ii The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us A Peopleʼs Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of

CATHOLIC COMMITTEE OF APPALACHIA Spencer,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia iii The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us A PEOPLE’S PASTORAL FROM THE CATHOLIC COMMITTEE OF APPALACHIA

© 2015 Catholic Committee of Appalachia. This text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Interna- tional license. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. This license does not apply to photographs or artwork contained herein. Artwork and photographs appearing herein are used with permission and remain the property of the respective artists and photographers.

Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from The Inclusive : The First Egalitarian Translation, copyright © 2007 Priests for Equality. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Cover and interior design by Liz Pavlovic, www.lizpavlovic.com

Front and back cover art by Christopher Santer, www.christophersanter.com

Printed in the USA by Morgantown Printing & Binding, Morgantown, W.Va.

First printing, December 2015

Published by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia (CCA) 885 Orchard Run Spencer, WV 25276 [email protected] www.ccappal.org www.peoplespastoral.org Facebook – www.facebook.com/groups/ccappalachia Twitter – @ThisLandIsHome

Contact CCA for additional copies. iv The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us For Walter Sullivan

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia v vi The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us CONTENTS

FOREWORD: CELEBRATING THE SEED GROWING ...... 1 INTRODUCTION ...... 2 Re-membering Our History in a Changing Church...... 3 Taking Our Place in the Story ...... 4 PART ONE OUR STORIES: THE GROUND OF OUR STRUGGLE ...... 6 The Challenge of Becoming a Church of the Poor ...... 7 The of the Poor and of Earth ...... 7 A Growing Chorus of Stories ...... 8 The Voice of the Land ...... 10 The Voices of Women ...... 12 The Voices of Coalfi eld Residents ...... 13 The Voices of Miners ...... 14 The Voices of Economically Vulnerable Communities ...... 16 The Voices of the Homeless and Imprisoned ...... 18 The Voices of Communities Impacted by the Oil and Gas Industry ...... 18 The Voices of People of Color ...... 21 The Voices of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgendered People ...... 23 Voices in Context: Coal, Capitalism, and Climate Change ...... 25 PART TWO OUR TRADITIONS: THE GROUND OF OUR ...... 28 Shaped By New Stories ...... 29 Integral Ecology and the Culture of Encounter ...... 35 The Place of God’s People: Israel and Empire ...... 37 Putting Jesus in His Place: The Jesus Movement in Galilee ...... 40 Practicing Resurrection in Crucifi ed Places ...... 42 The Spirit, the Giver of Life ...... 44 PART THREE OUR ACTIONS: THE GROUND OF OUR HOPE ...... 48 Becoming Appalachian Mystic Activists ...... 50 Transforming the Basis of Life ...... 51 Transforming Communities and Economies ...... 53 Transforming Politics ...... 54 Transforming the Churches ...... 55 A Message to Youth ...... 57 Conclusion ...... 58 INTERLUDE: A CERULEAN WARBLER SPEAKS ...... 32 AFTERWORD: A NEW GENERATION’S PLACE IN THE STORY ...... 61 NOTES ...... 63 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... 73

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia vii viii The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us FOREWORD: CELEBRATING THE SEED GROWING

As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of "This Land Is Home to Me" (1975) and the 20th anniversary of "At Home in the Web of Life" (1995), we fi nd ourselves mourning the loss of so many who contributed to these Appalachian pastoral letters in the telling of their story, facilitating the process, or signing the doc- uments. Such losses open us more and more to God, allowing us to let go like the seed that perishes in order to become the kernel of new life that rises again. As we engaged in conversation over a three-year period about a new letter we began to hear a seed growing: “Somewhere in the Cosmos a new redemp- tive reality has made a beginning and [has] become the source of new blessings.”1

When the bishops gathered at Vatican II, they described the Church as “the People of God”—not only the pope, bishops, and clergy, but the entire People of God. They further articulated in Gaudium et Spes how the Church was to be present in the modern world, and their key was dialogue. It is not a new thing for the Church as institution to lead and speak out on issues it chooses to take a stand on, on its own turf. It is a new thing for the Church to listen, truly listen, to what people are saying in their terms, on their turf. A listening Church listens to what might be painful such as “the burdens that women bear in a tradition that too often continues to make religion a form of female servitude.”2 speaks of the need for us to become a “messy” Church that is not afraid to take risks, thus, not afraid to acknowledge the messy realities of women’s lives, realities that challenge the Church’s current practices in many ways, realities that the Church must acknowledge in order to communicate the joy of the gospel to future generations. As Pope Francis himself says, “God is not afraid of new things.”

Never before has the Church needed so badly the presence and pain that is the prophet in our midst, whose only criteria is faithfulness to the Spirit. Pope Francis himself pointed to Dorothy Day as a model. The Catholic Worker is, and always has been, on the margins of the institutional Church. Its wealth lies not in its bigness nor its assets. Its wealth lies elsewhere, in its faithfulness to the Gospel and to the poor. We are seeing through Pope Francis that the Spirit is much harder on us than we are. Dying implies letting go and the Church does so reluctantly. We want to hang on to what we know, as opposed to a rising that we do not know. All three pastorals are in sync with Pope Francis. “Wisdom comes from listening to the holy faithful people of God. Listen, listen with the heart. And then let us walk together.”

Beth Davies, CND St. Charles, Virginia

1 This quote comes from Rosemary Radford Ruether’s foreword to Edwina Gateley, I Hear a Seed Growing: God of the Forest, God of the Streets (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1990/2010). 2 Catholic Women Speak Network, eds., Catholic Women Speak: Bringing Our Gifts to the Table (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2015).

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia ix Let me sing to you all those songs I know… Come along with me to some places that I’ve been… It’s sad, but the telling takes me home. —Utah Phillips1

2 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us Here in Appalachia, we are people of stories. These mountains have heard the stories we tell, and have told, across time and space. The mountains hold our stories, and they have stories of their own.

Our stories are the lifeblood that connects us to each other and to this land. Even those who have left these hills know the power of the telling that connects them to home.

Yet there are stories here a second pastoral letter followed, that separate us from one another as well, “At Home in the Web of Life,” false stories that alienate us which spoke of creation’s interconnectedness from our sisters and brothers and the need to create a sustainable future for all.3 and from Earth, given to us as a garden. Both of these letters spoke boldly When the story of these mountains as “resource” from our particular place on this planet takes over the story of the mountains as “home,” about our belief in a God of the poor, we become homeless in our own place, demanding justice and healing for God’s creation. and disconnected from Earth and one another.2 They spoke beyond the Catholic community, as diverse people heard in them Wherever we are, the longing for justice and whatever our relationship to these hills, found in the message of Jesus telling our stories and in the struggles of the human spirit connects us once again, across cultures throughout the world. takes us home, and gives us a place Today, the Catholic Committee of Appalachia (CCA) from which we can act for justice. offers this third pastoral letter as a prophetic word spoken RE-MEMBERING OUR HISTORY IN A for new realities among us. CHANGING CHURCH We recommit to reading the signs of the times, Forty years ago, listening to the stories people of faith in Appalachia set down their story of the places and people who hurt most, in a pastoral letter to create new paths forward called “This Land is Home to Me.” toward greater justice, peace, and wholeness A collaboration among laity, religious, clergy, for our communities and for creation. and bishops, In this statement, that letter refl ected the voices of the people we recognize a deepening ecological crisis and empowered new movements for justice. and new pressures on our struggling communities. Twenty years later,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 3 But we also offer a statement of hope, TAKING OUR PLACE IN THE STORY lifting up communities, organizations, and movements The stories we tell and pass along that are pointing us toward a better way, help us to remember, to make sense of our lives, a message for and from youth and to create meaning within them. about the future they desire, But powerful elites tell false stories and a statement which calls churches about this world and about their communities to reconnect with in the loudest of voices. local, regional, and global movements for justice. These stories refl ect values which are not in the best interest of everyday people, We offer this letter in a time especially those who are poor or vulnerable. of both disappointment and hope When powerful people in our communities, for people of faith who seek justice. our region, our nation, and even our church Many Catholics have mourned as we have watched abuse their power and tell false stories our community stray from its focus that shape our lives and our values, on social justice and peace reality can be distorted and injustice grows. revived at the Second Vatican Council. We have even felt deep betrayal But when common people retrieve the power as some church leaders valued to tell their own stories, institutional preservation profound liberation can occur. over the well-being of children abused by priests. People fi nd liberation in telling stories of struggle, However, during the planning of this pastoral, because these stories show us new signs of hope began to emerge. that things are not as they should be. In the , And people fi nd liberation, too, the election of the fi rst Black president, in telling stories of creativity, community, and justice, 5 the new visibility of women religious in public life, because in them we catch glimpses of a new world. new forms of progressive Evangelicalism, We have faith that a new world is possible and the surprise election of Pope Francis because we feel that yearning for a new world have all given encouragement and renewed energy across time and among diverse peoples. to movements who believe a new world is possible. We have faith in this new world, too, In this bewildering but exciting time in history, through our belief in Jesus of Nazareth. we have been reminded Jesus told stories of struggle and of hope, by the founding members of our movement parables rooted in the images that all of us, young and old, and stories of his people, must re-member our history and he confi rmed our hope in a new world as people of faith in Appalachia, through his death and resurrection. that is, to collect the pieces of the story, Jesus’ life reveals to us the source of his hope, to stitch it together again, the parental love of God to fi nd our places within it, which makes all things possible. and to retell the story for new generations.4 And so, in this “People’s Pastoral,” the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, along with our ecumenical friends and organizations, offers a message inspired by our shared stories.

4 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us By lifting up the authority of these stories, we Christians at the grassroots hope to contribute to the growing movement that is telling a new story about our region.

This is a pastoral message from the people themselves to our region, to the world, and to the churches, leaders and laity alike.

There is a psalm sung in our churches, which insists, “The Lord hears the cry of the poor.” In this People’s Pastoral, we Christians in Appalachia ask ourselves: The Lord hears the cry of the poor, but will we? And how will we respond?

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 5 OUR STORIES: THE GROUND OF OUR STRUGGLE

There are no jobs on a dead planet. —Judy Bonds

We won’t save places we don’t love. We can’t love places we don’t know. We don’t know places we haven’t learned. —Baba Dioum, paraphrased by Ched Myers6

6 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us THE CHALLENGE OF BECOMING A CHURCH where we fi nd ourselves, OF THE POOR must pause and honestly evaluate how we are doing in responding Our Appalachian pastorals to the call to be a “church of the poor.” painted rich pictures of what it means Can we really hear the cry of the poor, to follow Jesus of Nazareth in this place: and take our place among the excluded, if befriending the poor • to listen to the voices of the people, and marginalized is uncomfortable, especially the cry of the poor if we don’t always like what we hear • to give witness to the cost of humanity’s when we listen to their struggles and ideas, destructive relationship with Earth or if we have not begun to understand for both local communities our own poverty and dependence and the planet as a whole upon the gifts of God and one another? • to speak a prophetic word on behalf of a struggling human and wider Earth community • to form communities of justice and sustainability • and to imagine, through poetry and song, new pathways forward toward God’s Reign.

Forty years after the fi rst Appalachian pastoral, we are still learning what it means to “be church” in this particular place, but we have much to celebrate. After each pastoral was released, numerous ministries, communities, and initiatives fl owered throughout the region. Some were begun offi cially by the churches, If we are honest, we must admit that others by grassroots communities, there are still signifi cant challenges and still others by individual people of faith. to our ability to listen for God’s voice Lay people, women religious, and clergy in the very places we know it can be heard. continue to take their place in the region We acknowledge the need to serve God’s people, and creation, in the mountains. to make deep changes in our churches Individual Christians, too, have become involved and in our movements in the region’s many movements for justice. to bring down the barriers that separate people from one another. Members of the Catholic Committee of Appalachia, and the various churches THE MAGISTERIUM OF THE POOR and organizations we work with, AND OF EARTH have taken our place among those who struggle, listening most closely to the voices We remember and recommit of those most affected by the systems to hearing the voices of the poor and of Earth that crush God’s people and God’s creation. and to voices we are still learning to discern. Offi cial pronouncements and projects Still, each of us, have not always helped us to hear these voices. individually and in the communities But we remember the deep, Biblical truth

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 7 that the voice of God does not come Earth itself is a kind of magisterium from high places and halls of power with its own authority that must be respected.10 but rather in the still, small voices of the least of our sisters and brothers. To listen deeply to the authority We believe that the voices of the poor of the poor and of Earth in this way, are to be in some sense our fi rst teachers. and to recognize them— In fact, churches from around the world using Catholic language— have begun to call the authority of these voices as magisterium, the Magisterium of the Poor.7 is not to challenge the offi cial authorities of our churches, Catholic or otherwise, The fi rst Appalachian pastoral letter or to negate their proper functions. spoke of the authority of the poor this way: It is rather a recognition of the different gifts and roles [W]e must continually take time among the diverse Body of Christ11 and invest creativity and of the truth that there are authorities into listening to our people, to which all of God’s people, especially the poor. including the powerful, For it is they who, must bow in humility and reverence.12 out of their frustrations, This is the kind of church we in Appalachia dreams, and struggles, aspire to become. must lead the way for all of us.8

Taking a stand with those who are poor A GROWING CHORUS OF STORIES means taking a stand, too, for Earth, for we know both are deeply connected. People in Appalachia What we do to Earth, have not been afraid to “talk back” we do to the poor. to the stories others tell about us, And more, stories that place limits, we believe, like Pope Francis, that present caricatures, that Earth “is among the most abandoned that dominate our existence, and maltreated of our poor,”9 and that constrict our imaginations. abused and used up in ways When people at the grassroots that do not respect its integrity and limits. let our voices be heard, we take our place in the wider story of our region, our nation, our church and our world, challenging narratives that strangle, suffocate and suppress the Spirit and image of God among us.

And so before daring to offer any call to action, we have simply asked people in Appalachia, and in particular, those who are struggling,

8 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us a simple, but very profound question: • activists What is it like to be you?13 • people from diverse religious traditions And further, • people who have left the What is it like to be you in this place? • and people who have left the region.

We know that there are voices Many stories from Appalachia we have not heard closely enough in the past. are before our eyes and at our fi ngertips Some people within our communities almost daily in the media. have stories that we are only now beginning to hear. They are not diffi cult to fi nd, Others are victims of exclusion and at times— that this global economy has created as in the case of mine disasters in more recent years. and other tragedies— they are almost impossible to avoid. In this People’s Pastoral, we have expanded the scope of our listening Like many Americans, in various ways: and people throughout the world, people of faith in Appalachia • listening sessions and conversations listened with deep concern held by CCA members to the stories of those affected and related church and secular groups by mine disasters at Sago in 2006 • our own experiences as advocates, and Upper Big Branch in 2010, ministers, and activists and to the experiences of 300,000 residents among struggling communities in the vicinity of Charleston, West Virginia • conversations and questionnaires whose water was contaminated by at Catholic parishes the Elk River chemical spill in 2014. and other faith communities, Those of us who take a deeper interest and online in the experience of people in Appalachia, • and close attention to organizations, and actively seek out their stories, activists, and journalists in Appalachia might encounter a story like that of who have documented people’s stories a three-year-old child from Inman, Virginia in their communities. who in 2004 was crushed in his bed by a boulder that rolled from a mountaintop removal site We have heard stories from: into the side of his house.14

• residents of mountain communities Stories like these • working people have the power to shake many of us • homeless out of our blindness. • women They reveal reality to us in new ways, • youth prompt new questions, • people of color and set us on a path toward • Native people changing the social circumstances • Latinas and Latinos that create such tragedies. • gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people At the same time, • sex workers focusing only on these high profi le stories • women religious can hide the stories of daily life

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 9 in Appalachian communities. THE VOICE OF THE LAND It seems we become aware for a moment, and then we go back to our regular lives The story of the land itself in Appalachia, once the tragedy is “resolved,” and its destruction at the hands of industry, or at least once it disappears is a good starting point from our televisions and social media. because the poverty which the land suffers is central to the story of our region. When tragedies like these happen, Although some of the most severe well-meaning people try to comprehend of the land’s wounds are hidden from sight but often think through stereotypes, asking away from our cities “When will these people in Appalachia learn? and the traffi c of our interstates, When will they start to take pride once we see the truth of these wounds, in themselves, it is diffi cult to forget Earth’s anguish. and in where they live? And whether we are aware of it or not, And when will they change the poverty of the land and demand a better life for themselves is something all of us, and for their children?” no matter who we are, share in one way or another.

In many ways, people in Appalachia are just as alienated from the rest of creation as other people throughout the world. But some Appalachians retain a reverence for the land that lies at the heart of the region’s culture.

Geologists tell us that this land is home to some of the oldest mountains on Earth. Answering these questions is not easy Biologists tell us that these mountains are home because the problems are complicated, to some of the most diverse soil, plant, and political, economic, cultural, and environmental and animal life on the planet. patterns are so deeply rooted. Countless songs have been written But these questions themselves are misguided, by Appalachian singers because they are shaped by the stories which breathe images of mountains, told by powerful interests trees, fl owers, rivers, streams, which do not allow the people and animal life to have a voice of their own. into memorable melodies that remind us of home. So in our movements for justice we have learned the importance Likewise, “At Home in the Web of Life” of changing the story poetically described the natural beauty by fi rst changing the questions, of God’s creation in Appalachia: and we look to the voices of ordinary people and of the land as the only appropriate starting place.

10 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us To live in these mountains and forests, Although coal is less important today and with their trees and plants and animals, in terms of jobs and economic livelihood, is truly to dwell in Earth’s community of life, coal still touches everything in Appalachia, as one of God’s awesome cathedrals. even if only in our minds, In this magnifi cent work of God’s creation, or as a source of a proud heritage. • misty mountain haze is holy incense, • tall tree trunks are temple pillars, In the last twenty years, • sun-splashed leaves are stained glass, the practice of strip mining has become • and song-birds are angelic choirs.15 increasingly mechanized and severe, and its most violent form Many Appalachians, has been dubbed “mountaintop removal.”17 especially those who live close to desecrated places, This form of mining utterly desecrates the land have come to believe that Jesus’ commandment and has become disturbingly widespread. to love and serve one’s neighbor Mountaintop removal has become includes a special love for our neighbor, Earth. well known to people When we really befriend the land, both inside and outside Appalachia. we become attuned to Earth’s voice, As awareness grows, convinced that increasing numbers of people have begun “The land will talk to us. to oppose it, It will tell us things.”16 perhaps most especially people outside of the region.

In many cases, the process begins with clear-cutting and burning Earth’s forests and rich topsoil. Massive amounts of explosives blow apart the peaks of mountains to expose the coal seams inside. The rubble that is produced, called “overburden” by the industry, is pushed into nearby valleys, covering the headwaters of streams and disturbing or destroying diverse communities of wildlife.

Though many of us have a deep sense The coal extracted from Earth’s body of the sacredness of the land, is washed with toxic chemicals. logging and mining industries The waste from cleaning, entered these mountains after the Civil War, called slurry, and since then have threatened is stored in giant ponds, Appalachian ecosystems, often tucked out of sight, including human communities, but perilously close to human communities as the region’s economy became dependent who are at risk of inevitable leaks, spills, fl oods, on taking resources from Earth and other accidents. on increasingly massive scales.

