Rural living is more possible now with remote work.  My parents are thriving on that model.

On a related note, my wife and I were discussing recently about part of the reason for the "brain drain" from rural areas into the cities has been the centralization and export of manufacturing industries.  As a result, there are no jobs left out in the country other than agriculture, really.

In theory, industries like textiles and food processing would be well-suited to have numerous plants spread through rural areas to be close to the source of raw materials.  But due to globalization, it has all been shipped overseas or condensed into a few mega-facilities. 

 There's an economic theory that some Catholics advocate known as Distributism.  The idea is that means of production and wealth generation should be distributed widely and owned at the lowest possible levels.  The distributists argue that any government intervention should focus on preventing centralization and monopolization.

I think something like that is the only way to preserve rural, small-town communities in the long run. 

 I agree with most of that, but... 

I really can't stand the statist bent if most big C Catholic Church... Not doctrine (I know that's not the correct word) on things that deal with The State. 

We, as humans, do not need nor should we desire "the state." 

But absolutely yes to keeping everything local and distributed and decentralized.