14 DAY TRIAL // Not very long ago, the St. Peter and St. Paul's Church in Deddington, Oxfordshire had as many as 42 photovoltaic panels installed on top of its roof.
Recent news on the topic of mixing up religion and sustainability informs us that the Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard, decided to show his support towards green energy and such environmentally-friendly projects.
Thus, the Bishop ended up climbing all the way to the top of the St. Peter and St. Paul's Church just to give these solar panels his blessing.
The Herald Series says that, after performing the blessing ritual, Bishop John Pritchard made a case of how, “There’s never been a more urgent time to take green approaches to the generation of energy, and every scheme like this helps a little.”
Furthermore, “This is another example of great innovation and imagination from Deddington church and I congratulate the parish on their vision.”
The church's curate, Dan Inman, wished to emphasize the fact that these solar panels were bought and installed thanks to the community's active involvement in greening up the church's working agenda.
Besides helping the church cut down on its ecological footprint, these solar panels also allow the local clergy to raise money for various community-based projects.
“By selling energy to the National Grid we will be able to generate about £3,500 (roughly $5,570 / €4,350) a year towards the maintenance and upkeep of the church,” Dan Inman explains.
Needless to say, the idea of having a Bishop give his blessing to solar panels is quite likely to sound a tad peculiar, yet this does not change the fact that the church must also up its interest in pushing for sustainability.
As Dan Inman puts it, “Blessing solar panels is probably one of the more unusual requests received by the Bishop but he is very keen to reduce the carbon footprint of churches in the Oxford Diocese.”