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 11 Mountaintop removal is an act but also in the family, of radical violence that leaves in the wider community, monstrous scars across Earth’s body and in the region’s male-centered economy. resembling moonscapes, dead zones on our planet We heard the story, for example, which cannot be restored to their prior of a young single mother in Virginia life-giving condition in our lifetimes. who did not fi nish high school Many people who see these wounds up close but decided to pursue a GED lament: and a college education to become an accountant. “This land is deader than dead can be,” She lived at home, and “This is what the end of the world and her parents, especially her father, looks like to me.”18 resented her participation in college courses. Since she had children, they thought she should be home with them, THE VOICES OF WOMEN “teaching them the Bible.” When it came time for fi nals, People frequently connect her parents forbade her to take them the assault they see infl icted upon nature because she had work to do at home. with the abuse of women. She did as she was told, When they lament the rape of Earth, and one day when her father was this strong language is not clearing land and burning brush in a fi re, merely a fi gure of speech, she made her father proud but points to the real and violent ways by burning her school books and papers. that the bodies of women After destroying her dreams on that pyre, are violated, abused, and exploited she went back to the house and cried. in acts of power and possession. Eventually, she left her parents’ house, Just as we humans have viewed ourselves and their control, as masters and owners of nature, and went back to school to become a nurse.19 history shows how women have been treated as objects without value or voice.

Women continue to face signifi cant barriers in our region which make fullness of life diffi cult. Although sexism still permeates North American society in so many ways, it remains unusually tenacious in this region. Sexism is transmitted and upheld through church traditions which explicitly or implicitly misuse scripture and faith traditions to justify the exclusion, domination, and abuse of women. Women’s roles continue to be limited Although stories like these are still common, not only in churches, the experiences of women, like the stories of others considered inferior,

12 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us can become a source of a desire for change. We have seen communities Thus women are often the ones leading the way where creeks run orange with acid, to justice in our mountain communities.20 where faucets spit grey or brown liquid, and where mothers bathe their children in arsenic-laced waters. THE VOICES OF COALFIELD RESIDENTS Where water is poisoned, Over the last twenty years, life cannot thrive. we have heard stories from communities We have heard stories from communities who live in close proximity whose streams are no longer alive to extreme forms of mining with fi sh and other life, like mountaintop removal. whose once fertile fruit trees are lifeless, Not all coalfi eld residents whose soil is contaminated experience the same threats, and unable to produce gardens. and many feel the benefi ts of the coal industry outweigh We have heard the experiences the costs associated with mining. of those living life amid the suffocating threats Still, we listen most closely to the stories of fl yrock and coal dust. of those who continue to cry out for life Coalfi eld communities have long known in the face of destruction. the effects of poor air and water quality on their bodies, seeing rates of

• asthma • cancers and tumors • disease • lung disease • kidney stones • rashes • burning eyes • birth defects • and stillbirths

increase among the people, even among the young.21 The stories of the destruction of the ecosystem An increasing number of scientifi c studies bleed into the stories of the people. confi rm what coalfi eld residents The stories are one because, have known directly for many years.22 as people native to this land believed, and “At Home in the Web of Life” echoed, Flooding has long been associated the web of life is one. with coal mining activities. Those of us in coalfi eld communities We have heard story after story see very clearly the connection between of the poisoning of water— mining, erosion, and fl ooding. streams, rivers, lakes, wells, McRoberts, Kentucky, for example, and entire community water supplies. endured fi ve major fl oods within a span of eighteen months,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 13 following an increase in mining activity, a condition some are calling solastalgia.24 after not having any fl ooding Studies have confi rmed higher rates in nearly 45 years.23 of depression in the coalfi elds, often related to this loss of place.25 These tragedies and others, People of faith would be right deemed “acts of God” by industry, to consider this grief are fresh on our minds in Appalachia, a kind of spiritual death. such as the slurry spill in Martin County, Kentucky in October 2000. Time and time again, Early in the morning, our people in the coalfi elds feel a two billion gallon slurry pond, that they are “not treated like humans,” owned by Massey Energy, broke, that they “do not count,” releasing 300 million gallons of black sludge that even the dead are disrespected into the , Big Sandy, and Ohio Rivers. as family cemeteries are As a result, the water supply isolated from access or even destroyed of 27,000 people was contaminated. at the hands of mining projects.26 The spill was thirty times as large as the Exxon Valdez oil spill of 1989. Massive coal fl y ash spills occurred THE VOICES OF MINERS in Roane County, Tennessee in 2008 and on the Dan River in North Carolina in 2014. The voices of our coal miners, and their families and friends, The stories coming from these communities are often pitted against the voices contain strong elements of fear— of our environmentalists by politicians and mainstream media alike • fear of blasting who tell a simplistic story • fear of accidents of a “new Civil War” in Appalachia. • fear of fl ooding For people of faith, • fear of contaminated water this competitive view is untrue • fear of the loss of land because the beauty of God’s creation • fear of disease and poor health demands the dignity of the whole: • fear of the future Earth, the human person, and all of God’s creatures. • fear of being ostracized in the community Therefore, the stories of Appalachians should they speak of their experiences who have made their livelihood • and fear of being voiceless in the region’s mines in their communities must be honored or in their options for life and held sacred as well. that are available to them. Many parts of Appalachia, but not all, Extreme mining activity destroys have relied on coal mining a person’s sense of place and of home as an occupation and way of life along with the landscape. since the rise of industrialization People living in mining areas in the late nineteenth century. in Appalachia and beyond The coal industry was responsible for often grieve the loss of home the founding of entire towns in Appalachia. as they would the loss of a dear friend,

14 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us Some parts of Appalachia The disasters at Sago and Upper Big Branch even came to be called “coal country,” touched many hearts. or “the coalfi elds,” Reports on those disasters revealed as a coal-centered economy took over systemic problems in the mining industry every aspect of life. and among their political allies, problems that miners and their families As the values of an increasingly have known for decades. industrialized American mainstream Mining companies, came into confl ict with those of the earlier especially those with non-union mines, subsistence-based Appalachian society, have a dark “history of inadequate that confl ict also became a story commitment to safety.”28 of struggle between the companies Accidents are not as random as they appear, and the workers. but are the result of a culture of disregard That long struggle, for worker safety. symbolized in events such as Coal industry villains come and go, the in West Virginia, but the attitude which places profi t above safety resulted in greater unionization of the workplace, is deeply embedded in the coal economy.29 and with it, greater safety regulations, more adequate pay and benefi ts, and a greater measure of job retention.

Despite progress in the early twentieth century, the struggle for worker justice continues as global energy corporations still seek ways of increasing profi t at any cost, including the health and well-being of the human persons who do the daily work. And as that struggle continues, the great stories of the worker justice in Appalachia are often forgotten, and even intentionally buried. Over lunch at a diner in Preston County, West Virginia, Miners still struggle regularly we heard stories from union against attempts to roll back and non-union miners alike hard-won victories of better pay and benefi ts. who are concerned about continued People of faith, unsafe conditions in Appalachia’s mines. including laity, religious, and clergy, Inadequate ventilation, have stood with retired miners buildup of fl ammable coal dust, in public protests against the attempt and unsafe movement of equipment by a handful of mining companies that is often outdated or defective to eliminate health and retirement benefi ts are problems cited in union by spinning off their union mines and non-union mines alike. into new subsidiary companies We heard the story of a miner and then fi ling for bankruptcy.27 who worked as a contractor in the mine at Sago, West Virginia,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 15 and moved to a new site just months before is met with the threat of layoffs and shutdowns. the January 2, 2006 explosion Unemployed miners stand ready trapped 13 miners underground for two days, to take the jobs of those who “cause trouble,” killing all but one. so many miners tend to stay quiet He, and other miners as well, for fear of losing their jobs live and work in conditions and speak out carefully only at strategic moments. where the potential for another accident And many good people at the managerial level like Sago or Upper Big Branch struggle with the need to make a living is possible at almost any moment. while feeling complicit with workplace injustice. As one miner put it, In both union and non-union mines, “You’re not going to risk your job it is more profi table for companies if you got nothing coming in.” to pay the relatively small fi nes related to safety violations— THE VOICES OF ECONOMICALLY or to avoid taking responsibility VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES through lengthy litigation— than it is to follow regulations. Fear of losing or not fi nding work In addition to the risks of accidents, is worsening in many parts of Appalachia. the daily negligence surrounding It is not diffi cult, for example, the buildup of coal dust to fi nd the stories of the loss of coal mining jobs. has contributed to the resurgence A drive through the once bustling towns of black lung disease, of “coal country” will tell those stories. despite the passing of Coal jobs have been on the decline for decades the Federal Coal Mine Health and Safety Act and continue to plummet.31 of 1969.30 This loss of livelihood, While the differences without anything to replace it, between union and non-union mines is an old story in Appalachia are signifi cant in terms of pay and benefi ts, which has only worsened with time. we heard from miners, Even amid the boom and bust cycles particularly younger miners, the coal industry has experienced over time, who continue to raise questions other industries such as steel about the weakening of unions provided well-paying jobs well into the 1980s in the coal industry. in some parts of the region. The number of union mines continues to plummet, The U.S. free trade policies of the 1990s with mining companies doing anything they can encouraged manufacturing jobs to move to break the unions in their mines. to the global South, Companies owning union mines leaving far less opportunity for people use tactics designed to divide and conquer, to make a living and provide for their families.32 such as turning a blind eye to younger miners Economic development has largely focused who are often more reckless on the job, on attracting outside industries and the practice of hiring non-union contractors. to save the region through job creation. Many of these industries, Although organizing continues such as for-profi t prisons and military technology to contribute to better work conditions, often bring with them their own injustices.33 potential union activity

16 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us The most widespread jobs Entire towns, even whole counties, in many areas of Appalachia appear vacated, like ghost towns, are minimum wage service jobs throughout Appalachia.36 which are inadequate for making ends meet. Some communities, Job security is low, such as Lindytown, West Virginia, and companies continually weaken have even been bought out by coal companies the ability of workers to organize who raze what is left to the ground, and secure their rights. erasing them entirely.37 Unemployment and underemployment levels A Jesuit priest in McDowell County, West Virginia are still higher in the region than national averages.34 gestured toward a street of abandoned buildings Without work, some families as well as a coal processing plant are forced to rely on welfare payments towering over the town, and make the understandable choice to comparing the trauma experienced there “live off the system” to feed their children, to “being at a wake for a loved one.” while many young Appalachians feel they must leave the region We know communities in the region to pursue opportunities elsewhere. where a lack of jobs and opportunity makes people feel like “nobodies,” In the poorest parts of rural Appalachia, and where people lose faith the poverty rate can approach 25%. in the possibility of change for the better. High poverty rates combined And when despair dominates families with population decline and the closing of businesses and communities, can result in the creation of “food deserts,” they can come under the infl uence places where people live further than of alcohol and drug addiction. ten or twenty miles from the nearest grocery store. Indeed, addiction to painkillers such as OxyContin, In a global food system nicknamed “hillbilly heroin,” which produces vast amounts have become widespread in areas of cheap but unhealthy food where people suffer from chronic pain and isolates people from knowledge induced by work-related injuries. of food production, Heroin addiction is also on the rise. this is not simply inconvenient, but deadly. We have heard stories of elderly persons In such communities, supplementing their income where income is scarce, by selling their prescriptions, transportation options are few, of elementary school children who already and some families lack refrigeration and stoves, have experience taking pain killers, many people rely on low-nutrition, and even of a West Virginia mayor packaged foods from convenience stores, who was murdered by a relative while rates of obesity, diabetes, in order to obtain money for drugs. and other health problems skyrocket. The widespread presence of food insecurity Although some people are accustomed is an ironic reversal for a region to look upon drug addicts that was once populated by subsistence farms in Appalachia with disdain, and where family gardens were once popular.35 we should not reduce addiction to a personal or cultural vice. Addiction is often closely related to poverty

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 17 and includes the spiritual dimension of despair. We heard from a woman Drug rehabilitation programs who carried a child in prison are relatively scarce in Appalachia, without adequate care and the programs that are in place such as check-ups and vitamins, fi nd themselves overburdened and so she lived with the daily terror with the number of addicts who need treatment. of losing her baby. Drug companies and unscrupulous persons in the medical fi eld are also part of this story, as they stand to benefi t fi nancially when they push particular pain medications in vulnerable communities.38

THE VOICES OF THE HOMELESS AND IMPRISONED

Unemployment, combined with substance abuse and despair, can be a recipe for homelessness or imprisonment.39 We have listened to the experiences of persons who are homeless or imprisoned in our region. Many women who are homeless have experienced domestic violence, Prisoners often have diffi culty making contact and many homeless men are veterans. with people who could help them, In many communities, resources are few, such as lawyers or clergy. and society’s view of the homeless Without community support, continues to become more and more hostile. there is a likelihood that they will lack options once they serve their terms Some have experienced a process and attempt to reorder their lives. of “transinstitutionalization,” Many will not be able to fi nd work that is, of being transferred through a cycle due to their criminal record, from hospitals to prisons or other facilities. and their cycle of unemployment, Prisons in Appalachia, despair, and addiction will continue. many of them private, for-profi t institutions, have become “internment camps for addicts,” THE VOICES OF COMMUNITIES IMPACTED housing people involved in BY THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY non-violent, drug-related crimes.

Prisons can be overcrowded with inmates, New industries periodically and some have been reported for sweep into Appalachia human rights violations. claiming the power to bring people out Women in prison for drug-related crimes of the cycles of unemployment and poverty. are at risk of losing their children permanently, Politicians and industry leaders which results in further feelings of guilt and despair. are now promoting oil and gas to

18 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us • help wean the United States off of foreign oil an increase in rent, • provide a cleaner and safer source of energy, and a decrease in property values. perhaps as a “transition fuel” The infl ux of workers from outside the region as renewable energy technology develops results in an increase in population • and create jobs in regions suffering from concentrated in hotels and in makeshift campsites unemployment. nicknamed “man camps.” These communities of workers Proponents claim the Marcellus shale deposit are in many ways unaccountable to the community, in western New York, Pennsylvania, and sometimes bring with them increased Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia violence, drug and alcohol abuse, could supply energy to the nation sexual assault, and prostitution.44 by itself for 45 years.40 While deposits such as these were once too expensive to extract, we have poured billions of dollars of public funds into subsidies and tax breaks for oil and gas research and exploration.41 A new extraction technique, called hydraulic fracturing (or “fracking”), has been developed, prompting large scale drilling activity.42

Whatever the perceived benefi ts, the human and ecological costs are severe. Construction of well pads, pipelines, compressor stations, and more, disturb the natural world and disrupt the lives of families Some of the most dangerous and lasting effects and whole communities come from the fracking process itself.45 all over the country, When shale is fracked, many of them here in Appalachia. large amounts of water, sand, Some of the drilling activity and a mixture of chemicals has been welcomed by landowners are injected into the ground to produce cracks, because of short-term economic benefi t. releasing gas to the surface where it is collected. Other landowners struggle with The drilling process requires invasive drilling tactics up to 5 million gallons per well, and confl icts over the legal meaning which is taken from local rivers and streams. of land and resource rights, Some water is recycled, a story with which coalfi eld residents are familiar.43 but contaminated water is not able to be recycled for human consumption or use, The social effects of the drilling boom and some water is forever lost from the biosphere throughout the country have been severe. into the mile-deep shale. Residents of gas fi eld areas The contaminated water, called “fl owback,” witness increased dangerous truck traffi c comes back to the surface and deteriorating road conditions, where it is permanently stored increased stress from noise pollution,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 19 in large collection ponds onsite has been mixed at best, or transported elsewhere.46 but its most recent study of impacted water supplies Residents near fracking sites acknowledges that contamination has occurred.51 in both rural and urban areas, Community hearings and listening sessions as well as health offi cials, provide testimony from people’s experience have begun to describe serious health concerns with its own authority.52 connected to this industry.47 Experts estimate that close to 400 chemicals From his back porch are used in the fracking process. in Washington County, Pennsylvania, Many of the chemicals are unknown a livestock farmer and environmental activist as the industry labels them “proprietary information,” described his own story complicating the efforts of health professionals and those of his neighbors.53 treating chronic disease in fracking areas. In his community, water has turned black and become fl ammable, Water and air can become contaminated testing for high levels of contaminants. at various stages of the process. Livestock have been born The fl owback stage of the process sick, blind, and deformed, brings water to the surface containing or have been stillborn, radioactive and cancer-causing substances. and fi sh have disappeared or mutated. Transportation and disposal of this water, Truck drivers who transport waste material which sometimes includes illegal dumping, have experienced rashes, dizziness, migraines, present further opportunities for contamination.48 and swelling of the face and limbs. Community members regularly report Contaminated air and water that their local environmental protection agencies can cause burning of side with the gas companies the skin, eyes, and lungs, and do little to protect them. as well as nausea, headaches, and vomiting. In severe cases, Another livestock farmer in Washington County damage to the respiratory, nervous, named Terry Greenwood and endocrine systems can occur, reported livestock deaths and disfi gurement as well as brain damage, following a frack water spill into his pond various cancers, and a well blowout and birth defects. which left his drinking water looking like “iced tea.” The industry defends its practices by claiming When Terry notifi ed environmental authorities, that the use of these chemicals is harmless they told him “That’s a farmer’s luck.” and that they operate within the limits of the law.49 Watching the destruction of his water, But most people are not aware his land, his animals, his farm, and his business, that the oil and gas industry Terry regularly said, “Now it’s the cattle. has been granted a number of exemptions Soon it will be the people.” to the very environmental laws In March 2014, the industry claims to abide by.50 an MRI revealed multiple tumors of a rare brain cancer in Terry’s brain. The EPA’s study and oversight Three months later, he passed away. of the industry over the last decade Activists in shale gas communities remember

20 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us Terry’s words as they struggle in defense as large parts of this region are less diverse of their communities’ land and health: than other parts of the country. “Water is more important than gas.” At the same time, These stories represent the tip of the iceberg, the stories many of us tell about this place, as they merely refl ect the immediate effects which take the “whiteness” of the region for granted, of the natural gas industry on the land often obscure the diversity that is actually present and on communities. and silence the stories of different peoples The sheer number of unknowns who have dwelled in this land for ages, makes it very diffi cult to predict or who came to this region the impact these industries will have at various points in time. on the environment and on human health.54

Many people impacted by fracking cannot help but think that this is but a new chapter in the same old story of resource extraction in Appalachia, where industry, assisted by politicians, exerts control over resources, land, even whole communities. Their stories indicate that people have little say over the impact these industries will have over their everyday lives. It will not do, however, simply to insist that this region is THE VOICES OF PEOPLE OF COLOR just as diverse as other places, or that racism in Appalachia Many new voices have emerged in our region is no different than in other places. since our last pastoral letter in 1995. There are experiences of diversity and of racism Some of these voices have always been present here, specifi c to this place but were not heard in our movements. and we are still in the process Other voices are truly new to the region, of learning from one another refl ecting more recent realities that have the experiences of particular peoples over time. risen up to take their place in the story. Racism in our nation Many people in our church communities, for example, stretches back to the fi rst encounters must admit that we have not heard or taken seriously between colonizers and Native peoples the experiences of people of color in Appalachia. but past and present experiences Appalachia is perceived, of Native peoples are still so often ignored. both from the outside and on the inside, In part, this is because Native people as a region of “whiteness,” are talked about as if they existed only in the past. Like many perceptions, Although acts of genocide the “whiteness” of Appalachia against Native people are historical facts, involves both fact and fi ction, Native communities are alive and present here today,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 21 including Cherokee, Shawnee, can lead to an extreme loss of hope Blackfoot, and Monacan peoples. and a turn toward drugs and suicide.55

