by Eileen Hanson
A sincere thank you to all of you who showed your support for this community this last month. The outpouring we felt around the meeting on January 18th was tremendous. So many people came or spoke to us at different times and expressed their interest and concern in the direction of things at the Winona Catholic Worker. Truly, we feel blessed to have such a circle of friends.
We opened the meeting with a brief talk about the history of the Catholic Worker movement – now in its 75th year – and some discussion of how we as Catholic Workers in Winona see ourselves as part of that movement. We highlighted that some of the key ideals that we identify with in the wider Catholic Worker movement are the works of mercy, intentional community and peacemaking.
We have done our best over that last sixteen years to live out these ideals as the moment has called us. As a founding member of the WCW, Jim Allaire has noted, you do the works of mercy that are presented to you. So, here in Winona, we have been providing hospitality – food and drink to the hungry and thirsty, shelter for the homeless. Out of our relationships with our guests we have found ourselves with many opportunities to visit the sick and the imprisoned, and sadly, to mourn the dead.
We are currently offering an evening meal, and afternoon hospitality that are open to all. Over the last year or two we have seen this grow as people are drawn to a space where they can share a home cooked meal as friends and everyone is welcome. We have single men staying overnight at Bethany House along with our live-in community. As spring approaches, we look toward our garden and all the fresh vegetables we will grow to supplement our table.
We have tried to be a voice for peace in our community and in the world. We have held vigil and prayed for peace in public and in private. We have said no to violence in our homes and in our nation’s polices. Some of us have been arrested in our efforts to resist the works of war. We have tried to hear the cries of those on the other side of our US wars and remember that we are all called to be peacemakers.
And we have done all of this rooted in intentional community. We have chosen to live together in order to strengthen and encourage one another in difficult times. We live together to celebrate the joys, big and small, along the way.
As we look at this rich history, we want to carry it forward faithfully and creatively.
By the time you are reading this, the reality of our community will be that two live- workers, Becky and Eileen, are living at Bethany House with a few overnight guests. We have said goodbye to John Heid, (see page 1), and just recently diane and Mike leutgeb munson moved to a house just outside of town. Our core community also includes Mary Farrell and Jerry and Susan Windley-Daoust.
In January, we brought all of this to you and asked, ‘how shall we move forward?’
Specifically, what is the compelling piece of this vision for you, and what energy do you have to contribute. The response was amazing. So many people stepped forward to volunteer their time and talents. Many of you spoke about what the Winona Catholic Worker means in your lives.
We heard your desire to be involved in hospitality and providing meals. With that in mind, we wanted to open up the space for more of you to be directly involved. We know that with two live-in community members we cannot sustain overnight guests and an open meal five nights a week. The afternoon hospitality and evening meal seemed an ideal way to involve more of you.
The Dan Corcoran House offers wonderful space for afternoon hospitality. We made some changes in how the house is arranged, and so far it’s met with rave reviews. We encourage you to come by and check it out. With a full playroom in the basement, and a big backyard, there is ample space for kids to be kids, and adults to have some quiet space too. Anyone in need will still be able to get pantry and hygiene items, take a shower, do laundry or use the phone during this time.
We are very happy to open the house with your help to welcome guests into that space.
We also heard you saying that you wish (as we do) that there was a way to provide housing for homeless women and families. We are saddened not to be able to offer that. Given the size and shape of our current live-in community, it just isn’t feasible. Still, there is a real sense of loss in not being able to offer overnight hospitality when we know there are people in need.
One thing to note is that we have never had enough space for all the calls we get from people in need of emergency shelter. There is, and has always been, more need in Winona than these two homes can meet. That is the sad reality. But, perhaps it is also an opportunity for others in the wider community to step forward with ideas and energy for providing a place for women and families.
We’re not sure how all of this is going to feel. There is a sense of excitement and anticipation to see how this will work out. We have decided to put off any long term decisions about the houses until we have seen this plan working for some months. We are open to thinking about offering one of the houses for other uses sometime down the road, if it doesn’t seem that we are using them best. But, we don’t know what the future will bring. For now, we will focus on offering a consistent presence in the afternoon and an evening meal at the Dan Corcoran House and continue to offer overnight hospitality for single men at Bethany House.
We will also continue actively seeking more live-in community members. As those of you that have hung with us over the years know there is an ebb and flow to community life here. We have gone through lean times before in terms of live-in numbers, but we have still been able to be a steady presence for the poor in our midst. We continue to get the word out that we are looking and actively invite students and community members to join us in this work. We have found our most reliable form of recruiting is nurturing the relationships that are right here in front of us. Over the years, it has most often been people who have had some small connection with the community whose sense of connectedness has led them to think about becoming live-in members and sharing their lives in community and hospitality.
We have shared some of this in conversations with many of you already. Your input and response has been wonderfully encouraging, so we wanted to give you this update on our communal transitions. Mostly, we want to thank you for your investment and involvement in the Winona Catholic Worker. Without you none of the last sixteen years would have been possible!