Any thoughts on if the Catholic worker movement sounds right for me?

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nothingclever

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I’ve recently come back to the faith, well started practicing it for the first time would be more accurate. I converted several years ago but was not at all realistic on what it takes to be a practicing Catholic. I was getting high and drinking to excess quite a bit, not to mention sleeping around with both women and men.

I’m 27 now and realistically don’t think I could handle leading a nuclear family. I have a job delivering pizza’s that is more than sufficient for me to support myself in a small studio. I honestly don’t want a great deal of material wealth. I just want to work the minimum amount necessary to support myself and spend the rest of my time reading or doing unskilled labor for the church.

I have a history of depression so being a monk or priest is likely out, but I do get enjoyment from helping the poor. I’ve always been a lower case “a” anarchist and find Dorothy Day quiet inspiring. I basically just want to devote my life to minimizing my participation in capitalism and living as simple a life as possible.

From what I’ve read online and threw emailing the local Catholic worker hospitality house, I can spend my days off cleaning showers and working the cafeteria. They have mass every morning I can attend, as well as regular group prayer. I’d honestly like to live and work there full time, but I believe it requires schooling. Proper written English isn’t really my deal, and MLA is just tedious.

Anyone have any thoughts on the movement in general? I’d especially like any advice from anyone involved in the movement, if they think like it sounds like a good place for me. I just want a place to go to where I can help the poor without being made to feel unmanly for being a pacifist who doesn’t have a great deal of materialistic ambitions.

Thank you in advance!
 
Why would depression bar you from being a monk or priest?
There is historical evidence to show St Augustine, St Jerome and St Ignatius Loyola may have suffered from depression.

If you feel you can do service in the Catholic Worker Movement, you could get infor on them here:

catholicworker.org/
 
I read that those prone to melancholia cant become priest’s or monks. I’ve read plenty on them and am already volunteering later in the week. I just like discussing things to get others (name removed by moderator)ut and advice. I make my own decisions, but a fresh perspective is always useful.
 
**I don’t know anything about the Catholic worker movement, but you
said that you enjoyed working with the poor. Have you ever considered
volunteering with the Missionaries of Charity ? They are not only in India,
but all over the world. Here are three contacts for North America if you might be interested:

For Eastern U.S.A. and Eastern Canada:
Missionaries of Charity
335 East 145th Street
Bronx, NY 10451
USA
Tel.: +1-718-292-0019

For Central U.S.A. and Central Canada:
Missionaries of Charity
3629 Cottage Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63113-3539
USA
Tel.:+ 1-314-533-2777

For Western U.S.A., Western Canada, Mexico (Tijuana):
Missionaries of Charity
164 Milagra Drive
Pacifica, CA 94044
USA
Tel.: +1-650-355-3091

God bless**
 
My knowledge is limited, but I have observed that the Catholic Worker movement is a very loose organization. You will find considerable variation between houses.
 
Generic_Name said:
I had never heard of them until reading your post. A quick search over at catholicculture.org turned up this review of the main organization’s website.

catholicculture.org/culture/reviews/view.cfm?recnum=2945&repos=2&subrepos=0&searchid=1497245

It seems some caution might be warranted, but I personally know nothing about them.
Click to expand...
Dorothy Day, the co-founder (along with Peter Maurin) of the Catholic Worker, has always been an inspirational figure to me. She is currently recognized by the Church as a “Servant of God” (meaning a case for canonization has been opened for her).

I’ve done some volunteer work (years ago) at the Catholic Worker houses in New York. I’m told that I actually met Ms. Day once, but I was a baby then and don’t remember. Apparently my parents were at Maryhouse (the Catholic Worker women’s residence on the Lower East Side of Manhattan) and brought their new baby (me) along.
 
Sound’s good thanks guy’s! Any further (name removed by moderator)ut would be awesome. Got to go to the city for paperwork, have a blessed day all!
 
It was fantastic! I absolutely loved it. It’s like a huge slice of the human experience put on display. I love how the Holy Cross priest balances having a well regulated environment without being over authoritarian. I’d be willing to pay to volunteer there again.

The mix of extreme sorrow (A homeless woman having a miscarriage in the only place around that welcomes her) with the triumph of the human spirit (people praying for and comforting her until the medical officials have time to spend on a transient) is a microcosm of what being a Catholic means to me. I think I finally found a place in the church that feels like a good fit for me. People have different ways of living the faith, but this definitely feels like the most practical way to see Jesus on a weekly basis to me. Amateur hand painted Icons made by the regulars seem way more authentic to me than the fancy, expensive, glossy reproductions we have at my parish.

