Nonviolence is Not Passé: Catholic Workers Embrace the Gospel Challenge
Martha Hennessy speaks for peace in Paris and about the Catholic Worker for the Jesuits; Harry Murray chats with Roundtable on the unplumbable mystery of hospitality; Catholic Workers aid detainees.
Bearing Fruit (on Deadline)
It’s hard to make generalizations about Catholic Worker culture (that’s why we’ve been sharing the more rigorously investigated observations of Harry Murray here in Roundtable. Hear more from Mr. Murray below, as he reflects on re-reading “Do Not Neglect Hospitality” alongside the Roundtable’s readers).
But it’s safe to say that, as far as stereotypes go, Catholic Workers aren’t known for their punctuality. Time is certainly not money, (which Peter Maurin riffs on with glee) to Catholic Workers. If a minute is not just 1/60th of a billable hour, it can expand to hold a lot more. Dorothy Day liked to quote Catherine of Siena: “All the way to heaven is heaven, because he said I am the way.” A minute can hold an eternity when you are encountering Christ, the way, in the person who is ringing the doorbell, the unasked for guest, the “ambassador of God.”
Although this may be a more poetic theology of personalist time rather than capitalist time, more practically, days at a Catholic Worker outfit don’t always feel expansive. Summer brings a garden in constant, miraculous growth, mounds of compost accumulating, and chickens and bees to tend to between knocks at the door.
Saturday, our chickens laid their first eggs. After months of preparation, feeding, and watching them grow inside their St. Francis-adorned chicken coop, I shrieked with excitement when I saw the first egg sitting in the straw that morning. And then we got busy building the nesting boxes we had been putting off for tomorrow. Sometimes you don’t get to things until nature says there’s no more putting it off.
So we race to keep up with nature, accomplishing what is needed in the nick of time. God always provides enough seconds in the day to squeeze all that living in somehow. And sometimes—sometimes—there are those moments where the vision you’re working toward becomes real for a second. And then you’re back to work. Who says contemplation in action is slow, anyway?
peace,
Renée
FEATURED
CW Reads: Martha Hennessy Urges Commitment to Nonviolence in Paris
On Thursday, CW Reads published an article originally written in French by an eyewitness to Martha Hennessy’s recent visit to Paris. (You can subscribe to CW Reads, our mid-week, long-form newsletters, here.) Baudouin de Guillebon published his reflection on a lecture Martha Hennessy gave at Le Dorothy Café in Paris and an ensuing conversation with Hennessy on the Substack Première Nouvelle. Barbara Kentish translated it from the original French into English, with edits by Renée Roden. De Guillebon reports:
Martha is not simply an intellectual disciple of the founder of the Catholic Worker; she has chosen to pursue this calling and to commit herself to direct action. One person raised a hand during her talk: “Why do you practise non-violent action? Today, some think that direct action, such as destruction of property, can be more effective. Don’t you agree?”
No, Martha shook her head, “Why seek violence when there are so many other means to oppose the entire system, to these the structures of sin which even eat away at our consciences?” Some activists in the audience did not seem convinced. They seemed drawn to violent action. They muttered.
When we walked through the streets of the tenth arrondissement with Martha, the day after her talk, this question of violence returned naturally to the conversation. She told me, “There is a seduction for violence and destruction which seems to spring up.”
CW Reads: Harry Murray Speaks to Roundtable on the Enduring Challenge of Hospitality
As Roundtable readers encountered Harry Murray’s writing on St. Joseph House Catholic Worker in New York City from the 1980s, Harry Murray cracked open his book, “Do Not Hospitality” for the first time in more than three decades. He found his observations and arguments stood the test of time but his experience of and meditations on hospitality have certainly deepened since he published a book borne out of his dissertation’s research.
One author Murray has encountered in his academic life would have added more depth to his writing: Jacques Derrida. He recently gave a lecture on the twentieth-century French philosopher’s writings on hospitality for Maurin Academy. “Derrida says that hospitality is an aporia,” Murray said, that is, a logical impasse or contradiction.
“You'll always be falling short and you'll always be striving for an impossible ideal,” Murray said. Derrida’s dense ethical examination of hospitality jives with Dorothy Day’s writings about and practice of hospitality, Murray said.
