The Farmer and the Agitator: The Catholic Worker Needs Both
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The Farmer and the Agitator: The Catholic Worker Needs Both

In the July/August 2023 issue of The Regenerative Reader, Spencer Hess writes of “Maurin-ite” and “Hennacy-ite” Catholic Workers—those who farm and those who agitate. But does that distinction really make sense? For many Catholic Worker farmers, the work of the land and the work of resistance go hand-in-hand.

On Its 40th Anniversary, a New Intro for “Reluctant Resister”
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On Its 40th Anniversary, a New Intro for “Reluctant Resister”

On the 40th anniversary of “Reluctant Resister,” a collection of L.A. Catholic Worker Jeff Dietrich’s letters from prison, the book has been republished with a new Introduction, reprinted here with the permission of the author. This article first appeared in the April 2023 edition of the Catholic Agitator, newspaper of the L.A., Catholic Worker.

We Have Not Truly Arrived
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We Have Not Truly Arrived

A reflection on the future of the Catholic Worker: ” The climate catastrophe’s quickening pace and capitalism’s unbridled consumption will bring us close to that shell again, and the Catholic Worker’s experiences with living differently may become reality for more and more people.”

Davide Is Dancing in the Kitchen
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Davide Is Dancing in the Kitchen

“Loneliness is the greatest poverty, Mother Teresa said.” In this edition of Mason Street Musings, Claire Schaeffer-Duffy recounts the stories of a 20-year-old guest working jobs up and down the coast and a toddler named Davide. “Time is looping back on itself,” she writes, reflecting on how she and Scott are once again working on issues of nuclear disarmament, just as they did as young Catholic Workers.

The Works of Mercy: An Antidote to the Mercilessness of the Day

The Works of Mercy: An Antidote to the Mercilessness of the Day

“With the passing years, I have come to see our work of hospitality at the Catholic Worker – this doing the works of mercy – as an ever-available antidote to despair, a practical pushback against the mercilessness of the day. A welcoming cup of coffee and pot of soup are tools for defying the trench mentality that sets in when belief in goodness wanes.” Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, a member of SS. Francis and Therese Catholic Worker in Worcester, Massachusetts, reflects on the Works of Mercy in a talk she gave at the 2022 Catholic Worker Gathering.