Catholic Workers Movement
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The Catholic Worker Movement is a collection of autonomous communities of
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and their associates founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in the United States in 1933. Its aim is to "live in accordance with the justice and charity of Jesus Christ". One of its guiding principles is
hospitality Hospitality is the relationship between a guest and a host, wherein the host receives the guest with some amount of goodwill, including the reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Louis de Jaucourt, Louis, chevalier de J ...
towards those on the margin of society, based on the principles of
communitarianism Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasizes the connection between the individual and the community. Its overriding philosophy is based upon the belief that a person's social identity and personality are largely molded by community relati ...
and
personalism Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...
. To this end, the movement claims over 240 local Catholic Worker communities providing social services. Each house has a different mission, going about the work of
social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...
in its own way, suited to its local region. Catholic Worker houses are not official organs of the Catholic Church, and their activities, inspired by Day's example, may be more or less overtly religious in tone and inspiration depending on the particular institution. The movement campaigns for
nonviolence Nonviolence is the personal practice of not causing harm to others under any condition. It may come from the belief that hurting people, animals and/or the environment is unnecessary to achieve an outcome and it may refer to a general philosoph ...
and is active in opposing both war and the unequal global
distribution of wealth The distribution of wealth is a comparison of the wealth of various members or groups in a society. It shows one aspect of economic inequality or economic heterogeneity. The distribution of wealth differs from the income distribution in that ...
. Day also founded the ''
Catholic Worker ''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice. Hist ...
'' newspaper, still published by the two Catholic Worker houses in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, and sold for a penny a copy.


History

The Catholic Worker Movement began in the 19th century. Some pioneers are Adolph Kolping,
St. John Bosco John Melchior Bosco ( it, Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco; pms, Gioann Melchior Bòsch; 16 August 181531 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco , was an Italian Catholic priest, educator, writer and saint of the 19th century. While working ...
and Léon Harmel all more or less contemporaries who sought to respond to the needs of young workers in a rapidly industrializing Europe. At the end of the century,
Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...
gave voice to the plight of workers and the problem of labour in his 1891 encyclical
Rerum Novarum ''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...
which is the foundation of
Catholic social teaching Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state (polity), state, subsidiarity, social o ...
. In the US, the Catholic Worker Movement started with the ''Catholic Worker'' newspaper, created by Dorothy Day to advance Catholic social teaching and stake out a neutral,
Christian pacifist Christian pacifism is the theological and ethical position according to which pacifism and non-violence have both a scriptural and rational basis for Christians, and affirms that any form of violence is incompatible with the Christian faith. Chri ...
position in the war-torn 1930s. Day attempted to put her words from the ''Catholic Worker'' into action through " houses of hospitality" and then through a series of farms for people to live together on communes. The idea of voluntary poverty was advocated for those who volunteered to work at the houses of hospitality. Many people would come to the Catholic Workers for assistance, only to become Workers themselves. Initially, these houses of hospitality had little organization and no requirements for membership. As time passed, however, some basic rules and policies were established. Day appointed the directors of each of the houses, but tried to maintain autonomy in the actual running of the houses. Because of this policy, the houses varied in both size and character: in the 1930s, the St. Louis Workers served 3400 people a day while the Detroit Workers served around 600 a day. The ''Catholic Worker'' newspaper spread the idea to other cities in the
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, as well as to
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and the
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, through the reports printed by those who had experienced working in the houses of hospitality. More than 30 independent but affiliated communities had been founded by 1941. Between 1965 and 1980 an additional 76 communities were founded with 35 of these still in existence today, such as the "Hippie Kitchen" founded in the back of a van by two Catholic Workers on
Skid Row, Los Angeles Skid Row is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles. The area is officially known as Central City East. As of a 2019 count, the population of the district was 8,757. Skid Row contains one of the largest stable populations (about 9,200–15,000) ...
in the 1970s. Well over 200 communities exist today, including several in
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, the United Kingdom, Canada,
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, the
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
,
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, and
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. Co-founder Day, who died in 1980, is under consideration for sainthood by the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.


Beliefs

"Our rule is the works of mercy," said Dorothy Day. "It is the way of sacrifice, worship, a sense of reverence." According to co-founder Peter Maurin, the following are the beliefs of the Catholic Worker: # gentle
personalism Personalism is an intellectual stance that emphasizes the importance of human persons. Personalism exists in many different versions, and this makes it somewhat difficult to define as a philosophical and theological movement. Friedrich Schleierm ...
of traditional Catholicism. # personal obligation of looking after the needs of our brother. # daily practice of the Works of Mercy. # houses of hospitality for the immediate relief of those who are in need. # establishment of Farming Communes where each one works according to his ability and receives according to his need. # creating a
new society within the shell of the old Prefigurative politics are the modes of organization and social relationships that strive to reflect the future society being sought by the group. According to Carl Boggs, who coined the term, the desire is to embody "within the ongoing political p ...
with the philosophy of the new. The radical philosophy of the group can be described as
Christian anarchism Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answ ...
. Anne Klejment, a history lecturer at the
University of St. Thomas St. Thomas University or University of St. Thomas may refer to: *Saint Thomas Aquinas University, Colombia *Saint Thomas Aquinas University of the North, Tucumán province, Argentina *St. Thomas University (Canada), Fredericton, New Brunswick *St. ...
, wrote of the movement:


Family involvement

Families have had a variety of roles in the Catholic Worker Movement. Because those donating funds to the houses of hospitality were primarily interested in helping the poor, the higher cost of maintaining a volunteer family (as opposed to maintaining an individual volunteer) conflicted with the wishes of those donating. Author Daniel McKanan has suggested that, for a variety of reasons, Dorothy Day's perspective on family involvement in the movement was controversial. Despite these elements of conflict, families have participated in the Catholic Worker Movement through multiple avenues: some assist the houses of hospitality while others open up a "Christ room" in their homes for people in need. There are many other opportunities for family involvement in the Catholic Worker as well, with some families running their own houses of hospitality.


