The Importance of Personalism
Plus: Friends remember David Stein; the importance of burying the dead; Robert Ellsberg on the spirituality of Dorothy Day; and Dorothy herself on having hope after the debut of "the Satan bomb."
Happy Anniversary to Us
It was one year ago that we published the first issue of Roundtable; the newsletter has undergone some significant changes in the past twelve months, as we expected it would, but the core idea remains the same: covering news of the Catholic Worker movement.
I had the idea of producing a weekly “digest” of Catholic Worker news pretty soon after Jim Allaire approached me about taking over responsibility for CatholicWorker.org, the website he started back in the mid-1990s. The website featured a searchable library of Dorothy’s writings, a directory of local Catholic Worker communities, and some general background information on the movement. This, and its early debut, quickly made it one of the top results for CW-related Internet searches.
But while the website did a good job of showcasing the historical roots of the movement, it did not attempt to keep up with contemporary developments—a shame, I thought, since the website introduces tens of thousands of people to the movement every year. Just yesterday, I had a long conversation with the 20-year-old son of a friend who is “taking a break” from college and casting around for a way to live in community while doing direct service work. Entirely on his own, he happened across the website (I didn’t ask how), where he read the Aims and Means. Although he isn’t Catholic (or particularly religious at all), he is now considering visiting some communities.
In any case, with my background in journalism, it seemed natural to begin covering some of the amazing stories unfolding within the movement today.
I spent a year overhauling the website (sorry to those of you who miss the 1990s vibe…and yes, there are quite a few of you!), then another year just getting in the groove with maintaining the website and answering all the mail, mostly from people thinking they have reached the website of the “mother house,” the New York Catholic Worker. (That and solicitations from people offering cleaning services in the New York area…?)
At some point, I reached out to Renée Roden about collaborating on a weekly CW newsletter; I had seen her prolific writing and her Catholic Worker connections and thought she would bring a valuable perspective, being more in the trenches than I am, and that has proved to be true.
After a few conversations with various people in the movement—including a few with some reservations about the idea—we launched our first issue a year ago with a profile of the Uganda Catholic Worker.
The work has been deeply fulfilling for me, if sometimes exhausting. (I do have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew, as anyone who has known me for a few years will affirm.) The best part, of course, is getting to tell some of the stories of these mad idealists who not only believe that society can be and ought to be better shaped to the flourishing of every human being…but who actually live according to those ideals, even at a personal sacrifice. There are many, many voices out there campaigning for one cause or another, but very few who are so other-centered as your average Catholic Worker.
Today, a touch more than 3,000 people subscribe to Roundtable, and nearly 90,000 people have read it on Substack or through reader-shared emails. Another 156,000 unique visitors stopped by CatholicWorker.org as well.
The Catholic Worker isn’t about numbers, of course; its priority is personal, one-on-one relationships. This is a “mustard seed” movement not given to worrying too much about measuring “success,” at least not in terms of numbers.
Still, every time I receive an email from a reader who says something like, This is what I have been looking for!, I feel glad that the Gospel vision that the movement embodies is getting out into the world.
Thanks, everyone, for making that happen. And now, let’s get on to this week’s news.
—Jerry
FEATURED
Long Read: How Personalism Shapes CW Communities
Personalism is a core tenet of the Catholic Worker. In our Thursday CW Reads edition, we featured three short essay and a column from Dorothy Day, each of which gives us a glimpse into what that personalism actually looks like when it's lived out in a Catholic Worker setting:
‘Slowly, We Become Community’: Julian Washio-Collette reflects on how community comes together at Dandelion House, providing their young guests with the support he lacked when his mother made him leave home at age seventeen.
Two Brothers, Two Forms of Personalism: Fumi Tosu reflects on his close relationship with his younger brother, who works for the World Food Programme, finding ways to bring his own brand of personalism to a large U.N. agency.
Celebrating Holy Families at St. Bakhita CW: Anne Haines shares a story of found family in the pews of the parish next to St. Bakhita Catholic Worker.
The Personalist Program of Peter Maurin: Finally, we reprint the May 1965 column in which Dorothy Day outlined Peter Maurin’s “program.” The essay includes several anecdotes from Peter’s life interwoven with his principal teachings.
Read it in our Thursday newsletter.
Friends Remember David Stein
David Stein, a longtime Catholic Worker known for his humor, creativity, and deep sense of community, passed away suddenly on January 2, 2025, at the age of 67, according to his friend Lucky Merlovitz. He died of natural causes related to organic cardiovascular disease while visiting an art gallery in Chicago, while accompanied by a close friend. Originally from New York, David was part of the Community for Creative Nonviolence in Washington, D.C., before moving to the Midwest in the 1980s. He joined Catholic Worker communities in Des Moines, Iowa, and Rock Island, Illinois, before settling at St. Francis House in Chicago. He lived in the house for most of the next thirty years until his “retirement” in 2021.
