Care for God's creation has long been a
principle of Catholic social teaching. As is stated in the seventh
principle, ‘Our stewardship of the Earth is a form of
participation in God’s act of creating and sustaining the
world.
In our use of creation, we must be guided by a concern for generations
to come. We show our respect for the Creator by our care for
creation.’These beliefs came into play when Bishop Amos asked St. Thomas More Parish to relocate from Iowa City to Coralville and build a new church to better serve the expanding population there. The committee surveyed the parish and held town hall meetings to discuss the plans - with the result that parishioners felt moved to act on their beliefs and build ‘green’.
“We decided early on in the process that to take this teaching seriously meant that we needed to act as good stewards of the land and to build in an environmentally responsible manner.” Says John LePeau, Chair of the Relocation Project Steering Committee.
“We shared this priority with our architects, who then told us about the LEED certification process. The Steering Committee looked into LEED and decided that it would be an appropriate way to hold ourselves accountable to the goal of "building green."
They are following these LEED guidelines among others:
• The site development plan is designed to maximize open spaces and avoid the wetlandsthat are on the property.
• To avoid using city water for landscaping, they are planting natural prairie grass as muchas possible and collecting rain in barrels.
• The building is designed to be at least 24% more efficient than current standards achieved through measures such as energy efficient windows, lighting and insulation.
• A ground source heat pump system provides the heating and cooling.
• At least 50% of the construction materials were recycled.
• Recycled and regional building materials were used where possible.
• Low-emitting construction materials were used to improve indoor quality.
• Daylight is provided in at least 75% of the rooms.
The large windows, both on the exterior
walls and the interior walls, reduce the amount of electricity needed
to light the room.The sanctuary during the afternoon using natural light only.
Stone and wood from the former building were re-fashioned and given a new life in the construction and art of the new building.
The Ambo, Altar, Presider Chair and the dedication candle holders and the stone on the candlesticks were fashioned from the stone from the former St. Thomas More building by JB Barnhouse, Stonemason.
The stone for the baptismal font is new but obtained from a stone quarry in nearby Anamosa.
The new church was dedicated on November 14, 2009. For more information on St. Thomas More’s new building contact John LePeau, Chair of the Relocation Project Steering Committee at lepeau@mchsi.com.