Recently a flurry of social media posts focused on what people would do if they were to win a billion dollar lottery. In all the suggestions about the good people could do with so much money, no one mentioned anything remotely like, “I would serve men on skid row in the inner city, including those who are alcoholic, mentally ill, criminals, sex offenders, drug addicts, the violent and the illiterate.” To be honest, I would not even consider running such a ministry myself. Yet inadvertently, I have become involved because my son lives and serves in a Catholic Worker Community that serves that very population.
The Catholic Worker Movement
When my son, Fig, became involved with the Catholic Worker Movement, I decided to learn all I could about it. I found a good description on their site, Catholicworker.org:
Grounded in a firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human person, their movement was committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, and the Works of Mercy as a way of life. It wasn’t long before Dorothy and Peter were putting their beliefs into action, opening a “house of hospitality” where the homeless, the hungry, and the forsaken would always be welcome.
Pope Francis highlighted the work of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement in address to the U.S. Congress:
In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Servant of God Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker Movement. Her social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.
Although Fig left home to live in a feminist anarchist, atheist commune, he eventually found his way to a Catholic Worker Community, rediscovering his faith along the way. I visited him at the Catholic Worker House of Hospitality where he lives and serves in poverty. Fig cooks in a soup kitchen and helps run a homeless shelter for men of all ages in a very poor, inner city area. In the two days I was there, I learned more about corporeal works of mercy than I ever knew before.
An Interview with Fig: A Catholic Worker
CS: After serving in this Catholic Worker Community, does it seem natural once you realized who you would be serving?
Fig: I could only stay because of the theology behind this service. If I were doing tourist charity, I would have left quickly. The theology behind this work not only made it doable but imperative.
Most Catholic workers I know don’t differentiate poor the way most in society do into ‘deserving / undeserving’ poor. Many people can show sympathy for a hard working person whose house burned down but they may show less compassion to someone who never learned to read. We define ‘crisis’ differently than most and recognize that any of us are susceptible to a crisis because that could leave us needy – most of us just don’t like to admit it to ourselves.
CS: Who are the hardest people you work with?
Fig: The hardest ones for me to relate to are those who suffered the same sorts of circumstances that I might find myself in. I might very well someday be injured or attacked. We have a man here who was an English teacher but he was mugged and suffered a serious head injury, he fell into cracks in the system. He became socially invalid, undeserving poor when he became an alcoholic. The hardest to serve are sex offenders – the Federal Gov’t set up programs to help organizations who house them but localities often forbid it in many ways”.
CS: What was your first big surprise working with these people?
Fig: I had never before seen life long adult illiteracy. A cook in the kitchen with me didn’t know which buttons were ‘time’ or ‘start’.”
CS: Did you teach him the words or show him another way to adapt?
Fig: I’m careful how I respond because there is a lot of shaming associated with illiteracy in society. People often won’t ask for help. In a respectful manner, I help people to fill out Food stamp forms and Social Security applications which would otherwise be incomplete. There is a misconception that there is a safety net that catches people but when cities ‘clean up’ homeless camps, people often lose their birth certificates and social security cards which they need to get aid.
CS: Are you afraid for your safety?
Fig: If there are 20 men in the shelter and one of them gets violent, there are 19 other people who I just fed who have my back.
CS: The other people you serve with who left middle class to live with and serve the poor – where does their motivation to live this life come from? How long do most stay?
Fig: Their motivation to serve comes from many sources, sometimes recovering addicts want to show a path to wholeness but most often it is from gaining a good intellectual understanding of their faith; writing, reading discussing practical ways to move from the intellectual to the mystical. Most live and work in a community for a few years, although there may be a few ‘lifers’ at any given place. Some people leave but return just to serve. Tom lived here for 18 years but now just serves. He is the closest I know to a living Saint.
CS: In my work, I sometimes feel an almost mystical reassurance that I’m in the right place doing the right thing – what does that look like here?
Fig: It looks like 45 people eating food I just cooked them and they are so eagerly enjoying their meal that for a time they don’t even speak. In that time of silence, we who prepared the meal feel great joy.
CS: What other misconceptions do you have to deal with?
Fig: People think that if I feed a rapist that I condone rape; no I don’t. I meet men who have children with 6 women who they don’t provide for. Society wants me to get indignant with people over their lives and I don’t – I’m feeding the hungry which is what I believe Jesus would have me do. I hang out with sinners but I don’t advocate their sin.
CS: What is the message you want people to learn about this type of service?
Fig: No Catholic Worker ever served in a Hospitality House and upon his eventual departure there was less poverty or homelessness had less impact or childhood wounds of those they served were less painful. The people who served lessen suffering but more so they became less of a jerk; they become more empathetic, understanding, grateful. Does that sound selfish? Well God is so dope (awesome) that He can even use your selfish interests to help make you a better person.
After interviewing Fig, I realized the Catholic Worker’s view of social justice is challenging and more faithful to the actual teachings of our Faith than contemporary society’s way of helping the poor. We normally use the phrase, “God-given dignity of every human person” to defend the unborn, but what about society’s cast-offs? I’m thankful for the service and the example of Catholic Workers which pushes me to question and challenge myself and maybe learn to respect the dignity of those I had myself forgotten.
2 thoughts on ““God Is So Dope”: Learning About Social Justice From a Young Catholic Worker”
A marvelous, genuine testament about returning Christ back into Catholicism/Christianity. Matt 25 challenges us ALL to meet Christ now in the Other and if we are serious about the Words of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats, it is the ONLY path to the kingdom….Jesus said so! Ya gotta be proud of that boy!
I have good friends in the CWC and support them with donations. Their lives and dedication to
this cause is beyond understanding. They have reached the point of pure Selflessness..