History of the Grail 

Lydwine van Kersbergen and Joan Overboss, came to the U.S. in 1940 before moving to Loveland, OH in 1944 where they—along with Janet Kalven—created The Year School which came out of the Catholic Rural Life Conference and Back to the Land Movement.

By 1962 an estimated 14,000 women had participated in Grail programs in the U.S. following the expansion to 12 city centers which conducted programs on the family, education for world community, service careers for women, Christian culture (with a special emphasis on music and the arts), and the formation of religious educators for Catholic schools and parishes.

In the late 1960s and 1970s, the Grail, influenced by changes in the Catholic Church and by the growth of the women’s and civil rights movements, become more inclusive of other religious traditions, and Grail members became pioneers in Catholic feminist theology. These watershed events shifted the activities and structure of the Grail in the U.S.

From 1968-78 The Grail continued a focus on education through many programs including Semester at Grailville and Seminary Quarter at Grailville. Through these programs, hundreds of college women from around the U.S. came to Grailville for an off-campus semester of intensive study, group living and work experience. Many students worked in local social service and educational institutions as interns as part of their course of study. The seminary program provided training in feminist theology, ethics, and worship to women seminary students before such subjects were available at most seminaries and divinity schools. It was co-sponsored by the Grail and a division of the National Council of Churches.

 Three Grail Task Forces focused on liberation, women and the religious dimension sponsored programs for local and national audiences in their fields of particular concern. A collaboration of the task forces culminated in the national “Women Breaking Boundaries” program.

From the outset the Grail placed women’s work on the land at the center of its vision. In the 1990s, it continued and ramped up this commitment with activities like “New Women, New Earth,” a four month program exploring ecofeminism in theological perspective, summer garden internships, permaculture, wetlands, and other forms of environmental education and action.

As a founding member of UFER (The International Movement for Fraternal Union among Races and Peoples) The Grail has been a registered non-governmental organization (NGO) at the United Nations since 1951, and has had Special Consultative Status in its own right under ECOSOC since 1998, continuing active participation with the Commission on the Status of Women, the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and The Working Group on Girls.