The relationship of Appalachia Many of these issues parallel the experience and Native cultures is complex. of communities in the coalfi elds, Many Appalachian people though the historical circumstances are distinct. have admired Native people over the years Despite the struggle for greater self-determination, for a variety of reasons, Native communities and traditions whether because of a historical interest continue to give witness to other ways in “frontier life” and accounts of “Indian Wars,” of living in harmony with the land or by celebrating shared values and with one another. between Native and Appalachian cultures, including closeness to the land, Whites in the Appalachian states which shape particular ways of living tend to distance themselves in communion with creation. from the history of slavery and anti-Black racism of the South, Though this admiration is genuine, which prevents Black voices from being heard. Native people and their traditions Appalachian history and culture are often romanticized, contain elements that nurture both and their traditions mined by white Appalachians a spirit of inclusivity, kinship, and belonging for elements to enrich and one of fear, exclusion, and violence.56 their sense of personal spirituality. An African-American woman The tendency to romanticize who grew up in Summers County, West Virginia can distort the diverse recalled that she never felt a difference and living nature of Native traditions between Blacks and whites and can leave non-Native people until she visited the county seat of Hinton unaware of or insensitive to the issues or the larger city of Washington, DC.57 Native communities face today. But downplaying the history of racism within the Appalachian region Members of the Cherokee community is not an honest telling of the story. in North Carolina, people of varying ages and backgrounds, Over the last several years, spoke of the transmission of generational grief our nation has seen increasing visible expression and trauma that comes from colonization of racism in speech, action, and political policies, and the continued devaluing of as well as counter-racist responses. indigenous cultures, identities, and traditions The violent attacks of September, 11, 2001, by the dominant culture. are certainly one part of this story, Poor education, lack of work, and limited life options as those actions caused largely suppressed feel like a kind of economic slavery. fear of the “other” to surface A Native prison counselor and activist from Ohio among many white Americans across class divides. reported that he has been the victim These fears have made it of harassment, detainment, and searches more acceptable in some circles, by law enforcement offi cials while travelling particularly here in Appalachia, and attending events in Native attire. for white Americans to strongly assert The exclusion from society the superiority of their dominant culture these communities experience over perceived “outsider” cultures

22 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us that are considered threatening, Lack of documentation affects namely Arabs, Latinas and Latinos, Blacks, a signifi cant number from this community and others. and contributes to daily fear of law enforcement and of discrimination. The campaign and election of the fi rst Black president of the United States As jobs decline in the region, is in many ways linked to newer waves Latinas and Latinos are often victims of overt racist attitudes of scapegoating by dominant whites and white supremacist activity and accused of “stealing jobs.” in our communities. Latina and Latino members of our churches Deep listening to the experiences of Black Americans, tell us that they even experience inequality and a broader view of American history and rejection among fellow believers, enables us to see that what we are witnessing today especially in the lack of support is not the creation of new racial tension for immigration reform. but a new visibility of the daily We heard stories of business owners who, racist oppression faced by people of color. in the absence of immigration justice, In our rural areas, small towns, and larger cities, attempt to help those without documents we have heard stories of Black Appalachians fi nd and retain meaningful work that include and live with greater peace of mind.

• patterns of disparity in poverty and wealth But these stories are the exception to the rule, • exclusion from housing opportunities as many employers take advantage • higher rates of arrest, harassment, of their workers’ legal status. and violence at the hands of law enforcement THE VOICES OF GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, • and marginalization from cultural AND TRANSGENDERED PEOPLE and political life. Sexual minorities, too, In a region where ordinary people’s worth have not been adequately heard tends to be devalued, in our movements and churches. the unique experiences of Black Appalachians Over the last several years, cry out for recognition U.S. society has been alive with debates and affi rmation that their lives matter.58 about the moral and social implications of the experience of gay, lesbian, Latina and Latino immigrants in Appalachia bisexual, and transgendered people also face disadvantages and racism.59 as they assert more strongly Like earlier waves of immigrants their dignity and rights. in the early twentieth century, Latinas and Latinos often struggle Some Appalachians believe with the barrier of language that same-sex relationships and the reality of living between two cultures. threaten the natural state of things, Many experience a daily struggle for survival including the institutions of marriage and family. for themselves and their children But many Appalachian people due to lack of work. identify as gay or lesbian, Access to work, of course, can be a challenge and have done so throughout history. with or without proper documents.

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 23 Gay experience in Appalachia in heated debates about gay and lesbian experience. is complex and contradictory.60 But beneath the sound bites, On the one hand, we must remember that rural Appalachia has been a place people are at the center, in which gay and lesbian people can feel safe. not “issues.” Appalachian culture And we must honestly acknowledge can nurture a “live and let live” attitude that even mainstream churches where gay and lesbian people have served as havens can live happy lives privately, of discrimination and hatred. without judgment, with deep integration in the community.61 Churches that condemn same-sex relationships Yet mere tolerance can mask the presence of end up attacking the very personhood a “quiet, but steady” rural homophobia, of gay and lesbian people, that “slow assault on the spirit” such that life can feel like a “constant assault.”63 which comes from deeper and darker Many of us have had our hearts broken experiences of fear, shame, and closetedness.62 by the stories of gay family members and friends who have been on the receiving end of abuse from other people of faith. Gay and lesbian Catholics gathering for a retreat in Virginia shared experiences of being treated like lepers in society and in the church. Instead of a place of welcome and safety, the church is often “a hell of pain,” a place where they are “discussed and accused but rarely appreciated.”

But the church has not only been a source of pain. These retreatants also discussed how Some of the fi ercest hostility they continue to be nourished comes from people motivated by Christian teachings. by the church’s spiritual life In addition to focusing intently even though they cannot accept on Biblical passages that seem the church’s teaching about their sexuality. to condemn same-sex activity, Traditional practices the homophobia of many Christians such as liturgy and adoration is also linked to a Biblically-inspired belief have been a source of comfort and hope. in the superiority of men over women. They have been comforted Thus, males who are effeminate by friendships with gay priests or attracted to men and other individuals can become the target of religiously motivated who affi rm them as they are. ridicule and even violence. While gay and lesbian people often feel Such extreme views are not limited a kinship with the lepers of the gospels, to fundamentalist churches. what they need to be healed from Most Christian churches have been engaged is not a “disorder”

24 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us but alienation from the community that such industries are “all we have” and the experience of being treated and that the presence of resources as less than human. obligates the people here to lead lives of sacrifi ce Yet they often fi nd God for the needs of “the common good” precisely in their stories of struggle, or “national energy security.” and healing can come from unexpected places, even from churches that so often reject them. The story of Appalachia is the story of what many call a “sacrifi ce zone,” VOICES IN CONTEXT: COAL, CAPITALISM, one of the many places of suffering in our world AND CLIMATE CHANGE that are exploited for the sake of a global capitalist economy No single explanation or narrative can contain that seeks the “maximization of profi t” at any cost65 all of the experiences and stories and funnels wealth to those at the top. in Appalachia today, As the late Appalachian activist Larry Gibson let alone all of the stories once put it, of economic and ecological distress that we have faced over the past 100 years. We’re a little worn, we’re a little bent, Many explanations have been attempted we’re a little broken, but we’re real. at different points in time, And we’re here. such as blaming the region’s conditions And we’re tired of being collateral damage on a generational culture of poverty or a sacrifi ce zone or on the exploitative tendencies for rich people and other people of a single industry, such as coal. to be comfortable in their life.66

The increasing unemployment and hopelessness Appalachia is not the only sacrifi ce zone experienced throughout Appalachia today in our country or in our world, is often explained by the media and by politicians nor is it the most severe.67 as the inevitable result of a “War on Coal” In our nation alone, initiated by environmentalists the sacrifi ce zones of the global economy and progressive politicians. are seen in the experience of Native communities, But the creation of a political scapegoat in the poverty and violence of the inner city, denies the reality in the slavery-like conditions that mechanization, of the fi elds of big agriculture natural gas, or low-wage, degrading workplaces. and the dynamics of global capitalism The exploitation of labor in the global South, are the true reasons for the loss the victimization of war-torn regions of coal jobs in the region, by U.S.-led coalitions, as coal executives quietly cash out their stocks and the ravaged land and communities while the public is largely misdirected.64 of indigenous peoples also follow the pattern of the sacrifi ce zone. In such a situation people feel they should be grateful Although the suffering and struggles here to have any job at all are specifi c to this region in some ways, no matter how dangerous Appalachia also serves as a window68 or how crushing to body and soul it may be. to so many other suffering places in our world And excuses are made created by an economy that,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 25 by design, kills.69 that urgency is felt even more strongly. As one Appalachian author and minister once put it, At stake is not only the health of the region, “Capitalism needs its . but of the entire human species. Capitalism needs poor and oppressed people because it is in its very nature to create them.”70 Whether we choose to act or not, everything is going to change Many of us in Appalachia have learned because the systems which dominate our world to expand our view are unsustainable beyond a concern for this region alone, and Earth itself will eliminate or on an aesthetic preference the human source of these systems for preserved mountains that threaten creation’s balance. or a protectionist view of mining jobs. Today there is a growing sense of apocalypse, With the whole world in view, the gradual we know that the extractive mentality that the old order of things is coming to an end. that has dominated our region— Signs of these endings an attitude that sees no limit include the death of coalfi eld communities to what we can take from Earth and of entire industries and refuses to face consequences— which our culture’s storytellers assumed is at the heart of the destructive worldview would be permanent features of the region. that is killing our planet.71 But beyond apocalypse, We know that the way of life beyond these endings, enjoyed by a small percentage of the human family, a new world is being revealed, and the distribution of wealth and this should give us hope. enjoyed by an even smaller percentage, are profoundly unjust and unsustainable Many of us in Appalachia have been aware and climate change is rapidly that things need to change radically, bringing us to the brink of disaster.72 on both local and global scales, but many factors make it diffi cult for us to embrace bold visions of the change which needs to occur. Our nation’s addiction to fossil fuels is at the heart of the issues we face, but the power of these industries creates an economic stranglehold on our region and suffocates the political will of the people such that it is diffi cult to imagine alternatives let alone put them into practice.

It is not unreasonable to call this a kind of colonization. “At Home in the Web of Life” But these industries, described the issue of sustainability driven by the mentality of extractive capitalism, as a choice between the God of life have gone beyond the physical colonizing and a culture of death.73 of our mountains and communities. But in today’s globalized context, Our understanding of our history,

26 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us our capacity to imagine, and our visions of future possibility have been colonized as well.

In order to change the course we are on, we need to change the stories we tell about ourselves, our region, and our place in the whole of creation. Only then can we construct, from below, the new economies and “a new way of sharing this planet”74 that we need in order to do life differently. More than ever, we need new stories about creation and the purpose of human life, drawn from the best of our wisdom traditions.75 And we in Appalachia, in all of our diversity, must take our place in the story in new ways that help us fi nd liberation from the stories that have thus far often led to death and destruction.

In part three of this pastoral letter, we will hear some of the ways that we in Appalachia are taking our place in the story in new ways and discovering ways of doing life differently. But fi rst, we turn to our diverse spiritual traditions to rediscover rich soil that can ground our vision and rekindle our capacity to imagine alternatives so that we can change a story of domination and destruction into a story of resurrection and hope.

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 27 OUR TRADITIONS: THE GROUND OF OUR VISION

The great, gashed, half-naked mountain is another of God’s . There is no other like him. He is alone in his own character; nothing else in the world ever did or ever will imitate God in quite the same way. That is his sanctity. —Thomas Merton76

28 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us The stories we have heard, not only an issue in places like Appalachia. both large and small, It was precisely this idol worship beg for concrete and lasting solutions that Jesus condemned when he said, which dismantle oppression “You cannot give yourselves and restore the web of life. to God and Money.” (Matthew 6:24) But before rushing into solutions or proposals, we pause to refl ect on the stories we have heard, Growing numbers of believers considering what our spiritual traditions have to say, agree with this condemnation of idolatry while looking at them with fresh eyes for new times. in principle. It is increasingly easy to see that love of money and profi t SHAPED BY NEW STORIES is distorting human relationships with one another and with creation. And so we nod our heads The stories we tell and hold sacred, when church leaders including the diverse creation stories and Sunday homilists say from our religious and cultural traditions, from time to time have a capacity to distort reality that people are more important than money. when we raise any one story above all others and make it unquestionable. But our stories also have a capacity to liberate Earth and ourselves for new life to the extent that they are open to receive the gifts that other stories have to offer.

“This Land is Home to Me” helped us to see that social and ecological injustice in this region stems from idolatry— that false, unquestioned narrative which shapes us to worship Yet that same pastoral reminded us the false gods of consumption and profi t. that the idolatry of money This false story “overwhelms the good intentions of noble people.” which places “profi t over people,” While most of us in this region, as the pastoral said, and in this nation, is “hostile to the dignity of the earth would not openly embrace the idol and of its people.” as the ultimate concern in our lives, the idol remains hidden, “This Land is Home to Me” also reminded us, present in places we least expect, well before the processes of globalization and we end up embracing it spread devotion to this idol worldwide, without even knowing it. that worship of profi t is “everybody’s problem,”

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 29 The idol is present, Even our churches fall for these idolatries lurking in a number of popular again and again, —and largely unquestioned— such that they seem to be accepted economic, political, and cultural ideas. as religious truths from which we cannot dissent. These ideas work together like a constellation We allow our faith visions to be hollowed out to create a worldview that gives the idol life, even by political talking heads such that the image of God in the human person, who convince us to deny, and in the natural world, like Peter the disciple, becomes obscured, disgraced, the best of our traditions at their very heart. or even destroyed. When this occurs, religion cooperates with injustice These ideas, too, are idolatries and loses its prophetic impulse. which serve and bolster the dominant idolatry of money and of profi t at any cost. In order to turn our communities They include: and our world away from the idolatry of money and profi t, • the original sin of using difference it is necessary to name these idolatries as a reason for domination: for what they are not only male over female, and radically change the worldview and white over black, that is destroying persons as well as the planet. but also humanity over the rest of creation But denouncing these old stories is not enough. • the arrogant, false mantras People of faith in Appalachia and beyond of Manifest Destiny and cultural conquest77 have begun to rethink our traditions, and to create relationships across traditions, • the blind confi dence in the market in order to topple the “old gods”78 and in false promises of happiness of our narrowmindedness if only we consume what the market provides and take our place in a new global Earth story that continues to evolve. • the view of private property as an absolute right and the buying and selling of creation This new creation story must be: which is our common home • a story which listens deeply • the unquestioning, violent patriotism to the world’s religious and cultural traditions, that works like a powerful religion honoring indigenous wisdom to sanction and bless and the deep awareness of the mystics79 an economy of endless war • a story which includes women as leaders • the illusion that competition who are equal with men in dignity rather than cooperation is the law of life • a story to help us view creation not as dead matter for humans to dominate • and the belief that the way things are but as a living unity of being is the way things have always been within which we human beings and so must always be. must learn to take our place humbly

30 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 31 INTERLUDE: A CERULEAN WARBLER SPEAKS

Pope Francis has insisted that each creature “is good and admirable in itself” and that the members of the non-human world have “an intrinsic value independent of their usefulness” (Laudato Si’, no. 140). Al- though we are not able to hear their “voices” in the same way that we hear the voices of human stories, it is still essential for us to imagine ways to hear the “voices” of the non-human world. The following inter- lude is one example of the creative listening that is possible when we take seriously the intrinsic dignity of the smallest voices of creation.

I am grateful for this place to rest my weary wings in the sheltering branches of this towering tree. I shiver as I wait for the dawn chorus and for the sun to rise across the mountains, warming my sky-blue feathers. The darkness surrounds me, but my avian instincts sense my breeding grounds nearby, a mountaintop resplendent with diverse trees and vegetation. For years, this is where I gleaned nesting materials—bark, spider silk, bits or hair and fur for a lining. High in the treetop, nesting deeply within the dense forest can- opy, I have protected my young from predation. Below, I found plentiful, life-giving water and an abun- dance of caterpillars and other insects to sustain my brood, my mate and me.

Dozing just now, I’m jarred by a thunderous booming followed by incessant beeping and many more unnatural grating sounds. My tiny lungs strain through the acrid smoke, noxious fumes and dust-fi lled air. I’m thoroughly confused. Danger in this darkness lurks. Instantly, I’m in fl ight mode. Lifting off the branch, what I see belies my years of returning here. What is happening to these lush forests, my summer home in the mountains of Central Appalachia? Below, instead of the welcome greening mountains of an Appala- chian Spring, the landscape is barren, fl attened, brown, desolate, and devoid of life. The ebullient streams have disappeared beneath thick piles of rock, rubble and debris—the remains of former mountains. A few humans are busily dumping mounds of a black rock into mammoth trucks. I overhear one refer to it as coal. For this coal, they destroy entire ancient mountains?

My 3,000 mile journey from the Andes to these Sister Mountains leaves me despairing for my future and future generations of my kind. While fl ying across the perilous expanse of the Gulf of Mexico, little did I imagine my summer home could ever disappear, though I’ve heard similar whispered chirpings from my elders. I’m told that like this tortured mountainscape, our kind, too, has declined dramatically in the last several human decades—70 out of every 100 Cerulean Warblers gone, gone, gone, though at one time in human history, we were abundant.

I can’t help but wonder as I witness the death of this mountain and its abundant life, if somewhere my Creator weeps and the human spirit is also diminished. Thankfully, I have faith in steadfast allies who care deeply and who are aware of my plight and the potential fate of these mountains. They are issuing this call to action which speaks for the marginalized and voiceless ones like me. For now, I cherish and hold dear this hope that the hearts and minds of those who despoil this land will soften. May this message open their eyes to the wonder and the unique beauty of nature in Appalachia while there is still time.

