The good folks at PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) are always looking for converts. And so when the Virginia-based animal rights group saw that the Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton won top honors from the U.S. Green Building Council for a new building, it dashed off an email urging the monastery become even greener by eschewing meat and dairy products.
The email (PDF) also raised the issue of animal suffering and quoted some pro-animal comments made in 2002 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. "Going vegan," it advised, "is the best way to protect God's creation and God's creatures."
PETA spokeswoman Ashley Gonzalez says it worked: "We were pleased to hear from Sister Mary David Walgenbach that the monastery is moving in the direction of becoming a completely vegetarian place of worship and that the sisters are sympathetic to PETA's cause."
Walgenbach did not return calls from Isthmus. Gonzalez says PETA has responded by sending the monastery "some mock meats and other tasty vegan foods" and a vegan cookbook.
