Stewardship and Catholic Farming, by Alexandra Greeley

By Alexandra Greeley, Catholic Exchange, Aug. 6, 2022

A convert to Catholicism, Alexandra Greeley is a food writer, restaurant critic, and cookbook author, who is passionate about every aspect of the food world — from interviewing chefs to supporting local farmers and to making the connection between food and faith. …

According to Genesis 1:29-30, God created the garden of Eden depicting the growth of plants and animals and forming humans as farmers to care for the soil. Then in John 15:1, Jesus tells people that His Father is a farmer, underscoring for life the importance and gravity of farming. After all, without God’s food raised by farmers, humans would not exist.

These messages are universal and timeless, and Catholic American farmers have an inspiring resource nationally that connects their rural life with their faith—Catholic Rural Life. As its Executive Director, James Ennis, noted, Pope John Paul II visited Iowa in 1979, and spoke to a crowd of over 300,000 people. “What he said to those people affirmed that all who are involved in agriculture are supported by the Church,” said Ennis. “Catholicism is supportive of this ancient vocation to care and cultivate the land, and to provide food security for the world.”…

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