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Catholic Workers in their Largest Gathering in Recent Times
 international |
history and heritage |
opinion/analysis
 Thursday July 10, 2008 18:36 by Ciaron - Catholic Worker/Plowshares
To comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Comfortable!
Catholic Workers are presently gathering in Worcester, Mass. , USA. The event is being organised by the Mustard Seed community in Worcester. Founding community member, longtime CW, Scott Schaeffer Duffy was in Dublin for the first Pitstop Ploughshares trial in 05. Scott, his family and community are longtime resisters at Raytheon whose headquarters are nearby. In anyone's terms, the Catholic Worker is an amazing phenomenon. Many predicted its collapse following the death of it's founder Dorothy Day in 1980. Instead the movement has grown to 150 communities in the U.S. a dozen in Canada, 3 in OZ/NZ, 8 in Europe and 3 in Mexico see community directory on www.catholicworker.org Given it's decentralised autonomous nature and tolerance for participation by folks who may not be Catholic, anarchist or pacifist the movement has continued with a remarkable coherency of belief and praxis.
The movement was founded by American activist Dorothy Day and French philosopher/ Union Square soap box speaker Peter Maurin in 1933 on the lower east side of New York during the Depression. The Catholic Worker came out as pacifist in WW2 splitting the movement. Scores of young Catholic Worker men were interned as C.O.'s. Catholic Workers were the first to burn their draft cards publicly in the early stages of the Vietnam War. Such Catholic Workers like Tom Cornell speaking at this conference, were sent to jail for 2-3 years. As the Vietnam War escalated the Catholic Worker provided many of the draft board raiders to the nonviolent direct action movement inspired by the priest resister Berrigan brothers. Since the 1980's Catholic Workers provided many of the activist for the Berrigan inspired plowshares actions www.plowsharesactions.org
The Catholic Worker is most well known in the U.S. for its practise of the "acts of mercy" - its soup kitchens, aids hospices, hospitality houses for the homeless and prisoners families, visitation of prisoners and death row inmates etc. The Catholic Worker refuses all state funding - getting by on donations and freegan dumpster diving.
The Catholic Worker has has been a significant landmark in the American anarchist and anti-war movements over the decades. It has been celebrated by variety of Americans - Noam Chomsky, Abbie Hoffman, Martin Sheen, Martin Scorcese, John & Joan Cusack, Michael Harrington, Bishop Gumbleton, Utah Philips etc. Obama likes to quote Dorothy Day which could be a bit of a worry. In the early stages of the Bush presidency, George quoted Dorothy Day at a speech at Notre Dame and was quickly slammed by her daughter Tamar and grandkids. Catholic Workers fear being mainstreamed and the nomination of Dorothy Day (who when alive said "Don't call me a saint, I don;t want to be dismissed that easily!") for canonisation has been opposed by many in the movement.
The Catholic Worker has been celebrated in film "Entertaining Angels" starring Martin Sheen, stage recently released "Fool for Christ", song Utah Philips/ Ani DiFranco "Anarchy". A recent episode of the TV hit "Wire" was filmed at the Baltimore CW soup kitchen using CW's as actors. There has been much academic work and movement literature published on the Catholic Worker. The most recent work by Sharon Nepstead on the plowshares actions and Robert Elsberg recent editing of Dorothy Days diaries.
The Catholic Worker arrived in Ireland in an organised fashion with the Pitstop Ploughshares resistance action at Shannon Airport in Feb 03. Preceeding this there have been about a dozen people in Ireland who have spent time living and working at Catholic Workers in the U.S. - Caoimhe Butterly, Ciaron O'Reilly, Stephen Cummings, Petria Malone, Benny McCabe,Paul O'Connor etc. Thus far the Catholic Worker has failed to take root in Ireland - the jury is still out on why? - and today the Dublin CW is a loose collective that sustains the weekly at anti-war presents at the GPO and meets for prayer & reflection Given the large participation of Irish Americans in the Catholic Worker movement it was assumed that Ireland would be fertile ground, it hasn't been!
Dublin based journalist Harry Browne addresses some of the reasons why in his forthcoming book "Hammered by the Irish" http://bushtelegraph.wordpress.com/2008/06/13/hammered-...rish/
to be published in the U.S. by Counterpunch www.countepunch.org in the next few weeks and in his article http://thedublinreview.com/archive/twentyfive/browne.html that appeared in the Dublin Review
Catholic Workers set to gather in the largest numbers in modern times
By Kelly Glista SPECIAL TO THE TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
http://www.telegram.com/article/20080707/NEWS/807070621.../1101
"It was really inventing a new way of being Catholic." Author Robert Ellsberg
LINK-2008 Catholic Worker Retreat Presently Underway in Worcester (the program & speakers)
http://www.pieandcoffee.org/cw2008/
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Jump To Comment: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1Brendan Walsh originally went to Baltimore as a seminarian in 1968 to work the homeless.
He quickly kickstarted a Catholic Worker "Viva House" that celebrates it's
40th. anniversary this year. Brendan, and wife Willa, have always had a focus on the struggle for
peace and justice in the north of Ireland. The dining area of the soup kitchen is decorated with a mural
of the ten hunger strikers. Bernadette Devlin, Dan & Phil Berrigan have spoken at public meetings there.
Viva House was recently used as a set in the 6th. episode of the celebrated "The Wire" tv drama that takes
place in Baltimore. Brendan has a speaking part in one episode. Brendan recently had a gun pulled on
him while taking morning exercise, these are his reflections......
Baltimore Sun
Sept. 2, 2008
"Clinging to love after looking down gun barrel
By Brendan Walsh
He pointed the gun in my face a few minutes before 5 a.m. . The gun
was similar to the ones carried by the police. He was maybe 15 or 16
years old, and he mumbled, "This is for real," or something similar.
I had just started my daily two-mile exercise walk around Union Square
Park on a recent Tuesday. When you walk at 5 a.m., you escape the heat
and the dangerous rays of the sun.
Continued...............
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bal-op.say02se...story
(Tom Sandborn, Vancouver Courier)
At first glance, the small, shabby house on East Pender doesn't seem
any different from a hundred other aging bungalows in the
neighborhood. A particularly unfortunate shade of turquoise paint
peeling off the wood trim on the front porch, a shaggy lawn, a few
small trees. But look closer and you will see a statue of Saint
Francis on the unmown lawn and a chalkboard by the front door boldly
proclaiming "Vancouver Catholic Worker House. War Resisters Welcome
Here. Workers Rule, especially Library Workers."
Contnued...
http://www.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/story.html?...2&p=1
ATLANTA--Peter Gathje teaches theology at Memphis Theological Seminary
in Tennessee. Police arrested him at the Open Door Community when he
asked an officer why he was arresting a mentally ill homeless man in
the community's yard. Gathje, a long-term volunteer at the Open Door,
said he neither obstructed the officer nor raised his voice on
Thursday, July 17, when two Atlanta Police officers arrived and
handcuffed a guest of the Open Door. The officers charged Gathje with
disorderly conduct.
He saw the officers confronting a female resident volunteer while many
guests were receiving and eating boxed lunches in the front yard. He
said he approached because he felt she "might need backup."
continued....
http://en.epochtimes.com/n2/united-states/theology-prof....html
NCR - Catholic Worker anniversary: Legacy of pacifism anchors movement
http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/1426
The CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT CONTINUES TO OPPOSE WAR; STATEMENT URGES
U.S. CATHOLIC BISHOPS TO ACT
At the conclusion of the 75th Anniversary Gathering of the Catholic
Worker movement, held in Worcester, Massachusetts from July 9 – 12
http://www.pieandcoffee.org/cw2008/ , Catholic Workers from across the
United States and from Germany issued a statement responding to
unending war, ecological destruction and economic collapse; calling
the leadership of the church to speak out now; and urging their church
and nation to join them in personal, political and spiritual actions.
Over 500 Catholic Workers attended the gathering, the largest in these
times, hosted by Ss. Francis & Therese Catholic Worker and the Mustard
Seed Catholic Worker communities. The Catholic Worker was founded by
Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in 1933, in the depths of the Great
Depression, as a Gospel-based response to the needs of those times.
The Catholic Worker vision lives on in over 200 communities worldwide.
The statement urges the leadership of the church, "now and without
evasion, to break its silence and to wield the authority provided by
the nonviolent gospel of Jesus Christ, by calling the entire nation to
repent for the war crimes we have committed in the so-called War on
Terror."
CATHOLIC WORKER 75th ANNIVERSARY STATEMENT
[Full text version]
We are Catholic Workers from communities throughout the U.S. and
Europe who have come to Worcester, Massachusetts to celebrate the 75th
anniversary of the Catholic Worker. At this critical point in history,
as we face unending war, including U.S. plans to attack Iran,
ecological destruction and economic collapse, we call on our church
and nation to join us in repenting our affronts to God.
The U.S. has become the wealthiest nation on earth at the price of the
collective loss of our souls through our acceptance of the sins of
war, torture, racism, discrimination, killing, nuclearism and
environmental destruction - - all in the name of profit. We live a
lifestyle that demands war and distracts from our true calling of
loving and caring for one another.
We urge our church to heed the nonviolent example of Dorothy Day and
the critique of modern war by Vatican II. Taking God's command "Thou
shalt not kill" and the Sermon on the Mount as our Christian
manifesto, we commit ourselves to upholding the sacredness of all life
wherever it is threatened. We recommit ourselves to the Catholic
Worker vision of creating a new society in the shell of the old.
Saint Paul tells us that when one member of our community is
suffering, the health of the whole body is affected. In our various
communities we have daily contact with the victims of our society,
including homeless veterans and our undocumented sisters and brothers.
Many of us have been arrested and jailed for nonviolent acts of
resistance to state-sanctioned injustice and killing. We strive to do
the works of mercy and to follow Jesus' command to be nonviolent
witnesses for peace and justice.
We once again implore the leadership of the Catholic Church in the
United States, now and without evasion, to break its silence and to
wield the authority provided by the nonviolent gospel of Jesus Christ,
by calling the entire nation to repent for the war crimes we have
committed in the so-called War on Terror.
We yearn to be part of a church that prays and works for peace, loves
our neighbors and enemies alike, and embraces the redemptive power of
forgiveness. We cry out for a church that speaks without fear of
consequences, including loss of revenue. We implore our church
leadership to follow the example of Jesus and unequivocally renounce
the sins of our empire's warmaking, the possession and use of weapons
of mass destruction, oppression, scapegoating and aspirations of
global domination.
When our body issued its last national plea in 2006, the response was
profoundly disappointing and no less than tragic. Rather than a clear
pronouncement condemning the illegal and immoral nature of our current
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as the evil wrought by torture
and other crimes against humanity, the U.S. Catholic Bishops merely
stated that "our nation's military forces should remain in Iraq only
as long as their presence contributes to a responsible transition."
The insufficiency of this response has been demonstrated, not only by
the continuation of these wars in the face of a clear public desire to
end the war in Iraq, but also by the reality of US covert actions
aimed at destabilizing Iran and the apparently imminent military
attack on that nation.
Out of our shared and abiding love, we remind the Bishops that we
continue to wait for their clear call to our nation to end these
threats and provocations that carry no other outcome than an
ever-widening sea of agony and death. In this prayer we invoke the
spirit and witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter who exemplified
Christ's instruction to peacemakers that, as children of God, we may
be required to give up our lives rather than participate in evil.
In the name of God, who calls us to love and not to kill, we appeal to
the church and all people of good will to:
• Call for prayer, fasting, vigils and nonviolent civil resistance to
immediately end the U.S. military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Advise all soldiers to refuse to participate in these wars.
• Denounce and actively resist U.S. plans to attack Iran.
• Embrace the nonviolent witness of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter and
actively support and encourage all conscientious objectors.
• Urge Congress and the military to offer appropriate care and
support to returning soldiers.
• Call for an immediate end to the use of torture.
• Call for the closing of Guantanamo and other secret U.S. military prisons.
• Call for the redirection of our resources from war making and
exploitation to meeting human needs and preserving life on Earth.
• Call for an equitable redistribution of resources and
simplification of our materialistic lifestyle.
• Call for disarmament and the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction.
We call on our church to be a prophetic voice, a sanctuary, and a
source of encouragement to those who want to work in community toward
peace, justice and reconciliation.
Affirmed in assembly
Catholic Worker 75th Anniversary Gathering
Our Lady of Mount Carmel / Saint Anne Parish Center, Worcester,
Massachusetts USA
On the Feast of St. Benedict July 11, 2008
Peter Maurin Speaks "When the Irish Were Irish" (3 mins)
http://www.pieandcoffee.org/2008/07/10/peter-maurin-speaks/
This is the only recording of Peter Maurin, founder of the Catholic Worker movement, speaking was taken from a wire recording made circa 1946-47. Several copies of this were pressed to 78rpm and sent to supporters of the Catholic Worker. He’s reading his easy essay “Makers of Europe,” or “When the Irish were Irish.
Maurin was born into a French peasant family with 20+ siblings. They had farmed the same plot of land for centuries. As a young man he joined the De La Selle Brothers. He was later influenced by the personalist movement that had been exiled from Russia under Stalin.
He left for Canada to avoid the draft.
He made his living by day labour. By the time he ran into Dorothy Day in 1933 he was also soapbox speaking in Union Square,lower east side of New York City. He would deliver
his analysis of capitalism, communism, fascism and revolutionary programme in easily accessible ( his heavy French accent withstanding) Easy Essays
http://www.cjd.org/paper/essays.html
The Catholic Worker movement was begun by Day and Maurin in 1933. Maurin was very much the theorist and Day the sure can do activist and journalist.
Peter Maurin died in the late 1940's and was suffering from diementia in his later years. Dorothy Day died in 1980.
Dorothy Day's sole daughter Tamar died this past year.
The Catholic Worker is now 150 communities in the U.S. a dozen in Canada and also has farming communes and houses of hoospitality in Australia, Belgium, England, Germany, New Zealand/Aotearoa, Mexico & Netherlands.
There is presently a Catholic Worker reflection & action group in Dublin
No problem. Will do.
Just to clarify the Catholic Worker does not have, or seek, official recognition, jobs, positions or funding from the institutional church.
Please check out this listing
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87351
This lady is a Catholic and was a worker at her local Parish Church until the powers that be got rid of her by unfair means and have made her life hell since.
Read all the evidence provided by the Secretary as to what has been done to ruin her life and please feel free to comment as you see fit.
Thank you for your interest.
We note that on the Catholic Worker site it states "
The Catholic Worker Movement is grounded in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human person. . Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice in all forms".
This is a major injustice. We need all the support we can get. Thank you.
LINK - "Duty of Delight" Dorothy Day's Diaries 1928-80 - Edited by Robert Ellsberg
http://www.episcopal-life.org/81827_98660_ENG_HTM.htm
I think CW has done so well because of the huge need for its Works of Mercy & resistance to war, & because many cradle Catholics & people who seek the good are hungry for such a relevant & challenging movement. A lot of Christians don't see their proper role as condemning or denying other people. It's time the Pope sold off a few treasures & sent each CW House a cheque!