Meg is a Catholic Worker at Casa Juan Diego. She graduated last year from the University of Notre Dame. “The only answer in this life, to the loneliness we are all bound to feel, is community.” Dorothy Day, The Duty of Delight: The Diaries of Dorothy Day, p. 184 Passing through the front door to… continue reading
Thanksgiving Letter
Life at Casa Juan Diego is like being in front of an eternal conveyor belt with countless people, with never ending needs passing by. People come for food, for hospitality, for advice, for help to survive, for ways to engage the legal system, for ways to help children succeed in school, for a wheel chair… continue reading
Christmas Letter 2019
Dear Friends of Casa Juan Diego, Thanks be to God and generous people, Casa Juan Diego has completed its 39th year. Because of your generosity thousands of poor people have been served and many refugees and immigrants and their families have been helped. Our Houses of Hospitality have been full for many months. The food… continue reading
Cultivating Hope in Troubled Times at Casa Juan Diego: Samaritans and Solidarity
My job during the Tuesday food distributions at Casa Juan Diego is basically to organize the hundreds of people who come to the door. Most come just for food and they organize themselves, really. Before the sun comes up, they have formed a line out the door and into our parking lot and sometimes… continue reading
Vintage Mark Zwick and the Catholic Worker
During the first 20+ years of the Houston Catholic Workernewspaper, we regularly ran a column entitled “The Pilgrimage Continues in Houston.” Written by Mark Zwick or by Mark and Louise Zwick together, it was inspired by Dorothy Day’s famous column “On Pilgrimage” and it offered a glimpse of life at Casa Juan Diego. In it,… continue reading
Hospitality at Casa Juan Diego
In November 2017, after having completed two years in Honduras as a volunteer at “The Farm of the Child” (a Catholic home for children), I was encouraged to come to Casa Juan Diego. Louise Zwick opened the door for me and presently I am very privileged to live at, and be a part of, this… continue reading
Oscar Romero: God’s Glory in the Poor – and In the 36 New Men at Casa Juan Diego
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
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