A LEED Christmas: St. Gabriel's Passionist Parish

"May we look forward to the healing of the wounded earth. We're stranded in the web of life and what we do to the web we do to ourselves." So said Father Paul Cusack, at the opening of St. Gabriel's Passionist Church, Canada's first LEED Silver religious space, with one of the more profound reasons we have heard for going LEED. "While reducing energy costs was one of the reasons for building a 'green' church, says Fr. Paul Cusack, C.P., current Pastor at St. Gabriel's, "Our primary motivation was to establish a link between the sacredness of the gathered community of Faith and the sacredness of the Earth." Thus it has passive solar heating, natural daylighting, heat recovery wheel, a living wall and rainwater collection.

Designed by Toronto's Larkin Architect, it uses 40% less energy than a compared to a conventionally built modern building.

and it doesn't stop at the architecture: "Preferential parking spaces are provided for those who carpool and those who drive hybrid vehicles. The unique charism of the Canadian Passionists attracts worshipers from well beyond their traditional parish boundaries. The new church, conveniently located within a few hundred metres of two subway stations, encourages these parishioners to leave their cars at home and arrive via public transit."