Letter from James
Last week I participated in the 2023 Catholic Social Ministry Gathering (CSMG) in Washington D.C. This year’s theme was “Blessed are the Peacemakers”. The four-day event included over 500 leaders in Catholic social ministry and advocacy from more than 100 dioceses across the country. This was the first time the group had gathered in-person in three years. I presented during one of the break-out sessions, The Catholic Approach to Strengthening Food Security for the World’s Hungry. I was joined on a panel by colleagues from Catholic Charities USA and Catholic Relief Services. We discussed the critical role The Farm Bill plays in ensuring the United States continues to invest in programs that alleviate food insecurity and provide nutrition for people at home and around the world. Catholic Rural Life is one of the few Catholic organizations representing rural communities and rural concerns.
The Farm Bill is a five-year, approximately $488 billion, body of legislation that is discussed and debated every five years. The current Farm Bill, the 2018 Farm Act, expires at the end of 2023. The new Farm Act (2024-2029) is currently being drafted. The 2018 Farm Bill includes 12 Titles and covered nutrition programs (76% of the entire bill), crop insurance programs (9%), commodities programs (7%), conservation/environmental programs (7%), and all other programs: trade, credit, rural development, research and extension, forestry, horticulture, and miscellaneous programs (1%). Catholic Rural Life will provide regular updates to our members and e-newsletter recipients on a regular basis over the next 10 months through our Catholic Rural Life magazine, e-newsletter and on the website (CRL website). The Farm Bill benefits rural communities through funding support for farm programs and rural development.
If we want to reduce food insecurity in our nation and around the world, we need to support our farmers and rural communities.
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James Ennis
Executive Director
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February Blessing
Birth is an elusive mystery: an everyday occurrence in nature and rural life that is nonetheless marvelous to behold. Its wonder and splendor are fresh with each new entrance into creation. At the appointed time, a universal labor of intense energy opens the womb of Nature’s gateway and ushers into the world an innocence and hope that is always a gift.
In a moment of revelation, we are privileged to witness and perhaps assist the birth of the latest member of our renewing world. Hand in hand with the Creator, we grasp the rhythm of new life, new breath and new hope. In the spirit of this month’s blessing, consider preparing a simple meal on the day of the blessing. Gather with family or friends in the early evening. Light a new candle. After a moment of silence, begin this service:
Opening Prayer
Let us pray: Lord of life and birth, you enter our lives through gentle messengers, infants of earth with greetings from heaven. May your unending array of hope and promise never fail to move us with awesome wonder and tender love. Teach us to serve your creatures with gratefulness and marvel. Give us a sensitivity to the fragile web of creation and the wonder of the miracle of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Song of Praise: Verses from Psalm 139 (13-14, 15) and Psalm 71 (5-6)
Response: You knit me in my mother’s womb.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works!
Response: You knit me in my mother’s womb.
My very self you know. My bones are not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth.
Response: You knit me in my mother’s womb.
You are my hope, Lord; my trust, GOD, from my youth. On you I have depended since birth; from my mother’s womb you are my strength; my hope in you never wavers.
Response: You knit me in my mother’s womb.
Closing Blessing
Creator God, bless the fresh-born creatures of our land. Oversee their needs with attentive care. Bear them into this life as the continuing newness of creation and your faithful cycle of promise and hope. As you imbue them with the breath of life, breathe the freshness of your Spirit into our labored lungs. And bless all mothers for their sacrifice of love in your creative partnership, to bring forth your love enfleshed in new life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Magazine Membership Feature |
You won’t want to miss CRL’s latest edition of our quarterly magazine, Thriving in Rural Life: Helping Ministry Flourish.
The fall 2022 issue explores all the ways rural life is thriving and how CRL programs educate and inspire laypeople and clergy. You will also read about how a family took a leap of faith to move across the country in search of land and water to live out their farm dream.
If you missed our fall 2022 magazine you can still order it online today and gain complete access to articles and resources. To learn more and place your order, please visit https://catholicrurallife.org/magazine/
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Have you ordered CRL’s Cooking for Christ: Your Kitchen Prayer Book? Our newest edition makes the perfect addition to your collection. Please enjoy our Valentine Gingerbread Cookies recipe! For more recipes and to place your order, click here.
