Jordanville, New York, October 30, 2026
L to R: Bp. Luke of Syracuse, John Rich, Archimandrite Nektarios (Harding). Photo: YouTube screenshot from John Rich’s “Dear Kathy” video
Country singer-songwriter John Rich, who President Donald Trump appointed in June 2026 as Special Envoy for American Landowners, has put an Orthodox monastery in upstate New York on screen in the video for his new song “Dear Kathy.”
The video features the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville along with His Grace Bishop Luke of Syracuse and Archimandrite Nektarios (Harding), reports the Union of Orthodox Journalists.
The song takes aim at New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting and Electric Transmission (ORES) over policies affecting landowners. The lyrics speak about farmers whose families have worked the same land for generations and ask why their livelihoods and property rights seem to get so little consideration from state officials
Besides the monastery, the video shows landscapes Rich hopes to protect and other New York landowners who oppose large-scale solar and wind development near their properties. It also includes footage from several roundtable discussions, among them meetings held at Holy Trinity.
The monastery has been fighting the proposed Rolling Hills wind project in Herkimer County, developed by Terra-Gen LLC. Planning materials describe the project as potentially involving dozens of turbines. Monastery representatives have warned that turbines rising nearly 700 feet could change the landscape around the historic Orthodox Christian community and interfere with its longstanding life of prayer.
Holy Trinity has served Orthodox Christians for nearly a century and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Its grounds hold approximately 4,000 burials, and pilgrims come from around the world. Archimandrite Nektarios, the monastery’s business manager, has raised concerns about how close the proposed turbines would be, and church representatives have contacted government agencies, lawmakers and legal advisers to protect the property.
Rich has visited Jordanville before to meet with the monastery and neighboring landowners. On October 15, he took part in a roundtable at the monastery’s Seminary Hall on New York energy policies, agricultural land classification and the effects of renewable energy development on rural communities. The monastery said Rich intended to bring residents’ concerns to U.S. Department of Agriculture leadership.
The dispute reaches beyond the monastery. Local farmers and residents have raised concerns about how close the proposed turbines would be to homes, agricultural land and places of worship. Opponents have also criticized the state’s renewable-energy siting process, arguing that it limits local communities’ ability to control development. Terra-Gen has said the project is still in the planning stage and would go through environmental review and stakeholder engagement.
Watch John Rich’s “Dear Kathy” video:
Follow OrthoChristian on Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, Telegram, WhatsApp, and MeWe!