See also

*
Catholic Radical Alliance The Catholic Radical Alliance was founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1937 by the Roman Catholic priests Charles Owen Rice, Carl Hensler, and George Barry O'Toole, with the approval of their bishop, Hugh C. Boyle. It supported the unionizati ...
*
Catholic social teaching Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state (polity), state, subsidiarity, social o ...
* Catholic trade unions * ''
Catholic Worker ''Catholic Worker'' is a newspaper published seven times a year by the flagship Catholic Worker community in New York City. The newspaper was started by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin to make people aware of church teaching on social justice. Hist ...
'', the movement's newspaper *
Christian anarchism Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately answ ...
* Christian communism *
Christian left The Christian left is a range of left-wing Christian political and social movements that largely embrace social justice principles and uphold a social doctrine or social gospel. Given the inherent diversity in international political thoug ...
*
Christian socialism Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...
*
Christian trade unions The Catholic Church and politics concerns the interplay of Catholic Church, Catholicism with religious, and later secular, politics. Historically, the Church opposed Liberalism, liberal ideas such as democracy, freedom of speech, and the separa ...
*
Christian views on poverty and wealth There have been a variety of Christian views on poverty and wealth. At one end of the spectrum is a view which casts wealth and materialism as an evil to be avoided and even combated. At the other end is a view which casts prosperity and well-b ...
* Friendship House * Georgism *
Industrial Workers of the World The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines genera ...
* Liberation theology * List of anti-war organizations * Peter Maurin, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement * Political Catholicism *
Settlement movement The settlement movement was a reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in United Kingdom and the United States. Its goal was to bring the rich and the poor of society together in both physical proximity and s ...
*
Saint Patrick's Day Four The Saint Patrick's Day Four (also, The Saint Patrick's Four, or SP4) are four American peace activists of Irish Catholic heritage who poured their own blood on the walls, posters, windows, and a US flag at a military recruiting center to protest ...
*
Pitstop Ploughshares The Pitstop Ploughshares were a group of five members of the Catholic Worker Movement who made their way into Shannon Airport in Ireland and damaged a United States Navy C-40 transport aircraft in the early hours of 3 February 2003. Their actions ...


Similar Christian movements

*
Anabaptism Anabaptism (from Neo-Latin , from the Greek : 're-' and 'baptism', german: Täufer, earlier also )Since the middle of the 20th century, the German-speaking world no longer uses the term (translation: "Re-baptizers"), considering it biased. ...
, in particular the emerging peace church movement * Beguines and Beghards, medieval religious communities composed entirely of laity *
Christian democracy Christian democracy (sometimes named Centrist democracy) is a political ideology that emerged in 19th-century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching and neo-Calvinism. It was conceived as a combination of modern democratic ...
, particularly
distributism Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching prin ...
*
Focolare The Focolare Movement is an international organization that promotes the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood. Founded in Trent, northern Italy, in 1943 by Chiara Lubich as a Catholic movement, it remains largely Roman Catholic but has s ...
, Catholic/Ecumenical movement promoting the ideals of unity and universal brotherhood.  *
Madonna House Apostolate The Madonna House Apostolate is a Roman Catholic Church, Catholic Christians, Christian community of Laity, lay men, women, and priests dedicated to loving and serving Jesus, Jesus Christ in all aspects of everyday life. It was founded in 1947 by C ...
* "
New Monasticism New Monasticism is a diverse movement, not limited to a specific religious denomination or church and including varying expressions of contemplative life. These include evangelical Christian communities such as " Simple Way Community" and Jonathan ...
" related communities * Peace Churches *
Servants to Asia's Urban Poor Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor is an international network of Christian communities living and working in the slums of Asia and the West, participating with the poor to bring hope and justice through Jesus Christ. Servants is an organic movement, ...
*
Labour Church The Labour Church was an organization intended to give expression to the religion of the labour movement. It had a Christian socialist outlook, specifically called theological socialism. History The first Labour Church was founded at Manchester in ...


Notes


References


Sources

* * *


Further reading

* Dorothy Day (1997) ''Loaves and Fishes: The inspiring story of the Catholic Worker Movement''. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1963. * On the English CW, see: Olivier Rota, ''From a social question with religious echoes to a religious question with social echoes. The 'Jewish Question' and the English Catholic Worker (1939–1948)'' in Houston Catholic Worker, Vol. XXV n°3, May–June 2005, pp. 4–5.


External links


Main website of the Catholic Worker Movement
*
Dorothy Day-Catholic Worker Collection at Marquette University

The Way of Love: Dorothy Day and the American Right
– by Bill Kauffman, '' Whole Earth'' (Summer 2000)
Following Jesus in love and anarchy
The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
, February 29, 2008
Maurin, Day, the Catholic Worker, and Anarcho-Distributism
by Nicholas Evans 2018 {{Authority control Anti–Iraq War groups Catholic lay organisations Catholic social teaching Catholic trade unions Catholicism and far-left politics Christian anarchism Christian pacifism Christian radicalism Christian organizations established in 1933 Dorothy Day Distributism Anarchist intentional communities Christian communities