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Bishop Conley the Beekeeper Enjoys Time in the ‘Really Real’

Michie

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The sweet — literally — story behind his care of creation and ‘the peace of wild things.’

For Bishop James Conley, of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska, there is peace in wild things.

In addition to his pastoral duties, Bishop Conley is the caretaker of more than 10,000 bees in two hives — a pastime that he now uses to help educate, and demonstrate, a care and concern for the environment that could have a massive impact on the next generation’s relationship with God’s creation.

And that’s an education that is desperately needed, according to both the late Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV, if we are to hope the that our children can experience the wonder of God’s world even as technology becomes an increasingly ubiquitous force in their lives.

Beauty and Mystery

For Bishop Conley, his love affair with the natural began early. A fan of the famed naturalist writer Wendell Berry, the bishop sought connection to the natural world across his education and early life experience but didn’t encounter bees until his last year at the University of Kansas, when Conley, then an English major, needed one last science class to graduate. He selected “The Hive and the Honeybee,” taught by world-renowned apiarist Orley Taylor.

“I took the class and just fell in love with the beauty and the mystery of the honeybee,” Bishop Conley told the Register. “How they make the honey, the economy of the beehive — the whole fascinating way that bees navigate their world, collect nectar, and delegate the duties of the beehive.”

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