By Nikki Fleck and Eileen Hanson
Continuing our series on the Winona Catholic Worker core values, we had a discussion about hospitality, what it means to us, and what draws each of us to these houses of hospitality. We share with you here some of the threads that ran through our reflections.
The Mutuality of Hospitality Receiving leads to Giving
The Dan Corcoran House is named after Father Dan Corcoran. Mary Farrell tells how Fr. Dan first showed her the meaning of hospitality. While a student at Winona State University, Mary would often go to the Newman center just to hang out. Fr Dan, and Sister Monessa always made students feel welcome. They provided a place to relax, have fun, to pray and build long lasting friendships. The hospitality at the Newman Center was not limited to students. Fr. Dan would regularly invite people he met on the street to come for a meal or spend the night if they had no place to go. It was these examples of hospitality that led Mary to the Catholic Worker movement, and eventually to open a house of hospitality in Winona.
The Winona CW continues to open our hearts and homes to many students. Both St. Mary’s University and Winona State University students are a regular part of our houses. Sometimes they come once, others continue to come back, finding something draws them back each week. Our houses are blessed by the energy and enthusiasm these students bring. In just a short time they become part of the community and are greatly missed during breaks and after graduations.
We often say that everyone comes to the table hungry, and not everyone hungers for food. We are all in search of something, waiting to feel at home, to feel like we belong to something. Whether we have money in our pockets or not is not the true measure of whether we need hospitality.
Many of our recent live-in volunteers have come to live with us after first coming to the houses as student volunteers. Three of our current live-in workers, Becky, Nikki and Sarah all first came to the Dan Corcoran House as students, hoping to help out. They ended up finding something that they were looking for too. What is striking in their stories is how much the experience of receiving hospitality at the WCW was a part of drawing them into community. Becky spoke of her first visit and of meeting Paul and Sara Freid, then live-in workers at the house. Her experience of feeling so welcome, so at home, eventually led her to move into community here and want to offer that same hospitality to others. Biblical roots of hospitality
Just beside the Windley-Daoust’s dining table, hangs a beautiful icon of the scene at the Oaks of Mamre when Abraham and Sarah welcomed the three strangers into their tent. Although they did not know it at the time, these three visitors were angels in disguise. This icon is a prominent reminder to their family of the Biblical call to hospitality.
In the desert culture of the Middle East, hospitality is tradition. Strangers and passers-by are invited in, offered tea, fresh water and something to eat. In the harsh physical environment of the desert such hospitality is not only a cultural tradition, it is in many ways a necessity of life. Travelling in the desert means relying on the generosity of strangers for the basic necessities of life – water, food and shelter. I wonder though, how different our world today is. Isn’t our world just as harsh a place- perhaps in different ways – than the parched desert of the Hebron hills.
Left alone in the world we know, a person would not fare well. For many without friends or family to call upon, there is no escape from the battering winds of joblessness or homelessness. Many places, a person can’t even use a public restroom without buying something. Where should one turn to quench one’s thirst for companionship in difficult times? It can feel like there is nowhere to turn. Where can the poor turn for respite? Isn’t hospitality to the stranger just as crucial here and now, as it was for Abraham and Sarah?
Taking a risk
The story of Abraham and Sarah also illustrates the element of risk, of vulnerability in any act of hospitality. By welcoming the strangers into their tent, they took a risk, a leap of faith in God. Those three strangers might not have turned out to be angels. But, by taking the risk, by placing their trust in God, they were offered enormous blessing in return.
When we open these houses to anyone in need, without ID or a background check, we are making that same leap of faith. We may not know everything about a person, but we know that every person, regardless of who they are needs certain things – food, shelter and companionship. The Biblical call to hospitality means that we don’t need to know much more in order to open our homes and our hearts.
Imperfect practice
In Romans 12 It says, “Practice Hospitality.” We will never be perfect at Hospitality. Often times when a guest leaves the house or I hang up the phone suddenly I recognize a need or a gesture I could have offered that person. I’ve been learning to get past the guilt and frustration I sometimes feel, moving into excitement and thankfulness that God continues to open my eyes to new ways to serve.