For Immediate Release
March 8, 2019
ARLINGTON, Va. – Our
Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church in Arlington has just installed solar
panels on three of its buildings: the church, the rectory and the hall, and
they’re holding a talk Saturday, March 9,
to encourage others to bring renewable energy into their homes or congregations.
Details
Where: Our Lady Queen of Peace, 2700 19th
Street South, Arlington
When: Saturday, March 9, 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Father Timothy
Hickey, pastor of Our Lady Queen of Peace, says going green is in response to
Pope Francis’ encyclical, Care for our
Common Home, and his personal interest in ecology and the integrity of
creation. “When Care for our Common Home was published, we sponsored several events
reflecting on the encyclical, and as we were doing renovations on our building
that played into it,” he said.
Already, some of
the carpet in the Father Ray Hall parish center is made of 99% recycled drink
bottles, and when it came time to paint the building, the parish used no-VOC
paint. In addition, Father says they engineered a special roof to raise the
insulation value and replaced all single-pane windows to low-E glass double-pane
glass windows that are tinted to keep out the heat in the summer. The parish
has also discontinued the use of paper and plastic products and replaced them with
metal silverware and sustainable bamboo plates for parish breakfasts, spaghetti
dinners, etc. “We don’t use disposable coffee cups anymore, and we’ve banned
water bottles from campus,” he said.