Tom Loome and his wife, Karen, are founding members of the Stillwater Catholic Worker in Minnesota. For many years, Tom had the largest and best scholarly Catholic bookstore in the United States. Dorothy Day (1897-1980), founder of the Catholic Worker movement, and known for her personal identification with the poor and dispossessed through the practice… continue reading
The Real Presence(s) of Christ in the Life and Thought of Dorothy Day, Key to Her Canonization
An American Family’s Journey: Experience of the Church in El Salvador in 1977
We arrived in San Salvador on January 27th. The house we were to rent for $50.00 a month was located in a marginated area near the river and the dump. It had running water and electricity and was to be shared with a Salvadoran family. The only problem was the dust. It poured in constantly,… continue reading
The Pilgrimage Continues in Houston in 1981
Dorothy Day has died. However, her spirit is alive and well; its presence was recently felt in Houston. The Houston Catholic Worker has opened its doors. Her work goes on, maybe not in the perfect spirit of the New York Catholic Worker, but hopefully in the same spirit. She no longer writes her column, “On… continue reading
Miracle After Prayers to Dorothy Inspires New Convert: My Long, Circuitous Journey into Catholicism
At Casa Juan Diego we all rejoiced when we learned that Sarah Maple’s aggressive brain cancer had been cured through prayers to Dorothy Day. This past Easter, Sarah came into the Catholic Church. When she received the sacrament of Confirmation, she chose Dorothy as her confirmation name (there are several saint Dorothy’s). This is her… continue reading
Pope Wants a Church of the Poor and For the Poor, But a Well-known Catholic Writer Rejects Saint Francis of Assisi
The very first thing our new Pope did was to choose the name of Francis for St. Francis of Assisi. No Pope has ever been named Francis before. If Pope Francis had not done anything else, just claiming the name of Francis would have had a tremendous impact. (Para leer este artículo en español, haga… continue reading
Hospitality and Honeybees: Worker Bees Inspire Catholic Worker
Casa Juan Diego’s hospitality has been stretched to new limits in recent months as we welcomed a colony of honeybees to make themselves at home in our garden. The ecological importance of bees is undisputed, but so are the heart-wrenching obstacles to their survival. An absence of honeybees and their pollination work would greatly destabilize… continue reading
How It All Began
We debated about calling the new/old section in the Archives, “What Were You Thinking?” or “The Early Years” or “Our Kids Think This Is Normal?” or “Giving It All Away” or “The Fire Years,” or “Youthful Energy,” but we chose “How It All Began.” In 1980 something very profound was happening in our community. Homeless refugees… continue reading
Casa Juan Diego, New Catholic Worker House, Opens to Serve the Poor
Casa Juan Diego is the result of allowing ourselves to dream. The vision of a Catholic Worker house on Washington Avenue in Houston established to serve the poor and Spanish speaking first came to us in 1979 while working in St. Theresa’s social service office. We had been readers of Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker paper… continue reading
End Forced Medical Deportations with Houses of Hospitality
Robby Caceres was a young, undocumented day laborer who was cut down by a heat stroke while working on a roof last summer. Dazed with grief and fear, his brother and a cousin, also young 20-somethings, came to Casa Juan Diego with a plea for help. It turned out Robby’s heat stroke was no ordinary… continue reading








