I'm starting to settle into life at Dorothy Day House, some of it seeming old and familiar, some of it a bit new. One thing that a new community always has to contend with is financial pressure. Up at Guadalupe House in Tacoma (founded in 1987), all the workers get stipends, and before I left, we'd just agreed to throw $21,000 for a renovation on the Jesuit Volunteer house, one of five houses on our almost-campus. At Karen House in Saint Louis (founded in 1977), we rented a giant former convent for $1 per year from the archdiocese. These positions of privilege, in case anyone thought otherwise, aren't yet present at the Portland Catholic Worker. Our financial obligations to Saint Francis Parish total $24,000 per year, which we are grandly failing to meet! Other expenses fall on top of that - phone bills and food - even before considering the expenses of our personal lives, which far-distant stipends would do well to mollify. Workers who wish to pursue way of Saint Francis, or Peter Maurin, of voluntary poverty can not yet be facilitated, a cultural loss for us all. The joke about catholic workers not being catholic and not working is only partially true here.
As noted in a previous post, we need to have jobs outside the house, full or part-time, this dynamic running in contradiction to the Catholic Worker milieu in general, and of course making us both less present and less energetic for the needs of the house - why am I doing this? The question is begged of someone in that position. Why not just get another house with other roommates and forget the whole CW thing, forget about hospitality? What's in it for me, choosing this life, this way? What do we, as workers, have to gain by doing this?
Well, Karen House and Guadalupe House are clearly older, established communities with extensive networks of support, that maintained the same local architectural base since the day they opened their doors. It helps a lot that nuns and priests were involved in their formation, it helps that local and quite wealthy Catholics have relegated themselves to the status of patrons, through serious appreciation for the good works of mercy done there, for the friendships developed, and for sharing in the holy errand, however imperfectly practiced it may always be. History builds relationships, and that's something this community has little of, we are not the same community that existed at Mallory street. All the norms and agreements of that community dissipated upon the move to Saint Francis a year ago, and only now are the Mission Statement, House Rules, and so on, actually being formulated. We have much Hope for our little blossom now, that in time it may bloom. We have Faith, we have and beg Charity. Our struggles now ease the path for those workers who come in the future. We establish now our little "society where it is easier to be good." That's why we do this. What's in it for us? In my case, I see it as a question of salvation, and also because it's hard to imagine not being a catholic worker. I have company, and I have a sense of vitality, that only this life of community can provide. To share resources, to value the dignity of others above their absence of financial worth, is justice, is even revolution. To see the schizophrenic woman this morning beneath her ragged blanket, shivering and hallucinating in the cold foggy air, is to see Mary far from the inn. It is a sight that cries for justice, that cries for compassion, that cries for a society where the poor which we shall always have with us are not ground down by the boot-heel of commercialism. To ignore that sight, to turn away from the why of it, is simply not an option.
After the last monthly meal, we were asked to put a wish list together:
- Bus passes
- Clothing—men's and women's
- Feminine Hygiene Items
- Ibuprofen/Tylenol/Motrin
- Hygiene items
- Food items
- Household cleaning supplies
- Dishwashing detergent
- Blankets
- Tarps
- Ponchos
- Winter gear (hats, gloves, scarves)
- Dog and cat food
- Coffee
- Stamps
- Socks
- Laundry detergent
- Gift cards, cash, anything helps!!
Aside from checks, and repeating some of what's listed above, we need the following on a regular basis: hygiene items like toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, and laundry detergent. We need feminine hygiene products of course, also razor blades, soap, so on and so forth. Household items include rugs, lamps, bedside tables, twin beds, a futon frame, blankets, clothing, cleaning supplies...rain coats and ponchos...bus passes...
And we remind you again of our need for your company. We'll probably begin having daily evening meals within a couple of weeks, giving folks a chance to come by and share with us, and again, it will be posted here when that begins.
Much peace to all of you, and don't forget to come to the Saint Francis fundraiser on November 7th. Details forthcoming, but you can put it on you calendar for that evening. Beer and wine and music and people...
As always, thanks for reading.
Marc
