Sister Claire McGowan, an Energy Vision statement author

Hooray for central Kentucky nuns! This past Tuesday, the 45th anniversary of Thomas Merton’s death, the Dominican Sisters and Associates of Peace, the Loretto Community, and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and Associates hosted an interfaith prayer ritual to publicize the Energy Vision statement written in response to the proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline across central Kentucky (see my Nov 11 entry). More than sixty people from many religious traditions attended, and Wendell Berry was there in message and spirit. Here is the story from WFPL public radio in Louisville. It’s encouraging that churches and communities even in Mitch McConnell’s state raise their voices so often.  

And on a related note, WFPL’s Erica Peterson reported this week on the future of coal mining, and coal miners, in eastern Kentucky (“Hollowed Mountains, Now Hollowed Towns: Coal in Eastern Kentucky”). Though the coal situation is bleak, the story ends with a hopeful twist. Perhaps one day there will be a story about HALLOWED mountains and towns. For both the powerful centers of the natural world and the powerful human centers to be held holy–set apart from profane use–would certainly be biblical.