The Catholic Land Movement: A simpler path, a richer life.

We can’t wait to share more about what we’re dreaming up and building together. If you’re local and this vision speaks to your heart (families, young people, or anyone longing for a more grounded, faith-filled life), we’d love to connect. More to come soon. Deo Gratias!

John and I did a thing. 😊 Most of you know we’ve always lived a little differently: slower, less plugged in, and deeply rooted in the real world. We love our kids covered in dirt, chasing critters, and learning straight from nature.

This is our chapter. 😊 We're so excited!

RT @clmsomd: Join us at our next CLM Maryland event!

What is agrarian revival without midsummer bonfires? Join the New Hampshire chapter in the Catholic tradition of a St. John the Baptist bonfire.

A great milestone for the contemporary CLM becoming a true international movement. Our first event in Africa. Local leadership empowered by Catholic Social Doctrine and the solidarity of the CLM network. Please pray for the Zimbabwe chapter.

Below is a summary of a 1932 document written by Hebert Shrove and Father Vincent McNabb. The first part is the spiritual motivations for the Land Movement. The second part is the practical means. 1 Worship of God: Put spiritual life before material concerns; seek closer communion with God. 2 Following Christ: Return to the values of Nazareth—simplicity, humility, and redemption through Christian living. 3 Family Love: Restore the Catholic family and the stability of the home as the foundation of society. 4 Love of Chastity: Escape the moral temptations of urban life and foster purity and self-control. 5 Love of Justice: Promote productive work, thrift, ownership, and a fairer distribution of wealth. 6 Love of Liberty: Secure freedom through family ownership of land and independence from wage slavery and urban dependence. 7 Love of Country (Fatherland): Strengthen national self-sufficiency by repopulating and cultivating the countryside. Aims of the Movement 1 Family Security: Enable families to support themselves directly from the land. 2 National Security: Reduce dependence on industrialism and foreign imports; build a resilient rural economy. 3 Spiritual Security: Create communities centered on Catholic faith, worship, and moral life. Means (Methods) of the Movement 1 Village Communities: Establish rural Catholic communities large enough to support a church, priest, and school. 2 Family Subsistence Farms: Organize farms primarily to feed the family first and sell only surplus produce. 3 Mutual Cooperation: Encourage neighborly exchange, shared labor, and local self-sufficiency rather than dependence on markets. 3 Organized Training: Train settlers in farming and rural life through dedicated training farms and colonies. 4 Group Settlement: Resettle families together rather than individually to ensure social, economic, and spiritual support. 5 Co-ordinated Decentralisation: Use local associations linked by a coordinating committee, allowing regional autonomy while pursuing common goals. 6 Prayer, Leadership, Land, and Resources: Support the movement through prayer, funding, land donations or leases, and trained leaders and settlers. Core Vision (One-Sentence Summary) The Catholic Land Movement sought to rebuild Christian family and community life by resettling people on small, family-owned farms within faith-centered rural communities that were economically self-sufficient, morally healthy, and spiritually grounded.

Catholic Land Movement is very interesting to me partly because it doesn’t fall into the temptation of being exclusionary. This is not a “with us or against us” movement. It also responds to the challenges of today in a seemingly positive, uplifting way.

Increased domestic productivity and order can be achieved in a variety of circumstances. Join the Northeast Indiana Chapter as they discuss what is possible.

Catholic Land Movement is responsive to local conditions by organizing through the principles of subsidiarity. Irrigation and water use is particularly important in some western states. Come learn about it with the Spokane chapter.

Chicken processing event with the St Benedict Guild of Oregon. Great community building event. Chickens are an important building block to localized food production.

Mutual aid. Colloquial relations. Brotherhood and Sisterhood. Catholics working together, helping one another, living the good life together. Friends helping friends and sharing skills. Not an expert model, not a pay to learn model. Freely helping one another in charity, assisting one’s neighbor, living and working together under the gaze of Christ The King. This is Catholic Land Movement.

This past weekend, the North Idaho chapter of the Catholic Land Movement held our first Skill Share workshop on butchering poultry! Watch the recap here:

The New Hampshire Chapter always has some of the best and most innovative events across the network. Join them for the upcoming teaching “Knot craft” Great skill on any farm.

This will be a transformational project for @CatholicLand It will also become a model for other projects around the world. In your charity, please pray for its good success.

May The Lord Grant you His peace. Building the first Catholic Land Movement Demonstration Farm since Prior’s Wood (early 1900s England) - discerning the land on which it will be built. Please pray for this important endeavor, an exciting new historical event within the 100 year history of Catholic Land Movement It will be a full time farm that accepts interns and apprentices. Thanks for keeping this in your prayers as we continue to discern.

Community poultry processing is a classic CLM event that helps build the foundations for community agrarian mutual aid. Idaho chapter building the foundations. Photo credit: @realDaveReilly