Janet Keating, Executive Director Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition Huntington, West Virginia 32 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 33 34 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us • a story that is open and evolutionary, From the beginning of his ministry, in harmony with the expanding insights John Paul II insisted with urgency that of the sciences80 “The ecological crisis is a moral crisis!”83 He described creation, • a story in which no one tradition dominates and God’s plan for it, in an imperialistic way as a harmonious, integrated whole or silences the voices against which humans have rebelled. of marginalized communities When [we turn our] back on the Creator’s plan, • and a story that welcomes and includes all, [we] provoke[] a disorder which has and that is always open to change inevitable repercussions on the rest and new understandings of the created order.84 through authentic human encounter. Benedict XVI, whom many call “the Green Pope,” INTEGRAL ECOLOGY AND THE CULTURE OF echoed the worldview of indigenous peoples ENCOUNTER when he called for “intergenerational solidarity” that honors the responsibility For many years, we have to future generations.85 vulnerable communities around the world He also clearly saw have refl ected on the effects how ecological destruction the idolatry of money has had is a root cause for confl ict in the world, on the places they inhabit teaching, “If you want to cultivate peace, within the Earth community.81 protect creation.”86 They have begun to hear echoes of their stories in the story of others, Benedict’s successor, listening to one another, a Jesuit from Argentina, not only across great geographical divides, chose the name Francis but also ecumenically after St. , and across interreligious divides, indicating the focus of his ministry as our sisters and brothers as Bishop of Rome. from the many Christian churches Pope Francis affi rmed that focus and from the world’s religious traditions before reporters soon after his election, saying, have awakened to these concerns as well.82 “Oh, how I wish for a church that is poor Refl ecting from within our own traditions and for the poor!”87 and in our own unique ways, Through his gestures, we dialogue in order to identify more clearly lifestyle choices, the problems we face and decisions in church governance, and the solutions we need to pursue. Francis has reminded both the church and the world of the essence of the Gospel, These refl ections are not new which is a discipleship focused in the Roman Catholic tradition. on the poor and on creation.88 Recent popes, for example, have heard the cry of the poor This Pope looks, and the cry of Earth, not inward toward the church, and have lifted up these cries in their teaching. but outward, toward a world

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 35 “where the powerful feed upon the powerless,”89 like the environment, and where the majority of peoples is defenseless before the interests are excluded and alienated of a deifi ed market.94 from the goodness and divine gift that is “our common home.” Solutions which pit people He provides a diagnosis and the environment against one another that resonates with our experience will not do, says Francis. here in Appalachia: Rather, “everything is connected,”95 a global culture and economy have developed and he promotes a vision of “integral ecology” which not only oppress, but exclude, in which human beings leaving entire peoples across the globe take their proper place in the web of life. “without work, without possibilities, Because “every creature, without any means of escape.”90 particularly a living creature, has an intrinsic value,” Francis says that we need to recognize that creation itself has rights.96

When we forget that everything is connected, and that Earth has intrinsic value apart from its usefulness to human beings, we provoke a crisis. Francis says, Once the human being declares independence from reality and behaves with absolute dominion, the very foundations of our life Echoing the diagnosis of begin to crumble.97 our own Appalachian pastorals, Francis insists: So the crisis of a deadly economy We have created new idols. over time becomes ever more complicated: The worship of the ancient golden calf… We are faced not with two separate crises, has returned in a new and ruthless guise one environmental and the other social, in the idolatry of money but rather with one complex crisis and the dictatorship of an impersonal economy which is both social and environmental.98 lacking a truly human purpose.91 Whether in a homily, speech, or encyclical, Francis could not be more clear: there is an urgency to Francis’ words “Such an economy kills.”92 that we cannot leave solutions Like the gods of old, to the next generations this idolatrous economy demands sacrifi ce. but must act immediately. It “tends to devour everything But we cannot simply repeat ideas which stands in the way of increased profi ts.”93 from Catholic social teaching or elsewhere. And although people are among the victims, For Francis, the “People’s Pope,” creation itself is victimized too. people are central, [W]hatever is fragile, especially the poor,

36 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us and the way forward together from those seedlings of a tenderness is by nurturing what he regularly calls which struggles to grow a “culture of encounter”: amid the shadows of exclusion, great trees will spring up, We need to build up this culture of encounter. great groves of hope to give oxygen to our world.103 We do not love concepts or ideas; no one loves a concept or an idea. Caring for our world, We love people...99 our common home, must necessarily include Francis urges us to fi nd one another again, caring for the specifi c places and people placing the poor and excluded at the center, in which we fi nd ourselves, and to enter deeply into the unfolding history led always by those of the struggle for a better world who have been excluded from consideration. informed by the Gospel.100 Committed to that culture of encounter, we, the People of God in Appalachia, The culture of encounter fi nd affi rmation of our re-membered history, of which Francis speaks and we are urged to continue calls the whole Church— reading the signs of the times, the People of God turning to the Word of God which includes the Roman Catholic Church, and to the insights of marginalized women and men, but stretches well beyond it— in Appalachian and beyond, to deep conversion and renewal. to nourish our efforts. Francis envisions a radically inclusive Church driven by mercy and the option for the poor THE PLACE OF GOD’S PEOPLE: and oriented to outward-looking mission.101 ISRAEL AND EMPIRE

But while Francis points to a global crisis, Pope Francis reminds us like Pope Paul VI before him, that God’s Word is alive, he says that one Pope, ever new with a freshness for new times and one church, and new places.104 with a view from above, From the perspective of broken places, cannot possibly have all the answers.102 particularly those places treated like throwaway regions or sacrifi ce zones, The transformation that Francis envisions insights from scripture appear in a new light. happens locally in places and in our relationships with one another Many of us are starting to see as we are knit together as the Body of Christ. that the Bible presents a story This knitting together of peoples, of the wisdom of the whole of God’s creation, comes from below, of humanity’s connection with all other life, happening primarily among movements and of our need to live humbly, and communities of struggle, rooted in distinct places not as a result of the ideas of great leaders and within certain biological limitations. imposed from above: But scripture also reveals sin to us, our tendency to stray from that story From those seeds of hope as time and time again patiently sown in the forgotten fringes of our planet, we humans choose to live beyond our limits

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 37 and dominate creation and one another. The earth brought forth And fi nally, every kind of plant that bears seed, scripture points to the possibility and every kind of fruit tree of re-creation, of re-membering, of redemption. that bears fruit with its seed in it. It calls human persons and communities And God saw that this was good. (Gen. 1:12) to take our proper place in the story, knitting back together the one Body of creation In short, and living humbly within the web of life.105 the new story of God’s people describes very clearly Writing in the midst of their exile that creation is God’s garden, in the Babylonian empire, and that human communities Israel re-told its own creation story, exist within God’s garden as caretakers, a story at odds receiving with gratitude all of God’s good gifts with the violent creation story of the empire. and using them only in ways In the new story, that nurture and sustain life to the full. creation occurs not through an act of violence, but through the fruitful, But the story contains loving speech of God.106 not only the ideal of Eden, but also the story of struggle The divine is not found against destructive forces in human-made imperial cities. who seek to force the ways of empire In this new story, on a people trying to remain faithful God’s presence is found in all of creation: to God’s plan for creation. God looked at all of this creation, And it is also a story of the temptation and proclaimed that this was good faced by God’s people —very good. (Gen. 1:31) to follow in the ways of empire themselves. “Dominion” over Earth is not the possession of kings After the Great Flood, or of other human master-builders. the descendants of Noah spread throughout Earth. In the new story, Fearing that they might become “scattered” all of humanity shares equally and lose control of life, in that responsibility of care and love:107 the human family sets out Let us make humankind in our image, to “make a name for themselves,” to be like us. building a city with an imperial tower. Let them be stewards of the fi sh in the sea, God dismantles this act of human arrogance, the birds of the air, putting human beings “back in their place” the cattle, within the web of life.108 the wild animals, and everything that crawls on the ground. (Gen. 1:26) We then see an unfolding story of God continually calling humanity And instead of an imperial economy out from lives of arrogance, that imagines itself as the source of empire, of everything good, including food, of exploitative economic relations, and the new story describes Earth’s fruitfulness of unbalanced relationship with, as the more-than-suffi cient and destruction of, gift of the Divine: Earth.

38 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us We are familiar with When God’s people the story of God’s liberation take their proper place within nature, of the Hebrew people from slavery creation will be in balance, under the Egyptian empire and life, as a whole, will thrive.110 in the book of Exodus. But when human beings become arrogant God hears the cry of the oppressed and misuse the gifts of God’s garden, and lets the imprisoned go free then creation itself will rebel to pursue self-determination against its human abusers and will as God’s faithful people. make up for the Sabbath years human beings did not give to it. But liberation from slavery is not the end, For all the years it lies desolate, and the Israelites still needed to learn the land will have its rest, how to properly take their place in God’s story. the rest it did not get when you worked it. While wandering hungry in the desert, (Leviticus 26: 34-35) the Israelites longed return to slavery where at least they had their fi ll of food. Yet in their wandering God teaches them to trust the daily gifts of breath and bread without hoarding or greed.109

God’s people were set apart by a rule of life refl ected in the book of Leviticus. These laws are a product of their time, and some may seem obscure, irrelevant, or even dangerous to modern ears. But even in their ambiguity, In the course of the story, they teach us that the call to holiness God’s people give into the temptation must embrace all of life. to have a king The lives of human beings, and to live like other nations and empires.111 animals, vegetation, and the land Prophets like Amos and Jeremiah arose are so intertwined, to condemn the exploitation of the poor, that each one is to participate the destruction of the land, in the cycles of rest and jubilee and the royal systems that threaten God’s created order. • where the land is allowed These prophets preached horrifying visions to rest and rejuvenate to beg their people to open their eyes • where property is periodically redistributed to the destruction that these systems to its original owner would cause. • where laborers are released from their bondage I looked at the earth— • and where food and the essentials of life it was chaos and emptiness. are not sold for profi t. I looked to the heavens— Their light was gone. I looked to the mountains—

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 39 They quaked, to make radical changes and the hills swayed back and forth. to the way we live together on this planet. I looked— But through God’s faithfulness to God’s people, I saw no one. Nothing! and the people’s faithfulness to the covenant, All the birds had fl own away. which has care of the land at its heart, I looked— God will fi nd a way for life to continue The fertile land was desert. in the face of death (Jeremiah 4:23-26) and the systems that perpetuate it.

The destruction of the land, PUTTING JESUS IN HIS PLACE: THE JESUS says Jeremiah, MOVEMENT IN GALILEE112 is the outcome of human activity, and, in terms we might use today, Jesus of Nazareth was born a lack of human solidarity with creation. into a specifi c place and time, into this story of God’s people, Israel, They turned it into a desolate place. inheriting that people’s history of struggle Desolate it cries out to me in mourning. to be faithful to God’s covenant. The whole country is desolate Before he came to be understood because no one has a heart for the land. as the Savior of the World, (Jeremiah 12:11) Jesus had a mission to a particular people and to a particular place, The prophets describe the region of Galilee in Palestine, the apocalyptic “endings” to come a seemingly unimportant as a trembling of creation itself. yet occupied territory And although they face on the margins of the Roman empire. the coming crisis realistically, they are able to see beyond it in hope, Jesus’ mother, Mary, because creation itself will not end. was a young, rural peasant woman It is the brutal human systems who also inherited the history superimposed upon reality of the struggle of her people. which distort our relationships Mary was visited by an angel with Earth and with each other who invited her to take her place that will come to an end. in the story of the salvation of Israel. She did not passively accept some “act of God” For I am about to create but questioned the angel, new heavens and a new earth! asserting her dignity as a full human being The things of the past and offering her “Yes” in freedom.113 will not be remembered or come to mind!.... As a strong, rural person open to the Spirit, They will not labor in vain Mary also shows the importance or bear children doomed to die…. of being a woman, There will be no harm, no destruction a mother, anywhere in my holy mountain. and an active, leading participant (Isaiah 65:17, 23; 11:9) in the struggle for liberation and for a new creation.114 These inevitable endings will require the human family

40 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us Jesus left Galilee during his early adulthood • economically poor but returned there at a time of crisis • worried about where the next meal after the arrest of John the Baptist.115 would come from Today it is often taken for granted • prone to despair about their options in life that young people will leave home, • tempted to participate but in Jesus’ time, this was less common, in social scapegoating as it is still today in many places in Appalachia.116 • paralyzed by their inability to imagine alternatives • and violently repressed if they voiced opposition to their situation.117

Jesus invited Galilean villagers to take their place in the story of Israel, to take control of their lives and rebuild their communities according to their heritage of the covenant.

He called workers to “leave their nets” and to follow him,118 and he challenged the region’s “middle class,” such as tax collectors, to turn away from their involvement with injustice.119 Jesus seems to have gone away In his parables, and come back with a new appreciation Jesus lifted up images and examples for the place he called home. of a simple way of life With a critical, transforming love, and an economy based on sharing, Jesus returned and took his place mutual aid, in the story of his people. and cooperation. Like the prophets before him, In a time when powerful forces he affi rmed many of the stories were tearing God’s people apart and traditions of his people, and turning them against one another, but broke with others Jesus returned home with a mission that got in the way of God’s plan of re-membering God’s holy people, for fullness of life. of knitting them back together again.120 Jesus’ ministry was to a people Many of the villagers beaten down by their status were energized by Jesus’ vision of renewal as mere subjects in a deadly superpower. and joined his movement for revitalization, Making his way but Jesus’ ideas were not appreciated through the rural villages of the region, by some family members and neighbors Jesus preached that God’s reign was active who believed he was stepping out of place, and present in the here and now, going against tradition and custom.121 bringing healing and nurturing new hope And of course, to a people who, as his message and community building like many of us in Appalachia, were became increasingly public

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 41 and confronted the temple system, to look with hope beyond Jesus himself became a victim the endings that these wounds represent of those forces that crucifi ed the people, toward new life. taking his place in the story of death and new life Many people of faith in Appalachia proclaimed and lived by the prophets. have come to see the region as one of these crucifi ed places in our world. PRACTICING RESURRECTION IN Like Jesus’ Galilee, CRUCIFIED PLACES the forces that crucify the land and people of Appalachia are many. We believe Jesus was raised to new life But we continue to believe and we believe that new life is possible and must not tire in stating anywhere that the stones of oppression that Appalachia is still crucifi ed by coal are rolled away from peoples and places. and that coal industry executives and their political partners are, Today we look around our world as Pope Francis says, and we cannot help but be moved, the Herods of today in our land.125 and perhaps overwhelmed by, the masses of crucifi ed people, King Coal is an empire, the Body of Christ a modern Tower of Babel which continues to suffer in history.122 promoting itself as “the only game in town,” And it is true that Earth suffers though the false story of this monoeconomy under the unbearable weight is now beginning to crumble of destructive human activity, as the industry faces a deepening crisis. such as the overuse of resources. We have really only begun to hear All empires crucify, and take to heart and as we watch King Coal’s tower crumble, the cry of the crucifi ed Earth, we begin to see the people a planet that is undergoing on whose backs it has been constructed: a Golgotha experience people whose crosses vary, that can only be described as ecocide. but whose stories often connect back to coal in one way or another. But there are also specifi c crucifi ed places, And the crosses are many: wounds of Christ in our world that affect both people and the land • the crosses of exploited miners in ways particular to their locations • the crosses of people without work and that cry out to be heard and felt. • the crosses of struggling single mothers We believe that new life for the planet • the crosses of those suffering from addiction is inseparable from new life in crucifi ed places.123 • the crosses of young people who lack hope and a sense of purpose Like Thomas the apostle, • and the crosses of those we are called to come close who are scapegoated in their own communities and touch these specifi c wounds because of their race, ethnicity, or sexuality. and then, following the way of Jesus and the prophets, Despite the existence of these many crosses, to “practice resurrection,”124 the power of King Coal

42 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us continues to captivate our imaginations can we not hear scriptural echoes and distort our sense of self-worth as a people. of the disfi gured victim of Golgotha Just as Jesus’ observers asked which still haunt the pages of our : “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”126 “Behold the man.”129 many of us in Appalachia tell ourselves “They will look on the one whom they have that coal is all we have pierced”?130 and we even accept the role ascribed to us as a people ready to sacrifi ce anything There are Herods in this region, for the nation’s energy demands. in positions of power in industry and politics, and they bear much of the responsibility Yet even as the empire of coal is falling, for the crucifi xions we experience here. the practice of mountaintop removal continues But the rest of us cooperate to satiate our consumption habits. with this crucifi xion in various ways. We must name these wounds Many of us are not among the elites as an earthly stigmata, but may play a managerial role as the crucifi xion of the very body of God, in industries that harm both Earth and as the ultimate sacrament and human beings. of spiritual death and our estrangement Still others of us from nature, God, and each other.127 are among the working classes, or we are women, youth, or the unemployed, who participate in crucifying the land and each other through our lifestyles or through the scapegoating of others different from ourselves.

We crucify Earth and each other in many ways.

But we believe in a God who brings the dead to life and who is bringing about a new heaven and a new Earth. And we believe that that new Earth will include a new Appalachia, and that God’s holy mountain which the prophets envisioned For this reason, can be established can anyone who sees with their own eyes among the oldest of God’s mountains the sheer destruction of mountaintop removal on this planet. help but be reduced to silence as if kneeling before the crucifi ed Christ? However, And when an Appalachian woman belief in the possibility of resurrection begs us to fi x our gaze in particular places on the mountains that surround her home requires concrete actions. and to “look at what they’ve done,”128 Practicing resurrection means

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 43 taking our place in locations, In the midst locations with faces, communities, of the human and ecological crisis and stories of struggle. we face here in Appalachia, resurrection takes place when we say Whether deliberately choosing “We shall no longer be crucifi ed to “stay put” or to “come home,” upon the cross of coal.”134 taking a stand with the poor might involve taking one’s place in the wounded communities THE SPIRIT, THE GIVER OF LIFE and regions of our world, places like Appalachia, as an act of geographical discipleship. Practicing resurrection in Appalachia Members of our churches, is to live life together in the Spirit. particularly religious sisters, Jesus lived in the Spirit, have lived lives of discipleship this way, he passed on the Spirit in his death, taking their place in Appalachia and it was by the Spirit that he was raised. over the last several decades. Jesus has been present as Spirit Once we fi nd our place, to his followers in the church. resurrection begins to be possible Here in Appalachia, when we, like Thomas, our mountain church traditions touch the wounds there. are places where the presence of the Holy Spirit is celebrated tangibly, When our coalfi eld communities where we experience Pentecost experience Good Friday and ask not as an event in the past, “Are they trying to bury us alive”131 but as a power that fl ows through creation under the stones of overburden and fl yrock, and empowers communities of polluted water and air, in their common life together. of poverty and addiction, resurrection becomes thinkable when we ask “Who will roll back the stone?” (Mark 16:3)

Resurrection begins to happen when our eyes are opened, like those of the disciples on the road to Emmaus,132 when we see that we are not destined to be “sacrifi cial lambs,” and that who we are as people is much bigger The Spirit is God’s creative presence than the roles we are given and action in the universe by the industries and politics which brings everything into existence, that have dominated our region sustains each member’s life, for over a century.133 connects each part to the whole,

44 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us creates a reconciled diversity, Mystics are not a special group of people and restores life from brokenness. within this or that religion, She is that power in history nor is mysticism concerned that calls the human family only with otherworldliness.138 forward together into oneness Mystics are simply people of the Spirit with the Divine, with one another, whose love of God and with all the living things of Earth.135 fl ows outward in deep sensitivity into love of the world Though revealed by Jesus, and an awareness of its suffering. and in the Jewish story which shaped him, We are called to a mystical awareness human experience of the Spirit that the whole universe is charged is present among and beyond with the presence of the Spirit all religions and cultures. and that all things are interconnected Although our religious traditions as one community of creation. sometimes try to constrain her, the Spirit blows where she wishes, Followers of Jesus in ways that radically overcome the divisions might express this by saying human beings have created. that nature is God’s fi rst revelation,139 that Earth itself is a sacrament,140 The Spirit is the Giver of Life or that all of creation is the Body of Christ.141 who actively resists the causes of domination Most of the world’s religions, and the suffocation of possibility. especially those of indigenous peoples, She is the freedom, share this deep awareness the wisdom, of the sacredness of Earth and the courage and the kinship that was intended which enables those who dominate for the entire Earth community.142 to empty themselves of their arrogance, Even some people who do not claim which enables those who are devalued a religious tradition to assert their dignity and worth, are coming to sense that the crisis we face which enables us to take our place in the story.136 is a spiritual problem that demands a spiritual solution.143 Our alienation from nature, and the entire web of life, For mystics in tune is also an alienation from the Spirit. with the sacredness of Earth, Therefore, our ability destruction of creation to make a new beginning is not merely an ecological problem in Appalachia and around the world or a moral issue, hinges upon our ability but sacramental sin, to become people of the Spirit once again. a sin against the very presence of God. For today’s mystics, Our survival on this planet, the pollution of a river, and in the places we call home, and of the water that is the source of life, depends on our ability to become is an act of desecration no less severe attuned to the mystery than pouring poison at the heart of creation. in the Eucharistic chalice.144 That is, to become mystics.137 Indeed, our participation

