Along with the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and Catholic Worker, there was a third organization involved in the Catholic back-to-the-land movement in the 1940s—the Grail.
Founded by Father Jacques van Ginneken in the Netherlands in 1921, Grail was a “lay apostolate” for young Catholic women, with the goal of “the conversion of the world” by “living an intense Christian spirit in the world,” rather than in a secluded cloister. When the Nazis invaded the Netherlands in 1940, two Grail leaders—Lydwine van Kersbergen and Joan Overboss—immigrated to the United States to start a Grail center in America. After about a year in Illinois, Lydwine and Joan finally found the ideal property—a large farm near Loveland, Ohio, which they named Grailville. Grail members renovated the three-story Victorian mansion, turned one of the large barns into a dormitory, and held their grand opening ceremony on July 17, 1944,
Janet Kalven recorded in her 1999 book Women Breaking Boundaries: A Grail Journey that Grailville had “six pillars” in the 1940s: “A Christian Vision of Life,” “The Family as the Organic Unit of Society,” “The Nature and Task of Woman,” “Intellectual Forman,” “A Philosophy of Work,” and “Development of a Christian Culture.” In addition to these spiritual principles, the Grail women also farmed and grew most of their own food: milking cows before walking to the parish church for daily Mass, baking whole wheat bread from wheat grown on the farm, collecting honey from their beehives, butchering their own hogs and steers, spinning and weaving wool from their sheep—and gardening organically.
In the November 1943 issue of Organic Gardening, Marjean Headapohl wrote that “compost has been applied to all their gardens and mulching is practiced on most vegetables.” She said that the Grailville library contained many books on organic gardening, and students were taught how to properly build and turn a compost pile. “Watching these girls weeding the rows, picking the vegetables and fruits or turning the compost pile, one feels gratified to know that the principles of good gardening will be carried to near and far places; that with their missionary work in Christianity they will also be spreading the organic methods of good gardening and bringing back an awakening to the many peoples with whom they work that God’s land cannot be neglected; that in the hearts and minds of the people must be a realization of the priceless heritage to build and maintain the fertility of our earth,” she wrote.
In the 1960s, the Grail’s emphasis changed drastically, shifting from the traditional complementarian view of different but equally important roles for men and women to “an increasingly feminist direction,” according to Kalven. While still honoring its Catholic roots, the Grail also became more ecumenical, allowing Protestant women to become Grail members beginning in 1969. These philosophical changes resulted in major program changes, and the emphasis on agriculture was gradually abandoned. The Grailville fields were leased to a neighboring conventional farmer and the dairy was closed. It wasn’t until the 1990s that Grail land was farmed organically again. The Grail started a CSA in 1994, but didn’t continue it for the 1995 season. From 1996 to 2017, the shareholders leased six acres of Grailville property and ran Earth Shares CSA, until the Grail decided to sell off most of the original farmland and buildings.
The modern Grail has little emphasis on agriculture, but Grailville deserves a place in history as possibly the first large organic farm owned and operated entirely by women.
Once again, you open my mind to an important aspect of history. Thank you.