In The Liturgy of the Land: Cultivating a Catholic Homestead, Jason Craig and Thomas Van Horn offer a wealth of insight into the rich meaning of the Catholic homestead. Considering the somewhat recent interest in farming and moving back to the land expressed by this younger generation of Catholics, the authors explore the anthropological, sociological, and spiritual aspects of homesteading, providing a thorough and integrated study of the movement.
The authors propose that homesteading can be easily romanticized because it is, in fact, romantic. They call it the “natural place and work that lends itself uniquely to growth in virtue and holiness” that “can help orient us more fully and simply toward our true and lasting happiness, which is God Himself” (1-2). Indeed, the title of the book references liturgy, a work done for and with others, ultimately connecting production in and through God’s creation and the worship of God. “The worship of God cannot be imagined without a connection to the earth from which it gathers the necessary elements for the sacraments” (51). Life on the Catholic homestead requires a sacramental worldview if it is to fulfill its true purpose.
Part 1 (Chapter 1-10, Conclusion) of the text addresses the argument for the Catholic homestead being the life most conducive to natural family life, as understood from a Catholic perspective. Such a life integrates prayer, work, study, and rest within a community rooted in the love of God. Modern challenges to this life are presented. It serves as a mirror for the reader to reveal just how inculcated the culture can become in one’s life, and how difficult it can be to break free from it.
Part 2 (Appendix) offers practical information helpful in discerning the move to the homestead. It lays out the reality of the work and what is needed by means of land and structures to accomplish it. It is a wake-up call to dreamers who think homesteading is easy.
Unfamiliar Territory
In Chapter 1, “Back to the Homestead,” the authors show that the move away from small family farms and homesteads was not organic, but intentionally orchestrated by government policy. There was a shift from families as producers for themselves within small communities to households as consumers, completely dependent of structures outside the home for their sustenance. The family dynamic of working together for a common goal was replaced with members of the family competing for time and money to do the things each want or need. All aspects of life, from education to exercise, were outsourced to others, creating an unnatural relationship between parent and child, and even husband and wife. The authors show how the balancing of activities—of work, land, family, leisure, and home—becomes an integration of them on the homestead.
Chapter 2, “From Division of Labor to Integrated Work,” discusses the dignity of work and division of labor, exploring the relationship between man and woman, parent and child. Here the authors contrast the Marxist view of labor with the biblical view of creation and the consequences of the Fall on human labor. A theological understanding of the sexes is beautifully done here, emphasizing the complementarity of men and women and the shared work of parenting children to maturity, which necessarily involves growing in competency and confidence.
Chapter 3, “From Time Clocks to Seasons,” turns to the subject of time, noting that clocks were invented in monasteries for the purpose of marking time for prayer. “To tune ourselves to the liturgy of the land, we will need to both recover a Catholic spirit of rest and redefine the very purpose of marking the time” (49). Here the authors take a Benedictine view of time and apply it to life on the homestead. The distinction is made between spending time and offering it to God. The daily routine of chores integrates prayer throughout. The seasons, both natural and liturgical, guide the work and complement each other. The practice of rest is presented in its fruitfulness, both for man and the land itself.
In Chapter 4, “From Artificial to Natural,” the authors explore the spectrum between natural and artificial, with “artisan” the preferred term for man’s cooperation with nature. Modern artificial means of work are a hinderance to the experience of God. “Surely, we live in a time of foolishness, a time that doesn’t see God in nature because it doesn’t see nature” (73). The example of a family gathered around the hearth for warmth provided by wood gathered locally is compared to the use of a thermostat to maintain the perfect temperature in separate rooms year-round. The experience of God providing through nature (in this instance, warmth), and the family coming together to experience it, is lacking in the modern household, where each can be in his own space and be warm.
Economic Roots
Chapter 5, “From Artificial Economy to Natural Economy,” tackles the economics of a homestead. The authors are realistic about the economic challenges of making the change. Here, they insist on what St. Thomas Aquinas calls the natural economy as a requirement for living the liturgy of the land, an economy ordered to the management of the home. It involves the community, with members bartering for goods and sharing excess. This is contrasted to the artificial economy of trade, wherein money makes money. Such wealth, though it can serve a good purpose, can be easily disordered. It causes one to ponder, what is money for?
In Chapter 6, “From Wages to Private Property,” the authors turn to Hilaire Belloc’s thought on the wide distribution of land ownership and the sustaining of local villages through local production, with the warning that industrialization would eventually lead to government control over land and, eventually, socialism. Here they argue for the Church’s teaching on the private ownership of property, and respond to the Marxist call for collective ownership. Owning the land on which one is living and working, amongst others who are doing likewise, is the proper vision.
