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Rural Issues, Social Justice Concerns (Spring 2008)
What are rural communities doing to act justly? This issue follows from our previous one
and highlights some activities that carried out by NCRLC members around the country. Food, water
and the environment remain crucial concerns for many of us engaged in rural life. These articles
describe how groups come together in action and prayer to face the challenges.
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The Rural Parish: Gifts and Challenges (Fall 2007)
What is the situation of rural parishes and pastors? We ask and try to answer this question
every ten years or so. This issue illuminates what has changed in the past several years as rural
communities adapt to a global economy and local transitions.
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Opportunity for Farm Bill Reform (Spring 2007)
Now is the time to advocate for fair and just policy in the 2007 Farm Bill. This issue will
help prepare our network members to speak to their elected representatives in Congress about new
farm and food policies. The Farm Bill is a comprehensive and complex piece of legislation, but
there are serious pastoral reasons for all of us to give heed and voice our concerns.
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Sacred Foods: Food & Faith (Winter 2006)
What are the sacred dimensions of foods? Is there a gap between our values and our actions?
This issue of Catholic Rural Life reminds us of the values held within the faith tradition and the kinds
of actions that can be integrated into our daily rituals of eating. Food choices also call us to greater
consideration of the workers who harvest and produce our gracious foods.
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Food Procurement: Supporting Local Farms (Spring 2006)
Purchasing food directly from local farmers multiplies economic life in a community because
each dollar circulates several times in the locality. Food procurement by local institutions -- schools,
congregations, cafeterias -- keeps the food dollar closer to home and helps build local living economies.
This issue also features the contemporary agrarian vision of the Holy See.
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Vision for Farm and Food Policy (Winter 2005)
Visions of the Farm Bill's Future. The next farm bill is scheduled for 2007. Already many groups
are working on the shape of that farm bill. NCRLC joins a number of collaborative partnerships to
create new farm bill and food policies.
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Global Climate Change (Spring 2005)
What is our moral response? Scientific evidence tells us that the earth's climate is changing
andwe can expect various impacts during our lifetime and future generations. This issue of Catholic
Rural Life considers the need for an immediate public response to the phenomenon of global climate
change. Can we set forth a moral standard that helps us to live in an equitable and sustainable way
on God's good earth?
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Our (Catholic) Localism (Winter 2004)
Local economies, local food systems, local control: the word local seems tobe a reaction to the
globalization process in general. This issue of Catholic Rural Life explores the concept of the
local economy, doing so with a focus on Jane Jacobs and her life-long work on the nature of
economies.
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Economic Development for Rural Communities (Spring 2004)
This issue of Catholic Rural Life examines local community development within the world dynamic
of "globalization". In the rural context,globalization is frequently felt as a disruptive economic activity
and a challenge to local cultures. This issue testifies to our intellectual and activist orientation. In the
words of our partners in the world social forum: "Another world is possible."
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Our Food: Making the Connection (Fall 2003)
Our food system is provided high subsidies that benefit large food producers, processors and retailers
while the quality of our food has often deteriorated. Our food is irradiated, genetically modified, doctored
by "taste experts" and reduced in nutritional quality. This issue of Catholic Rural Life explores the
relationships between food production, processing, retailing and public health through the lens of nutrition.
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Water in the Web of Life (Spring 2003)
Water is a religious symbol for the life of grace. We become one in the web of life, one with Water and one
with Wisdom. Water is a sacramental symbol. We use it in baptism, in liturgical blessings and entrance
rites. Water is necessary for life. In this issue of Catholic Rural Life we explore the increasing concern
about the quality and quantity of clean, fresh water. The articles in this issue explore water-related projects
from around the United States, leading to the need for a "water ethic".
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Sustainability and Creation (Part II) (Fall 2002)
In the Spring 2002 issue, we explored themes relevant to sustainable development. We promised a second
edition of the magazine on the same theme. This is it! The articles in this issue of Catholic Rural Life
should provide clarity concerning the issues and values that characterize present debates about sustainable
development. Our writers have risen to the occasion to present concisely where their perspectives highlight
dramatic differences between a Christian perspective and those of some of our leaders on the world stage.
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Sustainability and Creation (Part I) (Spring 2002)
Sustainable development is a growing issue in the public consciousness. A basic question many are
examining is how to live now so as to provide a quality of life for future generations. In June 2002,
representatives of the world community will meet in Rome for a follow up to the World Food Summit of
1996. Later, in September, thousands will converge on Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the World
Summit on Sustainable Development. NCRLC plans to be represented at both meetings. This issue of
Catholic Rural Life explores themes related to sustainability.
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The Care of Community (Fall 2001)
This issue of Catholic Rural Life deals with a vital area of concern: regional food policy. From the
Northeast to the Southwest, from down South to the Northern Plains, regional perspectives are presented
dealing with distinct circumstances relative to food production, consumption and marketing. Each area has
a diverse situation, and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference believes it is wise to revel in the
diversity of rural life.
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A Community of Care (Spring 2001)
Spring has finally come. At least that’s our hope having spied a few robins and seen some daffodils
sprouting from the earth. But the coming of spring does not herald the hopes of many in rural America that
their financial, emotional, familial struggles will now subside. This issue of Catholic Rural Life speaks
concretely to the range of concerns that remain with us in rural America. We still need to drink deeply of the
springs of Catholic Social and Environmental Teaching. There we will find some of the resources which
will frame the lens through which current concerns may constructively be viewed.
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Convictions and Challenges (Fall 2000)
As we enter the dawn of a new millennium and move out of the Great Jubilee, it may be helpful to review
some of the convictions we bring to the challenges which are before us. This issue of Catholic Rural
Life suggests two key issues which will be part of the new century: biotechnology and immigration. Both
are part of the promise and prospects of a globalized world. A religious perspective on land and agriculture
is timely during a kairos moment such as the present. A retrieval of NCRLC’s ethical heritage concerning
food and agriculture, as well as a reflection on the Eucharist as a pivot image for thinking about the food
system, are essential elements of a new consciousness for a new dawn.
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Building Communities of Healing, Creativity and Justice (Spring 2000)
This issue of Catholic Rural Life brings together presentations given at our last two annual meetings of
the Conference. These meetings have focused on the Jubilee and on healing and creativity in rural America.
While the farm crisis in rural America continues to bleed out, we felt that there was some need to look at
what potentially are positive forces at work. As Christians, we ascribe to the paschal mystery, the dying
and rising of Jesus, so beautifully symbolized by the cycle of the seasons with which many of us are
blessed in the startling movement from winter to spring. Winter’s stasis gives way to spring renewal, just
as Calvary gives way to Easter.
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