Aims and Purposes (January 1939)
In January 1939, the Catholic Worker announced that it would henceforth publish its aims and purposes “in every issue.” The format is a numbered list organized around Peter Maurin’s specific threefold program: Round Table discussions for the Clarification of Thought, Houses of Hospitality, and Farming Communes. The document is shaped by the political urgencies of its moment — it explicitly calls for work against anti-Semitism and the use of force — and it uses “indoctrinated” in a concrete, specific sense, describing Houses of Hospitality as places where workers are “fed, clothed, sheltered, and indoctrinated with Christian principles.” The Mystical Body of Christ is the organizing theological framework, and the document closes with an appeal for Christ’s Kingdom on earth. The Catholic Worker, January 1939, page 7.
From now on each issue of The Catholic Worker will contain a brief summary of principles, of our aims and purposes. We receive so many letters each month from new readers asking us for these statements that we will try to make each as complete and as simple as possible.
- We are trying to reach the workers of the country, all those employed in manual and mental labor.
We are trying to bring to them a philosophy of labor. - To reach the worker we employ the two age-old techniques — voluntary poverty and the Works of Mercy. (All our fellow workers in our twenty-one branches throughout the country have pledged themselves to voluntary poverty and manual labor. They will take less so that others may have more. They are trying to reach the poverty of the stable wherein Christ was born. In addition to our centers, we have about thirty cells throughout the United States. Many of our individual readers throughout the world are trying with us to work along these lines.
- Our activities are simple in statement but inclusive. Peter Maurin’s program calls for:
a. Round Table discussions for the Clarification of Thought.
b. Houses of hospitality for the immediate care of the needy, in order to exemplify personal responsibility as opposed to state responsibility. Though it is necessary for the state to aid those in need by work and relief, the dangerous tendency of the day is to pass the buck and let the state do it all. During the middle ages there were hospices attached to every bishopric and hospitality was the mark of Christianity. St. Jerome says that every home should have a Christ’s room. Each of us should feed the poor. Houses of Hospitality also offer a gathering place for workers during strikes,—a place where they may be fed, clothed and sheltered, and indoctrinated with Christian principles. During the middle ages the Church in France alone maintained 2,000 houses for lepers. A strange comparison perhaps, but nevertheless unemployment and labor strife is the scourge of today and we must combat it in every way. Houses of Hospitality may be used as mutual aid centers; cooperatives and credit unions may be started in addition to the work of alleviating immediate need.
c. Farming communes, of which we have three at present, will take care of the unemployed by getting them back on the land. In addition to giving some measure of private property, the communal aspect of Christianity will be restored. Through these attempts to de-proletarize the worker as the Holy Father as called for, workers will become owners and there will be a clarification of thought in regard to property in general.
Brotherhood
We are working for our brothers because we believe that the best way we can show our love for God is by our love of our fellow worker. The Holy Father has said that we must go to the worker, especially to the poorest. We believe that all men are members or potential members of the Mystical Body of Christ. This means Jew, Gentile, black and white. This means our enemies as well as our friends. Since there is no time with God, and since we are told that all men are members or potential members of Christ’s Mystical Body, that means that now at the present time we must look upon all men with love. We must overcome evil with good, hatred with love.
Hence our work to combat anti-Semitism; to combat the use of force as a means of settling disputes between men and nations.
While we recognize that “man is but dust,” we also recognize that God has made him little less than the angels. We recognize that Christ, by “taking upon Himself our Human nature has wonderfully dignified and renewed it.”
We beg all our readers to work with us and to pray with us for Christ’s Kingdom on earth. “Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
This is but a brief explanation of our work and objectives. But we shall try from month to month to clarify our position, yet to present it in its entirety for the benefit of all new readers.
