Catholic Worker Farm Spirituality w/ Dr. Larry Chapp (ep. 019 Rebroadcast)

11/11/21 • 56 min

This episode is a rebroadcast from February 2021. Since then, Dr. Larry Chapp has appeared on the "Bishop Barron Presents" series, where he and Bishop Barron discussed the Catholic Worker Movement, Traditionalism and liberalism in the Catholic Church, the Second Vatican Council, and other topics. You can watch his interview with Bishop Barron here.
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Join Nick and Austin as they sit down with Dr. Larry Chapp to discuss his transition from academia to life on a Catholic Worker Farm. He explores the theology of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, as well as their ideas on personalism, distributism, and what it means to live a "radical" Christian life. We also get some practical tips on why sheep are better than goats and how one can responsibly plan to start their own farm.
Dr. Larry Chapp is a retired professor of theology and taught for twenty years at DeSales University near Allentown, Pennsylvania. He now operates the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker Farm in Harveys Lake, Pennsylvania with his wife, Carmina. He also runs the popular blog Gaudium et Spes 22.
Have a question, topic idea, gardening tip, anything? Email us at [email protected]. We'd love to give you a sprout out!
LINKS

The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day (spiritual autobiography)
Catholic Worker Movement
The Hound of Distributism (primer on the economic philosophy)
Peter Maurin's Easy Essays

The Long Loneliness by Dorothy Day (spiritual autobiography)
Catholic Worker Movement
The Hound of Distributism (primer on the economic philosophy)
Peter Maurin's Easy Essays

Previous Episode

#054: Man oh Manna!

Could you eat manna for 40 years? The Israelites did – kicking and screaming – and they learned a lesson or two about themselves and their God along the way.

On today’s episode, Nick and Tyler do a close reading of Exodus 16 and explore the Israelites’ radical transition from Egyptian captivity to (reluctant) trust in Providence. Using the work of theologian Ellen Davis as a guide, this podcast connects the Israelites’ wilderness experience to our own modern need for rest, restraint, justice, simplicity, and contentment. Can you pass the manna, please?

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS

Why Egypt was considered the first industrial society.
What manna was and the bizarre rules around it.
How and why the Sabbath originated.
How the Israelites’ wilderness experience was an inverse of their captivity in Egypt.
Why eating is considered an agricultural, moral, social, and economic act.
And why the Prince of Egypt movie is so darn good!

LINKS

Ellen Davis’ book Scripture, Culture, and Agriculture: An Agrarian Reading Of The Bible
Wendell Berry: “Eating is an agricultural act.”
Nick’s favorite song from Prince of Egypt

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Connect with the Podcast
Have a question, topic idea, gardening tip, anything? Email us at [email protected]. We'd love to give you a sprout out.

Next Episode

#055: Thanksgiving from the Words of Wendell Berry

Join us on this Thanksgiving episode as we dive into gratitude, especially in regards to food. Tyler attempts to read some poetry and Nick grades him harshly. We use the wise words of American poet and agricultural/environmental activist, Wendell Berry, to frame our minds and hearts around what it means to enter into deeper gratitude about the food we consume. See below for the text of these poems and the excerpt from his book of essays, Bringing it to the Table.
Also check out the song (to be performed someday by Morgan!) "Waltzing Matilda" and one of Nick's favorite children's story, Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. And because I shouted them out in the show, happy Thanksgiving to Storey Family Farm and to any of our South Bend listeners.
We are grateful for all our listeners! Share the love and leave us a review or send us a message at [email protected].
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The Wish to be Generous

ALL that I serve will die, all my delights,
the flesh kindled from my flesh, garden and field,
the silent lilies standing in the woods,
the woods, the hill, the whole earth, all
will burn in man’s evil, or dwindle
in its own age. Let the world bring on me
the sleep of darkness without stars, so I may know
my little light taken from me into the seed
of the beginning and the end, so I may bow
to mystery, and take my stand on the earth
like a tree in a field, passing without haste
or regret toward what will be, my life
a patient willing descent into the grass.

Wendell Berry
A Prayer After Eating
I have taken in the light
that quickened eye and leaf
May my brain be bright with praise
of what I eat, in the brief blaze
of motion and of thought.
May I be worthy of my meat.
- Wendell Berry