The Advent Liturgy surrounds us with images of
mountains mirroring God's caring presence and constant
love for his people. But today along one of the most
beautiful mountain ranges in the world the Appalachian
Mountaiss are being ravaged unmercifully by the
process called mountain top removal. This process
legitimized by our government cripples the mountains
and causes floods and destruction along their valleys.
A group of concerned citizens thought it was high
time to pray to the powers of heaven to move the
powerful on earth to stop the devastation.
On December 10, 2002 Benedictine Sister Rosalyn Soller joined a group of concerned citizens from five appalachian states to rebless the mountains and provoke attention to this great tragedy. Many of the participants brought personal experiences of their homes which had been flooded last July. The Benedictine Sisters house in Neon,KY was one of these.
Prayers were offered in the tiny Neon Church of Corinth. The pastor testified to the "new kind of flooding" experienced last July directly caused by mountain top removal. Letcher County's chief judge executive, Carrol Smith spoke movingly of the dilema. He said, "I do not believe that my having a job means that my neighbor's house must be flooded".
A pilgrimage followed to the top of the McRoberts
mountain where the people have already been flooded
three times since July. No words were possible as the
group viewed the mountain's destruction and silently
mourned the ravages of greed. Finally they spread
wild flower seeds over the sludge ridden ridge with
the vain hope that "the turtle dove may yet return to
our land."
Read the resolution calling for a moratorium on mountaintaop removal passed by the Catholic Committee of Appalachia.