St. Catherine in Austin leads the ‘green’ way
Catholic Spirit, June 2010, In Our Parish
By Alfredo E. Cardenas
Correspondent
When it comes to protecting and preserving the environment, Austin is known as a green leader. Taking its cue from the larger community, parishioners at St. Catherina of Siena in southwest Austin are leading the green way for Catholics in the Diocese of Austin. St. Catherine is the first parish in the diocese to install solar panels. The $100,000 project will help benefit the environment and save the parish money. According to the pastor of St. Catherine, the parish is only one of 10 churches nationwide to initiate a green project of this magnitude.
The solar panels, which are being installed on a new carport that will provide cover for a handicapped parking area, are expected to save the parish $8,000 annually in energy costs and have an expected life of 20-25 years. The project was built with the generous donation of the late Charles Kolodzey so the parish will not incur a direct capital outlay. This initial effort will provide energy only to the parish’s administrative offices.
“It was important to begin; the future will be about solar energy,” said Missionary of the Sacred Heart Father Patrick Coakley, the pastor of St. Catherine of Siena.
While Father Coakley felt it was important to do something, he did not rush into a decision. He consulted church teaching, the diocese and his parishioners.
After analyzing their options for more than a year, St. Catherine parishioners opted to go forward; they contracted with Meridian Solar to do the project.
Parishioners’ input in St. Catherine’s operations has been a hallmark of the parish since its founding in 1979. In fact, it was an appeal from the faithful that led to the birth of St. Catherine of Siena. On Feb. 21, 1978, Anne Peticolas and Ann Azolakov wrote to Bishop Vincent Harris asking for a new church to serve the growing population of Oak Hill. Nearly two years later, on Oct. 16, 1979, a group of 75 interested Catholics met at St. Ignatius in South Austin with Father Oliver Johnson, whom the bishop had appointed to organize the new parish. Bishop Harris named the new parish after his favorite saint, St. Catherine of Siena. Six weeks later, on Dec. 2, an overflow crowd of 600 attended the first Mass at Lakehills Cinema Four.
Parishioners quickly formed building, stewardship, liturgy, hospitality and other committees. They alternated Mass between the movie theater and area Baptist and Lutheran churches. Religious education was held at one of the churches and the first confirmations were held at St. Ignatius. Two years after the initial contact was made with Bishop Harris and less than four months from the first organizational meeting, St. Catherine of Siena purchased 8.8 acres of land on Convict Hill Road for a new sanctuary. A multi-purpose center was dedicated on Dec. 6, 1981. In May 1988, Bishop John McCarthy dedicated a new sanctuary, which is still in use today.
From the start, Father Johnson oversaw the development of the parish. He served until 2008, when Father Coakley became only the second pastor in the parish’s 31-year history. For his work in developing a vibrant parish, Pope John Paul II named Father Johnson a prelate of honor with the title of monsignor on Jan. 18, 2001.
Msgr. Johnson saw St. Catherine’s grow from its initial 179 families to more than 3,000 families when he retired in 2008. The parish also grew from two ministries to more than a hundred. Today, all five Sunday Masses at St. Catherine’s are full, the religious education classrooms overflow with more than 1,400 students and volunteers abound.
Father Coakley came to St. Catherine’s directly from Cork, Ireland in 2004. Under the tutelage of Msgr. Johnson, Father Coakley developed a love and bond with St. Catherine parishioners and a connection with the city of Austin. The city’s environmentally conscious policies and programs affected the way Father Coakley “thinks and speaks.” To his surprise, when he brought up the subject of St. Catherine developing a greener conscious at a parish meeting, his parishioners became animated.
“People wanted to do something,” he said.
The parish established an Earth Care Ministry to provide parishioners with information to help them become better stewards of natural resources. They began an aggressive recycling program and started looking closely at parish purchases to ensure they met the church’s goals in relation to the environment. The parish is also looking at other projects, such as xeriscaping and rain water collection. Not everyone is on board, admitted Father Coakley, but “the general consensus” has been positive.
“It was the right decision for us, especially with the cost of energy going up,” Father Coakley said.
St. Catherine will wait and see what step it will take next. They want to assess the effects of the solar panels before moving on to adopting them for other buildings on campus. The current project will offset 32 tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which is the equivalent of planting 2,500 trees.
“This is just the beginning, and we look to the future for new opportunities to develop and grow our energy,” Father Coakley said.
Masses at St. Catherine of Siena Parish are Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 8:30 and 10:30 a.m. 12:15 and
5 p.m. Masses are celebrated at noon on weekdays. For
more information, visit
www.stcatherine-austin.org.