We Are Finally Home

Hospitality and An Appeal

by diane leutgeb munson

Hospitality is a funny thing. Somehow in the midst of the mild chaos, clanging dishes and ringing phone, you find your heart has been stolen away and a piece has walked out the door with another beloved guest.

Dave said goodbye tonight. As is typical for him, he did so quietly. As people cleared their plates and I watched them stack up beside the sink, he popped his head in the kitchen. He mumbled a goodbye, as he does every other night, but seemed reluctant to actually leave. I waited a moment and he started to stumble over an explanation. He’d be leaving Friday, much sooner than he had thought. He wouldn’t be coming back soon. He stopped himself, turned away again and then let the words come as they willed. “Thank you…for everything. I never would have made it without you. I never would have survived.” His eyes, blurred with tears, spoke even more profoundly than the simple words he offered. He left me with the assurance that he would call, and that it would be collect. He winked, smiled and walked away.

I thank God for all of the guests that have shared their lives with me in my time in this house. I know that I am not an easy person to live with and it is sure that many of our guests have challenged me in various ways as well. Ironically, though, I think that many of us would echo Dave’s parting words if given the chance, “I never would have made it without you, thank you.” I feel confident that what Dave meant, was that he would have lost hope long ago if not for this beautiful place, these compassionate friends, our generous cooks, and mostly the undying forgiveness that flows through this house.

The assumption is often that we at Bethany House do not seem to deal very heavily with emotions, but I realized this evening that there is supreme power in what has been left unspoken. In a brief exchange it is possible to wipe clean a long list of mistakes and shortcomings. There is not always a need to replay the litany of events and circumstances and in this case there was not time nor room for “I’m sorry,” and “I forgive.” Sometimes we must simply meet at a place where guilt and pain and love can run together over our wounded selves and wash us clean.

Bethany House has offered a haven, to Dave, to me and to countless others. In this place we are free. It is here that we dare to hope for things that cannot be real outside of these walls. We dream of things for ourselves and this world that seem simple and right. Here we find solace because we suddenly don’t feel so different; we fit, and we are relieved that there is still one place where that is true. No one is too crazy, too addicted, too old, too young, too bold or too shy. This is home, whether we sleep here every night or eat here once a week. We are finally home.

This time of year we all become a little more grateful for the place that we call home, as we ponder and face the grim reality of our brothers and sisters that do not have shelter on these long cold nights. We realize that those of us who reside under these roofs at the Catholic Worker are here only because of the generosity of a community. Were it not for the support of others, our house would be no different from the next. For this reason we pray in thanksgiving for all of the people who have made sacrifices great and small during this past year in order to better the lives of our guests. We also pray with hopeful hearts that our friends and neighbors continue to include our homes and our guests in their daily lives, whether it be through prayer, visits or donations.

As the season of winter knocks at our door, the bills continue to stack up, and our well-aged houses groan under the pressure of many bodies and much use. Repairs are a continuous, and costly, aspect of daily life. Heat and electricity consume more and more of our small bank account and yet we must discuss how to best use our resources to repair the attic window and replace the toilet. We depend on your financial help to provide hospitality, and we truly cannot do this work without you.

Thank you to all of you who have given us the gift of this place, of these warm meals, of your thoughtful support. Please feel welcome to come closer to the lives of those who share this space, but make ready your heart, it may be forever changed in this home where we are all made a little more whole.

Regard for the Soil

by Peter Maurin

1. Andrew Nelson Lytle says:
The escape from industrialism
is not in socialism
or in sovietism.
2. The answer lies
in a return to a society
where agriculture is practised
by most of the people.
3. It is in fact impossible
for any culture
to be sound and healthy
without a proper regard
for the soil,
no matter
how many urban dwellers
think that their food
comes from groceries
and delicatessens
or their milk from tin cans.
4. This ignorance
does not release them
from a final dependence
upon the farm.

Words from Dorothy: Manual Labor (Fall 2007)

(From "On Pilgrimage," by Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker , May 1946, p 2.)

