Daniel Ortiz, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, has spent a year at Casa Juan Diego living and working with the poor. He will soon be replaced at our men’s house by another Notre Dame graduate. I had just finished arranging the food that we picked up at the Food Bank when Balmori and Gregorio walked… continue reading
Works of Mercy: Casa Juan Diego Volunteers Help Paralyzed Immigrants
April 1, 2011 by
A neighbor brought Carmen (not her real name) to Casa Juan Diego. She was distraught. Her husband had had an aneuyrism and had spent two months in the hospital. They are from Guatemala and have no family here to help them. Carmen hoped that she could place her husband somewhere and that she could go… continue reading
Medical Miracle in Oklahoma After Seeking Dorothy Day’s Intercession
April 1, 2011 by
February 9, 2011 Ms. Lourdes Ferrer The Guild for Dorothy Day Archdiocese of New York 1011 First Avenue, 12th Floor New York, New York 10022 Dear Ms. Ferrer, In December 2009, I invoked the assistance of Dorothy Day, asking her to cure my friend Sarah Maple of a brain tumor that doctors told Sarah would… continue reading
Growing Roots: Peter Maurin and the Agronomic University
April 1, 2011 by
“The time for the agronomic university,” Catholic Worker theologian Michael Baxter declared, “has finally arrived.” We were a group of twenty adults, mostly Catholic Workers, gathered at New Hope Catholic Worker Farm in Iowa for a week of learning through manual labor, prayer, lecture, and discussion on our 28-acre parcel of land that is home… continue reading
American Madonna: Crossing Borders with the Virgin Mary. Orbis Books, 2010.
February 1, 2011 by
I enjoyed reviewing Deirdre Cornell’s new book, American Madonna: Crossing Borders with the Virgin Mary , partly because it is an excellent book, partly because I met the author in central Mexico in the early 1990s. I never forgot her; she is one of those people that linger in your memory. With my own research and… continue reading
Justice in Economics is Not Socialism: The Catholic Worker and Workers
February 1, 2011 by
In some people’s eyes, the words Worker and Catholic Worker give the Catholic Worker movement a bad name, even today. We were quite surprised when someone we had known for twenty years introduced us to a colleague as people who could explain the good parts of socialism. “What?” we said. “We are not socialists!” “Then… continue reading
All the Way to Heaven: The Selected Letters of Dorothy Day. Edited by Robert Ellsberg, Marquette Univ. Press, 2010
February 1, 2011 by
I would not go so far as to say that I have been steeped in Dorothy Day lore, but I have been a Catholic Worker for a while, and we do talk about Dorothy quite a bit around here at the Houston Catholic Worker. I am surrounded by people who know an immense amount about… continue reading
Compelling Story of Casa Juan Diego
February 1, 2011 by
Book Review Mercy Without Borders: The Catholic Worker and Immigration. Paulist Press, 2010. Few former Ohioans, if any, have done more for the poor and the immigrant than Mark and Louise Zwick, who created Casa Juan Diego in Houston to help the thousands upon thousands of immigrants and refugees who have come from Latin America… continue reading
Prayer Sustains the Works of Mercy at a Catholic Worker House of Hospitality
February 1, 2011 by
People often ask what exactly it is that we do at Casa Juan Diego, and it’s easy to begin by listing off the activities that fill our days. We tend to the needs of the men, women, and children living in our Houses of Hospitality, we distribute food to the community, we receive and organize… continue reading
The Sins of the Fathers? How Immigration Policies Promote Child Neglect
October 1, 2010 by
A few months ago a mother and father with two children arrived at the door of Casa Juan Diego unexpectedly–distressed, homeless, with very few clothes or possessions. I got the mother and children settled and comfortable in a room at our women’s house and the husband went to our men’s center. I did not see… continue reading
