Friday, June 19, 2009

The annual farm Mass in the St. Marys and Sidney deaneries drew more than 200 people to Sts. Peter and Paul Church in Newport on May 15.

The blessed soil is distributed after the Mass. (CT/E.L. Hubbard)

Father Steven Shoup, dean of the Sidney Deanery and pastor at Sts. Peter and Paul Church celebrated the Mass, which was moved indoors because of weather.

May 15 is the feast day of St. Isidore, the patron saint of farmers and rural communities. St. Isidore and his wife, Maria, are the patron saints of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference.