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Bishop Nickless to help lead novena

On Aug. 10, a derecho storm blew through the state of Iowa damaging 14 million acres of cropland, representing over 50 percent of all of Iowa’s cropland, and destroying farm buildings, silos and rural communities. The town of Cedar Rapids was also devastated.

One of the themes Saint Paul repeats in his letters in Holy Scripture is the truth that as Christians, we are the body of Christ, and like our physical body, “If one member suffers, all suffer together …”

Catholic Rural Life, in conjunction with the four dioceses of Iowa — Archdiocese of Dubuque and Diocese of Davenport, Sioux City and Des Moines — is leading a novena in honor of St. Isidore, the farmer, led each day by a bishop including Bishop Walker Nickless of Sioux City. The focus of this novena is to remember all who have suffered loss as a result of the storm and pray for the rebuilding of the communities and farms impacted by the storm.

The public is invited to participate in the novena, Sept. 21 through Sept. 29. The novena will be broadcast via Facebook and can be found on Catholic Rural Life’s website at https://CatholicRuralLife.org/NovenaForIowa. Bishop Nickless will be leading the novena on Sept. 26.

Catholic Rural Life (CRL) is a national Catholic nonprofit organization dedicated to the vitality of the American countryside. Since 1923, CRL has been promoting Catholic life in rural America.

Headquartered in St. Paul, Minn., CRL is a membership-based organization, comprised of dedicated bishops, laity, and religious leaders who are joined in a common effort to serve the rural church, rural people, and their communities.

St. Isidore is the patron saint of farmers and Catholic Rural Life. He was a very prayerful man and particularly devoted to daily Mass and the Holy Eucharist. It was said that because of this, two angels, one on either side of Isidore, appeared and joined their pious companion in plowing the fields.

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