North Java farm named ‘Conservation Farm of the Year’
Photo courtesy of Wyoming County Soil and Water Conservation District
By Bryan Jackson
McCormick’s Maple Ridge Farm in North Java earned “Conservation Farm of the Year” distinctions at Wyoming County Soil and Water Conservation District’s annual awards’ banquet, held Nov. 28 at Byrncliff Resort and Conference Center in Varysburg.
Wyoming County Soil and Water Conservation selected Maple Ridge Farm, a 600-head replacement heifer farm, for its efforts to improve water quality and prevent soil erosion. Walter and Vanessa McCormick are the third generation to farm the land, and in addition to raising replacement heifers, Maple Ridge raises crops and produces maple syrup.
Maple Ridge Farm participates in the Wyoming County Agricultural Environmental Management program and has previously participated in New York State Agricultural Nonpoint Pollution Abatement and Control projects and the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.
Since developing a Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan in 2006, Maple Ridge has implemented agricultural waste storage and transfer systems as well as a silage leachate management system with a vegetated treatment area.
Co-Vista Holsteins, LLC, of Arcade; Davis Valley Farm, of Bliss; and Hawkins Dairy, LLC, of Wyoming, were also honored at the banquet, with each receiving an Agricultural Environmental Management Award.
Wyoming County Soil and Water Conservation also presented their “Ronald P. Herman, Sr. Partners in Conservation Award” to the Wyoming County Highway Department for their continued work with the Soil and Water Conservation District.
Renewing faith in North Java: Holy Family Parish provides new spiritual home
By Maria R. Hayes
In the late 1800s, the people of North Java built St. Nicholas Parish to minister to the spiritual needs of community members. In 2008, the Catholic Diocese of Buffalo closed St. Nicholas, leaving the members of its Roman Catholic community devastated and without a spiritual home.
“We were crushed. Heart and soul, crushed,” said parishioner Karen Wilson. “We were abandoned.”
The Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) shares similar beliefs with the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) and practices many of the same sacraments. It recognizes and respects the pope as the head of the Roman Catholic Church but is not commanded by the pope. In addition to some small changes in the details of how Mass is celebrated, there are two especially notable differences between the two churches: priests can marry, and parishioners own, build and maintain church property. Congregations are a democracy.
It was the latter that especially appealed to the St. Nicholas community. The congregation had to purchase the church and property from the Buffalo Diocese, become incorporated under the PNCC and set up its own board with the priest as the president. Interested parishioners worked together to raise money and secure the mortgage necessary to buy the former St. Nicholas building and grounds.
On June 11, 2011, the Holy Family National Catholic Parish officially opened its doors and has been serving the community ever since. Mass is celebrated every Sunday at 10 a.m.
“People said we wouldn’t make it a year and that we were fooling ourselves,” Wilson said. “Now, on average we have 60 to 65 people every Sunday morning, and our membership is growing.”
Members of the community ventured back to the parish they had loved, searching for something to fill the hole left by St. Nicholas. Though the label on the religion was different, many community members weren’t intimidated.
“I think we do a disservice to people by having these titles and by saying ‘this church, that church,’” said parishioner and financial secretary Tina Kirsch. “We’re all there worshipping God and Jesus. We should come together united, not divided by organization. It didn’t scare me at all.”
Kirsch was a longtime member of St. Nicholas’s Church. She was married there and her children were baptized there. During the time when St. Nicholas’s was disbanded, she attended various other area churches but never felt at home. Holy Family was the community that filled that void.
“Once this opportunity came, it just felt right,” she said. “After Mass, I feel like my soul has been refreshed. It’s been helpful to me in so many ways.”
Leading Mass is Father Matthew Kawiak, a priest of more than 35 years who served as a Roman Catholic priest and the chaplain of Strong Memorial Hospital before he began administering rites in the PNCC. He maintains his own practice as a doctor in the mental health field, providing counseling to people struggling with addiction, grief or trauma, among other things.
“My goal with this faith community was to restore their sense of trust,” Kawiak, of Bethany, said. “Many parishioners were coming from the Roman tradition, which they continue to have great respect for. My goal is to help them identify their gifts and charisms and open the doors up to people who are searching for God at this stage in their life.”
Holy Family has taken that message to heart. Its mission statement is “to love others as God loves us with open hearts, open minds, open doors.”
“Anyone is welcome to come in our doors and hear the Word of the Lord,” Wilson said. “We turn no one away.”
Though it has been open for a short time compared to other spiritual communities in the area, Holy Family has already changed its parishioners’ lives.
“My husband said this to me the other day: ‘All my life, I went to church. I knew when to sit, I knew when to stand and I knew when to kneel. I knew all the correct responses to everything,’” Wilson said. “’But it never made sense to me. Now I can’t wait to get to church to hear what (Father Matt) is going to say next, because it all makes sense for the first time in my life.'"
