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Links
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Welcome to Holy Family's Green Team
This group of parishioners is dedicated to making our parish, diocese, and world more earth-friendly.
Why form such a committee? It is in response to the 7th Theme of Catholic Social Teaching, Care for God's Creation:
"We show our respect for the Creator by our stewardship of creation.
Care for the earth is not just an Earth Day slogan, it is a requirement
of our faith. We are called to protect people and the planet, living our
faith in relationship with all of God's creation. This environmental
challenge has fundamental moral and ethical dimensions that cannot
be ignored."You may have heard about the Catholic Green Initiative of Santa Clara County, spearheaded by the Diocese of San Jose. Its purpose is to encourage area Catholics to conserve water and energy, to become more educated about conservation efforts and environmentally friendly practices for the home and workplace, and to collaborate on a unified green vision for the diocese.
Several times on the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi you had a chance after Mass to sign the St. Francis Pledge. If you did not do so, pledge cards are available in the parish office.
PRAY to reflect on our responsibility to care for God's creation and protect the poor and vulnerable;LEARN about and educate others about climate change;
ASSESS how we contribute to climate change (in the chancery, our parishes and schools, and our families);
ACT to reduce our climate change impact;
ADVOCATE Catholic principles in climate change discussions and policy work.
What the Diocese of San Jose is doing:
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Green Bag Initiative: The Diocese of San Jose encourages the use of reusable grocery bags tthat eliminate the need for plastic or paper bags.
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Solar Panel Project: Five San Jose parishes--Holy Spirit, Holy Family, St. Christopher, Queen of the Apostles and St. Lucy, plus Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Los Altos--have placed solar panels on rooftops, parking lots, and in unused acreage at the cemetery. “Over the life of the system, the six sites will eliminate approximately 19,000 tons of [carbon dioxide]. That is equivalent to planting 345 acres of trees or removing 4,740 cars from the road for one year,” explained Dustin Keele, executive vice president of Photon Energy Services, the vendor for the solar project.
- Other Activities/Events: Go to the Environmental Justice page of the DSJ Web site to learn more.
What you can do:
- Reduce, reuse, recycle: purchase and use a Catholic Green Initiative of Santa Clara County reusable grocery bag
- Keep informed about green activities being offered through Holy Family, other parishes in the area, and the Diocese.
- Read "It's Easy Being Green" the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Sundays in the Holy Family bulletin--or click on the "It's Easy Being Green" tab in the upper right of this page. Then put the suggestions into practice.
- Click on "How to Help the Environment" on this page under Documents and find specific actions you and your family can take. (Copies of this are available in the Faith in Action literature rack in the vestibule.)
- Try some of the 25 individual actions the EPA suggests to take. You can find them at www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd.
- Test your eco-knowledge by taking the quizzes under Qiizzes on the upper right of this page.
- Learn more. Click on "Eco-Justice Websites" under Documents.
- Download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget.
- Join Holy Family's Green Team and help formulate and carry out ways our parish can work toward caring for God's creation. For information, contact
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