By Doug Weller

The Register

Msgr. John George Weber of Salina received the Edwin Vincent O’Hara Award, honoring him for his nearly 50 years of activism in rural life issues, at the National Catholic Rural Life Conference in Overland Park Nov. 11.

The award, named for the conference’s founder, "recognizes the contributions of a person to the rural life agenda," said Holy Cross Brother David Andrews, the conference’s executive director.

"He’s amazing," said Brother David. "He’s still active, still supportive, still interested."

Msgr. Weber spent 16 years as the conference’s executive secretary at its Des Moines, Iowa, headquarters, but he was involved in rural life issues here before that appointment and has continued since returning to the Salina Diocese 30 years ago.

The national award is not given annually, Brother David noted, and is reserved for "significant contributions."

Msgr. Weber was born near Victoria and grew up on a farm near Park, but left in the eighth grade to attend seminary in Ohio. Still, his rural roots ran deep, and he primarily served rural parishes in the diocese before and after his assignment in Des Moines.

Msgr. Weber had been pastor at St. Anthony’s Parish in St. Peter when the new bishop, Bishop Frederick Freking, moved him in 1958 to St. Peter’s Parish in Aurora and named him the first diocesan rural life director.

"Bishop Freking had been involved in rural life issues in Wisconsin, and that was one thing he wanted here," Msgr. Weber recalled.

He set to work organizing a commission and brought officials from the national conference to speak at each of eight regional meetings in the diocese.

"That’s how they got to know me at the national office," Msgr. Weber said.

Two years later, when the national conference was looking for an executive secretary, those officials asked for Msgr. Weber.

"At first it was a completely new experience," he said. "I had no training in rural life as such, nor in office work. It was a matter of adjusting to the situation."

When Bishop Freking was moved to Wisconsin in 1964, the Kansas priest expected to be asked to return home, but the conference requested he remain awhile longer. "I had no idea I’d be there 16 years," he said, chuckling.

In his view, all of his work focused on the family farmer and his attempts to preserve that way of life. It not only meant trying to educate urban politicians and lobbying for advantageous farm policy, but it also involved offering support to local parishes and communities.

"You just keep struggling," he said. "You keep trying to present the idea of the advantages of family farms to the rural communities and rural parishes," he said.

Bishop Cyril Vogel asked Msgr. Weber to return to the diocese and parish ministry in 1976. He retired from active ministry in 1994.

He’s remained involved with the Salina Diocese’s Rural Life Commission and keeps current on rural issues.

"They’ll be writing a new farm bill next year," he said of Congress, "and hopefully they’ll keep in mind the family farm and try to protect that."

Rural conference offers dire warnings, and hope

By Joe Bollig

Callicrate, a St. Francis, Kan., cattle rancher, was one of the keynote speakers at the National Catholic Rural Life Conference’s 83rd annual gathering in Overland Park, Kan. The annual meeting brought together farmers and ranchers, advocates, food industry managers, and workers in Catholic social justice and rural life ministries. Approximately 100 people attended the event, held Nov. 10-11 at the Sheraton Overland Park Hotel at the Convention Center. The theme of the event was sustainable food, business and agriculture.

"Our food is killing us literally," said Callicrate, a member of St. Francis Parish, in an interview after his address. "The industrial model of food production that has been forced upon us has given us food that is very unhealthy."

It’s not just the food — loaded with chemicals and produced in unhealthy ways — which Callicrate has problems with. He also doesn’t like what the industrial model of food production is doing to society.

"The model of the industry – the industrial model, the business model — is very, very abusive," he said. "It concentrates power and wealth in the hands of a very few, which has always been a serious threat to human societies throughout time, and is now unprecedented. That great concentration . . . hurts our society. And another thing is that farmers are being driven from the land. We are eliminating agriculture in this country in favor of imported food, so it threatens the survival of our country from an economic and social perspective."

In his keynote address on Nov. 11, Callicrate recalled how his mother gave him a book, "The March of Folly," and came to the conclusion that in regard to agriculture and good, America was on the march of folly — the pursuit of policy contrary to self-interest when better alternatives are available.

"We are, in fact, promoting globalization — corporate controlled globalization — which destroys other country’s food systems as well, and makes them producers for export as we are," he said.

Although the continuing crisis of food and agriculture was a part of the conference gathering, so too was optimism, according to Brother David Andrews, CSC, executive director of the NCRLC. One reason for this is that the Church remains committed to justice in food and agriculture.

"We need to construct an alternative to the corporate-controlled food system that we have in place right now, a message that resonates quite well with the messages of our Catholic bishops’ conference in their last publication, ‘For I Was Hungry and You Me Food: Catholic Reflections of Food, Farmers and Farmworkers,’ where they expressed concern about the growing concentration in the food system and called for an alternative in sustainable agriculture."

Brother David said he could sense a lot more optimism than at previous conferences.

