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General News: The Grail Opens Doors to the Community
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| Natasha, Emily, and Sharon help run The Grail |
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| The Grail's main house is The Phoenix. |
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| The organic vegetable garden in winter. |
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| The stone cottage holds the group's office. |
January 28, 2008
A group of women who live on the outskirts of Cornwall-on-Hudson want their neighbors in the village and town to get to know them better.
The women at The Grail, the women’s spirituality-based center situated in a rambling brown house on Duncan Avenue, have set up community projects in 20 countries around the world but don’t know many of the people in their own backyard. They want to change this and are inviting the public to join them for some pre-Valentine’s Day fun at an Open House on February 3, from 3 to 6 p.m..
The Grail is a lay organization that is committed to spiritual searching, social transformation, ecological sustainability, and the release of women’s creative energy. The group was founded n the U.S. in the 1940s by two women from the Netherlands and flourished as a progressive Catholic women’s movement that paralleled that of Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker. The group established centers across the United States and in the late 1970s brought its work to the house on Duncan Avenue.
The house itself reminds visitors of an important piece of Cornwall-on-Hudson history. It was one of the homes of the wealthy Stillman family, which included Dr. Ernest Stillman, who donated the land that became Black Rock Forest. In 1963 Chauncey Stillman donated the Duncan Avenue house, along with 40 acres of fields and woods, to The Grail. (Read more history here)
Since the late 1970s a variety of interdenominational women – all committed to The Grail’s principles -- have been living and working there. Among that early group was Sharon Thomson who now manages the place with help from other staff and volunteers. One of the center’s projects is the Women’s Institute for Social Transformation, which conducts workshops and training seminars for women committed to social change locally and internationally.
Thomson says the group also spends a lot of effort on maintaining the property and is committed to preserving the natural beauty of their place, with a panoramic view of Storm King Mountain and acres of wooded trails. It is a resource they would like to share with the community.
One route the group is pursuing locally is a Garden Partners Project. Emily Thomas, who retired to Cornwall-on-Hudson with her husband last year to be near The Grail, is looking at how local residents could get involved with the group’s raised-bed organic vegetable garden. Thomas grew up in Kansas and she says that the experience of making things grow is a very sacramental thing, something the group doesn’t want to keep to itself. “We are trying to figure out the process,” Thomas said, “How can you build a community and transform the world in the process?”
Natasha Mercado, a young mother who lives in Cornwall-on-Hudson, first came to The Grail as a volunteer and found a place where she belongs. “You’re happy to be asked to be part of what they’re doing, baking cookies, canning vegetables, being part of the community,” she said recently.
Mercado and Thomas are getting ready now for people to come meet them on February 3rd. They are offering children and adults a place to make Valentines and will have items like scarves, jewelry and chocolates for sale at an auction.
The women are already mixing up some of the apricot walnut tea bread and whole wheat bread that will be available that day along with homemade soups in containers to take home.
Valerie Byrnum will play the concert violin and you may be able to hear poetry written by Sharon Thomson.
The open house is one of the ways that the group raises funds for operation of its grounds and retreat facilities. Income is also derived from renting out the big Phoenix house to groups such as the Village Zendo Project, a Buddhist group that visits every summer.
The group is also inviting people to join a monthly book club that meets on the 1st Wednesday of every month. The book under discussion in February is Cane River.
Comments:
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An organic garden I'm all for it where can we sign up?
posted by jcbike1 on 01/28/08 at 5:13 PM
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If you want to find out more about the Garden Partners Project at the Grail, contact Natasha at: [email protected].
posted by sharon on 01/29/08 at 3:44 PM
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Wish I had read about this prior to the open house for the public. I'd like to know more about the upcoming book discussionsm and get involved in future events.
[email protected]
posted by coop1 on 02/11/08 at 8:18 PM
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