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
March 19, 2019 by
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
March 6, 2019 by
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!
February 18, 2019 by
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
January 25, 2019 by
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
January 8, 2019 by
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
December 5, 2018 by
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
One Way to Help Stranded Migrants in Tijuana
November 29, 2018 by
Here is information on how to send funds to Cáritas Tijuana to assist the thousands of migrants in crisis there: The bank is Bancomer. Send to Bancomer in the name of Cáritas Región Noroeste, A. C. CARITAS TIJUANA phone number for information below. Or call Casa Juan Diego and we can give you the… continue reading
Who Needs Christmas?
November 27, 2018 by
Many wish someone would do something about Christmas. The feast is a national pastime which often has little to do with the meaning of the word Christmas or its origins. Beginning preparations for buying things have just about moved back to the fourth of July. Some feel we need a new independence day to declare… continue reading
Our days at Casa Juan Diego are filled with joys, but also sorrows and challenges: Meeting Jesus in the Poor and the Privileged
November 20, 2018 by
When Hurricane Florence was bearing down on the Carolinas and the East Coast, it had not occurred to us that it would affect immigrant travel. When we received a call that immigrant families who had been released from Immigration were trapped in Houston because no buses were running to the East Coast, Catholic Workers here… continue reading