How peaceful a work is gardening and how restful for a tired mind. This last month there was a great deal of planting done on the farm at Easton. Fields of potatoes were put in. John Filliger was busy behind the plough all the month. We have a new team of white horses which we bought from a good neighbor for $125, practically a present. We have Dolly, our brown, half-blind horse, whom we all love, and who served us so faithfully during the winter, hauling down wood from the hillside. Long rows of onions, carrots, cabbages, have been planted and there is a field of turnips going in next week. We need a freezer and we need a root cellar. The latter we will dig, but we must pray for the former.
I put a flower garden in myself this last week, all around the little cabin where I work when I am at Maryfarm. And I’m going to paint and scour the place when I next go down, so that my year-old granddaughter Rebecca will not get so black when she comes to see me and goes crawling and mopping up the porch in her little seersucker overalls. The factories in Easton, two miles away, send up their soot and smoke to our hillside, and the sheepswool is well blackened with it. We have all the reminder of the city right below us as we sit on our peaceful hillside. Rebecca had tea with me last week, applesauce and a soft-boiled egg, and when my herb garden gets going I shall serve mint teas to guests on occasion, tasting and seeing that the Lord is sweet.

(source: http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/daytext.cfm?TextID=424)

Greasy Motors, the Real GM (Fall 2007)

By diane leutgeb munson

Michael and I recently acted together in the spirit of non-violent resistance. It did not result in arrest, nor did it involve breaking a law. In fact, it drew almost no attention from local authorities. We feel, however, that we have challenged the structures of government, militarism and capitalism in our most recent acquisition of a “new” truck. Our lime green, 1982 Volkswagen Rabbit truck is fueled by waste vegetable oil. Our friend, Joe Libera, has started marketing vehicles like ours through his company Greasy Motors, and we have been his first customers. Joe purchased the truck, made the necessary repairs and bodywork, had it painted and added new tires. He worked with Bernie, a local retired farmer, to modify the engine to run on vegetable oil. Bernie, an 82-year-old widower, converted his own truck to run on waste vegetable oil a few years ago and is currently building a small plane, which will also operate on used oil.
The idea of running a vehicle on vegetable oil is not new. In fact, when Rudolf Diesel debuted his innovative engine at the 1900 World’s Fair in Paris, France, he used peanut oil for power. Diesel’s engine was designed to be more efficient than the steam engine, which was being used at the time by major industries. The steam engine had an efficiency of 10% or less, meaning that 90% of the fuels potential was lost. His initial working model outdid all steam engines of the day, utilizing 26% of the potential energy. In another five years Diesel’s modified engines were running at an amazing 75% efficiency.
Diesel’s aim was not only to increase the effectiveness of engines, but also to provide something that was accessible to small industries and working class people. Running an engine on vegetable oil versus petroleum accomplished just that goal. The diesel engine has changed over time and currently runs most commonly on petroleum based diesel fuel. However, because of the initial design of the engine, it easily runs on vegetable oil. By simply adding a tank for the vegetable oil and a separate fuel line to the engine, the vehicle operates normally on the oil. Though the purity of the oil is important, waste oil can be collected from restaurants and cleaned through a simple filtering process in ones home. When the oil is clean, gas mileage is extremely good, averaging 50-60 miles a gallon.
In driving an alternative vehicle, we are striving to live out the values of sustainable living and resistance to violence in another facet of our lives. Our own oil consumption and the endless conflict in the Middle East, spawned by our country’s desire to secure resources, weigh heavily on our minds. We are constantly aware of the fact that our day-to-day choices affect the lives of others, both in our immediate community and in the wider global community. In the same way that we remember farmers, truckers, grocery store workers and immigrant laborers when we sit down to eat, we also remember the trail of petroleum from the depths of the earth to our gas tank. It is for this reason that we have attempted to take one more step back from the pump; the pump that seems to bind us against our will to the wars that our country fights to keep our tanks full.
Michael and I aim to drive a vehicle, even one that runs on vegetable oil, as our last resort. Before we consider starting the truck we attempt to exhaust all other measures. If we cannot walk, then we ride a bike. If we cannot carry the groceries on a bike, we use a backpack, a rack or a trailer. When the streets are slick with ice and the bike simply will not remain upright, we have the option of riding the bus. It is only when all creativity has been drained and all physical force will not meet the task at hand that we usually consider driving a vehicle. If it is absolutely necessary to drive, then we count each gallon of fuel consumed and know that our footprint sinks deeper into our beloved planet with every mile we speed down the freeway.
We are constantly inspired in creativity by those around us who do not have the option of driving. We have guests, including many with physical disabilities, that walk and ride bikes to get to and from our house each day. We know parents who are able to complete errands with two and three children in tow, all on bikes and in trailers. We learn from community members and friends who take the bus to work or carpool with colleagues instead of driving alone. We see creative ways to transport food, children, pets, instruments, etc. every day on the streets of Winona. Using waste vegetable oil to power our vehicle does not make us guiltless amidst our countries’ race to consume petroleum. We continue, unfortunately to use hundreds of products a week that are petroleum based. We are, however, increasingly conscious of how many gallons of fuel it takes to power our lives on the road. Our Rabbit truck, helps us to keep our thoughts with those who suffer because of our need for oil and remember that there are steps we can take to change the way our country attempts to meet our fuel needs.
For more information about Greasy Motors, call Joe Libera at 608-687-8158.

