According to the National Catholic Reporter Cincinnati Sister of Charity Paula Gonzalez could be the patron saint of scavengers.
For Sr. Paula Gonzalez, 78, recycling is a spiritual practice. She views yard and garage sales as the compost bins for all of the stuff produced by industrial society — sofas, toasters, old TVs and end tables which all too often end up in landfills.
Sr. Paula has been heavily into her spiritual practice for over 25 years, ever since she decided to turn part of an old chicken barn on the Sisters of Charity motherhouse property in Cincinnati into an earth-friendly passive solar house for herself and another sister.
After all, how many other people raise $6,000 every August from an annual garage sale, staffed by a host of volunteers? How many other environmentalists have racked up over 2800 workshops and speaking engagements on ways to create sustainable restoration practices to counter the destructive effects of our global, profit-driven. materialistic economy?
Sr. Paula has been heavily into her spiritual practice for over 25 years, ever since she decided to turn part of an old chicken barn on the Sisters of Charity motherhouse property in Cincinnati into an earth-friendly passive solar house for herself and another sister. Every Saturday for three years from 1982 to 1985, she and a large group of mostly rookie building volunteers assembled to renovate the old structure using recycled materials. Sr. Paula financed the project for Casa del Sol, “House of the Sun” through garage sales.
For more on this fascinating Sr. of Charity visit the full NCR article. complete with a picture of her riding her solar powered gold cart.
Tags: Cincinnati, Ecology, Environment, Sisters of Charity
