The Middle Way: The National Catholic Rural Life Conference and Rural Issues in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries

Abstract

This article explains how the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC), from its founding in 1923 to the present, applied basic Catholic principles in response to a succession of changes in American rural society. In doing so, it proposed a middle way between capitalism and socialism and between the Democratic and Republican parties. In the 1920s, the Reverend Edwin V. O'Hara founded the NCRLC mainly to bolster the demographically weak rural Church. In the 1930s, the NCRLC turned to economic concerns in response to the Great Depression. It supported many New Deal programs that helped farmers as well as cooperatives and a “back‐to‐the‐land” movement. The Conference consistently supported the family farm as the basic institution of a morally and economically sound rural society. In the 1940s and 1950s, the Conference entered the realm of international affairs under Monsignor Luigi G. Ligutti and addressed problems of world hunger, land reform, and underdeveloped countries. Under Monsignor Edward W. O'Rourke, who became director in 1960, the NCRLC joined in the movement for social justice and campaigned for the rights of the rural poor and migrant farm workers. Starting around 1970, the Conference became increasingly interested in environmental and energy issues. The NCRLC is in harmony with the 21st‐century pope, Francis, on rural and ecological issues.

‘A Pioneer in the Struggle for Social Justice’: Manuel Larraín and Transnational Catholic Activism in Latin America in the 1950s and 1960s

“…Despite the reformist nature of Catholic congresses, the participants' proposals tended to correct land distribution by creating properties of ‘intermediate sizes’ and, if necessary, implementing processes of ‘partial expropriation’ with proper ‘compensation’ to avoid the complete ‘collectivisation’ of land (Bovée, 2016: 780). In this way, Larraín sought to improve the living conditions of peasant groups and agricultural production as a means of establishing a third way of development that opposed both capitalist and socialist ideologies.…”

Martin Buber, I-It, and Utopias: Economics and Dialogue in the Age of Neoliberal Globalisation

“…Pope John Paul II, for one, was an early voice offering critical analysis of neoliberalism, calling the globalised economy a system that must be subject to ethical consideration He offered moral theological reflections on a system that ironically promises greater liberty but avoids understanding human qualities of life (Himes 2008, 272). Re-examination of the 'dignity of work' in the Catholic Social Teaching tradition also re-emerges (Sison, Ferrero, and Guitián 2016) as part of an on-going Vatican examination of globalised economics and its effects on human worth of workers and precariats, a view that is shared by Pope Francis III (Gregg 2017, 366); this can be at least dated back to Rerum Novarum in 1892, and is extended by groups such as the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (NCRLC) (Bovée 2016). While not atheist and not driven by an ultimate authority of the State (though the Vatican does have Statehood), concerns for all components of community are shown by the Church in a mirror of early Marxist critiques.…”

Tourist-Technicians: Civilian Diplomacy, Tourism, and Development in Cold War Yucatán

“…126 Though his views were not so overtly paternalistic, O'Rourke promoted international outreach for both his missionary and civilian work and continued to stress the importance of introducing advanced agricultural technologies. 127 Partners worked with Yucatecan Partners and the local school Colegio Peninsular who wanted to develop a system of "cultural diffusion by radio broadcast," similar to methods adopted by the Catholic Church and the American government during this same Cold War period. 141 In 1968, USAID and the National Association of the Partners of the Alliance reduced their annual travel funding by more than fifty percent as a result of federal budget cuts.…”