Msgr. James Shea sometimes wishes he could be back on his childhood farm in South Dakota making hay. It was usually beautiful weather as he cut the alfalfa and watched the feed for the cattle accumulate before his eyes.
There were chores he didn’t like, though. Picking rocks and shoveling grain were usually dusty, unpleasant tasks.
Despite the occasional unpleasant chore, “it was an amazing way to grow up,” said Msgr. Shea, now president of the University of Mary in Bismark, North Dakota, and a speaker lined up to address those gathered May 8 at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul for the 100th anniversary celebration of St. Paul-based Catholic Rural Life. A regular guest on Relevant Radio, which airs the “Practicing Catholic” show, Msgr. Shea spoke with “Practicing Catholic” producer Kayla Mayer about some of the ways growing up on a farm influenced his life.
The oldest of eight children, Msgr. Shea said the seed for his vocation was planted on the farm.
“In rural life, I was able to witness the generosity of my mom and dad and of all the people living in our small community, and I think that deeply marked me with the idea that my life was meant to be given away. That (was) the genesis of my vocation to the priesthood,” Msgr. Shea said.
Rural life can serve as a reminder to rely on God — a fundamental dependency people might forget in the busyness and the seeming self-sufficiency of city life, he said.
“You can’t embark on the world and the life of farming without a profound dependence upon God,” he said. “This is a great lesson for all of us in our lives because we can trick ourselves into an illusion where we think that it does really all depend upon us, and we’re only really calling on God in extreme or special circumstances … We have to live in a state of constant dependence (on God). I think rural life, and farming in particular, teaches that like nothing else can.”
Msgr. Shea said the benefits of rural life are not exclusive to people who live on farms. People in the city can escape to the silence of churches or the stillness of nature in parks, he said.
“For those of us who live the city life … spending time in the quiet of churches and allowing that stillness and silence to steep into us reminds us of what we were made for,” he said.
At the Catholic Rural Life celebration in May, Msgr. Shea will be joined by Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who also grew up on a farm and will be the keynote speaker for the event.
For more information about the celebration and to purchase a ticket, visit catholicrurallife.org/100-years/. And tune into “Practicing Catholic” when it airs at 9 p.m. March 22 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, or when it repeats at 1 p.m. March 23 and 2 p.m. March 24.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the latest show also includes a discussion with Father Boniface Hicks and Peter Yurek about the Minneapolis-based Catholic Charismatic Renewal Office’s upcoming conference. Also, Andrea Krautkramer, the small group coordinator from St. Hubert in Chanhassen, encourages all Catholics to join a small group, and she discusses what one could gain from doing so.
Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingCatholicShow.com or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