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 45 in the sacrament of the • justice-seeking foremothers and forefathers should make us painfully aware like , Sid Hatfi eld, of the suffering presence of God and Ollie “Widow” Combs in all creation. • contemporary ecological prophets like Judy Bonds and Larry Gibson Although mysticism involves • and prophetic artists a wide, inclusive view of creation, like Florence Reese and Hazel Dickens. mysticism happens in local places and is rooted in the spirituality of the people.145 The lives of these mountain saints inspire us Appalachian religion and culture not because they embody are grounded by an earthy spirituality some kind of prayer card perfection, with a deep sense of the sacredness but because of the way they transformed of the land and specifi c places, their awareness of suffering and injustice of particular mountains and rivers. into action in a way that mirrors As the late Appalachian activist Jesus of Galilee.147 Judy Bonds once said, The Spirit of God is upon us, We talk in human, living parts— as it was upon them, the mouth, the head, and as it was upon Jesus, the spine or backbone of the mountain, to bring good news the fi nger ridge. to those who have been made poor, We speak the language of a living, including Earth. (Luke 4:16-19) breathing world…. The Spirit is upon us [T]his landscape is a living, to “restore the ancient ruins, breathing part of me. and rebuild sites long devastated,” I consider it something to protect, to “repair the ruined cities, like I would my own body.146 neglected for generations.” (Isaiah 61:4)

Mysticism is not merely inward-looking, The Spirit of empowerment and justice but leads to prophetic action. continually urges us: Appalachian mystics have strong mentors Forget the events of the past, who have gone before us ignore the things of long ago! whose vision of the sacredness of creation Look, I am doing something new! has led to action in the world. Now it springs forth—can’t you see it? We can look, of course, I’m making a road in the desert to the wisdom and setting rivers to fl ow in the wasteland. of the ecological saints of the past, (Isaiah 43:18-19) like St. Francis and St. Hildegard of Bingen. We can learn from saints of recent memory Likewise, we in these mountains believe like Sister Dorothy Stang that a new Appalachia is not only possible who show us what ecological discipleship but is already beginning to grow looks like in the face of today’s crisis. in the shell of the old.148

But we also have our own Appalachian “saints,” a cloud of witnesses that includes

46 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 47 OUR ACTIONS: THE GROUND OF OUR HOPE

Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. —Wendell Berry149

48 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us As we refl ect on the experience on our communities, our politics, of our people and of Earth itself and our planetary conditions. through the wisdom of our traditions, we are compelled to act As Pope Francis has written, because our capacity to become co-creators, A strategy for real change to change the stories in which we fi nd ourselves, calls for rethinking processes in their entirety, is the ground of our hope. for it is not enough to include a few superfi cial ecological considerations Indeed, in our listening sessions while failing to question the logic when we asked people which underlies present-day culture.150 where they found signs of hope, they often replied with very concrete examples Appalachian communities from their own communities have contributed to our ecological crisis of people acting for change. in many of the same ways Many of us have begun as other North Americans. to take our place in the story, Yet some Appalachian traditions refusing to be passive have preserved ways of life and taking the initiative that are much more humble, to knit together a new regional story smaller in scale, in our cities and counties, and in keeping with the kinship in our churches and neighborhoods, intended for God’s creation, in our families and as individuals. including household gardens and other practices of homemaking. Certainly many people in our region and beyond Drawing on these traditions, have begun to refl ect deeply and creating new ones, on the global crises that are before us. we in Appalachia have begun to feel our way Inspired by the ecological movement, through the wilderness of a post-coal future. and by the teachings of our churches, In this wilderness, we have begun to make changes we are learning to let go of the idolatries in our personal lifestyles, of a culture obsessed greening the way we live and work with more things and more profi t. to better respect the gift of God’s creation. We are learning to assert a self-worth that transcends the role imposed on us We celebrate the growing ecological movement to provide the nation’s energy. because it points to different ways of living And we are learning to walk more in keeping with God’s vision more humbly upon Earth, for humanity and for Earth. taking our place in God’s story And yet, of the kinship of all creation.151 here in Appalachia it becomes apparent that buying green products Repeating principles and values and making lifestyle changes is not enough is not enough to help us along if mountains are still being leveled into the future together. and if the fossil fuel industry We have proclaimed principles before, maintains its stranglehold but it is now the time to act. We offer here concrete examples

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 49 of ways communities in Appalachia as a way of putting into practice one’s faith are taking their place in the story, in God’s coming community of creation. acting together to discern new ways of living together in this region The word “activism” is often and on this planet. met with suspicion in the church and in Appalachia. We do not offer fi nal suggestions for action, For many Christians, and cannot do so, activism seems unrelated to, because our acting must always include learning, and even contrary to, open to encounters with others the spiritual life. and open to the truths we learn For many Appalachians, from Earth and from God.152 activists are seen as outsiders Yet we believe that these examples and “do-gooders” are the experimental seeds who have little relationship of a new Appalachia and a new world, with the people or their communities. seeds that can be planted and tested in our own communities and contexts. But for others, activism, faith, and Appalachia “This Land is Home to Me” said are all a part of what it means the Spirit of God to follow the Spirit in this place. presses us We believe that Jesus showed us to … recognize that life in the Spirit that a new social order must be incarnate in our bodies is being born.153 and in our world. We believe that we are called People of faith in Appalachia to be the Body of Christ in the world still believe this is true, and participants in God’s action in history.155 yet perhaps the birthing is taking place in ways other than initially expected. For our God is a God of surprises, and it is the weak things of this world which seem like folly, that the Spirit takes up and makes its own.154

BECOMING APPALACHIAN MYSTIC ACTIVISTS

There are many ways that people of faith act together for a better Appalachia Appalachian activism has a long history, and a better world. and in the struggles of history and of today, Increasing numbers of people being an activist is not a hobby or a luxury. are becoming aware that living in the Spirit People have decided to act, means becoming activists and to act boldly, because life depends on changing

50 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us the way we live together. of “This Land is Home to Me”: As Larry Gibson often said, The people themselves “We’re either going to be an activist, must shape their own destiny.159 or we’re going to be annihilated.”156

Just as women were the fi rst witnesses TRANSFORMING THE BASIS OF LIFE to Jesus’ crucifi xion and resurrection, they have been practicing resurrection Appalachian people have long known at the forefront of Appalachian movements. that we cannot change Many of the women who have our world’s destructive course entered the world of activism without a deep transformation are mothers fi rst in the very basis of the way we live life together. and have chosen to act in the name of life We must shift away from for the survival of their children, the consumer-driven market economy of babies in the womb, to a sustenance economy160 and of future generations.157 in which our desire for “more” As Judy Bonds has said, is replaced by satisfaction with “enough,” “I don’t think I chose to become an activist, living in kinship with the Earth community it was chosen for me…. and respectful of the limits of nature. I think it had to do with how much injustice I was willing to accept.”158

Appalachian people know that major transformations are needed in order for us live in harmony with Earth and with each other as God intends. Our movements must bring people together, such as labor and eco-justice movements, to work through their differences and fi ght the forces that are killing our communities and our planet.

We are acting in the world to birth a new Appalachia through four major areas of transformation:

• Transforming the Basis of Life • Transforming Communities • Transforming Politics • Transforming the Church. The Appalachian bishops In each area, had much to say on the transition people are taking their place in the story, to a sustainable way of life continuing to take up the challenge in “At Home in the Web of Life.”

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 51 We will not repeat that message here, often without support from the political leaders, but we will reiterate the urgency toward institutional divestment from fossil fuels with which we must act. and investment in renewable energy, As the bishops said twenty years ago, such as through energy co-ops.164 our choice is one between life and death.161 Directly connected to use of energy We also reiterate our conviction that, is the need to transform technology. although we must grow In his ecological encyclical, in global awareness and solidarity, Pope Francis has drawn our attention everything must at the same time to the global technology-driven culture become more local. which produces mass quantities of new products We will have to learn to shift for production’s sake, from the attempt to control and save the world the best example being to the practice of saving local places.162 our addiction to new personal electronic devices. Here we will highlight three areas The temptation to endlessly consume in which this shift to the local is one problem with our technology culture. is increasingly vital. A deeper problem is the fact that the true costs of our technologies We are transforming are often hidden from our view, our sources and consumption of energy. as well as the fact that so much technology More and more people are saying no is developed for the waging of violence to the blasphemy of mountaintop removal against human beings and against Earth. and a misplaced faith in the future of coal. We are recognizing that coal industry practices The development of appropriate technologies are an immediate ecological emergency, has been a concern in Appalachia for some time.165 threatening the integrity of Earth Technologies that are developed and the health of our communities. within appropriate limits We are working inside and outside of institutions are more respectful of nature, to conduct assessments are potentially less costly to produce, of environmental and human health and contribute to peace in a world and to contribute to and share local knowledge.163 of increasing confl ict over the world’s resources. Technology should serve people and Earth, Likewise, we urge against not the other way around, the simple replacement of coal with natural gas, and investment in appropriate technologies not only because the ecological and health risks is more important than ever. are similar to those of coal, but because we know that natural gas Finally, the way we choose is another face of our addiction to produce and transport food to fossil fuels. is at the heart of the way we live. We know that climate change Industrial agriculture harms Earth is a crisis we can avoid and treats animals, including humans, only by changing our way of life. like mere machines, We must turn to renewable energy sources and global food distribution networks and master our energy addiction are a major contributor to climate change. through mindfulness, conservation, and effi ciency. In response, So our movements are working from below, local communities in Appalachia are returning

52 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us to the practice of growing our own food Having new, local sources of food through deep organic methods166 does not only mean new products to buy, and ethical pasture-based animal husbandry.167 but it means new skills and new jobs These movements are encouraging which are so important in post-coal economies.169 a shift away from unnatural foods and toward local, real food diets, Wider discussions about Appalachia’s many of them plant based, post-coal future have been taking place, that reject the corporate industrial model especially in suffering coal regions, and embrace God’s model of the ecosystem where but new conversations Earth is “[not] to be a desolation, and new forms of cooperation are needed. but rather a place to be lived in.” (Isaiah 45:18) Grassroots movements and community development efforts such as With women often at the forefront, community groups, churches, and non-profi ts • Step By Step, such as the Highland Educational Project, and What’s Next, West Virginia? • the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture in West Virginia170 Project • Mountain Association for Community • Grow Appalachia Economic Development (MACED) • Grow Ohio Valley and Appalachia’s Bright Future • and the Alderson Food Hub168 in Kentucky171 • The Highlander Research are changing how we eat and Education Center through community gardens, in Tennessee172 farmers markets, • and the region-wide organization community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, Appalachian Sustainable Development173 co-op grocery stores, and mobile food markets. are just some of the groups Such efforts are not an array and initiatives leading the way. of trendy new food products, However, but are transforming the way we live, it is diffi cult to imagine adequate transition literally at the very root, for coal miners and their families by creating new local food economies without concrete proposals and by allowing people to know for new jobs for displaced miners. where their food comes from, Some voices have called for food that is healthier a “jobs fi rst agenda” which would provide for people, animals, and the planet. alternative jobs to miners, guaranteed by state or federal government, TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES AND including rebuilding infrastructure ECONOMIES or repurposing mine and power plant sites.174 Because food is so central to human life, the shifts we are seeing toward new food economies Throughout Appalachia, are at the center of revitalized communities people are taking their place in the story in Appalachia. and making their communities When food changes, other changes follow. centers of local production

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 53 rather than mere consumption. are moving beyond mourning We are producing food and energy, and are celebrating a new moment taking part in city revitalization efforts, in which the end of exploitative economies and rethinking approaches to tourism.175 is giving way to new opportunities We are producing art, music, and culture, to shape our own destinies. and engaging in the preservation of our region’s natural lands, TRANSFORMING POLITICS our cities’ historic treasures, and our peoples’ shared history.176 And the more we do so, Many people in Appalachia the stronger our communities become, share a healthy suspicion of the political systems from below, through which our lives are organized, through new forms whether local, regional, national, or global. of kinship, cooperation, and mutuality. We believe that the work of transformation cannot be done primarily through these current systems because they serve the profi tability of corporations rather than people or Earth. These systems are themselves a major contributor to the crisis we face and will not adjust easily to the changes that must occur.

Democracy in this country is broken, and this is perhaps most easy to see in Appalachia where corporate money, especially money from the fossil fuel industries, And yet, as we fi nd our way, controls political life we must seriously reckon with and divides society into polarized camps. barriers to renewed community life Despite deep corruption, that have harmed people in our region. this political system must be engaged Sexism, racism, and classism because political decisions in the present are all still present in our communities. have a direct impact on the lives Criminal backgrounds of people and of Earth. prevent some people from reintegrating Yet, these systems must not only be engaged into the community but radically changed at their roots and beginning the process if political life is ever to be placed of putting their lives back together. back into the hands of people, We must continually seek out and returned to a form those excluded from access that respects the persons and the planet to the fullness of life and peace it is intended to serve. of the community of creation. People in Appalachia are calling In the midst of these challenges, for radical political change many of us in Appalachia in at least three areas.

54 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us • and defend the dignity of the human person by instituting a living wage, the universal right to health care, and the right of workers to organize.

And third, we call for the transformation of the entire political system through new political and economic systems more in tune with Earth and the rights of all peoples:179

First, • systems which no longer we see very clearly the need place money at the center, to nurture participatory democracy in our region but the poor, by getting corporate money out of politics, including Earth through legislation for fair voting rights, • systems which no longer and through community education place the protection of property at the center, for democracy free of divisive rhetoric but the protection of the commons and propaganda.177 of water, of land, and of air • and systems which no longer Second, place the rights of corporations at the center, we urge a politics that serves but the rights of Earth people and Earth, which must be explicitly protected in law.180 not corporations. In the spirit of Pope Francis, All the while, we are calling for a politics we must always remember of what we might call ecological mercy. that politics belongs to the people, We call for laws which not to great leaders or to political parties, and that local participation and creativity • promote a sustainable energy policy are where the “social poetry” of political life occurs, by leaving fossil fuels in the ground, in Appalachia and elsewhere.181 by divesting from dirty energy, by investing in renewable energy, TRANSFORMING THE CHURCHES and by committing to concrete policies to combat climate change • protect the environment, Finally, especially water, here in Appalachia, and human health we are engaged in the hard work according to the “precautionary principle” of transforming our churches which insists that into communities that serve God’s intentions “If objective information suggests for the entire community of creation. that serious and irreversible damage “Care of creation” may result, has become a major concern a project should be halted or modifi ed, across denominational lines, even in the absence of indisputable proof”178 and communities have cooperated

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 55 in acts of service and justice That message of sustainable community through groups like has led directly to the foundation of new intentional communities, • the Catholic Committee of Appalachia each with its own mission in its own place, • Christians for the Mountains and has nourished the ongoing mission • Christian Appalachian Project of more long-standing communities. • the Thomas Merton Center • and Interfaith Power & Light.182

Groups like these have taken their place in the story as people of faith committed to prophetic word and action for justice and sustainability.183

In the Roman Catholic tradition, Appalachia has been a place where the reforms of the Vatican II and its call for a justice-seeking local church have often been put into practice in creative ways. Many communities of faith throughout the region continue to live out the vision of the Appalachian pastorals and of a faith that seeks justice for the entire Earth community.

We lift up the many Appalachian ministries that serve individuals and communities We think especially of Bethlehem Farm on the underside of this regional in West Virginia, and global economy, the Mt. Tabor Benedictines in Kentucky, whether they be offi cial church organizations and the Elder Spirit co-housing community in Virginia. or grassroots initiatives. We celebrate the continuing tradition We celebrate the continuing role of Appalachian Catholic Worker farms and houses that Catholic Charities, in both rural and urban communities the various peace and justice offi ces, in Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio.185 prison ministries and addiction programs, and state Councils of Churches We think, too, of entire parishes play in addressing the effects of poverty which have refl ected deeply and ecological injustice in this region.184 on their environmental impact and have undergone a conversion We especially celebrate into “eco-parishes.” the way entire church communities St. Eugene Catholic Church have been founded or reoriented in Asheville, North Carolina in response to the message of our last pastoral, provides an important model for parishes “At Home in the Web of Life.” in Appalachia and beyond.186

56 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us Yet we know that renewal must continue, This is the church we desire, and we call for transformation and yet, in our Appalachian churches in six ways. we know that we are the church and that we must become the church We desire, and commit to become: we wish to see in the world, beginning now, • a church of the poor here in Appalachia and beyond. that listens fi rst to the stories of the marginalized and excluded A MESSAGE TO YOUTH • a church of partnership that holds all members as equals, Both of our previous pastorals that has rid itself of the sin of sexism, contained a special message to young people and that is inclusive of gays and lesbians, who have always been a source adjusting its structures of vision and energy in the region. of membership, leadership, and sacramental life Twenty-years ago, to refl ect this equality and inclusion187 the Appalachian bishops noted the increasing numbers of young people • a church that is planetary, who leave the region. at the service of God’s entire Since that time, community of creation these numbers have worsened. and open to the diverse wisdom of all of God’s people At the same time, many young people who leave Appalachia • a church that is placed, for education or employment opportunities rooted deep in the landscapes have a shared sense of connection to home and cultures where we fi nd ourselves and a deep love of the region. and incarnating faith Some young people stay connected through local liturgical forms through social media and local ways of discipleship188 and even participate in movements for justice in Appalachia • a church that is prophetic, from a distance. which is relevant to the world by announcing good news for the poor Others have chosen to come back and denouncing social and ecological sin, to the communities they left whose leaders speak loudly of justice to start businesses and projects and refuse to be tempted into silence,189 which create new opportunities and whose members live in the place they love. Spirit-fi lled lives that show Some have even founded organizations that another way of life is possible190 to encourage young people to stay in Appalachia, such as Stay Together Appalachian Youth (STAY).191 • and a church of the Appalachian pastorals, Still others are dedicating their lives remaining true to their radical vision to service or to organizing, of a church that listens fi rst letting go of the pursuit of prestigious careers and seeks justice for Earth and its people. and taking their place in community development efforts

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 57 or in low-paying jobs to help organize to return to the region, justice in the workplace. or to stay here, to take your place in the story We note, too, of people of faith seeking justice the emergence of new forms and the birth of a new Appalachia. of service and immersion trips taking place in the region. In many ways, CONCLUSION these initiatives can be seen as a response to the call of Jesus In this pastoral, to “Come and see.” (John 1:39) we have given an update We encourage young people on the challenges facing our region to continue on the way of conversion in the context of a world in deep crisis. begun by these many trips. We have refl ected on these stories and information We invite the institutions through the lenses of our traditions, which plan such opportunities including the traditions of Appalachia itself. to refl ect deeply on the meaning Refl ection on these stories is so important, and the forms of solidarity because, as Pope Francis reminds us, these experiences are meant to instill. Our goal is not to amass information or to satisfy curiosity, but rather to become painfully aware, to dare to turn what is happening to the world into our own personal suffering and thus to discover what each of us can do about it.193

We have suggested a number of concrete actions being taken throughout the region. We can learn deeply from these initiatives, because they have emerged from the very hearts of our communities.

