The Rural Voice, 1992-03, Page 25er the church has lost its position of
absolute authority, stating, "There are
more questions asked of church auth-
ority now. I welcome that."
He sees the church standing be-
side the farm community, together
grappling with the harsh economic
realities that now characterize agri-
culture.
Chairperson of the CRLC, Palmira
Murphy of Delhi, said the organiza-
tion is keeping in touch with what
governments are doing in order to
provide help to the farm community.
"No church is central
any more. People are
falling away from the church
when they should be
getting closer. But people
under stress do the
opposite thing of what
they should do,"
she said.
Palmira sees church activities be-
ing -woven among the other events in
rural communities rather than dicta-
ting them.
The CRLC was initially formed in
response to foreign buyers purchasing
much of the farmland Left as a result
of the exodus from rural southwestern
Ontario to the cities. "We got involv-
ed," recalled Palmira, stating what
may become the theme of rural chur-
ches as the end of the century ap-
proaches.
Churches have certainly proven to
be the most resilient of organizations
for centuries past. They were charac-
teristically the first public meeting
place of pioneering farm families and
will undoubtedly remain in some
form as long as farm communities
themselves exist.
With nearly all the buildings in
what once was the thriving commu-
nity of Motherwell now fallen down
or disappeared altogether, and the
people moved away, John Brown
pointed out that the brick church is
still standing. "The church is all we
have left," he said. "If we lose that, it
is the end of the community."0
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