Valentine Gingerbread Cookies
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INGREDIENTS
Yields 6 to 12 cookies, depending
on size of cookie cutter or mold
1 - cup unsalted butter,
at room temperature
1/2 - cup sugar
4 - cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 ½ - tsps ground ginger
1/2 - tsp ground cloves
1/4 – tsp ground mace
3/4 – cup dark unsulphured molasses
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DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl with a beater. Sift together the dry ingredients and then add the molasses to the butter mixture. Mix together. Sprinkle a work surface with flour and roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick. Cut out the cookies, and gently place them on the prepared sheet.
Bake for 45 minutes, or until firm. Cool on a rack.
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Recipe from CRL’s Cooking for Christ – Your Kitchen Prayerbook, (pg 75) |
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Sister Esther Mary Nickel is currently serving as a Religious Sister of Mercy with CRL.
Sister Esther Mary has an extensive background in faith and religion. She has her PhD from the Pontifical Institute of Liturgy at Saint Anselm in Rome, where her deep appreciation for the liturgical life of the Church blossomed. Her work greatly focused on the Papal Liturgical celebrations of Pope John II and the liturgical writings of Pope Benedict XVI. Following her Doctorate, she spent 12 years teaching at Saint John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver as a Professor of Sacred Liturgy and Sacramental Theology.
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Sr. Esther Mary now serves as Director of Christian Worship in the Archdiocese of Detroit, assisting parishes and ministers whose support has been especially needed in response to the pandemic and the transition to Families of Parishes. When asked by the Department of Evangelization and Missionary Discipleship about her goals as a Director of Christian Worship, she shared she “hope[s] to serve and not be in His way when He is unfolding His plan for the Church in Detroit” and “[prays that] the word in this archdiocese can open paths for local Churches”. Sr. Esther Mary has enjoyed serving on the CRL Board for eight years, fulfilling her desire to support her fellow brothers and sisters, in Christ.
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Jack and Pat Herricks have been longtime members of the CRL Chapter in the Diocese of La Crosse. This past September, they hosted the Annual Rural Life Mass in the diocese. The Herricks were featured in the Diocese of La Crosse Catholic Life magazine prior to the Mass sharing their story of faith, farming, and rural life:
For almost seven decades, Cashton native Jack Herricks has lived and worked on his family’s dairy farm. “My grandparents began this farm as newlyweds in 1912,” he says. “Grandpa had a long reign running the farm—he didn’t sell it to my dad until 1957. Dad then took it over for the next 14 years.” Tragically, Jack’s father was killed in a tractor accident when Jack was just 19 years old. “I really loved farming and always wanted that to be my life’s work,” Jack explains. “So, I stepped in when my dad died, and I’ve been farming here ever since. I’ve been at this gig for 50 years!”
Jack’s wife Pat has been by his side for nearly all of those 50 years. “I also grew up on a dairy farm about five miles from Cashton, so I knew the lifestyle,” Pat says. “I always said I would never marry a farmer, but then I met Jack and here I am,” she laughs. The couple married when Jack was 20 and Pat was 18.
Even though Jack loved farm life, as a youth he attended Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse for his high school years. “I went there fully intending on becoming a priest, but halfway through my senior year I just knew it wasn’t for me,” Jack says. He started college with the thought of becoming a veterinarian. I figured becoming a vet would be somewhat close to what I really wanted to do,” he explains. Then the call came that his father had died, and Jack volunteered to leave college and run the family farm.
“In retrospect, I think Holy Cross Seminary helped prepare me for taking over the farm at such a young age,” Jack says. “I already had a strong work ethic growing up on the farm, and the seminary nurtured that and developed responsibility. I also had a lot of faith and determination.”
When Jack took the reins in 1971, the farm had 34 cows and 120 acres. Today, it has grown to 630 cows and 1,180 acres.
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Thriving in Rural Ministry |
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Pastors who cover one or multiple parishes over a long distance can feel isolated and emotionally stretched. CRL works to create a network of support for pastors who serve rural communities to encourage and help one another fulfill the vocation of rural ministry.
