Early this summer when Mark had surgery on his ear for skin cancer, he was told he must strictly limit his physical activities for two weeks. He had to have his ear dressed and bandaged each day, along with a place on his face where skin was removed for a graft on the ear. He… continue reading
Church and State and the New “Serfs”
April 1, 2008 by
We have three men living at Casa Juan Diego’s Houses of Hospitality with such serious injuries that they shuffle instead of walk. We have three men in wheel chairs who don’t walk at all We have three men who have lost a leg and await protheses so they can walk and work. We have three… continue reading
The Man in the Street or A Warning
February 1, 2008 by
Matt, a recent graduate of the University of Dallas, is a Catholic Worker in Houston. My stomach is nice and full of delectable delights as I write this article. I only mention this because the guy digging through the dumpster, who was the motivation for the article, had a decidedly empty stomach. It is always… continue reading
She is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World, as Are the Poor, the Immigrants
December 1, 2007 by
An old, old, fairy tale from Russia tells the story of a young boy (or sometimes told from the point of view of a young girl) who was lost. He couldn’t find his mother. Villagers who wanted to help asked the child, “What does your mother look like?” Tell us, so that we can help… continue reading
God will say, “Where are the Others?”: Stories of Finding Relatives and Friends at Casa Juan Diego
December 1, 2007 by
Dorothy Day wrote in the “Aims and Purposes of the Catholic Worker Movement,” (published in 1940 in The Catholic Worker) : “We cannot live alone. We cannot go to Heaven alone. Otherwise, as Péguy said, God will say to us, ‘Where are the others?’” This can be understood on several levels. For Péguy and Dorothy and… continue reading
Young Woman from Spain Visits Casa Juan Diego: An Unforgettable Month
October 1, 2007 by
Summer began again and I got on a plane to Houston, Texas, USA, to work with my father at Casa Juan Diego, a house of hospitality and part of the Catholic worker Movement, founded by Mark and Louise Zwick in 1980. It is dedicated to housing immigrants, mostly from Latin America. I decided to go… continue reading
The Bones of Immigrants Crushed on the Journey, in Attacks, or in Work Accidents Will Rise Again
October 1, 2007 by
“Them Bones,” the traditional spiritual based on the book of Ezekiel in the Bible about the Lord bringing dry bones to life, has a special meaning for Casa Juan Diego, the Houston Catholic Worker, because so many people come to us who have lost their limbs, whose bones were crushed on a terrible journey trying… continue reading
Irrational Animosity Towards Immigrants
October 1, 2007 by
This article was written after hearing very negative comments about immigrants from the media. The animosity and hostility towards immigrants in today’s world is very hard to fathom. It is as if the Ku Klux Klan is in charge of Public Relations, spitting out untruths and half-truths about immigrants as they did in 1927 ridiculing… continue reading
Death Sentence for Rafael and Other Immigrants
December 1, 2006 by
Rafael (not his real name), a construction worker, came to us a sick man. We went the usual procedure of trying to arrange help for him before his cancer became any worse. We tried to arrange an eligibility card—called a Gold Card—but were unsuccessful because he didn’t have a picture ID. We accompanied him to… continue reading
Bring Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Sick and Injured
October 1, 2006 by
Casa Juan Diego is a busy place.. A nurse called today from Ben Taub Hospital to tell us to be nice to Pedro—he had lost all of his fingers on one hand in an accident and wasn’t handling it too well. He was injured in an accident in southern Louisiana. No hospital there had the… continue reading
