Some people consider the “right to life” as dealing primarily with issues such as abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. However, respect for life from womb to tomb must include caring for the needs of people throughout that spectrum.
Pope Benedict XVI reminded us of this wider pro-life view in a message he wrote for World Food Day, observed on October 16 this year. His written message was addressed to Jacques Diouf, director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
It doesn’t seem possible that it has been 30 years since Pope John Paul II made his historic visit to rural Des Moines, Iowa. As a young reporter, I was among nearly 350,000 people gathered on a hillside to welcome the Holy Father. It is an experience I’ll never forget.
As the pope celebrated Mass and preached to the throngs of people, it reminded me of what the Sermon on the Mount must have been like. I really felt the presence of Jesus in our midst that day in October of 1979.
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| St. Lawrence Church in Jefferson is the site of one of the rural life listening sessions. (Catholic Herald photo/Kat Wagner) |
MADISON — Catholic Charities’ new Rural Life Office will be holding listening sessions throughout the 11 counties of the Diocese of Madison.
“It will be an opportunity to help address the needs with rural pastors and work shoulder-to-shoulder with the farm community,” said Brian Cain, executive director of Catholic Charities (CC).
Tom Nelson, coordinator of the CC Rural Life Office, said there is a great need “to listen across the 11 counties to the many concerns and challenges of farmers and farm families and all those who are impacted by the financial crisis across all segments of agriculture in our area.”
With an ever-increasing worldwide need for food, Nelson said “it is alarming to watch the continuous eroding of our farming base across the bread/corn basket of our nation as farmers lose their family farms to financial failure, all the while being more productive than ever before.
Many people in the southwest area of the Diocese of Madison, including Grant and Lafayette Counties, suffered extensive property and crop damage in the recent severe storms with strong winds and hail.
The Diocese of Madison announced that its Rural Life Office has been transferred to Catholic Charities effective July 1.
The Rural Life Office of the Diocese of Madison began receiving field condition updates from our Diocesan Rural Life Network members throughout the month of May and early June, and the reports were quite startling.
