Hospers' parish cluster honors farming community with Mass

By Kenny Keane, Globe staff reporter
Posted November 28, 2002

HOSPERS - St. Francis of Assisi said that we are just stewards of mother earth. Along with God, we are co-creators particularly when it comes to farming.

With that in mind, Father John Vakulskas, pastor of St. Mary Church in Alton and St. Anthony Church in Hospers, approached the parish board of St. Anthony's with the idea of holding a Mass of thanksgiving for the agricultural community.

"First of all, this is an agriculturally-based economy around here, whether it's straight out of the ground farming, or we raise a lot of cattle and hogs as well," he said. "We hope to leave the earth in better shape than we found it. It's producing a good living for everyone.

"So we needed, in my opinion, to be reminded spiritually of the tremendous, not only opportunity we have here, but also the tremendous responsibility that we have in the farming community."

Father Vakulskas first brought the idea to the parish board at their meeting this past September. After a month of thinking it over, when the board gathered for its October meeting they decided to go ahead with the project.

Since it was getting later in the fall with colder weather, a local farmer, Tom Konz, who is also a member of the parish board, offered his farm as the first site for the Mass, particularly because he has a heated machine shed.

"I thought it was a very nice event to have here," Konz said. "Our parish has never had anything like this happen. To have this take place on my farm was quite an honor."

The Mass was held at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 23. There were chairs and boards available to sit on for those in attendance. After Mass, people stayed for coffee and rolls as well as a chance to visit.

Konz said that approximately 90-100 people attended the service, which included parishioners from all three parishes in the cluster including St. Anthony's and St. Mary's as well as St. Joseph's in Granville, along with those from neighboring parishes.

However, according to Father Vakulskas, a few additional attendees added to the success of the Mass.

"People there included not just Catholics but people who are not Catholic as well," he said. "I'll tell you what, this blew me away. It was just a great experience, especially to find out that people who are not even Catholic came in because they know the importance of not taking our blessings for granted."

That was the message that Father Vakulskas shared with the congregation during this special Mass, particularly in response to the difficulties the farming community in that area encountered this fall.

"We had some hailstorms this fall, especially right before the harvest, and I commended them for hanging in there with their faith life," he said. "Here they waited all year long for a good harvest, and then the hail took out especially the bean crops for a lot of them.

"So the message was that we're co-creators with our heavenly father in feeding the world with this renewable food resource. The Lord relies on us to feed the world."

According to Jeanne Jungers, who is also a member of St. Anthony's parish board, it was inspirational to have Mass in a non-traditional setting with a personal focus, especially for those living in a farming community.

"It kind of gets you excited about looking at Mass as not just going to the church every Sunday," she said. "It was a beautiful service with the focus of the Mass being on agriculture and being connected with nature and the earth."

Father Vakulskas said he plans to hold another Mass in the spring and again next fall making this a biannual event.

"In the spring what we'll do is distribute bottles of holy water for folks to take home and sprinkle it on the fields asking for God's intercession that all goes well," he said. "In the fall, we'll be celebrating the harvest. The Lord cares about his people, and the people take great pride in knowing that they are co-creators with God as part of his universe."