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The Catholic Worker is a social movement founded in 1933 by journalist Dorothy Day and philosopher Peter Maurin to promote the biblical promise of justice and mercy as an alternative to both capitalism and communism. Grounded in the belief in the God-given dignity of every human person, the movement is committed to nonviolence, voluntary poverty, the Works of Mercy, and houses of hospitality where the poor are always welcome. Today there are over 185 Catholic Worker communities in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The contemporary Catholic Worker movement continues to challenge professional social work through its recognition of the image of God in all women and men (making little distinction between workers and guests), integration of personal service with nonviolent activism, and reliance on community life as a source of development and support.
Key Words: personalism, social movements, social justice, hospitality, voluntary poverty, community
IN THE FIRST CENTURIES OF CHRISTIANITY THE HUNGRY were fed at a personal sacrifice, the naked were clothed at a personal sacrifice, the homeless were sheltered at a personal sacrifice. And because the poor were fed, clothed, and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, the pagans used to say about the Christians, "See how they love one another." In our own day/the poor are no longer fed, clothed, and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, but at the expense of the taxpayers. And because the poor/are no longer fed, clothed, and sheltered the pagans say about the Christians, "See how they pass the buck!" (Peter Maurin, 1961, pp. 110-111). Co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.
The training of social workers enables them to help people to adjust themselves to the existing environment. The training of social workers does not enable them to help people to change the environment. In Houses of Hospitality social workers can acquire/that art of human contacts and that social-mindedness or understanding of social forces which will make them critical of the existing environment and the free creative agents of a new environment (Maurin, 1961, p. 94).
We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community. Dorothy Day (1952, p. 256). Co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.
These quotations from the Catholic Worker...