0 The Message m for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
Some agricultural
practices not just,
rural conference told
By NANCY WIDMAN
Catholic News Service
DES MOINES, Iowa (CNS)
Some forms of agriculture
practiced in the United States
are contrary to the justice of
God, a rural life activist said at
a conference designed to ad-
dress the growth of large-scale
hog farming.
"In the midst of such a boun-
tiful harvest this year, there is
bitterness, because the return
for the hard work done is in-
credibly meager, and the
bounty will not go to those who
need it most," said United
Methodist Rev. Gil Dawes at
the Nov. 30 conference.
Mr. Dawes, coordinator of
PrairieFire Rural Action's Re-
newing Rural Iowa project,
told the 100 assembled that
agriculture has grown more in-
dustrialized since World War
II.
"We find ourselves now con-
fronted with a particular link
of this (consolidation of) agri-
culture in the hog confinement
business," he said.
"It is not designed to produce
jobs for the Midwest. It is not
designed to help feed the hun-
gry of the world. It's designed
to make bigger profits for
agribusiness and for interna-
tional finance."
• Large-scale hog farming, run
by agribusiness, involves
putting up to 100,000 sows on
one farm, compared to the 100
sows raised by the average
family farmer. Farmers are
then contracted to tend to the
SOWS.
"The issue is not just the
smell," Mr. Dawes said. "Even-
tually, they will find a way to
deal with that, and they may
even manage to deal with the
environmental danger.
"What we're not going to
be able to change is the
economic concentration
of wealth in the hands of fewer
and fewer people."
Bernard Evans, associate
professor of pastoral theology
at St. John's University in Col-
legeville, Minn., called upon
participants to address issues
that are dividing rural commu-
nities within their own congre-
gations.
"I don't think there's any
question but that the churches
locally must interact with soci-
ety," Evans said. "Any action to
help build a just society by the
local church is an integral part
of the preaching of the Gospel."
Often, rural congregations
are afraid to raise controver-
sial issues during worship for
fear of creating divisions
among the faithful, he said.
"The divisions are already
there," he added. "Let us begin
to work on them."
Evans outlined five princi-
ples drawn form Catholic so-
cial teaching when attempting
to deal with conflict within
congregations: the dignity of
the human person, the com-
mon good of society, the right
of individuals to participate in
decisions that affect them, the
preferential option for the
poor, and stewardship of nat-
ural resources.
• In examining agricultural
developments during this cen-
tury, Evans said that "too
often, the possibility of being
able to do something is
equated with the right" to do
it.
The conference, sponsored
by the Church Land Project, a
joint venture of the National
Catholic Rural Life Conference
and Prairie Fire Rural Action,
was funded by a grant from the
U.S. Catholic Conference's en-
vironmental justice program.
Correction:
There will be no
6 p.m. Mass on
New Years Day
at St. John
Church,
Evansville. Mass
will be at 11 a.m.
only.
I I
I I I
D'O'W'N'T.O'WN
301 MAIN ST.. VINCENNES. IN 47591
I
Basketball play continues
The following fifth and sixth
grade basketball results from
league play Dec. 10 at Holy
Rosary Church, Evansville,
were submitted by Steve
Schlachter.
Christ the King 31, Holy
Spirit 21; Good Shepherd 34,
St. Theresa Red 29; Holy
Rosary Green 37, St. Theresa
White 28; St. Benedict Blue 47,
St. Benedict White 30; Holy
Rosary White 57, Evansville
Christian 17.
vNrrlm sotrrHw00vr
BANg
IBIB effi I
WASHINGTON-SHOALS-LOOGOOTEE
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101 North Meridian Street
Washington, IN 254-3612
ii i I
• (812) 254-2641
SAVINGS BANK, FSB
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500 Main St., Petersburg
Champions
ii i
Members of the Westside Catholic Consolidated girls volleyball team won
feeder league tournament. The team is coached by Brian and Pam Lemberg' ]
include, sitting, Gina Conner, Amy Krack, Brianne Lemberg, Katie
Pam Steinkamp, Amy Ellert, Jami Altstadt, Julie Lehman and Crystal Kirsch. i
Fellowship announces Scroo
true spirit of Christmas
come when the churches of the
'90s begin laughing and
singing and loving each other
(and) are filled with the joy of
his salvation.
The Noiseletter commented:
"Angels can fly because they
take themselves lightly,' G.K.
Chesterton observed. Dr.
Wirt's book will help readers
grow wings and fly with the joy
that our joyful Savior. intended
his followers to have at Christ-
mas and
Winners
be given a corn
scription to The
letter.
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Stt¢.
PORTAGE, Mich. (CNS) --
An interdenominational group,
the Fellowship of Merry Chris-
tians, is giving its first
Scrooge Award and True
Spirit of Christmas Present
Award.
The Scrooge Award goes to
the Jesus Seminar, a group of
150 religious scholars, for pub-
lishing a book during the 1993
Christmas season that cast
"serious doubts about • who
Jesus is and what he said."
The book, "The Five Gospels:
The Search for the Authentic
Words of Jesus," says among
other things that no more than
18 percent of the sayings at-
tributed to Jesus in the New
Testament were actually spo-
ken by him, and that Jesus
never regarded himself as the
Messiah and the Son of God.
The Fellowship of Merry
Christians, based in Portage,
announced the awards in their
December issue of The Joyful
Noiseletter. In the newsletter
the fellowship said the Scrooge
Award will be given annually
"to the organization or group
whose humbug most insis-
tently dampens the spirit of
Christmas at Christmas time."
The True Spirit of Christmas
Present Award was given to
82-year-old Sherwood Eliot
Wirt of Poway, Calif., for his
newly published book, "The
Book of Joy."
Wirt is a member of the Fel-
lowship of Merry Christians, a
group devoted to recapturing
joy and humor in faith. He is
also the former editor of Deci-
sion magazine, which he
founded with the Rev. Billy
Graham. His book focuses on
joyful men and women of faith
such as Mr. Graham, St. Fran-
cis of Assisi, and author and
Holocaust survivor Corrie ten
Boom.
"The Bible is a book of joy,"
wrote Wirt. "When the Holy
Spirit brings revival to our
generation, it will not come
with black clouds and premoni-
tions of doom. Revival will