“Trying to do Catholic Worker-type hospitality is never something where you can rest back and say, boy, I did a great job. I fulfilled the Gospel. I'm good,” he noted. Entering into relationships of host and guest, of hospitality and openness always means, Murray said, that you’re going to make mistakes or poor judgment calls, you get played for a fool or learn regret from being too stern. “You're stepping out into risk,” he said.
COMMUNITY NEWS & NEWSLETTERS
Maurin Academy Offers Workshops, Book Recommendations
Maurin Academy, a project of John Paul II Catholic Worker Farm, shared a plethora of upcoming events with their subscribers in a recent email. Upcoming workshops include learning more about sustainable agriculture, native plants, and Ivan Illich. Learn more on their website.
St Louis Catholic Worker Serves Meals, Needs More Aid
St. Louis Catholic Worker serves burritos on Saturday mornings in collaboration with an outreach mission to tent encampments in St. Louis. They include updates in a recent email and share a particular need: electric pressure cookers or Instant Pots. “To avoid running our stove for hours on our burrito service days, we're hoping to experiment with cooking our beans and rice in electric pressure cookers. We think it'll be energy efficient too!” they write. Contact the community at StLouisCatholicWorker@gmail.com for more information.
CW IN THE MEDIA
Martha Hennessy on AMDG Podcast
Mike Laskey, Director of Jesuit Communications, hosted Martha Hennessy on his podcast. In the podcast, which you can listen to on the Jesuit website, on SoundCloud below, or whereever you get your podcasts, Hennessy shares insights into her childhood, growing up on the farm, and feeling the presence of God among her Muslim brothers and sisters which led her to dive once again into the Catholic faith of her childhood. Roundtable’s Renée Roden wrote a reflection for Jesuit Media Lab’s blog about her and Laskey’s visit to Maryhouse in New York City, which included their meeting with Martha.
Casa Esther Assists Homeless Mother and Daughter
Sara Kosmicki, of Casa Esther Catholic Worker House in Omro, Wisconsin, is cited in a recent local NBC news article. The article narrates a success story of a mother, daughter, and grandson who had been sleeping in motels and in their car,, who met Kosmicki through Winnebago County Emergency Assistance Collaborative where she helped them find permanent housing. Winnebago County Emergency Assistance Collaborative is a cooperative endeavor that began one year ago and has helped 100 families find housing, according to the report. Read the full story here.
Iowa City Catholic Worker Supports Detained Immigrant
Pascual Pedro Pedro, who arrived in the United States from Guatemala at the age of 13, was detained on June 30 after a check-in with ICE in Cedar Rapids. Iowa. The Iowa City Catholic Worker and Escucha Mi Voz held a prayer vigil for Pedro July 2, in which close to 100 people participated. Iowa City Catholic Worker continues to fundraise for Pedro’s legal expenses and advocate for his freedom. Read the story in The Catholic Messenger or the Daily Iowan.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Clarification of Thought Movie Night: Atomic Homefront
On Thursday, July 17 at 6 P.M. the St. Louis Catholic Worker will be hosting a documentary on the City of St. Louis’ former uraniam processing center for the atomic bomb and the haphazard dumping of the radioactive waste that contaminated the St. Louis suburbs. More information on their website.
Catholic Workers Speak at Dorothy Day Retreat
Martha Hennessy is one of two Catholic Workers leading a retreat at the Pyramid Life Center in Paradox, New York, July 21-23. The retreat will be based on Robert Ellsberg’s “Dorothy Day: Spiritual Writings” to guide participants through the Gospel call to be “disciples of Christ in the United States in this moment.” Learn more on the website.
WORDS FROM THE ELDERS
“Feeding the Poor at a Sacrifice”
by Peter Maurin, from the May 1936 issue of The Catholic Worker
At a Sacrifice
In the first centuries
of Christianity
the hungry were fed
at a personal sacrifice,
the naked were clothed
at a personal sacrifice,
the homeless were sheltered
at personal sacrifice.
And because the poor
were fed, clothed and sheltered
at a personal sacrifice,
the pagans used to say
about the Christians
“See how they love each other.”
In our own day
the poor are no longer
fed, clothed and sheltered
at a personal sacrifice,
but at the expense
of the taxpayers.
And because the poor
are no longer
fed, clothed and sheltered
the pagans say about the Christians
“See how they pass the buck.”