United States
The Grail in the United States began in 1940, when two Grail leaders from Europe, Lydwine van Kersbergen from the Netherlands and Joan Overboss from Germany, came to the U.S. at the invitation of the Archbishop of Chicago. In 1944, a small community of Grail women moved to a farm in Loveland, Ohio that became known as Grailville. For the next twenty years, thousands of women from around the world participated in The Year School, an intensive training in theology, pastoral ministry, education and liturgical renewal as well as music and the visual arts.
Women also met and worked with the Grail in City Centers throughout the United States in education, pastoral ministry, ecumenism, family service, anti-racism, and community organizing. The Grail Cornwall-on-Hudson Center in New York was, from 1963 to 2020, an important locus of programming in spiritual diversity, economic justice, social transformation, ecofeminism, ecospirituality, culture, and international solidarity. The Cornwall-on-Hudson property is now leased to a like-missioned, spiritually centered, organization – Rural & Migrant Ministry.
The US Grail has continued as a resource for women with vibrant education, programs, and initiatives focusing on spirituality, women’s empowerment, culture, justice activism, environmental stewardship, and the arts. Regional clusters of Grail members continue to meet in-person and virtually for spiritual growth and collective action.
We are committed to transform the world with empowered women. Called by our spiritual values, we envision a world of peace, justice and renewal of the earth, brought about by racially and ethnically diverse women working together as catalysts for change.
Projects and Activities:
Members gather locally, regionally, at national and international forums, at Grail Centers, in homes and in virtual spaces for spiritual deepening, community-building, networking, education, issue-based activism and celebration. Areas of focus include:
- Spiritual Search
- Environmental Sustainability
- Women and the Arts
- Social Transformation
- Global Solidarity
Centers:
The Grail in the U.S. continues to operate two campuses: The Bronx Grail Center (New York, NY) and Grailville, the Loveland Campus and National Office (Loveland, OH).
Grailville is a tangible expression of the Grail’s mission and values. Established as a center of education, leadership, and care of the Earth since 1944, it is a rural oasis, a place of art, social and personal transformation, and land care that continues to be a resource for the greater community.
Activities at the Loveland Campus:
- Programs to develop young women’s leadership and self-esteem
- Partnerships with local environmental organizations
- Resources to support regional nonprofits as they pursue like-missioned goals.
- Space and opportunities to explore the great outdoors
- Opportunities to improve whole health — mind, body, and soul.
- Artistic and cultural expression
The Bronx Grail Center is located in the South Bronx, NY, north of Manhattan. It is a center of hospitality, welcoming women from the neighborhood and from around the world.
Activities:
- Women’s leadership and self-esteem workshops
- Monthly meetings of local community women
- Local actions related to current themes/issues of the international Grail
- Women’s Micro-economic project: La Adventura
- Outreach to teenage girls and young women, offering opportunities of environmental and justice awareness, personal growth, and international consciousness
- As part of The Grail, as a nongovernmental organization (NGO) of the United Nations, the Bronx Grail is engaged in the struggles for equity for women, environmental and land justice, and sustainable development.
- Connecting with New York area members around the Community Garden in Cornwall and local Bronx community gardens, offering space to Indigenous groups and to grow good food.
United Nations
The Bronx Center is actively engaged, with International Grail members, in representing The Grail as an NGO at the United Nations. Each year, the Center hosts international delegations of girls and women who participate in The International Day of the Girl, Commission on the Status of Women, and the Indigenous Peoples Forum.