While we have tried to be concrete We celebrate all of these young people in telling these stories of action, who in their own way we realize that they are merely a starting point. are following the example of Jesus We encourage the pastoral circle who took his place in Galilee used in this document— with a mission of kinship and transformation. a pattern of listening, then refl ecting, We continue to believe in our youth, then acting— those “who have not given up hope, to continue in diverse communities and who continue to throughout the region. believe in freshness From that circle of refl ection, in human experience.”192 we call for the development We make a special invitation to you of local action plans

58 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us in dioceses, parishes, and organizations, to take our place in the story of creation, in neighborhoods and in workplaces. and of Appalachia, to let the telling take us home. But in our acting, we must know that there are no easy answers, no one solution to the problems we face, no single economic savior to rescue us. The time for these fantasies has passed. We must forge relationships and become comfortable feeling our way in the dark with one another, nurturing within us a holy hope that pulls us beyond what we can see and gives us assurance that God’s story is bigger than the false stories by which we live.

Yet in God’s grand story, everyone must fi nd a place, and everyone’s story, including the story of Earth, must be welcomed and honored in its telling. Each of us, in the communities where we fi nd ourselves, are called to become “living pastorals”: listening deeply with the heart, fi nding Christ’s presence there, and then acting boldly, with others, for God’s Reign.

In order to create that culture of encounter where each member of creation can fi nd a home, we must begin by asking that deep, holy question: What is it like to be you in this place?

That sacred question, which is at the heart of this pastoral, is an invitation to all of us to get in touch with our own stories, to listen deeply to the holy stories of others, especially the poor of Earth,

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 59 60 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us AFTERWORD: A NEW GENERATION’S PLACE IN THE STORY

As a high school student with a deep passion for social justice but skeptical that institutional religion had anything of value to contribute to these concerns, the Appalachian pastorals were nothing short of revo- lutionary. My exposure to them rooted me in a very different geography of the region I called home. They helped me to see being a West Virginian, or “Appalachian,” as an asset and something I could claim with joy. The Appalachian pastorals were honest about the challenges people in the region faced, but they in- sisted that ecological and economic exploitation—not people—were the problem. The pastorals also risked a little, much needed, romanticism by suggesting that Appalachia contained a promise, boldly fl ipping a script that insisted mainstream U.S. values as touted by the War on Poverty would “save” Appalachia. The pastorals suggested that Appalachian culture and traditions contained seeds of renewal for a deeply unjust socio-economic system. My own ecological conversion and sense of vocation took deep root in the moun- tains as result of these letters, shaping profoundly my hopes for the church, for Appalachia, and for the larger socio-ecological and economic systems of which they are a part.

As one voice among a new generation of social justice advocates taking our place in the story of the moun- tains and the pastorals, I give witness to our generation’s vision of Appalachia as a multifaceted place. Among my partners in tilling the soils of justice, I have seen efforts to tend to aspects of the Appalachian story that have remained buried. Once composted, these voices now bring new riches to the story the pas- torals tell. Our Appalachia is many things; we claim Appalachia as a radiant mix of colors, sexual orientations, gender identities, ages, and classes. Some of us are urban. Others are decidedly rural. Some of us have lived our lives in the mountains. Others have had to leave for various reasons. Others still have moved to the re- gion and adopted Appalachia as a home. However, all of us share deep sense of rootedness in a place. This unites us in world in which globalized production and consumption has created an increasingly mobile and rootless way of interacting with Earth, which homogenizes places as much as it celebrates difference.

In the last year, I have encountered numerous news articles buzzing about a “post-coal” Appalachia. These articles speak about Appalachia as the epicenter of production for a new energy economy. What I experi- ence on the ground in Appalachia is different. Those of us now coming of age in the mountains want to see Appalachia taking an empowered place in the global economy. We want to think beyond fueling the energy addiction of a consumer society—however renewable—and build something that gives life to and empowers our own diverse communities. A proliferation of grassroots organizations created with, and driven by, young people are seeking to nurture a different future that does not rely on the extraction of Appalachian energy. Our generation seeks to harness creative energy to fuel an Appalachia in which we feel able to stay or return, knowing there is a place for us.

This new pastoral lifts up these many voices and visions, and it is my prayer that it will speak to young Ap- palachians today, as the others spoke to previous generations. This pastoral invites us to listen to, and learn from, the memories of earlier efforts and till the soil of our own sense of connection and commitment to this land we call home. It is with much peace and joy that we stand within this new chapter in our shared story.

Eddie Sloane Boston College doctoral candidate and Education Wheeling, West Virginia

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 61 62 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us NOTES

1 Utah Phillips, “The Telling Takes Me Home” is available de Dios,” Concilium 200 (1985): 71-81; and No Salvation on the album The Telling Takes Me Home (Rounder Records, Outside the Poor: Prophetic-Utopian Essays (Maryknoll, NY: 1997). Orbis Books, 2008), 34. 2 Pope John Paul II, “Address to UN Conference on Health 8 “This Land is Home to Me,” 32. and Environment” (March 24, 1997), available at https:// 9 Pope Francis, Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1997/march/ Home, no. 34, available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/fran- documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19970324_ambiente-salute.html. cesco/en/encyclicals/documents/papa-francesco_20150524_ 3 Catholic Bishops of Appalachia, “This Land is Home to enciclica-laudato-si.html (cited hereafter as “LS”). Me: A Pastoral Letter on Powerlessness in Appalachia by the 10 Margaret Swedish, Living Beyond the “End of the Catholic Bishops of the Region” and “At Home in the Web World”: A Spirituality of Hope (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, of Life: A Pastoral Message on Sustainable Communities in 2008), 146. Appalachia Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of This Land 11 1 Cor. 12:4-11. Is Home to Me from the Catholic Bishops of Appalachia.” 12 In its document on the concept of the sensus fi dei, Citations of these Appalachian pastoral letters refer to their the International Theological Commission writes, “Hum- most recent printing, in one volume: This Land is Home to ble listening at all levels and proper consultation of those Me (1975), At Home in the Web of Life (1995): Appalachian concerned are integral aspects of a living and lively church” Pastoral Letters (Martin, KY: Catholic Committee of Appala- (International Theological Commission, Sensus Fidei in chia, 2007). Print and digital copies are available on the CCA the Life of the Church, no. 126, available at www.vatican. website at http://www.ccappal.org/publications/pastoral-let- va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/ ters. For those unfamiliar with these two previous pastoral rc_cti_20140610_sensus-fi dei_en.html). Pope Francis puts letters, the writing style of this present document follows the it this way in Evangelii Gaudium (cited hereafter as “EG”): same “poetic” style of writing found in the 1975 and 1995 “This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. letters. They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the 4 This image of “re-membering our history” comes from sensus fi dei, but in their diffi culties they know the suffering CCA founding member Marie Cirillo in early discussions Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them” about this “People’s Pastoral.” (no. 198, available at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/ 5 Patrick Reinsborough and Doyle Canning, Re:Imagining en/apost_exhortations/documents/papa-francesco_esortazi- Change: How to Use Story-Based Strategy to Win Cam- one-ap_20131124_evangelii-gaudium.html). paigns, Build Movements, and Change the World (Oakland, 13 For more on the sacredness of the question “What CA: PM Press, 2010); David C. Korten, Change the Story, is it like to be you,” see the refl ections of Jesuit Brendan Change the Future: A Living Economy for a Living Earth Busse at The Jesuit Post website, e.g. “Lost and Found, or (Oakland, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2015). Homelessness and Grace,” available at https://thejesuitpost. 6 Ched Myers, “From ‘Creation Care’ to ‘Watershed Dis- org/2012/07/lost-and-found-homelessness-addiction-and- cipleship’: Re-Placing Ecological Theology and Practice,” grace; and “To Be a Better Lover,” available at https://theje- Conrad Grebel Review, Vol. 32, No. 3 (Fall 2014), 250-275. suitpost.org/2015/06/to-be-a-better-lover. 7 The term “magisterium of the poor” was coined by Sri 14 John S. Rausch, “The True Cost of Mountaintop Remov- Lankan Jesuit theologian Aloysius Pieris. See, e.g., “An Asian al” (2006), available from http://www.ncrlc.com/corner-post- Paradigm: Inter-Religious Dialogue and Theology of Reli- webpages/True-Cost-Mt-Removal.html%5D. gions,” The Month (April 1993): 227-232; and Liberación, 15 “At Home in the Web of Life,” 55. inculturación, diálogo religioso (Estella, 2001). Asian feminist 16 This quote is from the late West Virginia activist Larry theologians have developed this in terms of the “magisteri- Gibson in B. J. Gudmundsson’s short fi lm “Keeper of the um of poor women of Asia,” e.g. Antoinette Gutzler, “From Mountains,” released by Christians for the Mountains and Whence Comes This Authority? The Ekklesia of Women in Patchwork Films, 2006. Asia: A New Magisterium For the Church,” in Evelyn Montie- 17 There are many resources online which provide the ba- ro and Antoinette Gutzler, eds., Ecclesia of Women in Asia: sics on mountaintop removal. One of the best is provided by Gathering the Voices of the Silenced, (Delhi: ISPCK, 2005), the group Appalachian Voices at http://ilovemountains.org/ 160, cited in Sharon A. Bong, “The Ecclesia of Women in resources. The list of recent writing on mountaintop removal Asia: Liberating Theology,” in Feminist Catholic Theological continues to grow. Some of the most important, more in Ethics: Conversations in the World Church, ed. Linda Hogan depth, studies are Eric Reece, Lost Mountain: A Year in the and A.E. Orobator (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2014), 64- Vanishing Wilderness: Radical Strip Mining and the Devas- 71. Latin American theologians have used similar language tation of Appalachia (New York: Riverhead Books, 2006); in terms of the salvation that comes from the poor but also Shirley Stewart Burns, Bringing Down the Mountains: The with regard to the “doctrinal authority” of the poor. See Impact of Mountaintop Removal on especially Jon Sobrino, “La authoridad doctrinal del pueblo Communities (Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 63 Press, 2007); Tom Butler and George Wuerthner, eds., Plun- palachia: Mountaintop Mining and Environmental Justice,” dering Appalachia: The Tragedy of Mountaintop-Removal Journal of Health Disparities Research and Practice 4, no. Coal Mining (San Rafael, CA: Earth Aware, 2009); Rebecca R. 3 (2011): 50-59; K. Zullig and M. Hendryx, “Health-Related Scott, Removing Mountains: Extracting Nature and Identity Quality of Life Among Central Appalachian Residents in in the Appalachian Coalfi elds (Minneapolis: University of Mountaintop Mining Counties,” American Journal of Public Minnesota Press, 2010). Health 101 (2011): 848-853; M. Hendryx, F. Fulk, and A. 18 Comments made by Larry Gibson in “Keeper of the McGinley, “Public Drinking Water Violations in Mountaintop Mountains.” Coal Mining Areas of West Virginia, USA,” Water Quality, 19 This story comes from a Roman Catholic religious sister, Exposure and Health 4 (2012): 169-175. For links to many of community organizer, and women’s advocate in rural Virginia. these studies and more, see http://ohvec.org/issues/moun- 20 The CCA-related initiative “In Praise of Mountain Wom- taintop_removal/articles/health. en” created a community of women to discuss their experi- 23 This example comes to us from the ministry of CCA’s ences in the region and to nurture a sense of empowerment former Director, Fr. John Rausch. He has refl ected on the toward social change. See also Shannon Elizabeth Bell, Our community’s response to the fl ooding in many of his writings, Roots Run Deep as Ironweed: Appalachian Women and the including “The Cross in the Mountains: Mountaintop Remov- Fight for Environmental Justice (Urbana, IL: University of al in Appalachia,” Sacred Acts: How Churches are Working Illinois Press, 2013). to Protect Earth’s Climate (Gabriola Island, BC, Canada: New 21 Numerous testimonies of communities living close to Society Publishers, 2012), 152-153. mining projects are readily available online. Two very helpful 24 The term was coined by Glenn Albrecht. See “Glob- collections were produced from extensive interviews con- al Solastalgia,” available at http://healthearth.blogspot. ducted by CCA member and long-time native Appalachian com/2008/08/global-solastalgia.html. activist Carol Warren. The booklets were co-sponsored by 25 M. Hendryx, and K.A. Innes-Wimsatt, “Increased Risk of CCA, the West Virginia Council of Churches, the West Virgin- Depression for People Living in Coal Mining Areas of Central ia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, the Ohio Valley Environ- Appalachia, USA,” Ecopsychology, 5, no. 3 (2013): 179-187. mental Coalition (OVEC), and Christians for the Mountains. 26 This is part of the story of Keeper of the Mountains, the See Carol Warren, ed., Like Walking Onto Another Planet: non-profi t started by the late Larry Gibson of Kayford Moun- Stories About the TRUE Impacts of Mountaintop Removal tain in West Virginia. Mining (Huntington, WV: Ohio Valley Environmental Coali- 27 “Justice for Miners & their Families: A Statement from tion, 2006), available at http://ohvec.org/blog/wp-content/ Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice on the Threat to uploads/2015/10/ovec_mtrbooklet.pdf; and Carol Warren, Health-Benefi ts of Workers Presently or Formerly Employed ed., Mountaintops Do Not Grow Back: Stories of Living in by Peabody Energy, Patriot Coal, Arch Coal, or Magnum the Midst of Mountaintop Removal Strip-Mining (Hunting- Coal,” (26 February 2013), available at http://www.catholic- ton, WV: Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, 2008), avail- scholarsforworkerjustice.org/2013-02-26_SOS_Justice_for_ able at http://ohvec.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/ Miners_and_Families.pdf. mountaintops_do_not_grow_back.pdf. 28 Governor’s Independent Investigation Panel, Upper Big 22 M. Hendryx and M. Ahern, “Mortality in Appalachian Branch: The April 5, 2010, Explosion: A Failure of Basic Coal Coal Mining Regions: The Value of Statistical Life Lost,” Mining Safety Practices, Report to the Governor, J. Davitt Public Heath Reports 124 (July-August 2009): 541–50; L. McAteer, et al. (2011), available at http://www.nttc.edu/ Cain and M. Hendryx, “Learning Outcomes Among Students ubb. See also The of America, “Report in Relation to West Virginia Coal Mining: An Environmental on the Sago Mine Disaster of January 2, 2006,” (March 15, ‘Riskscape’ Approach,” Environmental Justice 3 (2010): 71- 2007), available at http://www.umwa.org/fi les/documents/ 77; M.A. Palmer, et al., “Mountaintop Mining Consequenc- Sagoreport.pdf. See also Peter A. Galuszka, Thunder on the es,” Science 327 (8 January 2010): 148–9; K.J. Zullig and M. Mountain: Death at Massey and the Dirty Secrets Behind Big Hendryx, “A Comparative Analysis of Health-Related Quality Coal (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012). of Life (HRQOL) for Residents of US Counties With and 29 At the time of this writing, former CEO of Massey Energy Without Coal Mining,” Public Health Reports, 125 (2010): Don Blankenship has been convicted of conspiring to violate 548-555; P. Epstein, et al., “Full Cost Accounting for the Life mine safety regulations at the Upper Big Branch Mine in Cycle of Coal,” Annals of the New York Academy of Scienc- West Virginia. For detailed coverage of the trial, see the es 1219 (2011): 73–98; M. Hendryx, et al., “Self-Reported writing of Ken Ward, Jr. at The Charleston Gazette’s “Coal Cancer Rates in Two Rural Areas of West Virginia with and Tattoo” blog at http://blogs.wvgazettemail.com/coaltattoo. Without Mountaintop Coal Mining,” Journal of Community 30 Chris Hanby, “Black Lung Surges Back in Coal Country,” Health, 24 July 2011, available at http://www.motherjones. The Center for Public Integrity (July 8, 2012), available at com/fi les/fi nal_jch_cancer_2011.pdf; M. Ahern, et al., “The http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/07/08/9293/black-lung- Association Between Mountaintop Mining and Birth De- surges-back-coal-country. fects Among Live Births in Central Appalachia, 1996–2003,” 31 In West Virginia, industry statistics show a decrease in Environmental Research 111, no. 6 (August 2011): 838–46; mining jobs from 130,457 in 1940 to 19,427 in 2013 (West M. Hendryx, “Poverty and Mortality Disparities in Central Ap- Virginia Coal Association statistics cited in Dennis Sadowski,