What I Learned at the Farm (Fall 2007)

This summer, Diane, Becky, Eileen, and I decided to support our local sustainable farmers in a different way. We made an effort to spend every Friday at Whitewater Gardens helping in any way we could. In the spring we started seeds in flats, later on in the summer we weeded for hours on end, other days we harvested and washed the beautiful produce to prepare it for market.

Whitewater Gardens is a small sustainable farm a few miles outside of Winona where, on 136 acres, the Dietz family raises vegetables, ducks, and cows to name a few. The vegetables themselves are only 10 to 15 acres of the operation while the rest of the space is pasture, resting garden plots, land set aside permanently, as well as some stands of hardwood trees. The small family accomplishes the vast majority of the work on its own in order to make the farm what it is.

The Winona Catholic Worker has been the beneficiary of the Dietz family’s generosity and hard work, as they supply our houses with an unbelievable amount of produce that is not suitable to sell at market or simply an overabundance for them. We offer much of the produce to our guests and friends at the house and frequently use it at home in our evening meals. What is left over we distribute to our local food shelf as well as to friends and former guests at the subsidized housing units in Winona.

Our new degree of involvement at the farm has been a blessing for us this summer. Over the past three months we have had many workdays, plenty of fabulous farm lunches, and many great conversations. Working in the fields or sitting around the table with Sandy and Lonnie and their family has taught us much about living a better life in this troubled world. It has also taught us some very important lessons about the value of manual labor, the beauty of variety in food, and the superiority of flavor in local produce.

Though physically grueling at times, manual labor in the form of farming is a very important act. The discussion of the spiritual, physical, and communal significance of farming has been happening for thousands of years and will for thousands to come. Farming and manual labor have always had specific significance to the Catholic Worker Movement, due in large part to Peter Maurin. Our work at the farm this summer has been a refreshing lesson in the benefit of manual labor for the body and soul. We have also reveled in the opportunity to work together as community with our hands in the dirt.

Until this summer, tomatoes have always come in a few varieties, namely, cherry, roma and slicer. Walking through the Dietzs’ tomato patch leaves one in awe of nature. Of the 300 plus heirloom plants growing, there are dozens of varieties ranging in color from yellow to pink to black all of which can trace their seed lines back many years sometimes as long as a century. In all of our desire for freedom of choice, we have been quite sheltered by our supermarkets who often offer only one variety of many fruits and vegetables. Not only do we have a renewed appreciation for local farmers like Lonnie and Sandy who dare to provide something new and different for our eyes and mouths, we are grateful for our farmers market, which provides a venue where we can truly choose our food.

