Oscar Romero’s Theological Vision: Liberation and Transfiguration of the Poor, by Edgardo Colón-Emeric. Notre Dame University Press, 2018. Reviewed by Louise Zwick As we recently received thirty-six Central American men as guests in our house in one day,not only paying for their travel to get here, feeding them, acquiring extra mattresses, providing hospitality bags, answering… continue reading
When the Doorbell Rings at Casa Juan Diego
We know that when our doorbell rings, it may very well be Jesus himself knocking, in the disguise of the poor. On Helping Families With Small Babies When Rafael called and then came to Casa Juan Diego, we knew we had to respond, at least help a little. He asked for help to hire someone to… continue reading
Newly Available: Father Hugo’s A Sign of Contradiction
A Sign of Contradiction by Fr. John J. Hugo (author) and Rosemary Hugo (foreward) published by Catholic Castle.com: http://catholiccastle.com/CatholicPages/FatherHugo.php This foreword is written and copyrighted © by Rosemary Hugo Fielding This excerpt from the new Foreward to Fr. John J. Hugo’s,A Sign of Contradictionis published here because of the profound effect that Fr. Hugo and… continue reading
Blessed Are the Refugees: Spiritual Tools for Accompanying Migrant Children
Blessed are the Refugees: Beatitudes of Immigrant Children by Scott Rose, Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J. and Staff and Volunteers of Catholic Charities Esperanza Center, Orbis Books, 2018 Reviewed by Susan Gallagher Currently some 14,000 minor children are being held in detention in the United States while their immigration cases are pending. The number is growing… continue reading
Grassroots Transformation: A Christian Response to Pollution From Discarded Plastic
Colleen, a recent graduate from Purdue University, is a Catholic Worker at Casa Juan Diego Because Pope Francis composed such a beautiful discourse on our common home in his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si, I will interlace his writings and mine in the piece that follows. His both tender and impassioned reflections cannot be overstated nor… continue reading
Learning From the Suffering and Grit of Migrants on Their Journey
Betsy was a CatholicWorker at Casa Juan Diego for several years. She is now working as a health educator in public health at Baylor College of Medicine. I want to speak on behalf of migrants, and three lessons l learned. They showed me the power of human dignity, the audacity of hope and the journey… continue reading
We are worried!
We fear that the emphasis in our newspaper on the oppression in El Salvador and Guatemala [and now in Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Yemen, and so many other countries] would give the impression that we have a base or foundation other than spiritual. We want you to know that we… continue reading
The Shutdown is Affecting People at Casa Juan Diego
The Works of Mercy in the Catholic Worker movement have always included providing food for the hungry. At Casa Juan Diego we welcome anyone in need at our food distribution each Tuesday morning from 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. and on Thursday afternoons when we distribute food at Holy Ghost Church through our Casa Maria. Several… continue reading
The Summer of Family Separation at the Border
About ten years ago I spent the summer in Cuba. A fascinating country, but what I remember most was how heavily policed Havana was. Uniformed law enforcement seemed to be everywhere, to the point that it felt oppressive. It WAS oppressive, a police state, they say. Last summer in Texas was the summer of family… continue reading
Christmas Letter 2018
Dear Friends of Casa Juan Diego, How we long for the Peace of Bethlehem and the good old days. But there is no peace, but rather, scandals, terror, and xenophobia. However, the followers of the Nazarene have nowhere else to go “To whom shall we go, Lord!” – except Bethlehem to gain the Peace the… continue reading