Some churches to distribute organic palms for Passion Sunday

Published: 2006-03-30

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- About 30 Catholic churches are among the 280 Christian congregations nationwide that will be distributing certified organic palm fronds on Passion Sunday. The palm fronds, which come from the Upper Peten region of Guatemala and Chiapas state in southern Mexico, were marketed by the University of Minnesota's Department of Forest Resources. According to RaeLynn Jones Loss, program coordinator for the forest resources department, about 80,400 palm stems were to be shipped in time for services April 9. "Next year we'll be able to ship more," Jones Loss said. This year, there were only three suppliers. "Next year we hope to be able to have four or maybe five." The fronds are cut within regional forests. "They don't fertilize forests," so the fronds are certifiably organic by the Rainforest Alliance and its affiliate, the Forest Stewardship Council, Jones Loss told Catholic News Service in a March 29 telephone interview from St. Paul, Minn.

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