Brother Richard Scott Withers (born 1955) is an American consecrated hermit. In 1974, Withers converted to Catholicism and was baptized; shortly after, he started to live a religious life. In 1989, Withers and Sister Margaret McKenna moved to inner city Philadelphia and founded New Jerusalem Laura, a drug treatment center. Withers petitioned the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to become a consecrated hermit several times but was rejected. In 2001, Withers was consecrated as a hermit by Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the Archbishop of Philadelphia. He was the first hermit to be consecrated in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Withers lives in a hermitage, a converted rowhouse, in the city of Philadelphia where he spends most of his time in prayer.
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