Loretto’s Land Ethic: Care of land AND its many human relationships

In 1879, the Rev. Vicar J. B. Salpointe sent Sisters of Loretto from Las Cruces, N.M., to start a school in San Elizario, Texas. They opened St. Joseph’s Academy on 15 acres given to them by the Rev. Peter Bourgade, pastor of the church at the presidio. Another 60 acres was donated by Jesus Cobos, a prominent land owner, for their use to secure the self-sufficiency of the school. In 1892, when the railroad was built through El Paso, not San Elizario, Loretto relocated with the school.

Today, Loretto still owns nearly 100 acres of land in San Elizario, and it is unclear how much of that is the Cobos land and how much is the 100 acres “gifted” by a change in the course of the Rio Grande River, documented by Mother Praxedes Carty in 1918. A cotton farmer, Mark, leases the land and his son-in-law, Eddie, manages the farm. Two Loretto members have visited the farm and learned much about their cotton production.

This week on Facebook, Loretto is delighted to give you a glimpse of our partnership with Seeds of Canela and the Kansas Black Farmers Association.

Our partnerships with these organizations are living expressions of Loretto’s Land Ethic in practice. The Land Ethic states that “those responsible for land at any particular time should regard it as a sacred trust received with gratitude, tended with care for its integrity, long-term sustainability and historic connections with peoples now systemically dispossessed from lands.”