The Appalachian Catholic Worker is part of a wider movement within the Roman Catholic Church.
Learn more about its co-founders, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, its history, and other houses and farms around the world.

Appalachian Catholic Workers

DISCLAIMER: If there is such a thing as a “stereotypical” Catholic Worker Farm, this may not entirely fit your description.

My husband, Bill, and I are just gregarious hermits who love the quiet and simplicity of living in the mountains, and are lucky enough to be able to share that with visiting student groups. We greatly appreciate and rely on the community and interdependence we’ve found in Appalachian culture, and do what we can to help our neighbors through outreach ministries. As for farming, I raise a few animals and Bill does a little gardening but, overall, we’re just amateurs trying to be mindful caretakers of this land for whoever comes after us.

Although our location may seem remote, we are in no way isolated or removed. Rather, we’re actively engaged with worldly issues and advocating for social change. Our views are influenced by philosophers and mystics who we’ve found in as many books and classrooms as on front porches and city sidewalks. Our spirituality is rooted in encounters with nature and those on the margins which give us the clearest views of God’s face.

It is our hope that your experience with the Appalachian Catholic Worker feels all-inclusive and leads you to greater self-understanding, worldly love, and a oneness with creation and its Creator.