Heard Around the Catholic Worker (#4, March 3, 2023)

Media of Interest

New Film: Breaking Bread and Laws: Radical Discipleship for Justice and Peace

Austrian filmmaker Cristina Yurena Zerr recently produced a 35-minute film about Martha Hennessy’a struggle for justice and nuclear abolition in relation to the Kingsbay Plowshares 7 action. The film was aired on Austrian television in November 2022 and is available for screening; interested parties can contact Cristina for more information:

What does it mean to be a disciple of Christ in the 21st century? This question frames the portrait of Martha Hennessy (USA), a woman of deep faith who constantly questions how she can help create a more just, liberated society. Due to her protest against nuclear weapons she was sentenced to prison in 2020. Her commitment has its roots in the Catholic Worker movement, co-founded in 1933 by Martha’s grandmother Dorothy Day, a leading peace activist being considered for beatification by the Vatican. Like her grandmother who protested against nuclear armament, Martha Hennessy was prosecuted by the state as a criminal and sent to prison for her activism. This film explores faith and resistance to structures of violence.

CW Newsletters & Other Media

Mark Colville Wants the Catholic Worker to be More Contextual

Coffee with Catholic Workers #10: Mark Colville (Hartford Catholic Worker) on encampments and advocating for the right of unhoused people to stay on public land.

Magnificat (Nazareth House, Philippines) Lent/Easter

The Lent/Easter issue of Magnificat, the newsletter of Nazareth House Catholic Worker, is out now:

• THE CARE MANAGER (Gerald’s Story)
• Voluntary Poverty
• Cpmmunity News

Houston Catholic Worker (January – March)

The print edition of the January – March Houston Catholic Worker newspaper is out, with a couple of stand-out articles:

• Through Hell to Hope: Migrants Trying to Reach the USA – The Houston Catholic Worker (cjd.org)
• On Pilgrimage and the Three Magi – The Houston Catholic Worker

Through Hell to Hope: Migrants Trying to Reach the USA – The Houston Catholic Worker

On September 23, 2022, my husband, my daughter and I decided to undertake a journey for a better future, for a better quality of life. We are from Venezuela,

Simone Weil House

Simone Weil house has issued a newsletter:

Responding to the Mystery: Reflections from Wendell Berry, Pope Benedict, and Simone Weil — Simone Weil House

These three excerpts point from different angles at a proper human response to the mystery of being. We begin with Wendell Berry’s turning of the tables on the conceit of verifiable knowledge as a basis for action. In the second piece, responding to a similar backdrop, Pope Benedict emphasizes that

Read More

www.simoneweilhouse.org

Call for Volunteers

Haley House Seeks Summer Volunteers

We welcome 3-5 summer residents for the duration of the summer months, with some flexibility around start and end date. This is a volunteer role, where residents live upstairs and have food and housing in exchange for their service and contributions in the soup kitchen. 

Loaves and Fishes (Duluth, MN) Seeks 2 Live-in Volunteers

Our ten-member community is hoping for two new live-in volunteers- one in each of our two guest houses.

New on CatholicWorker.org

How to CW

A few days ago, we put up a page called How to Start a Catholic Worker. Mike Doyle at Dorothy Day Tampa suggested writing a series on the topic, but I’m hoping we can round up some more advice from other Catholic Workers, too. This page will serve as a kind of hub for this information.

Mike’s inaugural article also inspired a new category: How to CW. I’m hoping this will become a hub for articles on everything from how to cook for thirty-five people when you were only expecting to feed ten (the “C” answer here is spaghetti, of course) to creating a cooperative as your community’s legal entity to drafting house rules. Again, your submissions are welcome.

Also:

Here’s what else I’ve been working on the past two weeks:

• fixing the broken search tool…you should find it works now, better than ever. Also, the search results page now features a single column, which may be easier for some people to scan;
• fixed the broken link to the 2019 Aims and Means page, which has also been properly typeset;
• Rosalie and I continue to work on the book directory; expect a public rollout by April.

Also, check out this new content:

Introducing Dorothy Day Tampa

“It all happened while we sat there talking, and it is still going on.” – Postscript, The Long Loneliness At Dorothy Day Tampa, it all happened while we sat there […]

A Report on the Ash Wednesday Prayer Service of Repentance

Art Laffin (Dorothy Day CW, Washington, D.C.) reports on the Ash Wednesday liturgy held in front of the White House to call for the repentance of the United States.

New Events

Fasting for Jessica Reznicek

This Lent, we’re fasting every Friday for the release of Jessica Reznicek, a Catholic Worker who was sentenced to eight years in prison for her direct action opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline.