In 1989, Withers and Sister Margaret McKenna moved to inner city Philadelphia and founded New Jerusalem Laura, a drug treatment center.
Withers lives in a hermitage, a converted rowhouse, in the city of Philadelphia where he spends most of his time in prayer.
In 1974, he had an encounter with a group of Catholic activists at the bicycle repair shop where he worked, which caused him to convert to Catholicism and be baptized.
The same year, Withers left home for nearby Camden, New Jersey, to live in and repair abandoned row houses.
[6] Two years later, in 1991, Withers bought a derelict rowhouse from the city of Philadelphia for $1 and parted ways with McKenna.
After the 1983 revision of Canon 603, the option of being a diocesan hermit while independent of the system of religious orders had been permitted.
[1] To earn his food and clothing allowance, which amounts to less than $5,500 per year, Withers makes pottery to sell and works one day a week for a scientific-instrument company.