VIENNA, Mo. (OSV News) — Members of the Steinman family drew near to an altar made of wood from a barn their ancestors had built and used.
Under glass beneath the cloth, were funeral cards of those who had gone before them, marked with the sign of faith.
“We figured there had to be at least one saint among them,” a relative quipped.
There, at the edge of Steve and Carol Steinman’s family farm near Vienna — a farm they and their forebears have been cultivating since the 1880s — Bishop W. Shawn McKnight of Jefferson City offered the diocese’s inaugural Rural Life Mass the afternoon of Sept. 8.
Eight priests concelebrated, three deacons assisted and more than 350 people from throughout the diocese took part.
“Thanks be to God, we are here on this beautiful Sunday in the midst of glorious creation to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord,” the bishop stated.
He deemed it an ideal time and place to reflect on what Catholic rural life is all about.
“As Catholics, we recognize the value and importance of the family farm and the culture that is lived by those in rural America,” he said. “In the countryside, we are naturally closer to the earth and can experience the beauty of creation in a way we cannot in the city.”
“Because of our faith, we see the importance of being good stewards of God’s creation — something each one of us needs to do better, not just those who live in the country,” he said.
Father Matthew Flatley, pastor of Immaculate Conception Parish in Jefferson City, called to mind how Bishop McKnight had sent him and Father Colin Franklin to Minnesota five years ago to learn about the Catholic Rural Life organization.
“Shortly thereafter, we formed a diocesan chapter and started planning this Mass,” said Father Flatley. COVID-19 pandemic halted everything, but “now these wonderful folks have planned this Mass and worked to get the fire going again,” he said.
Hymns and prayers echoed off limestone bluffs above the Maries River Valley and out across a lake on the Steinman property. People seated in lawn chairs and on hay bales faced the altar under shady trees.
The weather was pristine.
Children from nearby Visitation Inter-Parish School drew the assembly together by singing “Open My Eyes, Lord.”
Representatives of each of the diocese’s five deaneries carried banners in the opening procession.
Members of local veterans organizations bore flags of the United States and of the Holy See.
Fourth-degree Knights of Columbus from Msgr. Kutz Fourth Degree Assembly 2811 in Westphalia served as the honor guard.
The choirs of Visitation Parish in Vienna, Holy Guardian Angels Parish in Brinktown, St. Aloysius Parish in Argyle and the St. Boniface Chapel in Koeltztown led the singing, accompanied by pianist Jacob Rowden, an eighth-grader at Visitation Inter-Parish School.
Bishop McKnight, in his homily, recalled growing up as a city dweller but spending a week every summer living and working on the Nebraska farm where his grandmother had grown up.
“I remember the shock and awe of being thrust into the life of a farm family,” he stated. “We were up before the crack of dawn and didn’t quit working until it grew dark.”
It was difficult, but he looked forward to it every year.
“My grandmother knew it was important for me to experience, see and hear the things that you get to see and hear on the farm,” he said. “It was her way of sharing more of herself with me.”
The bishop called to mind Pope Francis’ observation in “Laudato Si’,” his encyclical letter on care for creation, that human beings are meant to have regular contact with nature.
In that letter, the pope points to numerous pathologies that flow from people being cut off from the rest of creation. Of these, Bishop McKnight cited the isolation and loneliness many experience even in densely populated cities; a general breakdown in common courtesy and dignity people afford one another; and a growing prevalence of destructive, addictive behaviors.
The bishop called to mind the truth revealed in Genesis that every man and woman is created out of God’s love, in his image and likeness, and thereby possesses irrevocable dignity.
All people are intended to be in profound relationship with their Creator, each other and the rest of his handiwork.
While “nature” is often seen as an impersonal system, Bishop McKnight noted, creation “has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance.”
“This is the way our faith teaches us to see our world differently — that you and I were created for God and to live in community with others,” the bishop said.
Church teaching — specifically Catholic social teaching — draws the connection between the dignity of human life and everything else God spoke into existence.
“We are called to fulfill the biblical command to be stewards of creation,” said Bishop McKnight. “We have been given the responsibility, because of our human intelligence, to respect the laws of nature and to recognize the delicate balance between the creatures of this world.”
The bishop pointed to how the Mass epitomizes people’s relationship with God and his creation, in the offering of bread and wine — “the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands” that “will become for us the bread of life” and “our spiritual drink.”
After Communion, Bishop McKnight presented the Missouri Catholic Conference’s 2024 Citizen Recognition Award for the diocese to Russell Kremer of Frankenstein. The lifelong Our Lady Help of Christians parishioner is a nationally known advocate for sustainable livestock raising techniques that benefit farmers and consumers throughout the world.
Firefighters from Vienna and Argyle/Koeltztown fire departments grilled a meal to be served after Mass.
The event’s organizers hope it will become an annual event, with the Mass taking place in a different part of the diocese each year.
“Today, we’re shining a light on this treasure, this jewel that is Catholic rural life experience in central and northeastern Missouri,” said Father Flatley.
“Let us never take it for granted,” he stated. “We protect it and hold onto it while it is ours and continue to unpack it and pass it on to the next generation, this treasure in our hearts.”
Helen Osman, who grew up in Meta and serves as a diocesan consultant for pastoral planning and the international Synod on Synodality, worked with the organizing committee to promote the Rural Life Mass.
“It was a beautiful example of when people step up to the plate and do what they know they can do,” she told The Catholic Missourian, Jefferson City’s diocesan newspaper.
Everyone involved brought his or her talent and expertise forward, and everyone did their part, she said.
The result was a celebration of hospitality and community, which are hallmarks of Catholic worship.
“Rural life itself is very Catholic because it’s very much about community,” Osman stated.
Most people who live in rural areas understand that they can’t survive or thrive in isolation. “We have to be good neighbors and rely on our neighbors.”
Carol Steinman, whose family hosted the Mass, thanks God every day when she sees the sun rise and watches it set.
For her, it really is God’s country.
“We live a rural life and we appreciate our neighbors and our friends and we are doing anything and everything we can to keep God in our lives, and we just are so blessed,” she said.
She talked about growing up in a community built around faith, family, friendship and farming. “It’s such a blessing to be here,” she said.
People in rural communities have known for generations how to depend on each other, she said. But it’s getting more difficult to pursue farming as a sole livelihood.
“My husband and I both work 40-hour weeks somewhere else, and then we come home and farm the rest of the time,” she noted.
She’s concerned that the economics of farming make it hard for young people to take up the profession. To those who do, she advised: “Take it one day at a time and pray for God’s blessing.”
Laurie Forner of St. Paul, Minnesota, program manager for the Catholic Rural Life organization, came to Missouri for the Mass.
She grew up on a 160-acre farm, “and it just seemed like the right size for the family to work together, neighbors to help each other, for you to be able to make enough food for yourself and support local businesses,” she said.
For her, rural life is “the good life,” she said. “It’s a place where God is always tapping you on the shoulder about his creation.”
It’s neighbors helping neighbors, families helping families, with God at the center.
Jay Nies is editor of The Catholic Missourian, newspaper of the Diocese of Jefferson City.