64 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us “Despite Long Mining History, Poverty Straps Many in West ican-opiate-epidemic-was-started-by-one-pharmaceuti- Virginia,” National Catholic Reporter/Catholic News Service cal-company; Olga Khazan, “The New Heroin Epidemic,” [Nov. 4, 2014], available at http://ncronline.org/blogs/ The Atlantic (Oct. 30, 2014), available at http://www. eco-catholic/despite-long-mining-history-poverty-straps-ma- theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/the-new-heroin-epi- ny-west-virginia). Between 2011 and early 2014 alone, 5,000 demic/382020/. coal jobs were cut in the state (West Virginia Center on 39 This section’s voices come from women and men in Budget & Policy, “The State of Working West Virginia 2014: prison, and from advocates who work in the prison systems, Economic Recovery and Transition in the Mountain State: in West Virginia and Virginia. State’s Energy Economy Shifts North,” available at https:// 40 Madelon L. Finkel and Adam Law, “The Rush to Drill for www.afsc.org/sites/afsc.civicactions.net/fi les/documents/Re- Natural Gas: A Public Health Cautionary Tale,” American port-state-working-west-va-2014.pdf). In Kentucky, the story Journal of Public Health 101, No. 5 (May 2011). is the same. Thirty years ago, coal employed about 48,000 in 41 The Bush-Cheney Energy Policy Act of 2005 paved the state. Today, the industry employs about 10,000 (“Re- the way for research and exploration. See “President Signs port: Kentucky Lost More Than 1 in 10 Coal Jobs During First Energy Policy Act,” (August 8, 2005), available at http:// Three Months of 2015,” Lexington Herald-Leader [April 30, georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releas- 2015], available at http://www.kentucky.com/news/business/ es/2005/08/20050808-6.html. See also the 2009 documen- article44597049.html). tary Split Estate by Debra Anderson. The fi lm’s website is 32 Eve S. Weinbaum, To Move a Mountain: Fighting the http://www.splitestate.com and the fi lm is available to stream Global Economy in Appalachia (New York: The Free Press, at http://www.snagfi lms.com/fi lms/title/split_estate. 2004). 42 At the time of this writing, there are about 1.7 million 33 West Virginia has seen an increase in the number of active oil and gas wells in the United States. Data is updated federal prisons in recent years. See Tracy Huling, “Building continually by the non-profi t organization FracTracker. See a Prison Economy in Rural America” in Invisible Punishment: statistics at http://www.fractracker.org. The Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, Marc 43 For a concise reference to federal regulation for oil and Mauer and Meda Chesney-Lind, eds. (New York: The New gas, see http://www.oilandgasbmps.org/laws/federal_law. Press, 2002). Communities like Oak Ridge, Tennessee are php. See also Paige Campbell, “Plundering Private Property centers for weapons research and manufacturing. Richmond, Rights,” Appalachian Voices Blog (June 11, 2012), available Kentucky is home to a large stockpile of aging chemical at http://appvoices.org/2012/06/11/plundering-private-prop- weapons, the disposal of which has been under discussion erty-rights; Eric Ellman, “The Fractured State of Gas Shale by the Pentagon, Congress, and local organizations (Dan Development Regulation,” Penumbra, Yale Climate & Energy Radmacher, “Disposing of a Chemical Past,” Appalachian Institute, available at http://climate.yale.edu/penumbra/frac- Voices Blog [August 6, 2015], available at http://appvoic- tured-state-gas-shale-development-regulation; as well as the es.org/2015/08/06/disposing-of-a-chemical-past-ken- April/May 2015 issue of The Appalachian Voice, available at tucky-chemical-weapons-stockpile-slated-for-destruc- http://appvoices.org/thevoice/2015-issue-2-aprilmay. tion-by-2023. 44 Horrifi c reports of sexual assault have been document- 34 West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy, “The State of ed in oil and gas communities in North Dakota, particularly Working West Virginia 2014.” those near Native communities. For some of these reports, 35 The experience of families living in “food deserts” in- see Mary Annette Pember, “Brave Heart Women Fight to forms the work of groups like Grow Ohio Valley in Wheeling, Ban Man-Camps, Which Bring Rape and Abuse,” Indian West Virginia and the Alderson Food Hub in Alderson, West Country Today Media Network (Aug. 28, 2013), available at Virginia, as well as Grow Appalachia which works throughout http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/28/ the region. See the website of Grow Appalachia at http:// brave-heart-women-fi ght-ban-man-camps-which-bring-rape- growappalachia.berea.edu/history-goals. and-abuse-151070; Peter Rugh, “Inside Fracking’s ‘Man 36 The following two paragraphs are drawn from listening Camps’, Where Sex, Drugs, and Gonorrhea Run Rampant” sessions with rural parishes and community members in Pres- (Oct. 18, 2013), available at http://motherboard.vice.com/ ton and McDowell counties in West Virginia. blog/inside-frackings-man-camps-where-sex-drugs-and-gon- 37 Dan Barry, “As the Mountaintops Fall, a Coal Town Van- orrhea-run-rampant; Damon Buckley, “Firsthand Account Of ishes,” New York Times (April 12, 2011), available at http:// Man Camp In North Dakota From Local Tribal Cop” (May www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/13lindytown.html. 22, 2014), available at http://www.lakotacountrytimes.com/ 38 Sue Ella Kobak, “OxyContin Flood in the Coalfi elds: news/2014-05-22/Front_Page/Firsthand_Account_Of_Man_ ‘Searching for Higher Ground,” in Transforming Places: Camp_In_North_Dakota_From.html; and Sari Horwitz, “Dark Lessons from Appalachia, edited by Stephen L. Fisher and Side of the Boom,” The Washington Post (Sept. 28, 2014), Barbara Ellen Smith (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, available at http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/nation- 2012), 198-209. See also Mike Mariani, “Poison Pill: How the al/2014/09/28/dark-side-of-the-boom/. A listening session American Opiate Epidemic was Started by One Pharmaceu- with an anti-fracking activist in Pennsylvania included the sto- tical Company,” Pacifi c Standard (Feb. 23, 2015), available at ry of prostitutes being fl own in by the plane-full to a North http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/how-the-amer- Dakota oil and gas community.

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 65 45 General information on the fracking process and its earthworksaction.org/index.php/library/detail/our_drinking_ effects is drawn from Finkel and Law as well as “What’s in water_at_risk. The draft of the most recent EPA report can the Water?,” a pamphlet produced by Damascus Citizens be found at http://www2.epa.gov/hfstudy. The report was for Sustainability. The website of Damascus Citizens contains immediately widely celebrated by the oil and gas industry a massive database of technical information on the oil and as “confi rming” that fracking is safe. The EPA later clarifi ed gas industry. See http://www.damascuscitizensforsustainabil- that the report states that current data is “insuffi cient,” ity.org/gas-drilling-tech-notes-directory. The late Dr. Theo and that the report should not be interpreted to mean that Colborn was a leading expert on the effects of chemicals on fracking does not contaminate water supplies. For a good the environment and human health, and much of her work follow-up report, see Ken Ward, Jr., “EPA Says New Study focused on the oil and gas industry. See the website of the Doesn’t Show Fracking is Safe,” Charleston Gazette-Mail Endocrine Disruption Exchange, an organization she found- (June 7, 2015), available at http://www.wvgazettemail.com/ ed, at http://www.endocrinedisruption.org. article/20150607/GZ01/150609432/1419. 46 We must also mention that the process also requires 52 One such public hearing on fracking was held in Wheel- large amounts of sand. Frack sand mining, a form of strip ing, West Virginia in February 2015, sponsored by the mining, has become an industry itself in some parts of the Clifford J. Lewis Appalachian Institute at Wheeling Jesuit country, the ecological and social effects of which are similar University. to those of mountaintop removal coal mining. See the web- 53 These stories are drawn from a listening session with site of Damascus Citizens for Sustainability at http://damas- Catholic anti-fracking activist Ron Gulla from Washington cuscitizens.org/frac-sand. County, Pennsylvania. 47 For stories from Pennsylvania, see Shalefi eld Stories: Per- 54 Some studies suggest that the carbon footprint of oil sonal and Collected Testimonies published by the Shalefi eld and gas is not signifi cantly less than that of coal, as industry Stories Campaign in January 2014. A second volume is now experts and politicians assert, and might, in fact, be much available. For information, see http://www.shalefi eldstories. worse. See Robert W. Howarth, “A Bridge to Nowhere: org. For stories from West Virginia, see the documentaries Methane Emissions and the Greenhouse Gas Footprint of In the Hills and Hollows (http://www.inthehillsandhollows. Natural Gas,” Energy Science & Engineering 2, No. 2 (June com) and Battle for Wetzel County (http://www.snagfi lms. 2014): 47–60, available at http://www.eeb.cornell.edu/how- com/fi lms/title/battle_for_wetzel_county). For a national arth/publications/Howarth_2014_ESE_methane_emissions. view of the natural gas industry, see the fi lm Split Estate. See pdf; Christina Nunez, “Switch to Natural Gas Won’t Reduce also the series of fi lms by Josh Fox, Gasland (2010), Gasland Carbon Emissions Much, Study Finds,” National Geographic Part II (2012), and Gaswork (2015). For info, see http://www. (Sept. 25, 2014), available at http://news.nationalgeograph- gaslandthemovie.com and http://www.gasworkfi lm.com. ic.com/news/energy/2014/09/140924-natural-gas-im- 48 Substances released into the water and air can include pact-on-emissions/. methane, arsenic, hydrogen sulfi de, mercury, acetone, ben- 55 These stories come from a listening session conducted zene, ethylbenzene, n-hexane, toluene, xylene. by a woman CCA member in Cherokee, North Carolina and 49 For example, see the website Energy Speaks, particularly via email from a male Native prison chaplain and CCA mem- its fact sheet section, at http://energyspeakswv.com/Resourc- ber. These stories resonate with the experiences of Native es/Fact-Sheets.aspx. peoples throughout North America. See Waziyatawin Angela 50 Nicknamed the “Halliburton loopholes,” these exemp- Wilson and Yellow Bird, eds., For Indigenous Eyes tions established by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 free the Only: A Decolonization Handbook (Santa Fe, NM: School of oil and gas industry from the constraints of the Safe Drinking American Research, 2005). Water Act (SDWA); the Clean Air Act (CAA); the Clean Water 56 bell hooks, Belonging: A Culture of Place (New York: Act (CWA); the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Routledge, 2009). (RCRA); the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Com- 57 This testimony comes from a CCA member and organic pensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA); the National Environ- farmer in Summers County, West Virginia. mental Policy Act (NEPA); and the Toxic Release Inventory 58 CCA issued a “Statement on Systemic Racism and Police of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Violence Against People of Color” during the Christmas Act (EPCRA). See “Loopholes for Polluters – The Oil and Gas season of 2014, on December 28th, the Feast of the Holy Industry’s Exemptions to Major Environmental Laws” (May Innocents. The statement is available at http://www.ccappal. 2011), available at https://www.earthworksaction.org/library/ org/publications/statements-resolutions/systemic-racism-po- detail/loopholes_for_polluters. See also “The Halliburton lice-violence-against-people-of-color. Loophole” at https://www.earthworksaction.org/issues/de- 59 The stories in this paragraph come from the Spanish tail/inadequate_regulation_of_hydraulic_fracturing. speaking Roman Catholic community in Asheville, North 51 Early EPA studies of fracking were found wanting by Carolina. environmentalist and health groups. See the Oil & Gas Ac- 60 Alex Hannaford, “Growing Up Gay and Transgendered countability Project’s 2005 study “Our Drinking Water at Risk: in Appalachia,” The Atlantic (April 30, 2011), available at What EPA and the Oil and Gas Industry Don’t Want Us to http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/04/grow- Know About Hydraulic Fracturing,” available at https://www. ing-up-gay-and-transgendered-in-appalachia/238047.

66 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us 61 Karen L. Cox, “We’re Here, We’re Queer, Y’all,” New Vaughan-Lee (Point Reyes, CA: The Golden Sufi Center, York Times (Oct. 3, 2012), available at http://www.nytimes. 2013), 85-100. com/2012/10/04/opinion/were-here-were-queer-yall.html. 78 Swedish, Living Beyond the “End of the World”, xxiv. See also Lori Rotenberk, “Raise the Flag High: Queer Farm- 79 A good example of serious, deep engagement between ing in Rural America,” Modern Farmer (January 22, 2015), indigenous and Christian voices, originating from but not available at http://modernfarmer.com/2015/01/raise-fl ag- limited to the Mennonite tradition, is Steve Heinrichs, ed. high-queer-farming-rural-america. Buffalo Shout, Salmon Cry: Conversations on Creation, Land 62 Silas House, “Small Towns, Small Hearts: The Battle for Justice, and Life Together (Waterloo, Ontario: Herald Press, Gay Rights in Rural America,” New York Times (October 22, 2013). See also Winona LaDuke, Recovering the Sacred: The 2014), available at http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/23/ Power of Naming and Claiming (Toronto: Between the Lines, opinion/the-battle-for-gay-rights-in-rural-america.html. 2005). 63 The voices present in the following two paragraphs 80 See, in particular, the work of Thomas Berry and Ilia come from participants in a retreat for gay and lesbian Cath- Delio. olics in Virginia. 81 A strong, early, and infl uential articulation of this view 64 Tim McDonnell, “Coal Companies Are Dying While Their from a Latin American viewpoint is Leonardo Boff, Cry of the Execs Grab More Cash,” Mother Jones (Sept. 2, 2015), avail- Earth, Cry of the Poor, Phillip Berryman, trans. (Maryknoll, able at http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/09/ NY: Orbis Books, 1997). coal-executives-salaries-bonuses-stock. 82 See, e.g., Dorothy Boorse, Loving the Least of These: 65 “This Land is Home to Me,” 16. Addressing a Changing Environment, A Conversation Piece 66 Comments made by Larry Gibson in “Keeper of the from the National Association of Evangelicals (2011), avail- Mountains.” able at http://nae.net/loving-the-least-of-these; Llewellyn 67 Activists and analysts have viewed Appalachia as a “sac- Vaughan-Lee, ed., Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth rifi ce zone” for decades. For a recent take on sacrifi ce zones, (Point Reyes, CA: The Golden Sufi Center, 2013). including Appalachia, in the context of global imperial cap- 83 Pope John Paul II, “Peace With God, Peace With All of italism, see Chris Hedges and Joe Sacco, Days of Destruc- God’s Creation,” World Day of Peace Message (January 1, tion, Days of Revolt (New York: Nation Books, 2012). 1990), available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/ 68 “This Land is Home to Me,” 17. en/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_19891208_ 69 Pope Francis has repeatedly pointed to the deadly xxiii-world-day-for-peace.html. reality of the global economy. For an excellent summary and 84 Pope John Paul II, “Peace With God, Peace With All of analysis, see Andrea Tornielli and Giacomo Galeazzi, This God’s Creation.” Economy Kills: Pope Francis on Capitalism and Social Justice 85 Pope Benedict XVI, “If You Want to Cultivate Peace, (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015). Protect Creation,” World Day of Peace Message (January 70 Denise Giardina, “Land: A Theological Refl ection,” in 1, 2010), no. 8, ), available at https://w2.vatican.va/content/ Dream of the Mountains’ Struggle: Appalachian Pastoral benedict-xvi/en/messages/peace/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ Five Years Later, ed. Joseph R. Hacala (Prestonburg, KY: mes_20091208_xliii-world-day-peace.html. Catholic Committee of Appalachia, 1980), 50. 86 Ibid., no. 14. 71 Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. 87 Joshua J. McElwee, “Pope Francis: ‘I would love a the Climate (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014), 25. See also church that is poor’,” National Catholic Reporter (March 16, Jeff Goodell, Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America’s 2013), available at http://ncronline.org/blogs/francis-chroni- Energy Future (Boston: Mariner/Houghton Miffl in, 2006). cles/pope-francis-i-would-love-church-poor. 72 While we know, scientifi cally, mathematically, that any 88 Good summaries of the overall meaning of Pope Francis’ more global warming beyond 2-degrees Celsius will bring papacy include Austen Ivereigh, The Great Reformer: Francis about catastrophic changes in weather and sea levels, and the Making of a Radical Pope (New York: Henry Holt, many experts predict that we are actually gearing up for a 2014); Leonardo Boff, Francis of Rome, Francis of Assisi: A 4-degree or even 6-degree increase in warming which is New Springtime for the Church (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, likely to lead to unpredictable effects. See Bill McKibben, 2015); Walter Kasper, Pope Francis’ Revolution of Tender- “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math,” Rolling Stone, 19 ness and Love: Theological and Pastoral Perspectives (New July 2012, available at http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/ York: Paulist Press, 2015). news/global-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719. See 89 EG, no 53. also Klein, 12-15. 90 Ibid. 73 “At Home in the Web of Life,” 65-66. 91 EG, no 55. 74 Klein, 25. 92 EG, no 53. 75 Korten, Change the Story, Change the Future. 93 EG, no 56. 76 Thomas Merton, New Seeds of Contemplation (New 94 Ibid. York: New Directions, 1961), 31. 95 LS, no. 117. 77 Winona LaDuke, “In the Time of the Sacred Places,” 96 Pope Francis, “Address of the Holy Father to the United in Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth, ed. Llewellyn Nations” (Sept. 25, 2015), available at https://w2.vatican.

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 67 va/content/francesco/en/speeches/2015/september/docu- 110 Leviticus 26: 3-4, 6, 9, 12. ments/papa-francesco_20150925_onu-visita.html. 111 1 Samuel 8. 97 LS, no. 117. 112 The title of this section is taken from Halvor Moxnes, 98 LS, no. 139. Putting Jesus in His Place: A Radical Vision of Household 99 Pope Francis, “Address of the Holy Father to the Second and Kingdom (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, World Meeting of Popular Movements” (July 9, 2015), avail- 2003). able at http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/speech- 113 Luke 1:46-56. es/2015/july/documents/papa-francesco_20150709_boliv- 114 Caroline N. Mbonu, “Drawn from the Shadows: The Sig- ia-movimenti-popolari.html. nifi cance of the Galilean Mary for Women in Igbo Society,” 100 EG, no. 181. in Jesus of Galilee: Contextual for the 21st Cen- 101 See, again, Evangelii Gaudium: “The Church is called tury, ed. Robert Lassalle-Klein (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, to be the house of the Father, with doors always wide open. 2011), 135-148; Leonardo Boff, Come, Holy Spirit: Inner Life, One concrete sign of such openness is that our church doors Giver of Life & Comforter of the Poor, trans. Margaret Wilde should always be open, so that if someone, moved by the (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2015), 71. Spirit, comes there looking for God, he or she will not fi nd 115 Mark 6:1-5; Matthew 13:54-58; Luke 4:16-30. a closed door…. [T]he Church is not a tollhouse; it is the 116 These paragraphs on Jesus’ departure from and house of the Father, where there is a place for everyone, with return to Galilee are drawn from Moxnes, Putting Jesus in all their problems” (EG, no. 47). “We have to state, without His Place; Virgilio Elizondo, Galilean Journey: The Mexi- mincing words, that there is an inseparable bond between can-American Experience, Revised and Expanded Edition our faith and the poor” (EG, no. 48). “I prefer a Church which (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2000); and Sean Freyne, “Jesus is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the in Context: Galilee and Gospel,” in Jesus of Galilee: Con- streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being textual Christology for the 21st Century, ed. Robert Lassal- confi ned and from clinging to its own security. I do not want le-Klein (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2011). a Church concerned with being at the centre and which 117 Richard A. Horsley, Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom then ends by being caught up in a web of obsessions and of God and the New World Disorder (Minneapolis, MN: procedures” (EG, no. 49). For a good summary of the theme Fortress Press, 2003). of mercy in Francis’ papacy, see Walter Kasper, “Mercy—The 118 Mark 1:16-20; Matthew 4:18-22. Key Word of His Pontifi cate,” in Pope Francis’ Revolution of 119 Mark 2:13-17; Matthew 9:9-13; Luke 5:27-32. Tenderness and Love, 31-36. 120 Horsley. 102 “[N]either the Pope nor the Church have a monopoly 121 Mark 3:21, 31-34; 6:1-6. on the interpretation of social realities or the proposal of 122 Ignacio Ellacuría, “The Crucifi ed People,” in Mysterium solutions to contemporary problems. Here I can repeat the Liberationis: Fundamental Concepts of Liberation Theolo- insightful observation of Pope Paul VI: ‘In the face of such gy, ed. Ignacio Ellacuría and Jon Sobrino (Maryknoll: Orbis widely varying situations, it is diffi cult for us to utter a unifi ed Books, 1993). message and to put forward a solution which has universal 123 Ched Myers, “From ‘Creation Care’ to ‘Watershed Disci- validity. This is not our ambition, nor is it our mission. It is up pleship’”; Ched Myers, “A Watershed Moment,” Sojourners to the Christian communities to analyze with objectivity the (May 2014), available at http://www.chedmyers.org/awater- situation which is proper to their own country’” (EG, no. 184). shedmoment. 103 Pope Francis, “Address of the Holy Father to the Sec- 124 Wendell Berry, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation ond World Meeting of Popular Movements.” Front,” in A Country of Marriage: Poems (Berkeley, CA: 104 “Whenever we make the effort to return to the source Counterpoint, 2013), 14-15. and to recover the original freshness of the Gospel, new 125 Pope Francis, “Homily for the Mass for the Inauguration avenues arise, new paths of creativity open up, with different of the Pontifi cate” (March 19, 2013), available at http://w2. forms of expression, more eloquent signs and words with vatican.va/content/francesco/en/homilies/2013/documents/ new meaning for today’s world” (EG, no. 11). papa-francesco_20130319_omelia-inizio-pontifi cato.html. 105 This description of an agrarian, creation-centered read- Francis here echoes Pope John Paul II, who said “The envi- ing of the Hebrew scriptures is based, in part, on Ellen F. Da- ronment has often fallen prey to the interests of a few strong vis, Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading industrial groups, to the detriment of humanity as a whole, of the Bible (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009) with the ensuing damage to the balance of the ecosystem, and Wes Howard-Brook, “Come Out, My People!” God’s the health of the inhabitants and of future generations to Call Out of Empire in the Bible and Beyond (Maryknoll, NY: come…” (“Address to UN Conference on Health and Envi- Orbis Books, 2010), as well as the work of Ched Myers and ronment”). Walter Brueggemann. 126 John 1:46. 106 Genesis 1:13. 127 Sallie McFague, The Body of God: An Ecological Theol- 107 See chapter 1 of Howard-Brook, 13-21. ogy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993). 108 Genesis 11:1-9. See Howard-Brook, 47-51. 128 Comments made by Maria Gunnoe in B. J. Gudmunds- 109 Exodus 16. See chapter 4 of Davis, 66-79. son’s short fi lm “Look What They’ve Done,” released by

