Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Winona "Harvest Mass" celebrates farm life and the abundance of God’s green Earth

.
If anyone knows about faith, it has to be farmers. That’s why Maurice and Rita Young’s Plainview, Minn., dairy farm made for the perfect setting for the 17th annual Winona diocese’s Harvest Mass on Tuesday morning.

Several hundred people attended the outdoor Mass led by Bishop Bernard Harrington.

Fields became parking lots, wood planks on hay bails the pews. A flatbed trailer held the altar.

The Harvest Mass rotates among 115 rural parishes. The first was celebrated in 1990 at Dan and Barb Kasel’s farm in Taopi, Minn., and last year’s held at John and Awanda Siebenahler in Luverne, Minn.

“It’s a time for us to celebrate rural life, and have people come together to pray,” said Rev. Tom Melvin, director of vocation for the Winona Diocese.

Rural life joined in the service as tractors rumbled in the background, bees buzzed, birds sang and cows mooed during the Mass.
[snip] Winona Daily News Tip O' the Hat to Susan at St Mary's U

No comments: