As an expression of the commitment of the Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools to care for the ‘Common Home’, at the heart of the teachings of the pontificate of Pope Francis, and in response to his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on 1st September 2024, the theme of which was: “Hope and Act with Creation”, a renewable energy project has been implemented, consisting of the installation of a photovoltaic system (solar panels) on the roof of the main building, which is expected to make the best possible use of solar energy and reduce environmental impacts.
“The works began before the summer and is due to be completed by the end of this year,” says Brother Santiago Rodriguez Mancini, Director of the Generalate. It is also a project that also involves the La Salle Roma School, located on the property adjacent to the Generalate.
Thus, with the installation of the solar panels, the Generalate will become part of the energy community committed to the care of creation, i.e. the association of users who share their self-produced energy, through a renewable source, to cover their energy needs in an autonomous way.
In addition to taking advantage of technological innovation and digitalisation, this type of community ensures the reduction of energy wastage and promotes the shared use of a fundamental good such as energy, also reducing its usual costs.
In this regard, the use of this type of renewable energy systems not only makes it possible to meet the needs of the population, but also proposes new socio-economic models focused on sustainability and circularity, without resorting to the use of fossil fuels.
For Brother Santiago, “this project is part of a much broader desire to eliminate the use of plastic in the Generalate, inviting everyone to consume water in a more conscious way, i.e. using their own thermos or containers, instead of buying bottles, which we are trying to reduce as much as possible through the vending machines we have”.In this way, together with Pope Francis, the Generalate of the Brothers of the Christian Schools hopes “to join forces and to walk together with all men and women of good will”, because “to hope and to act with creation, then, means to live an incarnational faith, one that can enter into the suffering and hope-filled “flesh” of others, by sharing in the expectation of the bodily resurrection to which believers are predestined in Christ the Lord”.