for lip balm. • Each year some 3,000 school children, scouts, and 4-H club members take part in tours and educational programs. • Some 500 people a year take part in other educational programming, such as a Lenten film festival featuring movies with eco-themes and workshops on earth-centered spirituality, gardening, raising worms, and other topics. • The Center’s Annual Earth Day celebration draws up to 3,000 participants each year • Advocacy efforts focus on one theme each year. This year it is water, and they’ve sponsored action alerts regarding the Clean Water Act and have participated in the “Think Outside the Bottle” campaign to eliminate the use of bottled water.
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ThE NOrbErTINE community in De Pere, Wisconsin mixes its food waste with leaves and grass clippings to produce a rich, organic compost for fertilizing its garden. Working the compost heap are Father Andy Cribben, O.Praem. (left) and brother Steve herro, O.Praem.
These green efforts had their roots in a 1991 community meeting where the sisters resolved to “commit ourselves to deepen our understanding of the principles of ecological justice and environmental responsibility. On this basis of understanding, we will join with other concerned citizens to shape public policy.” In addition to establishing the White Violet Center in 1995, the sisters spent a year studying the environmental economics and theology of Sallie McFague’s Life Abundant.
The goal throughout has been to involve the entire community. “We wanted to do something that permeated the whole congregation, that would be transformative,” says Sister Marie McCarthy, S.P., a member of the community’s leadership team. “[The White Violet Center] really has transformed our consciousness.” The community has a greater awareness of the interconnection of things, McCarthy says, and many members have changed behaviors in favor of more green choices: carrying cloth bags to stores, buying organic, buying local, lowering their use of meat, incorporating environmental principles into their ministries, no longer using bottled water, and other measures.
They also pray differently now, using more nature-images, singing songs about caring for the earth, and giving gratitude for the earth’s abundance.
“We have worked for the last 20 to 30 years on what it means to be called ‘Providence,’” says McCarthy. “We understand that as a call to co-creation. The gift of creation is unfolding, and we’re responsible for how that unfolds. God creates possibilities and we respond to them.” =
