VISION SPOTLIGHT
COURTESY OF THE MONKS OF NEW MELLERAY
Rural religious take to the highways and byways
by Carol Schuck Scheiber
BROTHER JOSEPH Kronebusch, O.C.S.O. tends to lilies on the grounds of New Melleray Monastery in Iowa. The flowers are not only beautiful but also provide habitat for endangered pollinators.
With nonurban areas in the United States making up 97 percent of the land but only 19 percent of its population, religious serving in rural ministries cover a lot of ground. Here’s a look at some of the ways sisters, brothers, and priests are making inroads in America’s backcountry.
W
HILE THE GLORIES of God’s creation are often writ large in pastoral settings with waving wheat and mountains majesty, life in rural America is not without its problems. Joblessness, isolation, addiction, pollution, and lack of access to infrastructure, internet, safe water, food, and healthcare all rank as significant challenges for people living in the country. Religious communities have gone out of their way in more ways than one to meet these challenges. In the following pages, VISION shines a spotlight on the positive impact religious are having on the U.S. rural landscape.
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