“I become better—a better bishop and a better priest, and better to my men—precisely because I want to generate love for the migrant who’s passing through this diocese,” says Bishop Joseph Tyson of Yakima. “We’ve got to find a way of preaching and teaching that better.”
Rural issues
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Democrats have a rural America problem. Calling them ‘weird’ won’t help.
The “weird” meme, popularized by the Harris-Walz campaign, goes hand in hand with a longstanding ridicule of rural America, and it is punching down on some of the most disadvantaged people in our society.
Posted inFaith, News
Two men face felonies in fire that destroyed historic Catholic Church in West Virginia
More than two weeks after a 145-year-old Catholic church was destroyed by fire, law enforcement officials announced that two suspects were arrested and charged with felonies for a blaze officials confirmed was arson.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Dear Catholic vegetarians: Eating fake meat isn’t going to save the planet.
If it depends on supporting the fake meat industry, vegetarianism is not a superior ethical or moral stance. But there is an alternative in the “ideal kind of farm” described by Pope John XXIII.
Posted inArts & Culture, Catholic Book Club
Wendell Berry: the cranky farmer, poet and essayist you just can’t ignore
Wendell Berry could be described by many labels. More than anything else, he has been a voice of practical reason and concise cultural commentary in his more than 80 books published over six decades.
Posted inArts & Culture, Features
Why has Mississippi inspired so many great writers?
Though a small state in terms of geographic size and population, Mississippi occupies an outsized place in the world of American letters. Why? How has “a little state that rests alongside the banks of a great and mighty river” made so many significant contributions to American literature?
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Cities get our attention, but rural America has many of the same challenges
As rural America becomes more diverse, it faces many of the problems associated with big cities, writes Nathan Beacom. The urban-rural divide in our politics does not reflect reality.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Farms may depend on water — but they are also polluting it.
In “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis called drinkable water a human right. But as Nathan Beacom writes, our methods of farming and raising livestock are degrading our soil and polluting our waterways.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
American Indian communities feel Covid’s wrath
The needs of Native Americans during the pandemic are of special concern and humanitarian agencies such as Doctors Without Borders are alerting everyone to that fact.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books
A love song for Ernest Gaines
Ernest Gaines wrote a number of classic novels, including “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.”