HERALD MALAYSIA ONLINE. 1ST APRIL: The Archdiocese of Seattle and its St James Cathedral will sell and redevelop four properties in the city’s First Hill neighbourhood as part of a project that aims to create affordable housing and steer the neighbourhood towards carbon neutrality.
The Archdiocese of Seattle and its St James Cathedral will sell and redevelop four properties in the city’s First Hill neighbourhood as part of a project that aims to create affordable housing and steer the neighbourhood towards carbon neutrality.
“Creatively thinking about how we can better use our properties to achieve the mission of the Church is exactly what we need to do as good stewards of God’s gifts,” Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle said in a statement. “Redeveloping our real estate in a very efficient and sustainable way not only reflects our Catholic value for our common home, but also provides us with resources to carry out our greater mission of bringing Christ to others.”
The archdiocese will sell and redevelop the properties with developer Westbank.
Westbank and its affiliate, Creative Energy, meanwhile, have partnered with Swedish Health Services to modernise the Seattle area health care system’s infrastructure with a goal of being carbon negative by 2030.
“Recognising all of nature as the handiwork of God, Pope Francis calls us to do all we can to protect the earth from further destruction,” Etienne said. “Minimising our impact on the earth is our responsibility as Catholics. Working with sustainability experts like Westbank and Creative Energy will ensure that the redevelopment uses green building techniques, processes and materials, while alleviating future environmental impacts.”
The four buildings the archdiocese will sell and redevelop include the St. James Cathedral Pastoral Outreach Centre, the archdiocese’s old chancery building, and the historic Connolly House, which will be preserved as part of the agreement with Westbank, according to a joint news release from the parties involved.
As part of the redevelopment of the buildings, Westbank plans to create upwards of 1,300 residential homes that will be connected to this new district energy system. The redevelopment plan could also generate over $25 million (RM105 million) for Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Authority fund, according to the news release. This money would go to low-income and affordable housing buildings, including Catholic Housing Services.
In the years since the encyclical, a number of individual US dioceses have also committed themselves to the vision of Laudato Si’ through different local initiatives – the efforts by the Archdiocese of Seattle being the latest.