Kornwolf, wife help Dominicans create environmental center

By Rob Golub

Tuesday, September 14, 2004 1:03 AM CDT

RACINE - The environmental dreams of a small group of Racine nuns are to become reality, thanks to Dennis Kornwolf, a key figure in local government who has been battling cancer for several years.

"When you leave the Earth, people are going to look at what did you do, what did you accomplish?" Kornwolf said, when asked about his condition. "Being a good steward of the earth, looking out for the environment, that's something you should do."

The former Caledonia town chairman and Racine County executive had a reputation during his public service for no-nonsense government and a good-humored, challenging nature that strived to serve taxpayers properly. Now, Kornwolf aims to serve the public again, even though he no longer holds elected office. He intends to sell his Caledonia farmland for less than what a developer would pay to a group of Dominican nuns for the creation of an "Eco-Justice

Center," a place for the celebration and preservation of the natural world.

Specifically, the Eco-Justice Center will focus on four "c's," said Sister Janet Weyker, who will be the director of the Center. The four "c's" are: * Community. Children and adults will be invited in small groups to work on the farm or for other educational programming. The sisters hope to erect a building on an 1870s foundation at the site to hold educational

programming.

* Contemplation. The quiet setting will be made available to individuals and small groups. The sisters may build a hermitage, a place for private contemplation. Sister Janet Weyker noted there is a "relationship between a person's soul and nature."

* Creativity. Sister Kathleen Bohn, Sister Mary Ann Weyker, and her biological sister, Sister Janet Weyker, will initially live on the land, though the roster of sisters could expand. The sisters are crafters and they may lead classes in calligraphy, basketry and other artsy activities.

* Cultivation. The Eco-Justice Center will feature organic gardening and it will attempt to demonstrate that one can live off the land. The sisters hope to sell crafts to help support the Center.

The sisters view the Eco-Justice Center as a lifestyle and ministry, not a business. The sisters who live there will do the work. There will be no employees. The sisters hope the site will be officially accepted as a sponsored ministry by the Racine Dominicans.

The property, at 7133 Michna Road, is 15 acres of farmland adjacent to Cliffside Park, with a home, granary, workshop, chicken coop, barn, pig shed and double-walled wood silo.

The nuns have been inspired to start the Center by their interest in the environment. "We are at a real critical time," Sister Janet Weyker said. "We are consuming the resources of the earth at a faster rate than can be sustained."

The sisters plan to install handicapped-accessible bathrooms to serve the public. But they say they intend to keep the Center a relatively quiet place, quieter than nature preserves where large groups from the public may visit at will.

Kornwolf said he learned about the sisters' need for land for an Eco-Justice Center when he read about it in The Journal Times. It seemed perfect, given that he wanted one of the early settlements outside the city of Racine to be preserved in its natural form. Dennis and Marian Kornwolf have lived on the land for 21 years.

The Kornwolfs plan to transfer the land to the sisters in October, assuming the Racine County Board grants final approval to the Eco-Justice Center plan at a Tuesday, Sept. 21 meeting.

Kornwolf said he believes so firmly in the project that he is donating $15,000 to it.

Kornwolf has always viewed himself as an environmentalist. He was chairman of a Racine County committee that wrote an air pollution ordinance.

The Journal Times has previously reported Kornwolf has battled two forms of cancer in recent years, including lung cancer. Today, one of the nuns will tend to the farm and animals while Kornwolf makes another visit to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

"I would not want to spend another winter here," Kornwolf said, when asked about his motivation to move to a home elsewhere in Caledonia. "What kind of legacy do you want to leave in this county? I want people to drive down and say, `Oh, what are those little animals down there?'" The Eco-Justice Center will feature alpacas roaming a fenced-in area north of the driveway. They'll be a sign there's something different about this place.

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