Special Mass on November 7, 2018, to name the Casa Juan Diego men’s House of Hospitality, Casa Don Marcos in honor of Mark Zwick, founder of Casa Juan Diego. In 1980, Mark founded Casa Juan Diego, a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality where thousands of refugees escaping to Houston during the civil wars in Central… continue reading
Catholic Worker Retreat – Encounter with Silence schedule 2021
October 20, 2018 by
Encounter with Silence Retreat “Encounter with Silence” is a six-day retreat, developed by Onesimus Lacouture, S.J., and formerly given by Father John Hugo. Perhaps the most famous lover of the retreat is the Servant of God, Dorothy Day. She made the retreat more than 20 times and wrote of it often. Day said it was… continue reading
Saint Oscar Romero, a Doctor of the Church?
August 20, 2018 by
At Casa Juan Diego we received with great joy the news from the Vatican that Blessed Oscar Rome will be canonized on October 14, 2018 in Rome, alongside Pope Paul VI, who gave Monseñor Romero unconditional support in a difficult time in El Salvador. In 2015 when Archbishop Romero was beatified, Pope Francis declared him… continue reading
Finding the “Tenderness of God” In Gang Intervention Work
August 10, 2018 by
Two literal books were the figurative bookends of my arriving to and exiting from Casa Juan Diego in the form of Father Gregory Boyle’s Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir. In the back of my copy of Tattoos on the Heart there are phone numbers of group leaders and outlines of a schedule. The… continue reading
Children Detained: Immigration and Jesus’ Story of the Rich Man and the Beggar
June 22, 2018 by
Those of us who work closely with immigrants, who share our lives with them at Casa Juan Diego, have had to come to terms with the increasingly cruel and aggressive policies of our government towards our guests. We have gotten accustomed to it, to be honest. I am not sure this is entirely a good… continue reading
Catholic Bishops Call Forced Separation of Migrant Families Immoral
June 19, 2018 by
Forced separation of children and parents at the United States’ southern border, as a tool of a new, harsher immigration policy, shocks the conscience with its brutal indifference to the enduring injury it causes children and its callous neglect for human dignity. As the count of children separated from their families has grown into the… continue reading
“When I Was Hungry”: A Reflection on Volunteering At Casa Juan Diego Men’s House
May 28, 2018 by
My wife, Blossom, our 2 children (at the time), and I left Houston in 2003. In 2010, we began returning each year for one week. These have been rich experiences, both in the privilege to encounter Christ in the poor and in the camaraderie and fellowship we share with Mark, Louise, their family and the… continue reading
Traumatized Migrants Find Healing at Casa Juan Diego
May 28, 2018 by
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” the opening words of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities,describes nicely our recent experiences at Casa Juan Diego. Hurricane Harvey, with the heaviest rainfall in the recorded history of this country, would seem to qualify as the worst of times, except… continue reading
How To Avoid the Student Loan Catastrophe: Student Loans and the Evil Of Usury
May 28, 2018 by
The Student Loan Catastrophe; Postcards from the Rubble, by Richard Fossey. ISBN 978-1-5485-9171-7 Reviewed by J. Rick Altemose, Ph.D., a former Catholic Worker at Casa Juan Diego. Let’s start with a pop quiz. Of the following people, which one faces a “catastrophe?” PERSON A, a wheeler-dealer whose habit of taking extreme business risks worked out… continue reading
How Mark Zwick Met Dorothy Day and the Seeds Were Planted For the Houston Catholic Worker/Casa Juan Diego
May 20, 2018 by
Mark visited Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker on several occasions. One visit was with his mother Florence to Peter Maurin Farm on Staten Island in 1956, when they spent the better part of a day with Dorothy. Mark sometimes accompanied his mother to New York when she went on buying trips for her family department store… continue reading
