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CLINTON — Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace Parish’s new solar energy system is up and running. The panels should generate enough clean, renewable energy to offset the parish’s electrical costs, said Dave Schnier, the parish’s business administrator. On Aug. 5, at 8:35 a.m. the parish’s array of 174 panels began converting sunlight into electricity.

FORT MADISON —Holy Trinity freshman Brooklyn Forsythe recently traveled to Phoenix to represent Iowa at the world’s largest science fair. She was invited to attend the Regeneron International Science and Industry Fair (ISEF) in a student observer capacity after an impressive run at the State Science and Technology Fair of Iowa in March, where she placed second in the power and structural category and earned the Excellence in Global Impact Award. Her science project focused on the potential for piezoelectric walkways in public areas to generate electricity from footsteps.

St. Thomas More Parish in Coralville is rolling out a new parish Laudato Si’ Plan during the Season of Creation this year. The parish Green Team has been working the past few months to create an interactive online plan with simple goals that make it easy for parishioners and parish groups to participate (https://tinyurl.com/3rf6nmhd).

A month-long commemoration of prayer and action that begins Sept. 1 unites Christians worldwide to care for their common home. Here in the Diocese of Davenport, the Season of Creation opens with Vespers at 4 p.m. at St. Anthony Church in downtown Davenport, featuring Evening Prayer and an exploration of this year’s theme, “Hope and Act with Creation.” “The Season of Creation is a time of grace that the Church, in ecumenical dialogue, offers to humanity to renew its relationship with the Creator and with creation, through celebration, conversion and commitment,” the organizers said. They are the diocesan Social Action Office and Pope St. John XXIII Fraternity of the Secular Fran­ciscan Order. The season continues through Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology whose life and ministry more than 800 years ago resonates with Christians of various denominations today.

From hosting Eco­logical Way of the Cross liturgies to raising money for clean water projects overseas, Catholics in the Diocese of Davenport are finding ways to observe the upcoming Season of Creation. “We are all called to care for creation and also be courageous and creative,” said Deacon Kent Ferris, diocesan director of Social Action.

By Barb Arland-Fye Editorial: Lorri Walker laughs when a journalist suggests that work has changed quite a bit at the rubber-manufacturing plant where she began work 35 years ago. The plant, which opened in 1915 to produce tires for the Ford Model T, changed hands over the years and in 2007 became Henniges Automotive, which supplies weather-strips for the automotive industry.