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SIERRA Jun-23-2008 (1,060 words) With book cover. xxxn
Sierra Club book recognizes Catholics doing their part on environment
By Mark Pattison
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Don Conklin and Ellen Buelow are in good company -- and lots of it.
The two New Mexico Catholics are, like Catholics everywhere, doing their part to help the environment and to make others aware of potential ecological dangers that arise from wasteful habits.
Catholics, in fact, are prominently featured in nine chapters of a new Sierra Club book, "Faith in Action," which highlights faith-led environmental action in each of the 50 states plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
Conklin and Buelow, members of Holy Rosary Parish in Albuquerque, N.M., helped engineer a light-bulb swap -- incandescent bulbs for energy-saving compact fluorescent bulbs, in March. Before the swap was over, 3,000 bulbs changed hands.
"We did this as a Lenten project," said Conklin, a pastoral associate at the 2,700-household parish. "And it didn't cost us a thing. It was sponsored by the Sierra Club and PNM," the electric company serving the Albuquerque area.
After a similar swap program in schools didn't attract the numbers organizers had hoped, "they asked the powers that be if they could take it to congregations," Conklin told Catholic News Service in a June 10 telephone interview from Albuquerque. "My wife and I, we brought in our light bulbs and got the exchange."
Buelow, the parish's social justice coordinator, noted that many area churches, not just Holy Rosary, took part in the bulb swap. "It was a fantastic success in our particular parish," she told CNS in a June 11 telephone interview from Albuquerque. "We have a lot of people on a limited income."
Not only were bulbs given out, but "we had all the safety information on using CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs)," Buelow said. "We had useful ideas on how we could save money."
The bulbs were distributed during an annual parish awareness weekend. "We're planning our next awareness weekend and we're coming up with a theme of helping families," Buelow told CNS. "We'd like to get the concept of simple living in there. Economize and save the environment."
In Kentucky, the Ursuline Sisters of Mount St. Joseph in Owensboro did a near total redo of their retreat center.
"We decided that we would go as green as we could at that point," said Ursuline Sister Amelia Stenger, a 40-year-member of the order who is retreat center director.
"What we did was to install a geothermal heating and cooling system, and replaced all the windows with energy-efficient windows. We installed all low-flow or low-flush toilets ... and showers and sinks. We also installed fluorescent lighting, and it's been 10 years and in those 10 years we have replaced very few light bulbs."
Have the sisters recouped their investment? "Absolutely," Sister Amelia said in a June 12 telephone interview with CNS from Owensboro. "Before we had the geothermal (system), we had a 4,000-square-foot building, and before the renovation we were paying $5,000-$6,000, maybe $7,000 in the really bad months. We didn't have cooling, just a heating system. Now the monthly rates average between $1,200 and $1,600. And the geothermal system is paid for. It's paid for itself."
The "Faith in Action" book also highlighted these Catholic-led initiatives:
-- In Southern California, Sierra Club organizer Juana Torres used her experience as a longtime Catholic youth group leader to bring people together to protect the area's forests. The Caring for Creation program involves not only Catholic churches but Episcopal, Methodist and Church of Christ denominations and Progressive Christians Uniting, a network of churches in Southern California.
-- In Colorado, Bishops Michael J. Sheridan of Colorado Springs and Arthur N. Tafoya of Pueblo called in 2006 for a unified response after sewage spills threatened Fountain Creek, which runs through their communities. Sierra Club volunteers said the bishops' statement has made a real difference.
The bishops' message had a "significant impact," Ross Vincent, vice chair of the Sangre de Cristo group of Sierra's Rocky Mountain chapter, said in the book. "People who wanted to believe things were OK with Fountain Creek began to pay attention and realize something needed to be done. The bishops' statement came at a critical time and it was deeply appreciated."
-- In New Orleans, members of Mary Queen of Vietnam Catholic Church and their pastor, Father Vien The Nguyen, were able to halt post-Hurricane Katrina operations at a landfill that was not only close to their neighborhood, but was adjacent to a protected wildlife sanctuary. More than 200,000 cubic yards of waste from Katrina had been dumped in the landfill, which still leaks toxins into a canal used by the Vietnamese community for irrigation and fishing.
-- In response to the U.S. Catholic bishops' call for action on global warming, the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis co-sponsored "Global Warming: A Catholic Perspective" in 2006. One thousand people from 95 parishes attended the event to address the effects of global warming on the environment and the world's poor communities.
Several parishes have now established their own "global-warming action teams." One of them, St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, launched a Green Power Campaign to encourage parishioners to purchase wind-generated energy.
-- The Michigan Catholic Rural Life Coalition used the National Catholic Rural Life Conference's "Eating Is a Moral Act" program to demonstrate the many ethical implications of consumers' food purchases. The coalition also educates the public about the need to promote stewardship of the land and promotes a sustainable food system that nourishes people, local communities and the earth.
-- The Marianist Environmental Education Center in Dayton, Ohio, tends a "garden" at Mount St. John in Dayton, home to 100 acres of woodlands, wetlands and prairie. Restoration of the acreage began in a barren pit left on the acreage by highway construction; today, the land is home to a thriving community of grasses and wildflowers, and hosts ground-nesting birds, amphibians and other wildlife.
-- In Caguas, Puerto Rico, Father Pedro Ortiz and the Catholic parish of Nuesta Senora de la Providencia formed the Alianza Comunitaria y Ambiental en Accion Solidaria (Community and Environmental Alliance in Solidarity) in April 2007. The parish sets aside portions of its liturgical calendar for reflection on relevant social issues. Now, 100 community organizations, environmental nonprofits, churches and universities from across the island with common concern for the environment have joined the organization.
END
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This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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