68 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us Christians for the Mountains and Patchwork Films, 2006. view-with-judy-bonds. 129 John 19:5. The translation of this verse is from the New 147 The Appalachian sense of justice as “saintly” is well Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright captured in the fi ctionalized words of Sid Hatfi eld in Jean © 1989, 1993 National Council of the Churches of Christ in Battlo’s play Terror of the Tug: The Battle of / the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights The McDowell Murders (McArts, 2006): “ [I]n my young reserved. days, I liked some good things like drinking and fi ghting 130 John 19:37. and whoring, and just whole-hog living in general. […] See, 131 Comments made by Maria Gunnoe in “Look What unlike, I imagine yourself and lots of other people, I don’t They’ve Done.” have church religion. Haven’t been saved or bathed. No sir, 132 Luke 24:13-35. no real holy dunk in the Tug to get my sins washed away. I 133 Comments made by Maria Gunnoe in “Look What don’t do no dance of the spirit. […] There’s one holy thing They’ve Done.” inside me as thick as it was in Jesus. That’s my idea of justice. 134 Jeff Biggers, “Mass Arrests in DC: We Shall No Longer I have that idea from right up top here… and on all the way Be Crucifi ed Upon the Cross of Coal,” CommonDreams.org down to here” (59-60). It is captured equally well in the Hazel (Sept. 27, 2010), available at http://www.commondreams. Dickens song “Freedom’s Disciple (Working-Class Heroes)” org/news/2010/09/27/mass-arrests-dc-we-shall-no-longer- where she sings “Yes, you are freedom’s disciple, my cour- be-crucifi ed-upon-cross-coal. age and my pride / It’s you that I look to when I need faith 135 Elizabeth A. Johnson, Women, Earth, and Creator Spirit by my side / It’s you that I worship and not some idol pawn (New York: Paulist Press, 1993); Boff, Come, Holy Spirit. / It’s your book of life I read for the strength to carry on.” 136 For more on the two-sided nature of sin which encom- See Hazel Dickens and Bill C. Malone, Working Girl Blues: passes both selfi shness and self-negation, see Traci C. West, The Life & Music of Hazel Dickens (Urbana, IL: University of Disruptive Christian Ethics: When Racism and Women’s Lives Illinois Press, 2008), 83. For a revision of the understanding Matter (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006). of saints that deemphasizes saintly perfection and stresses 137 “The devout Christian of the future will either be a ‘mys- their vision of justice, see Elizabeth A. Johnson, Friends of tic,’ one who has experienced ‘something,’ or he will cease God and Prophets: A Feminist Theological Reading of the to be anything at all” (Karl Rahner, “Christian Living Formerly Communion of Saints (Ottawa: Novalis, 1998). and Today,” in Theological Investigations VII, trans. David 148 See Peter Maurin, “What the Catholic Worker Believes” Bourke [New York: Herder and Herder, 1971], 15). and “A New Society,” in Easy Essays, Catholic Worker Re- 138 Dorothee Soelle, The Silent Cry: Mysticism and Resis- print Series (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2003), 76, 109. tance, Barbara and Martin Rumscheidt, trans. (Minneapolis: 149 Wendell Berry, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Fortress Press, 2001). Front.” 139 Creation as God’s fi rst revelation is a key theme in “At 150 LS, no. 197. Home in the Web of Life.” 151 Exodus 3:5. 140 The view of Earth as sacrament is strong in the writing 152 As “This Land is Home to Me” stated, “We have no and spirituality of Pope Francis, inspired by the spirituality of easy answers, so this is but a fi rst step. It must not be the St. Francis of Assisi. last step. Hopefully, this letter, itself a product of dialogue, 141 McFague, The Body of God. will start a process, wherein the Catholic community can join 142 Vaughan-Lee, ed., Spiritual Ecology. together with people of good will throughout the region to 143 Spirituality is connecting some conservatives and refl ect on and act for a more just society” (32). Pope Francis radicals in eco-justice movements in Appalachia. Observers expressed a similar view of openness in Evangelii Gaudium: like Tricia Shapiro have noted that some activists who do not “The Church’s teachings concerning contingent situations adhere to institutional religion have what they describe as a are subject to new and further developments and can be spiritual connection with nature, so the destruction of land open to discussion, yet we cannot help but be concrete – and oppression of human communities is therefore seen as without presuming to enter into details – lest the great social a spiritual problem. Spiritual songs and prayers, then, are principles remain mere generalities which challenge no one” often a part of protests in the coalfi elds. See Tricia Shapiro, (EG, no. 182). Mountain Justice: Homegrown Resistance to Mountaintop 153 “This Land is Home to Me,” 32. Removal, for the Future of Us All (Oakland, CA: AK Press, 154 “This Land is Home to Me,” 36. 2010), 94, 102-103. 155 Al Fritsch, SJ, Jesus Christ Activist: A Work-in-Progress 144 This image came from a conversation with an Orthodox (London, KY: Brassica Books, 2015), available at http://www. monk currently living in Martins Ferry, Ohio. earthhealing.info. 145 Pope Francis affi rms the importance of the “people’s 156 The quote is from the fi lm “Keeper of the Mountains.” mysticism” of popular traditions which authentically breathe 157 Bell, Our Roots Run Deep as Ironweed. the Gospel into local communities. See EG, nos. 122-126. 158 Kirkland, “Mountain Memories.” 146 Taylor Lee Kirkland, “Mountain Memories: Interview 159 “This Land is Home to Me,” 32. with Judy Bonds,” Yes! Magazine (Jan. 7, 2011), available 160 The term “sustenance economy” is used by ecofeminist at http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/inter- scientist, philosopher, and activist Vandana Shiva. See Earth

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 69 Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace (Brooklyn, NY: wvpublic.org/post/farming-could-offer-jobs-struggling-fami- South End Press, 2005). lies-coalfi elds-it-wont-be-easy. 161 “At Home in the Web of Life,” 68. 170 See http://www.stepbystepwv.org, http://www.highland- 162 “[T]he question that must be addressed is not how to educationalproject.org, and http://whatsnextwv.org. care for the planet, but how to care for each of the planet’s 171 See http://www.maced.org and https://www.kftc.org/ millions of human and natural neighborhoods, each of its abf. millions of small pieces and parcels of land, each one of 172 See http://highlandercenter.org. which is in some precious way different from all the others” 173 See http://asdevelop.org. (Wendell Berry, “Word and Flesh,” in What Are People For? 174 This kind of proposal was under discussion following a [Berkeley: Counterpoint Press, 1990], 200, cited in Myers, lecture on “The Modern Day Union” by Dan Kane, Sec- “From ‘Creation Care’ to ‘Watershed Discipleship’”). retary-Treasurer of the United Miner Workers of America 163Numerous faith-based and secular groups have been (UMWA) at Wheeling Jesuit University on November 19, active on the issue of mountaintop removal for years. Some 2015. The Wheeling Academy of Law and Science Foun- examples are Appalachian Voices, Christians for the Moun- dation (WALS Foundation) is among the proponents of this tains, Coal River Mountain Watch, Keeper of the Mountains, idea. See http://www.walswheeling.com. Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Mountain Justice, Ohio 175 Al Fritsch and Kristin Johannsen, Ecotourism in Appa- Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC), Radical Action for lachia: Marketing the Mountains (Lexington, KY: The UP of Mountain People’s Survival (RAMPS), Statewide Organizing Kentucky, 2004). for Community eMpowerment (SOCM), Southern Appala- 176 For a sampling of these efforts, see the website of the chian Mountain Stewards, SouthWings, United Mountain Appalachian Transition Initiative at http://www.renewappala- Defense, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. See also chia.org. The preservation of Appalachian “people’s history” Shapiro, Mountain Justice. Community-based research of includes publications by authors like David Alan Corbin, Wil- environmental and human health impacts of mining have liam Blizzard, and Wess Harris; the music and storytelling of been conducted by scientists like as Michael Hendryx and Carrie and Michael Kline (http://www.folktalk.org); and new Ben Stout. institutions such as the Whipple Company Store and Appala- 164 Mary Hansen, “As State Pols Resist Obama’s Climate chian Heritage Museum (http://www.whipplecompanystore. Plan, West Virginians Build Renewables Anyway,” Yes! Mag- com) and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum (http://www. azine (Oct. 30, 2015), available at http://www.yesmagazine. wvminewars.com). org/planet/as-state-pols-resist-obama-s-climate-plan-west- 177 For more on these issues, see the website of the organi- virginians-renewables-20151030. zation Common Cause at http://www.commoncause.org. 165 Of note here is the work of Jesuit Al Fritsch, much of 178 LS, no. 186. See also the Catholic Committee of which is accessible through the website http://www.earth- Appalachia statement “Life’s Foundation: A Statement on healing.info and through the website of an organization Protecting Water” (September 20, 2015), available at http:// he founded, Appalachia – Science in the Public Interest, www.ccappal.org/publications/statements-resolutions/pro- http://www.appalachia-spi.org. See also Al Fritsch and Paul tecting-water. Gallimore, Healing Appalachia: Sustainable Living through 179 Swedish, Living Beyond the “End of the World,” 143. Appropriate Technology (Lexington, KY: University Press of See also Pope Francis: “Just as goodness tends to spread, Kentucky, 2007); Al Fritsch, “An Appropriate Technology the toleration of evil, which is injustice, tends to expand its Future” (no date), available at http://www.earthhealing.info/ baneful infl uence and quietly to undermine any political and ATFuture.pdf. social system, no matter how solid it may appear. If every 166 Eliot Coleman coined the term “deep organic.” See action has its consequences, an evil embedded in the struc- his website at http://www.fourseasonfarm.com. See also tures of a society has a constant potential for disintegration Michelle Nijhuis, “Activists and Small-Scale Farmers Are Go- and death. It is evil crystallized in unjust social structures, ing ‘Beyond Organic’ to Push Local Foods,” Grist (Nov. 12, which cannot be the basis of hope for a better future” (EG, 2003), available at http://grist.org/article/beyond. no. 59). 167 Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural 180 Bolivia has enshrined the rights of Earth in law. See History of Four Meals (New York: Penguin, 2006). John Vidal, “Bolivia enshrines natural world’s rights with 168 See http://asapconnections.org, http://growappalachia. equal status for Mother Earth,” The Guardian (Apr. 10, 2011), org, http://www.growov.org, and http://aldersonfoodhub. available at http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/ org for more information. See also Erin L. McCoy, “Mountain apr/10/bolivia-enshrines-natural-worlds-rights. Grown: Appalachia’s New Local Food Economy,” Yes! Mag- 181 Pope Francis, “Address of the Holy Father to the Sec- azine (Aug. 21, 2013), available at http://www.yesmagazine. ond World Meeting of Popular Movements.” org/new-economy/mountain-grown-appalachia-s-new-lo- 182 http://www.ccappal.org, http://www.christiansforthe- cal-food-economy. mountains.org, http://www.christianapp.org, http://thomas- 169 Jessica Lilly and Roxy Todd, “Farming Could Offer Jobs mertoncenter.org, http://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org. for Struggling Families in the Coalfi elds, But it Won’t Be 183 The Catholic Committee of Appalachia has issued a Easy,” Inside Appalachia (Sept. 11, 2015), available at http:// number of statements since 1995, including statements on

70 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us racism, mountaintop removal, and the protection of water. palachia/389817. For a complete list, see http://www.ccappal.org/publica- 192 “This Land is Home to Me,” 36. tions/statements-resolutions. Grassroots faith-based groups 193 LS, no. 19. issued an “Interfaith Statement on Mountaintop Removal” in 2007, available at https://www.kftc.org/mountaintop-remov- al-tour-interfaith-leaders. 184 Church leaders and institutions have made statements on issues particular to the region. The Roman Catholic bishops of Kentucky and the West Virginia Council of Churches have issued statements on mountaintop remov- al, for example. See Catholic News Documentary Service, “Mountaintop Removal Protested,” Origins 32, no. 30 (Jan. 9, 2003), 504; West Virginia Council of Churches, “Statement on Mountaintop Removal Mining,” (2007, revised 2010), available at http://www.wvcc.org/public-policy.html. Bishop Michael Bransfi eld of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheel- ing-Charleston has released a number of pastoral letters on issues facing his West Virginia diocese, including health, child poverty, mine safety, addiction, and the elderly. See http://www.dwc.org/bishop-bransfi eld/pastoral-letters.html. We make special note of the founding of the Clifford J. Lewis Appalachian Institute at Wheeling Jesuit University in 2002, largely through the efforts of the late Fr. Joseph Hacala, SJ, which was directly inspired by the message of the original Appalachian pastoral letters. See http://www.wju.edu/ai. 185 See Bethlehem Farm in Clayton, WV at http://www. bethlehemfarm.net; Mt. Tabor Benedictines at http://www. mtabor.com; Elder Spirit Community in Abingdon, VA at http://www.elderspirit.net; Appalachian Catholic Worker in Spencer, WV at http://www.acwfarm.com; Alderson Hospi- tality House in Alderson, WV at http://www.aldersonhospi- talityhouse.org; House of Hagar in Wheeling, WV at http:// www.houseofhagarcw.com; Riverside Community Catholic Worker at https://www.facebook.com/RiversideCommunity- CatholicWorker; and St. Francis - St. Joseph Catholic Worker House in Cincinnati, OH at http://www.catholicworkercincin- nati.org. 186 See St. Eugene’s website at http://www.steugene.org. 187 An excellent resource for parishes on welcoming sexual minorities is James A. Schexnayder, Setting the Table: Pre- paring Catholic Parishes to Welcome Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People and Their Families (self-published, 2011). 188 For resources, see the Watershed Discipleship initiative at http://watersheddiscipleship.org. 189 We agree with the assessment of theologian Joe Hol- land that Roman Catholic social teaching on unions has been inadequately emphasized over the last few decades. For Hol- land’s analysis, see his 100 Years of Catholic Social Teaching Defending Workers and Their Unions: Summaries and Com- mentaries for Five Landmark Papal Encyclicals (Washington, D.C.: Pacem in Terris Press, 2012). 190 Walter Brueggemann, The Prophetic Imagination, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2001). 191 Alana Semuels, “Imagining a Post-Coal Appalachia,” The Atlantic (April 8, 2015), available at http://www.theatlan- tic.com/business/archive/2015/04/imagining-a-post-coal-ap-

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 71 72 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

As the title indicates, this “People’s Pastoral” is a “work of the people” and would not have been possible without the involvement and support of so many people throughout the region. In particular, the Catholic Committee of Appalachia would like to thank:

The People’s Pastoral Committee: Playwright: Donna Becher Catherine Bush Marie Cirillo Beth Davies, CND Lead author: Betsy Dwyer Michael Iafrate Eric Fitts Jaculyn Hanrahan, CND Editing team: Jeannie Kirkhope Adam Brown Matthew Kosydar Lou Volpe Michael Iafrate Jessica Wrobleski Alyssa Pasternak Post Rev. John Rausch Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, Eddie Sloane are from The Inclusive Bible: The First Egalitarian Rev. Andrew Switzer Translation, copyright © 2007 Priests for Equality. Carol Warren Used by permission. All rights reserved.

We also thank members of the People’s Pastoral Paintings: Committee who served during earlier periods of Christopher Santer the People’s Pastoral process. Front cover: “Apparition IV” Back cover: “Apparition II” Catholic Committee of Appalachia Centerfold: “Ghost Mountain #4” Board of Directors (2015): Section pages: “Apparition II,” “Ghost Mountain Donna Becher #4,” “Ghost Mountain #1,” “Apparition IV” Bruce Cahoon Part of the “Mountains” series (2015), available at Brian DeRouen (Chair of the Board) www.christophersanter.com/mountains Michael Iafrate Matthew Kosydar Cover and text layout and design: Mary Dennis Lentsch, PBVM Liz Pavlovic, www.lizpavlovic.com Ann Quinn, OSF Brother Joe Steen Photographs and other art (by page): Rob Weise Tom Barnes (3, 44) Jeannie Kirkhope (Coordinator) Jan Barthel (12) Chuck Conner (10, 29, 36, 41, 54) We also thank past board members who served Brian DeRouen (51) during earlier periods of the People’s Pastoral Carl Galie (13, 31 [mountains], 34 [coal town], 50) process. Jeff Gentner (7) Dave Harl (43) Consultants: Michael Iafrate (18, 19) Beth Davies, CND IndustriALL Global Union (15) Jaculyn Hanrahan, CND Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (55) Joe Holland Michael Key (24) Rev. Les Schmidt Jeannie Kirkhope (11, 56, 58) Bill Maloney (34 [solar])

A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 73 Kelly Meloun (39) Angela Moulton (32) Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (26) Eddie Sloane (8) Waterkeepers Alliance (34) Will Solis (21) Vivian Stockman (31 [MTR])

Printed by: Morgantown Printing & Binding Morgantown, W.Va.

Thank you to all who contributed to this process at every stage, whether through brainstorming, facilitation and/or participation in listening ses- sions and interviews, or review of the initial drafts of the text.

Special thanks to the various organizations and individuals who have supported the process of the People’s Pastoral as we gathered stories, ei- ther through their direct participation or by help- ing to promote our efforts in their publications, such as the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, the various Councils of Churches, Christians for the Mountains, Appalachian Voices, The Catholic Virginian of the Diocese of Richmond, Kentucki- ans for the Commonwealth, Barry Hudock, Glen- mary Home Missioners, Federation of Commu- nities in Service (FOCIS), Sharon Abercrombie of National Catholic Reporter, Dennis Sadowski of Catholic News Service, and Glynis Board of West Virginia Public Radio.

Very special thanks to the Catholic Committee of the South, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Wheel- ing, W.Va., William Hogan, Pat and Mary Ellen Cassidy, and Beth Collins of the Clifford J. Lewis Appalachian Institute at Wheeling Jesuit Univer- sity who provided signifi cant funding and other resources toward the People’s Pastoral project.

74 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us A People's Pastoral from the Catholic Committee of Appalachia 75 76 The Telling Takes Us Home: Taking Our Place in the Stories that Shape Us