Kansas diocese marks Rural Life Day with Mass, talk on resources

Published: 2007-05-24

SALINA, Kan. (CNS) -- Convincing Americans how to be better stewards of their natural resources has been a 30-year quest for the Land Institute of Salina. "We need to turn things around right away," Ken Warren, the institute's managing director, told members of the Salina Diocese's Rural Life Commission at Rural Life Day activities coinciding with the May 15 feast of St. Isidore, the patron saint of farmers and rural communities. The day concluded with a Mass celebrated by Salina Bishop Paul S. Coakley at Immaculate Conception Church in Solomon. Warren said the best description he's read of what the Land Institute does is promoting "nothing less than the overthrow of agriculture as we know it." He was quick to say, however, that the institute does not disparage farmers. "It's a problem of agriculture," he said. "We've had it wrong for a long time." What institute founder Wes Jackson and his staff want to do is reverse the depletion of soil, water, oil, minerals and air.

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