San Antonio Catholic Worker Community

Some of you are already familiar with the San Antonio Catholic Worker Community. It's a community of hospitality on the East Side that offers a soup-line four days a week and rooms for homeless families in need of a temporary residence. The Catholic Worker philosophy is one of the works of mercy as a way of life and recognizing Christ in the stranger and the poor. You can find out more about the history and philosophy of the movement here. The name is a little misleading, as it has no official connections to the Catholic church (many of the communities are composed either partly or entirely of non-Catholics), and "Worker" refers not to the "good works" performed by the members, but the working poor the movement sought to serve when it began during the Great Depression.

The reason I bring all this up is because while we were in San Antonio, I had some conversations with the director of the CW in San Antonio, Jim Batterton, who is a member of San Antonio Mennonite Church, where Mark and Rachel and Josh and Emily have been attending. One of the things we discussed is various ways in which we might connect our two communities.

Jim is currently the only long-term member of the CW community. Most of the daily operations are carried out by short-term volunteers, some who live on site, but most living elsewhere in San Antonio. Those who live at the CW come from all over the world and have been sent there for 6 months to a year by the Brethren Volunteer Service. Jim expressed to me that it has been difficult to foster a sense of community internal to the CW itself, since he is the only one there long-term. Most of what the CW does is outward oriented--serving the homeless and poor who come from all over the city. Jim would like to see this outward oriented service balanced, supported, and nourished by a stronger internal community. He has been looking for people interested in making a long-term commitment there and helping to build stronger, deeper relationships with each other and with the residents of the neighborhood. Right now, most of the people the CW serves and has gotten to know do not actually live in the neighborhood, because, well, a lot of them are homeless.

The CW community currently owns four houses in the same vicinity. One hosts the soup kitchen and guest families. The other is undergoing a major remodel and will eventually be devoted solely to the soup-line. The one that currently hosts the soup-line will be torn down and rebuilt to be more spacious and comfortable for the guest families. Another house is being fixed up to serve as the new home for Jim and the short-term volunteers. When this is completed (in the next year or so, I believe), the house that Jim and the volunteers currently live in (Faith House) will come available. It's a very large two-story house, with 6 bedrooms, 1 full bath, 2 half-baths, 1.5 kitchens, and various common areas. I think it could be made to accommodate 2-3 families or some combination of families and singles, though it is in need of some pretty serious cleaning and renovations.

One possibility would be for us to become "official" members of the CW community. It's not clear to either Jim or myself what exactly that would mean, though it would at the very least entail that the CW (recently having become a registered 501-C3) maintain ownership of the house, and our community having some kind of accountability to the CW's board of directors (comprised of 5 people who do not live on site, but have responsibility for the purchase and maintenance of the CW properties, as well as fundraising for the community). This is all kind of fuzzy and somewhat complicated--this particular CW has never done anything like this before, so it would mean moving into some uncharted territory for everyone involved. But Jim is open to thinking and talking with us about how it might work out, and he thinks the board would be too. Among the possible benefits of this option, as I see it, is the immediate bond we would have the tradition of the Catholic Worker movement and its communities around the world, which, besides providing companionship and encouragement along the way, would also give us something of an identity to grow into ("We're Catholic Workers"). Also, given the way the CW community in San Antonio is set up, we wouldn't have to worry about paying for and maintaining the house, since it would remain the property of the CW.

Another option Jim proposed would be for the CW to sell Faith House to us (and he thought they could give us a good deal on the place). This would allow us to be institutionally independent from the CW community, but still proximate to the work it is doing and the people it is serving. This would allow our community maximal freedom to develop in its own way, as well as to do whatever we wanted with the property.

All of this merely represents the brainstorming Jim and I did together over the course of a couple of conversations. Neither of us committed to anything except further brainstorming and conversations. Perhaps neither option would be a good idea for us. I just wanted to let all of you in on the conversation and see what you think about it. Are you interested open to either of the two possibilities I mentioned? Questions? Concerns? Ideas? I would encourage those of you who don't know Jim and the CW community to stop by some time for a visit. Jim's super laid-back and easy to talk to and would be happy to show you around and tell you more about what they're about. See the link above for the address and contact info.