White Rose Catholic Worker Farm

Mission Statement

Following God’s path. Care for the poor, sustainability, justice, nonviolence.

Community Description

WRCW is committed to faith, hospitality to the homeless, education for social justice, peacemaking/nonviolence, sustainability, and gift economy. Started in 2009 in the Chicagoland area, the WRCW moved to Northeast Missouri in spring of 2014. We are part of a larger 160 acre community with our immediate neighbors the Possibility Alliance community and Peace & Permaculture Center. All three communities are dedicated to integral nonviolence (meaning to self, others, earth, institutions, etc.) including striving towards electricity & petroleum-free living, gift economy, communal living, simplicity, etc. We live a simple life on the farm (which we very much enjoy!). We have three buildings on the land: a medium-sized workshop that has 4 season housing on one side and storage on the other, a small 4 season one-room cabin, and a small 3 season cabin. Planning to build more natural buildings to expand our housing options.

Life on the farm includes home-cooked meals, composting toilets, hosting those in need, growing vegetables, planting trees, continuing permaculture design, candle-making, chopping wood, hosting college groups, and much more! Off the farm, we are involved in a variety of social justice causes.

There are plenty of additional opportunities on the 160 acres like classes on permaculture, wild edibles, primitive skills, nonviolent communication, canning/preserving vegetables, natural building, etc. Plenty of self entertainment is available on the 160 acres … community plays, puppet shows, music jams, birthday parties, sports playing, weekly craft nights, etc. The 160 acres hosts over 1000 visitors a year … so there are plenty of opportunities to meet people from all over the country and the world doing fascinating things.

The nearest town is La Plata, which is 6 miles away and has a public library and an Amtrak station! So it is easy to get to by mass transportation. We have extra bikes available for use. Kirksville is 14 miles away and is a small college town. There is a good article about the WRCW if you search on the internet for “White Rose Catholic Worker Marquette Magazine”.

The Catholic Worker movement is composed of over 200 communities worldwide of many different faiths (not just Catholic) that are committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, prayer, hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and forsaken, and protest of injustice and violence of all forms. To learn more about the movement, the best book is probably “Loaves & Fishes” by Dorothy Day (co-founder).

Other skills – One of our partners, the Possibility Alliance, is often working on a variety of interesting projects like straw bale house building, goat & cow milking, hand tool repair, bike maintenance, canning, spoon carving, fermenting foods, horse care, etc. There could be opportunities to volunteer with some of these projects on occasion.