Environmental advocates and award-winning documentarians Curt Ellis (left) and Ian Cheney delivered the keynote presentation at the 2010 Muddy Boot Organic Festival, a ministry of St. Philip Neri Church in Portland, Ore.

The fifth annual Muddy Boot Organic Festival wasn’t just an opportunity for people to listen to great music and eat fantastic food. It was an opportunity for evangelization.

Approximately 4,000 people turned out for the festival, held Sept. 10-12 right on the campus of St. Philip Neri Church in Portland, Ore. Billed as “a soulful celebration of sustainable living,” the festival’s live music featuring 10 bands and 73 vendors providing sustainably-produced food, information booths, green goods vendors, workshops, discussion panels and family-friendly activities were centered around the theme: “Nourishing Spirit: City to Farm.”

“Many people are surprised that a Catholic Church would offer this kind of festival,” said Father Charles J. Brunick, CSP, pastor of St. Philip Neri. “It shows people who are concerned about creation that the Catholic Church is committed to the environment and that caring for our world is an important part of Catholic social teaching.”

Muddy Boot’s mission is to promote sustainable living practices within Portland-area communities, thereby enhancing the environment and the health of the communities and individuals that live within them.

Helping to fulfill this mission were keynote speakers Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, both artists and environmental advocates. The duo have collaborated on Peabody Award-winning documentaries. Their latest effort, “Truck Farm,” is a documentary about urban agriculture and an urban food project.

“Muddy Boot works in Portland because people are hungry for more information about how to make a difference by taking action in their own lives,” said festival director Karen Stein. “We offered workshops on urban homesteading this year – things like how to collect and reuse rainwater that runs off the roof; how to raise bees, chickens and goats; how to build an environmentally friendly chicken coop; and panel discussions about important issues like food justice and how our city’s food system is responding to the threat of climate change.”

In addition to the accustomed parish booth at the festival, Portland’s Paulist Associates offered tours of the church and offering information on the frescoes and mosaics created by local artists.

“The festival brings people on to the campus,” Father Brunick said. “Many who live in Portland and the Northwest describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. People can experience the faith connection to environmental awareness. It sews the seeds of evangelization.”

Ms. Karen Stein said the festival is a definite reflection of the Catholic faith at St. Philip Neri.

“We are charged with caring for the earth, which God created,” she said. “And we are encouraged to reach out to others to share God’s love. This event is a perfect combination of those two missions. It’s an opportunity for our parish to reach out to those who might be interested in finding out what we are about, rejoining the church after a period away or in finding a way to identify more closely with the parish.”