“David, in his humorous way of making heavy things light, let me know on more than one occasion that he was ready” for when his time came, Lucky said. For more memories and details about celebration of life arrangements and where to send cards, see our longer writeup on CatholicWorker.org.
‘Infinitely Precious’: Chronicling the Life of Moses Bunn
In a 4,000-word piece for Notre Dame Magazine, Colleen Shaddox recounts the life of Moses Bunn, a gentle and generous man who lived in a tiny home in the Rosette Neighborhood Village attached to the Amistad Catholic Worker (New Haven, Connecticut). After his sudden death, local authorities failed to locate relatives to claim his body, so Shaddox set out to find them herself. When she did, she found that, contrary to assumptions that he was estranged from his family, he was deeply loved by his relatives, who had long wondered about his whereabouts. In fact, Shaddox says, everyone loved him:
Ronny Shields, a retired police officer, was distressed that the New Haven authorities had not tried harder to find Bunn’s family. “He would have been a John Doe,” he said, “if you people had not loved our Moses.”
We did love him. And that is why burying the dead is a work of mercy, because it involves fiercely asserting a person’s worthiness of love. As with any work of mercy, it requires seeing the person you are helping as infinitely precious in dignity.
In telling Bunn’s story, Shaddox also details the struggles of unhoused individuals and the Amistad Catholic Worker’s legal battle with city authorities. You can listen to or read the piece at Notre Dame Magazine: Moses Bunn Goes Home.
COMMUNITY NEWS & NEWSLETTERS
L.A. Catholic Worker Safe, Praying for First Responders
High winds caused minor damage at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker and wreaked havoc with tents on skid row, but otherwise, everyone in the community is safe and praying for first responders, according to email and Facebook postings from community members.
“Everyone at the LACW is safe; just dealing with the smoke in the air and the grief in our hearts,” says a post on the community’s Facebook page. “Fire is a natural part of our wild California landscape but destruction shouldn’t have to be. May God grant us the insight and courage to live differently, to choose the wages of life and not of death, the blessing and not the curse. May we be radicalized into greater compassion for each other, especially as many new faces join the ranks of those we call ‘homeless.’ May we be moved to address climate change and turn away from excess. Amen.” The post is accompanied by video and pictures; see it here.
Synodality & Nonviolence Series
Casa Esther Catholic Worker (Omro, Wisconsin) has posted all six videos from the Synodality & Nonviolence series from the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative held this past fall. Casa Esther was one of several partners in the series, including Pax Christi USA and the Ecoprotection Alliance. Sessions include “A Listening Church: Listening, Discernment and Mission,” “Synodality: Journeying Together towards a Nonviolent Church and World,” and “Living a Life of Synodality: Nonviolence in Action.” You can watch the video series at the community’s YouTube page.
Amistad CW Expands, Seeks New Live-in Community Members
Mark Colville of the Amistad Catholic Worker (Hartford, Connecticut) reports that he and his wife, Luz Catarineau, recently moved into an apartment next door to Amistad in order to free up space in the house of hospitality for the needs of the backyard community encampment (Rosette Neighborhood Village). “Among other things, this means we are open to hearing from catholic workers who might want to join our work and community as live-in members,” Colville says. “We envision a near-future in which both the house and the backyard are occupied by a diverse collective of people dedicated to accompanying our neighbors on the margins with the daily practice of the works of mercy; claiming land and decriminalizing public spaces for the unhoused in our city.” Interested? Contact Mark at (203) 645-5417 or Amistadcatholicworker@gmail.com for further inquiries.
The Waterloo (Iowa) Catholic Worker has a new Facebook page; you can follow them here.
CW IN THE MEDIA
Robert Ellsberg on Dorothy’s Spirituality
Robert Ellsberg, publisher of Orbis Books, explains the central themes of Day’s spirituality in a ten-minute video to promote Dorothy Day: Spiritual Writings, the sixth (and perhaps final) book of her writings that Ellsberg has edited. Ellsberg reminisces about his first meeting with Dorothy when he was 19 and the influence she has had on his life and career as a writer and editor. He also explains the central themes of Day’s spirituality, which shaped her public witness: incarnation and service; the “Little Way” of St. Thérèse of Lisieux; love and seeing Christ in others; and the role of saints as relatable companions and models of living the Gospel. Watch the video at the YouTube channel for the Maryknoll Society.