Chapter 7, “From Anywhere to Somewhere,” addresses the question of where to make one’s homestead. Modern society values a freedom of movement, to leave the nest, to go where the job takes you, but the authors insist that “part of learning to live the liturgy of the land is to relearn the value of rooting down” (103). The homesteader is contrasted with the cosmopolitan who, rather than making a commitment to one place and one community, sees himself as a citizen of the world, of all humanity. The benefits of rootedness, and its relationship to the natural economy, are laid out. Choices facing the potential homesteader regarding place—the amount of land needed, close to home and an established community or somewhere far off away from family and friends, to rent or to own—are examined, aiding the discernment process.
Chapter 8, “From Extracting to Cultivating,” explores the issue of man’s relationship to nature, pointing out the erroneous positions that pit them against each other. The proper theological understanding of dominion is explained, God’s commandment to “till and keep.” A comparison is made to the concept of grace building on nature, and St. Thomas Aquinas is evoked, “Gratia non tollit naturam, sed perficit.” Man builds on nature, working with it to enable it to reach its greatest fruitfulness.
Prosperity Liturgy
In Chapter 9, “From Controlling Scarcity to Generous Abundance,” brings together concepts from previous chapters about modern ideas of wealth and of man as the enemy of nature that suggest that there are simply not enough resources to go around, with the responsible response to this scarcity of goods being smaller families. “There’s a connection between how we see the earth’s fertility and how we see our own family’s fertility.” In rejecting these positions, the authors remind us of the Dust Bowl having been a man-made catastrophe, the result of mechanized farming, intending to create abundance, failing to respect the needs of the land. The Catholic homesteader understands how to work the land as God would have it done and so experience the Lord’s generosity.
Chapter. 10, “Discerning a Place between Suburbia and the Village,” contrasts life in suburbia versus life on a homestead. It takes the reader through several important issues, including the need for income, a culture formed by personal interest, integrated work, time together as a family, seasonal differences, household needs supplied by the land, access to land, and competency in manual skills. Each section describes how suburban life naturally differs from homesteading, helping the discerner to grasp the challenges ahead, some of which may be unforeseen and unexpected. The authors then provide four possible scenarios for those desiring to make the move to homesteading, each with varying levels of change necessary, from backyard gardener to full-time homesteader.
The conclusion of Part 1 is called “From Independence to Interdependence.” It reminds the reader that Catholic homesteaders are not embracing the life in order to escape society, to cut themselves off from the world. They are not “preppers” seeking to be completely independent when the Apocalypse happens. Rather, they embrace—do not reject—being a social being in need of others. There is an acknowledgement of the interdependence human beings have with the land and with each other. Communities form around these needs of the land which produces an abundance for the community. The ultimate dependence is on God.
Part 2, the Appendix, could be its own publication, though is best appreciated on the stage that was set in Part 1. It is a guide to discerning which homesteading enterprises, from having a kitchen garden, to raising pigs, to beekeeping, to dairy cows, to having horses, are feasible for a family in a variety of circumstances. It is both encouraging and cautious. For each possible enterprise, the time requirements, start-up expenses, family friendliness, cash value, learning curve, acreage requirement, seasonal variance, production expense, harvest equipment, and bartering value are rated on a scale of 1-10. The Appendix is extremely helpful for those serious about embarking on the homestead adventure.
A Catholic Landscape
The Liturgy of the Land is a valuable contribution to the literature of Catholic social teaching, Catholic environmental ethics, and even Catholic economics. The authors draw from a variety of sources within the Tradition, from Scripture, St. Augustine and (as noted above) St Thomas Aquinas, to 19th- and 20th-century popes, to more current Catholic influencers such as Father Vincent McNabb, G.K. Chesterton, Hilaire Belloc, Josef Pieper, and John Senior. It is a brief walk through the history of the industrial age and the Church’s response to it.
While it is worthwhile for its academic contribution, it is also valuable as a practical guide for those Catholics serious about moving to a homestead. The text offers realistic information regarding the feasibility of farming and animal husbandry—this only after setting up the proper motivation and mindset for doing so. The authors are very good at explaining theological and philosophical concepts in ways comprehensible to the non-academic.
The physical book itself is quite beautiful in its presentation, with vibrant colorful photographs of the homesteading life. Sprinkled throughout are personal stories from each author of their experiences—both their successes and their failures—in making the transition to homesteading and creating a viable living from it. Overall, The Liturgy of the Land is a very enjoyable book to read, even for those not interested in homesteading, for its critique of modern suburban life and the gentle ways the authors encourage living a liturgical life even in the midst of it, to whatever extent is possible.