CRL’s Thriving in Rural Ministry retreat and follow-up program provides spiritual refreshment, rural insights, support, leadership development, an expanded understanding of integral ecology, and fraternity with other priests serving rural communities. CRL aims to renew rural pastors to help revitalize the communities they serve.
Each retreat includes:
- Individual and communal prayer
- Best practices shared among other priests serving in rural ministry
- Presentations and workshops on known rural challenges and key priestly responsibilities
- Pre-retreat self-assessment tool
- Individual leadership development
- Fraternity with other priests serving rural communities
- Celebration of the sacraments
Retreats are 4 nights/5 days and 15-24 priests attend. Participants have different tenures and represent various age groups and dioceses across the globe. Each cohort is invited to meet quarterly (via video conference) to discuss specific issues particular to rural ministry.
Upcoming Retreat Dates:
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June 12-16th, 2023 at Mount Angel Abbey in Saint Benedict, OR
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October 9-13th, 2023 at Saint Benedict’s Abbey in Benet Lake, WI
To register and learn more about the upcoming retreats click the button, below.
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Blessing of the Seed and Soil Celebration – Victoria, TX |
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The Diocese of Victoria will be hosting a Blessing of the Seed and Soil celebration on February 11th, 2023 at 10 AM. Following the celebration, Bishop Brendan Cahill will be performing a mass. All are welcome to bring a sampling of their crop or garden seeds along with a soil sample to be blessed. The celebration will take place at 713 CR 202, Ganado, Texas 77962.
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Rural Life 2023 Essay & Drawing Contest |
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Through February 13th, the Diocese of Green Bay is hosting an essay and drawing contest for students in Grades 1-8. Participants are asked to create a picture or write an essay (200 words or less) on the topic: “How does rural life connect us to our family heritage and our faith?”
Each entry must include name, address, grade and school/parish on the back of an 8.5 x 11 drawing or essay. Only one entry per applicant, all entries are due February 13th, 2023. In order to be eligible, you must be an active resident within the Diocese of Green Bay. Categories will be: Grades 1-2, Grades 3-4, Grades 5-6, Grades 7-8
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Green Bay Rural Life Scholarship |
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Don’t wait to apply for the Green Bay Rural Life Scholarship, open until March 31st. The $500 Scholarship, offered by the Rural Life Committee of the Diocese of Green Bay, will provide financial aid for an aspiring student interested in serving the agricultural community in their chosen profession. To qualify for this scholarship, the applicant must meet the following requirements:
- Pursuing post-secondary education that results in serving agriculture and/or rural life in their chosen profession
- Be an active member in their parish community within the Diocese of Green Bay
- Exhibit leadership qualities
- Receive recommendation from pastor, pastoral leader, or religious education coordinator
- Preference will be given to high school seniors
To submit an application, either email materials to pweiss@gbdioc.org or mail to Diocese of Green Bay Attn. Rural Life 1825 Riverside Dr. P.O. Box 23825 Green Bay, WI 54305-3825
The deadline to submit applications is March 31st, 2023.
For questions on how to apply, please contact Peter Weiss at (920) 272-8321 or pweiss@gbdioc.org
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Blessing of the Seed and Soil Celebration – Davenport, IA |
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The Diocese of Davenport welcomes all who are interested to a Blessing of Seed and Soil celebration. This celebration will take place on April 16th, 2023. Time and location are yet to be determined.
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Members of the Catholic Rural Life community are helping to build the Church, a community of Catholics, in rural America. Our members live in rural and urban alike, in 43 states across America. When you join CRL, your donation and participation help support our work in serving parishes, pastors, farmers, rural businesses, and families.
The benefits of membership include:
- Connection to a network of CRL members nationally praying and advocating for rural Catholics.
- A one-year subscription to our quarterly Catholic Rural Life magazine. This includes a hard copy mailed to you as well as digital access to the most current issues.
- CRL members gain exclusive access to resources that are not available to the general public on our website including:
- Vocation of the Agricultural Leader
- Printable Monthly Blessings
- Video Webinars
Most importantly, our members know they are helping to promote Catholic life in rural America by supporting priests who serve rural communities, equipping strong local CRL Chapters, advocating on behalf of family farms, and strengthening and celebrating lay leadership.
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2115 Summit Avenue
UST Mail Number 4080
St. Paul, MN 55105
(651) 444-8714
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