Catholic Social Teaching on Agriculture
Catholic social teaching emphasizes the right not only to food but also to the means of producing it—such as clean water, healthy soil, and unpolluted land, writes Renée Roden in the January issue of U.S. Catholic. This vision, rooted in documents like Pacem in Terris and Laudato Si’, critiques industrial farming practices that degrade ecosystems and exploit workers, calling instead for an agricultural system that serves people and respects creation. Along with urban farming initiatives like Just Roots Chicago, Roden draws insights from Colin Miller’s book, We Are Only Saved Together (Ave Maria Press), which describes his Catholic Worker community’s efforts to “shorten the supply chain” between themselves and their food. Read the article at U.S. Catholic: Catholic social teaching demands a better kind of farming.
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Sacred Peace Walk April 12-18
Join the Nevada Desert Experience for the Sacred Peace Walk from April 12–18, 2025. This 60-mile interfaith journey from Las Vegas to the Nevada National Security Site calls for peace, environmental justice, and resistance to nuclear weapons. Nonviolent direct action will take place at Creech Air Force Base and at the Nevada National Security Site. Walkers will camp along the route with support provided. Register at www.nevadadesertexperience.org/spw.
WORDS FROM THE ELDERS
“The Satan Bomb”
by Dorothy Day, from the March 1950 issue of The Catholic Worker
P. SMOKY Joe was talking about the Hydrogen bomb. Of course, everyone has been talking about it. “Hell bomb, satan bomb, that’s what I call it,” he said. “The devil came up and taught Americans how to make it. For me, I’ve drunk lots of it on the Bowery.”
“Why worry,” is the attitude of the poor, the desperate, “We all have to die. Can’t get out of it.”
Our rooms at 115 Mott Street, both in St. Joseph’s house and Maryhouse can be pretty grim at times. Some women can make a bit of heaven out of some paint, curtains, soap and water, and the place looks neat and comfortable. Others accumulate trash, are dirty and verminous and it is hard to keep up with the job of order. Once a doctor who volunteered his help came to visit a sick woman and looking around the room he said, “This is worse than war or revolution. It is worse than death.” Destitution is sometimes a fearful thing, so ugly, so tawdry, so heartbreaking, conducive to despair.
During the war when we read of the evacuation of Paris, we came upon the line, poignant and meaningful, “And only the very poor remain.” All the city was fleeing. But nothing was worse than the destitution of the poor. Last night over the radio the last thing heard was the statement of a University of Chicago professor that a poisonous dust scattered by the H. bomb meant the death of the world. Another commentator said that if we were to make the bomb then it was necessary also to evacuate all the coastal cities, that it was impossible to defend them. The first thing in the morning the news is repeated, the world is doomed. Every morning, every hour, on the hour, all through the day, the news is repeated. People are beginning to say, “This kind can only be thrown out by prayer and fasting.” Others try to recapture the war time mood of “anything is permitted, life is short.” Still others become flippant, like Joe.
The best comment we can find is that of Juliana of Norwich, who wrote from her anchorhold back in the twelfth century, “All will be well, and all will be well, and all will be very well,” and in another place she wrote, “The worst has already happened, and that has been repaired.” And it was man’s first fall that she was thinking of, the scars of which we are still wearing, and she was thinking of it in the light of the words of the Church, “O happy fault,” since it meant the incarnation and redemption, the coming of our dear Lord Jesus Christ among us as man.
“It is given to men once to die, and then the judgment.” If we say, any of us, that we do not fear death, which we all must look forward to as a certainty, then we are liars. But it is not death we are supposed to fear, but the judgment, and live accordingly. Lent is the time to consider these things.
The most comforting prayer for those who fear is that preface in the Mass of the dead.
“It is truly meet and just, right and availing unto salvation that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto Thee, O Holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God; through Christ our Lord. In whom the hope of a blessed resurrection hath shone upon us, that those whom the certainty of dying afflicteth, may be consoled by the promise of future immortality. For unto Thy faithful, O Lord, life is changed, not taken away; and the abode of this earthly sojourn being dissolved, an eternal dwelling is prepared in heaven. And therefore with the angels and archangels, with thrones and dominions, and with all the heavenly hosts, we sing a hymn to Thy glory, saying without ceasing,
“Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest.”
About us. Roundtable covers the Catholic Worker Movement. This week’s Roundtable was produced by Jerry Windley-Daoust and Renée Roden. Art by Monica Welch at DovetailInk. Roundtable is an independent publication not associated with the New York Catholic Worker or The Catholic Worker newspaper. Send inquiries to roundtable@catholicworker.org.
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