Cultivating Soil and Soul: Twentieth-Century Catholic Agrarians Embrace the Liturgical Movement

by Michael J Woods

Overview

Even before Vatican Council II, individuals like Virgil Michel and Catholic social movements like the National Catholic Rural Life Conference attempted to promote greater social justice by reconnecting rural life in the United States with the liturgical life of the church. Efforts to remedy this dislocation between agrarian life and church liturgy meshed the liturgical year with the rural agricultural cycle. The introduction of devotions, sacramentals, ritual, music, dance, poetry, and dramatic performances helped farmers rediscover the sacramental character of the soil and all the elements of agrarian life that emerge from it. Those interested in issues of social justice, sacramental engagement, and even the development of the vernacular in the liturgy will explore these and other topics in this unique archival investigation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814662366
Publisher:	Liturgical Press
Publication date:	01/01/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	320
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Woods, SJ, STD, is assistant professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University, teaching liturgical and sacramental theology. His interests focus on the relationship between liturgy and life, especially as they pertain to ecological sustainability. He is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations xi

Preface xiii

Introduction xvii

Chapter 1 Christ to the Country, the Country to Christ! 1

Edwin V. O'Hara and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference 1

Tilling the Soil-The Liturgical and Rural Life Movements, 1920-1930 14

Sowing Seeds-The Liturgical and Rural Life Movements, 1930-1940 27

Chapter 2 Liturgy Is God-Conscious and Land-Conscious 34

Harvesting the First Fruits: The Liturgical and Rural Life Movements, 1940-1950 35

The American Grail Movement and the NCRLC 47

Sharing the Bounty: The Liturgical and Rural Life Movements, 1950-1960 54

Chapter 3 A Liturgist Shocks Corn: The Rural Life Movement at St. John's University 66

Virgil Michel's Agrarian Roots 67

The Institute for Social Study at St. John's 69

Course in Catholic Background and Current Social Theory 75

The Cooperative Movement and the Liturgical Movement 80

Virgil Michel the Anti-Urbanist? 82

A Rural Sacramentality 86

Chapter 4 A Year in the Life of a Rural Parish 101

Advent and Christmas 102

The Lenten Season 105

The Easter Season 119

Tempus ad Annum 123

With the Blessing of the Church 127

Chapter 5 To Restore All Things in Christ! 136

Religious Vacation Schools 136

Farmers' Retreats 142

The Formation of Rural Leaders 146

Disseminating the Rural Life Message 160

Ars Ruralis 175

Chapter 6 Weaving Together Liturgy, Culture, and Justice 191

The Broken World 193

The New Agrarianism of Wendell Berry 197

Sacramentality and the Christian Theological Tradition 207

Culture as Constitutive of Sacramentality 211

Saints of the Soil: An Eschatological Epilogue 219

Looking Forward While Reaching Back 219

Monsignor George "Alfalfa" Hildner 224

Father Paul Brinker-The Tobacco Priest 228

Diocese of Springfield, Illinois-Spreading the Rural Faith 233

Monsignor Joseph Gremillion-A Southern Pastor 237

Appendices 248

Appendix I Rural Prayers and Devotions 248

Appendix II A Day of Christian Rural Living 251

Appendix III Suggested Ceremony for Thanksgiving Day 256

Appendix IV Lectures Given at the Institutes for Social Study Program, 1935-36 261

Appendix V Summary of Blessing of Seeds and Soil for the Feast of St. Isidore 263

Bibliography 265

Index 284

Editorial Reviews

This book represents a well-researched study of how two important movements in the life of the Church in this country not only intersected but supported one another.
Worship


It is a good read for anyone, not just those involved somehow in rural pastoral/liturgical ministry. This, because it constantly reminds us how liturgy is to be lived and how the rhythm of the liturgical year parallels the natural rhythms of the seasons of the year. Beyond a historical commentary on liturgy, this book is also valuable for promoting a broader take on sacramentality.
Liturgical Ministry


Woods provides some helpful example of liturgies that were born out of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference as well as some helpful profiles of individuals who were a part of the movement. Their witness is one we should all hear as we seek once again to rescue the sacred form both apathy and destruction. Michael Woods’s book is and excellent call to this new work.
Englewood Review of Books


Cultivating Soil and Soul is an intriguing book in which Father Michael Woods explores the connection between two vibrant movements in early 20th century American Catholicism: The rural life movement and liturgical renewal. By demonstrating the interaction between our order of worship and the natural order, Father Woods offers both a historical perspective as well as a theological insight into some of the precursors to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. For anyone who is interested in seeing how life and liturgy come together, Cultivating Soil and Soul is well worth the read.
Most Rev. Timothy M. Dolan
Archbishop of New York


Michael Woods’ exploration of the theological, liturgical and practical relationships between the American liturgical movement and the National Catholic Rural Life Conference is an historical study of these movements and their leadership – and so much more. Cultivating Soil and Soul addresses the sacramental quality of agrarian life, of the soil and the turning of the seasons. In an age when environmental consciousness is strong and when consumers are making deliberate choices about buying food which is locally produced, Woods provides the sacramental underpinnings of those choices and promotes the reestablishment of the liturgy-life-justice connection so obvious to the early reformers.
Kathleen Hughes, RSCJ


Michael Woods, SJ’s book is a timely story of the holistic vision of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and liturgical renewal before Vatican II. The agricultural vision was one of sustainability before that word became popular; the liturgical vision was unifying and inclusive, linking sustainability with sacramentality. Here a deepening spirituality is seen in its historical context. Wood’s telling of the story of these two linked movements is vital to the contemporary church’s self understanding. I heartily recommend it.
Brother David Andrews, CSC, Senior Representative: Food & Water Watch

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