Daily communion with a priest and regular group prayer is an awesome way to give structure to people who need it. I can’t express how awesome it is to have a Catholic place where I can smoke cigarettes out front and speak colloquial English without getting dirty looks. If any of you have gently used cloths, or travel sized toiletry’s, consider giving them to your local St.Vincent or Catholic worker hospitality house.
 
nothingclever said:
It was fantastic! I absolutely loved it. It’s like a huge slice of the human experience put on display. I love how the Holy Cross priest balances having a well regulated environment without being over authoritarian. I’d be willing to pay to volunteer there again.

The mix of extreme sorrow (A homeless woman having a miscarriage in the only place around that welcomes her) with the triumph of the human spirit (people praying for and comforting her until the medical officials have time to spend on a transient) is a microcosm of what being a Catholic means to me. I think I finally found a place in the church that feels like a good fit for me. People have different ways of living the faith, but this definitely feels like the most practical way to see Jesus on a weekly basis to me. Amateur hand painted Icons made by the regulars seem way more authentic to me than the fancy, expensive, glossy reproductions we have at my parish.

Daily communion with a priest and regular group prayer is an awesome way to give structure to people who need it. I can’t express how awesome it is to have a Catholic place where I can smoke cigarettes out front and speak colloquial English without getting dirty looks. If any of you have gently used cloths, or travel sized toiletry’s, consider giving them to your local St.Vincent or Catholic worker hospitality house.
Click to expand...
I’m so happy about your experience, and I’m thinking that it’s time to re-connect with my local Catholic Worker houses. I did some work for them (nothing special, sweeping and mopping and shoveling show) back in high school, and perhaps it’s time to do that again.
 
Although Day has been accused of aligning herself with Marxism and shared a public platform with high profile Communists at one point in her life, she was also critical of welfare programs believing that they helped corrupt the poor. She believed in absolute pacifism and identified her personal opinion as aligning with the Church, although the church teaches not all war is wrong.

She continues to be a mystery with admirers and defectors on both sides. How closely the modern day worker houses stay true to her ideals, I cannot say, but this article defends her and describes some of them in a positive light:

crisismagazine.com/2013/the-dorothy-day-few-of-us-know
 
She was an anarchist like myself. We may seem like Marxist as we believe in a worker run society, but we don’t believe in hierarchy or state power. She was a Communist at one point, but she converted to Catholic Anarchism. The Church likes to downplay this fact because Anarchist and the church have a bad history.

A lot of clergy supported the fascist and were killed by Spanish peasant’s during the Anarchistic revolution before WWII. There fault for supporting Franco IMHO, though like Day I’m a pacifist and wont kill or promote killing myself. The Church owned a lot of tax free property in Spain and some Bishops weren’t keen on giving up the churches wealth to poor workers. If Francis was around there wouldn’t have been bloodshed, but it was a rich man’s church back then.

I’m guessing it has changed quiet a bit. Most of the people there seem liberal, but nothing near as left as Anarchism or even plane old Socialist. Yes welfare is bad, it keeps the working class content on crumbs when we should be creating an egalitarian society free from wage leach managers and bankers, but I don’t say that kind of stuff when I’m volunteering. I just scrub floors and clean the showers.

Smoking cigarettes with the old bum’s is fun and I don’t want to freak them out by talking about American imperialism or class warfare. They actually have a PAID volunteer coordinator (Capitalism creeping in), but I believe all major decisions are done by consensus within the core group. At the end of the day they keep the homeless clean and fed with a sense of dignity. A lot more than I can say for those stupid college kid hoodlum “Anarchist” who throw bricks threw working class peoples windows every time theirs supposed to be a peaceful protest. The Priest and religious brother are nice and do rotating work just like everyone else (with the exception of consecration of course).

I’d recommend reading Wells and Chomsky if your interested in secular Anarchism, or “The Kingdom of God is Within You” if you want a Eastern Christan take on it. Basically Day just took out the “No God’s” tenant of Anarchism, added in a bit of Distributeism from Chesterton, and made the Church the sole exception to hierarchy. I love her quote about JFK “No serious Catholic would run for office”. I hope they make her a Saint, her and Francis are the only reason I was able to reconcile my faith with my secular beliefs.

Anyway long post, but I love me my left wing history. Read “On the Imitation of Christ” as well. That’s it I’m done for sure, Good night and God bless you all, Mary look out for her children as well.
 
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