Members of St. Mary Parish-Wilton celebrate a Rural Life Mass at Chad and Amanda Rockow’s farm in rural Stockton on March 22.
By Lindsay Steele
The Catholic Messenger
A larger-than-expected crowd gathered in a machine shed on Chad and Amanda Rockow’s farm in rural Stockton to celebrate St. Mary Parish-Wilton’s first Rural Life Mass. There was an “overwhelming response from St. Mary’s parishioners of all ages to support this unique opportunity to grow their faith outside the church walls, to take our everyday farm life and share it with the congregation,” Chad said. “We had to bring out more seating.”
Parish Life Coordinator Deacon Dan Freeman, whose diocesan assignment is promoting Catholic Rural Life, spoke with the Rockows last fall about his desire to host Mass on a farm. Catholic Rural Life, for which the Mass takes its name, is a national, Catholic nonprofit organization promoting Catholic life in rural America. “I wanted to help my parish recognize the presence of God throughout our daily rural life activities and I thought that the spring season would be a great time to begin,” the deacon said.
He asked the couple if they knew anyone in the parish with a large barn or building who might be interested in hosting a rural Mass. The couple felt they had the space and experience to host. They had replaced their machine shed with a large, temperature-controlled unit after the 2020 derecho and hosted their children’s graduation parties in the space. “From the moment Deacon Dan came to us with this idea I had felt like this was something we needed to do,” Amanda said. “We represent our rural farming community and we wanted to be able to give this opportunity to our church family.”
In January, a committee of rural parishioners from St. Mary prayed, brainstormed and planned for the Mass. “It was amazing the resources each (person) brought to the committee: wedding decorations, pews from an old church that were repurposed for benches, hay bales, and a vision,” Amanda said.
On March 22, the morning of the Mass and potluck, committee members and their families assembled at the Rockow farm to clean, set up and “create a space for the Lord to be present,” Amanda said. Parishioners printed programs, brought missalettes, vestments and sacred vessels from the church and hooked up a sound system, among other tasks. The Rockows’ dog, an Australian shepherd named Finn, served on “pet patrol.”
More than 130 people attended Mass and the potluck that followed. “We asked parishioners to bring farm and garden seeds to be blessed as well as recognizing God’s presence in the renewed growth of plants, animals and warmer temperatures,” Deacon Dan said.
Father Bud Grant’s homily centered on the Sunday Gospel reading (Luke 13:1-9) as it relates to the misfortunes that people experience. “God does not cause harm to anyone, for any reason, ever,” Father Bud, the parish’s sacramental minister, said in a later interview with The Catholic Messenger. “Whatever happens in nature is according to the divine order of the universe, and that is the world that is well known to farmers.” He encouraged the congregation to use their God-given reasoning and free will to identify and choose good by practicing forgiveness and taking care of one another and the rest of God’s creation.
Amanda worried there wouldn’t be enough food for the potluck, “but boy was there a spread. No one walked away hungry, and it was all so delicious.”
“So many people worked so hard to plan and execute this Mass and the amazing meal that followed,” Father Bud said. “They even had a 4-wheeler shuttle to get (guests) to the nearest bathroom.” He said the only downside was that Deacon Dan, who planted the seed for the event was ill and unable to attend.
The parish plans to make the Catholic Rural Life Mass a yearly event. While the Rockows are willing to host again, “we would love for other parishioners to experience the awe of hosting a rural Mass as well,” Amanda said. “It was a unique opportunity and experience.”
