Monsignor Ralph Beiting, shown in 1999. / AP
“As I describe it, that is the day I lost my mind. I no longer was going to think as a human folk. I was no longer going to try to ration things out, according to the sensible way. I was going to put my hands in the hands of God, and I was going to go wherever he led me.”
--Fr. Ralph Beiting, on his decision to begin his mission in Appalachia in 1950.
Monsignor Ralph Beiting (1924-2012), who passed way August 9, "lost his mind" one evening more than 60 years ago, and CAP Volunteers have been losing their minds for Christ and for Appalachia ever since.
As the founder of Christian Appalachian Project and its first volunteer, Fr. Beiting faced many challenges when he first arrived in eastern Kentucky: isolation, lack of resources, and prejudice. But his great faith and the poverty he witnessed in the region emboldened him to get to work serving people in need and working with the poor and marginalized to create stronger communities. His work with the poor started with distributing food and clothing. He later began a summer camp (the first of several), and in 1964 officially incorporated Christian Appalachian Project, which now serves more than 1 million people annually.
He called the organization "Christian" because he believed CAP "had to be a spiritual organization. Without God," he said, "we couldn't last." He also didn't want CAP to be a Catholic organization, but rather one that inspired all Christians (and non-Christians too) to serve others. Today, CAP continues to be interdenominational, and our volunteer communities are a vibrant collection of individuals from diverse faith backgrounds. And he called CAP a "Project" because he wanted it to be a mission of action that gave hands and feet to Christ's message of love for the poor. "I wanted people to get their hands dirty and their feet muddy," Fr. Beiting wrote in his autobiography. "I wanted people who would climb mountains, not just talk about them." Each day CAP Volunteers arise early to engage in hands-on service on construction jobsites, in preschools and grade schools, in food pantries and domestic violence shelters, and in the homes of the elderly.
Fr. Beiting has inspired tens of thousands of volunteers to serve with CAP and other organizations throughout the years, and we trust his story will continue to inspire for years to come.
For more on Fr. Beiting, read this remembrance from the Louisville Courier-Journal
