Gesu Green Team has undertaken a series of sustainable initiatives to save the environment and money
DETROIT ─ Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger commended Gesu Parish and School for its commitment to sustainability and care for the environment, outlining the late Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si during an Oct. 4 visit.
The archbishop toured the six-acre campus with Gesu students, parishioners and members of the parish’s “Green Team,” getting a first-hand look at the parish rain gardens, food composting system, solar panels, and removal of downspouts which feed into the stormwater system.
Archbishop Weisenburger, himself the driver of an electric Chevrolet Equinox, said he was impressed with all the work the Gesu community has done and continues to do when he celebrated Mass at the end of his visit.
“I was invited today in part because of the work going on here, especially in the school for Laudato Si’, a movement very dear to my heart,” Archbishop Weisenburger said in his homily.
The parish and school's sustainability measures have been spearheaded by the “Green Team,” a group of volunteers who studied Pope Francis’ 2015 papal encyclical and sought ways for the parish to minimize its environmental impact.
“The Green Team is a group of volunteers who take their time to support sustainability at Gesu through different buckets of work,” Stephanie Osborn, a member of the Gesu Green Team, told Detroit Catholic. “One is education, where we work to educate the parish on sustainability. Another is actually doing projects on the campus to further the sustainability of the school, the parish, and the grounds. We also partner with different organizations, whether that be to support or further the work they’re already doing.”
The Green Team has planted rain gardens, removed downspouts that pour directly into the stormwater system, reduced impervious surfaces in the parking lot, installed solar panels and reduced food waste during lunchtime at the school.
“One of our flagship projects is the native plant rain garden by the east entrance of the parish, where most people enter the church,” Osborn said. “It was our first foray into native plants and stormwater management on the campus, and it opened up a relationship with Friends of the Rouge, which has been wonderful. They taught us how to put in the rain garden, supplied us with materials on how to maintain it.
“Friends of the Rouge also helped us with the bio soils in front of the church; the much larger ones now manage all of the storm from the front half of the school between the schools and McNichols, and they also helped with the parking lot,” Osborn added.
Gesu School has been instrumental in the parish’s sustainability efforts, from installing solar panels on the school roof to composting food waste behind the former convent.
During Archbishop Weisenburger’s tour of the parish and school, Gesu students showed the archbishop how food is sorted and disposed of after lunchtime. The efforts have resulted in the school only using one trash bag for waste disposal.
“Gesu saves $1,400 per year in plastic bags alone per school year and $1,200 per year in trash pickup,” said Anita Sevier, community outreach coordinator at Gesu School. “We have also saved money by not purchasing disposable trays and packets of plastic sporks, straws and napkins.”
Sevier said students much prefer using the metal utensils and have even taken their food disposal system on the road, as the table used for sorting has wheels on it.
Gesu students gave Archbishop Weisenburger a tour of its composting machine, which breaks down uneaten meat. Bread items are donated to Pingree Farms, and liquids are diluted and used as nutrients for fertilization.
“Although the custodian at Gesu helps at lunchtime, the kids do all the sorting themselves, and the teacher will know the system, and it has been an accepted practice,” Sevier said. “When a teacher is teaching at Gesu, and a lesson deals with the environment, the project at the school is addressed. We have students go into the classrooms and explain why we sort the food and why it matters.”
Another major initiative Gesu has taken is the green stormwater initiatives, where it has created bioswales in the school’s front law that are built to handle 2,891 cubic feet of water, and the school courtyard has five 500-gallon rain barrels.
The improvements to the parking lot diverted runoff water into retention ponds and away from the stormwater system, resulting in a 10% reduction in the parish’s water bill. At the time the front bioswales were completed, the annual drain-fee for Gesu was $26,240.
The solar panels on the school roof produce 17% of the electricity the school needs during the academic year and completely power the school and church during the summer.
Gesu is taking the lessons they have learned from their own sustainability program and teaching other parishes and colleges what they can do to decrease their environmental footprint.
“Gesu is not the richest parish in the diocese by any means,” Osborn said. “A lot of our projects have been done on very minimal budgets and in partnership with organizations that are already doing this work, like Friends of the Rogue and Michigan Interfaith Power and Light. So many organizations are already doing this that parishes can connect and leverage some of their resources and expertise.”
Osborn said the Gesu community is eager to share with other parishes in the archdiocese ways they can take better care of the environment, from planting native plants on the grounds to finding ways to make coffee and donuts after Mass more sustainable.
“The first thing a parish can do is work with the environmental groups in the area; Michigan Power and Light is a great place to start, they have great resources, webinars, events where you can learn how to get started,” Osborn said. “You can start by using reusable mugs at your coffee and donuts, have native plants the next time you are doing landscaping, or not use pesticides on the lawn. These are day-to-day decisions that won’t cost a lot of money but can have a great impact.”
In 2023, Gesu Parish officially began the process to be a designated Laudato Si’ Parish. In addition, Gesu School is recognized as a National Wildlife Federation Habitat, and a State of Michigan and Wayne County 2025 Evergreen School, after earning Green School honors in 2024.
At the end of his tour, the Gesu community gifted Archbishop Weisenburger with a bottle of wine grown from the parish’s own vineyard. Some of the wine was used by Archbishop Weisenburger in celebrating Mass after the tour.
“What I’m witnessing here in your parish and in your wonderful school is a really impactful response to what our beloved Holy Father of blessed memory, Francis, called us to do, but I believe it was Christ calling us through his voice,” Archbishop Weisenburger said during Mass. “I’m grateful for what you’re doing here, and it’s a blessing for me to be here and stand with you in your successes.”
The Gesu Green Team put together a comprehensive report on all the sustainability initiatives it has taken and future projects it is planning.
“The Gesu Green Team is always open to additional collaboration, whether that be at the archdiocesan level or with individual parishes that are looking to start something similar. We would be happy to talk with them about what we’ve done and share our story,” Osborn said.
The work does more than save money, an important task for any inner-city parish and school, but it is a way of preaching the Gospel and being good stewards of God’s creation.
“As Catholics, we have a moral mandate to care for all of creation, for people, for the planet, for plants, for animals, the wildlife, the resources, the water, it’s all part of our mission in protecting life,” Osborn. “Being sustainable, being ecological, it fits perfectly with our faith.”