"I think we know that we’re on the cusp of change," he said. "It will still be uphill. It will still be challenging, but the people here are committed to changing the food system and changing the opportunities for farmers so they can get a more fair food dollar."

Some of the speakers and workshop presenters offered a look at those alternatives and change.

Callicrate talked about Ranch Foods Direct, a meatpacking and retail meat business he founded to sell directly to consumers.

Maisie Ganzler, with Bon Appétit food service company of Denver, offered an alternative business model for socially responsible food systems.

Sister Lyn Szymkiewicz, CSJ, gave a workshop presentation on how religious communities can use their own land to promote locally grown food, and create a market for such food through purchases by affiliated institutions.

Arlen Wasserman, a food company consultant from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, gave a brief talk during Saturday’s lunch about the Sacred Foods Project. The project is an interfaith movement that seeks to bring together the religions of the Abrahamic Tradition — Jewish, Muslim and Christian — to improve the social and environmental conditions of the nation’s food system.

Sister Linda Roth, SCL, from Leavenworth, spoke about her uncle, Father John Stitz, who died on July 26, 2005. Father Stitz was remembered as "one of the heroes" of the Catholic rural life movement. Brother David called him "a prophet."

"I think the quality of the speakers is what impressed me the most," said Bishop Ronald M. Gilmore of the Diocese of Dodge City. "They know of what they speak."

Bishop Gilmore is president of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and a consultant on agriculture policy to the U.S. bishops’ domestic policy committee. He attended the NCRLC gathering in Baltimore for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops annual fall meeting. His fellow bishops are not only concerned about the quality of food, and justice within food systems, but also the spiritual condition of those involved.

"I visited with a group of bishops just a week ago, and we had considerable discussion over dinner about the rural question," said Bishop Gilmore. "I think I asked how can otherwise wonderful people — even religious people — totally block out the ethical implications of what they are doing.

"We know these are not demons. They are good people, but this question of how we treat workers is off their radar. I don’t just mean the people in big companies, but the limited partnerships and family partnerships. How do you get through to people? We share the same faith with many of these people, and they just don’t seem to get it. It causes me to couple back on my self — how in the world do you get through to them?"

By David Myers

Southwest Kansas Register

LARNED, Kansas — Kansas farmers Tom and Sheryl Giessel were awarded the Isidore and Maria Award Nov. 11 at the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC) in Overland Park, Kan.

According to Brother David Andrews, CSC, executive director of the NCRLC, the annual award honors rural couples "who exemplify fidelity to a dream, to a vocation, and a love which combines family, integrity, stewardship and religion."

In a letter to the couple, Brother David wrote, "Since I’ve met you, I’ve been impressed with your dedication to rural life, to family values, to holding up a set of ethical concerns … . To our mind, you and your wife promote these values and share this commitment."

"This was really a surprise and an honor," Sheryl said from their Larned home.

"The award honors the couple," Tom added. "That’s what means a lot to me. … The term ‘family farmer’ is singular, but in reality it is plural. A family farmer draws freely on the energies and spirit of a spouse, parent, grandparent, sibling, son or daughter, and at times, friends, neighbors and a community.

"Just as freely," he continued, "the farmer gives back without question. The same relationship is inherent in the farmers’ bond with the intuitive accountability that is inherent to a sustainable agriculture."

For Tom and many like him, farming isn’t just a matter of paying bills, it’s a social justice issue that broadly effects the entire global community.

"I know that farming is a business, but we also do it from the heart," he said. "This is about land, people, food, social justice, and natural resources. Everything we do in agriculture is fairly long-term. What I’m doing today – harvesting — culminates nearly two years of hard work, financial investment, and commitment."

Food doesn’t land on store shelves "by magic," Tom said. "They are all gifts given to us by God, and we should respect that fact. They’re not gifts given to us by Kroeger or Wal-Mart. It is through the gifts from God and the hands of the farmer that this happens."

Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore, bishop of the Diocese of Dodge City and president of the NCRLC, commented, "In the eight years I have known them, Tom and Sheryl Giessel have reminded me of nothing so much as the original Adam and the original Eve in the original Garden. The Lord God settled them in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and care for it.

"They have cultivated and cared for their family," he added. "They have cultivated and cared for their Church. They have cultivated and cared for their wider community. They have cultivated and cared for farmers and ranchers and rural communities all over the state.

"All who know them will agree that they are richly deserving of this recognition," Bishop Gilmore said. "We are fortunate to have them, and are proud of them."

"I appreciate all of Bishop Gilmore’s efforts and insights," Tom said. "I appreciate what he brings to the table on the issue of food, agriculture and stewardship.... "For me, farming is first and foremost an art," Tom concluded. "Family farmers around the world are indeed artists. This is the fundamental principle that sets family farmers apart from agribusiness, corporate and factory farms. Family farmers are the ‘culture’ in agriculture. This is why I believe in family farmers."

According to the NCRLC, Saints Isidore and Maria, patron saints of the NCRLC, were "prayerful, devoted to religion, loved the earth, animals, and their community."