Another discovery that this summer brought was that the Dietzs’ carrots can win over even the most serious junk food addicts. On a recent Friday night visit to public housing for our food handout two little girls on bicycles were eating Bomb Pops. They came over and, just like every other week, asked what we had in the van. At this Eileen, asked if they had ever seen a purple carrot. The girls approached and each gladly took a carrot and proceeded to take a large bite revealing the familiar orange glow underneath the odd purple skin. Meanwhile their Bomb Pops were left neglected melting all over their hands while they enjoyed their carrots. Both girls went home that night with a bag full of carrots to share with their families.

The amount of nutrition in foods produced locally by growers who value sustainable methods are far superior in nutrition than conventional foods. Our diets can improve immensely by filling them with a variety of local heirloom fruits and vegetables. However, we can ensure the maximum nutrition from local foods by preparing them in certain ways. Vegetables and fruits eaten in their raw states are often more nutritious than cooked. This is not to say that cooking fruits and vegetables is bad, its not. Be mindful so as to not overcook your food. But before even getting to that part try not peel root vegetables in an effort to preserve substantial nutrition.

Other important lessons from the farm in addition to not peeling local organic vegetables, is that EVERYONE deserves the best when it comes to fresh produce. The amount of nutrition in the food from Whitewater Gardens is what we all deserve and we deserve it at a cost that supports everyone in the process, from dirt to table. Luckily the Dietz family is generous enough to simply give of what they have in order to fulfill their goal of providing good food to anyone who wants it. Their philosophy is a humbling one, recognizing that some people can pay top dollar for the food that they grow and others cannot, but that all deserve food of incredible quality and high nutrition.

Oh, and one last thing. We would like to congratulate the Dietz family on being selected by the University of Minnesota Farm Family of the year from Winona County! This award has historically been given to a family farming 500 to 1000 acres and operates a hog or dairy outfit or both. However, with little over 10 years of farming under their belts, and very loudly not growing corn or soybeans the Dietz’s have been rightfully selected for this years prize. For the amount to love and care they give to their dirt, family, and community, we would all like to say thank you!

mike leutgeb munson

Winona Community Comes Together (Fall 2007)

Many of you living outside Southeastern Minnesota have heard of the recent deadly flooding in this area. Most of our local readers know first-hand the effects of the recent flooding. A weekend of heavy rains resulted in flash flooding of many of the area streams and creeks that feed the Mississippi River. A number of small towns in the valleys around Winona were devastated by these floods. We were shocked to learn that overnight 7 people had died from the flooding.

As difficult as it was to see tragedy of this kind strike our community, the response of the local community, however, has been amazing. It was wonderful to see the generosity and out pouring of mutual support. We at the Winona Catholic Worker are glad to say that we did not feel much extra strain on our hospitality resources. (Our two houses, which were untouched by flood damage, are the only on-going emergency shelters in the immediate area.) Local churches and organizations immediately stepped in to see how they could help. An impromptu resource center was organized to give out food, cleaning supplies and referral information. Almost immediately, friends and neighbors were putting up families who had homes damaged or destroyed.

We are grateful to all those who thought of us and our guests in this time. We are grateful too to see the spirit of hospitality and the works of mercy alive and well in Winona. Truly it was a chance to see Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day’s vision of a Christ room in every house become a reality.

Our Newest Member, Becky: Living with Thankfulness Every Day (Fall 2007)

If you happen to be a youth minister or a high school teacher and you wonder if what you do makes any difference in young people’s lives, you should talk with Becky Lambert, the newest member of our Catholic Worker live-in community.

According to Becky, her youth minister at a suburban Chicago parish introduced her to the most life-changing experiences. “Our group went to help at Nazareth Farm in West Virginia in my junior year. It was my first experience with poverty and its impact on families,” she says. The farm in Appalachia was a support and resource for the local people, who were desperately poor. “It completely changed everything for me. After that, I wanted to be involved in some kind of service for the rest of my life.”

Under the guidance of her youth minister, many service trips and opportunities followed—food pantries, soup kitchens, a shelter for homeless people that rotated among the local churches. And when Becky’s own family endured hard times for several years due to her father’s serious illness, the youth group was there to support her. Many neighbors and friends pitched in with food and other necessities to help them get by. “What really got me was the realization that if not for all those people who helped us, we could have been in a similar desperate situation as those folks in Appalachia,” she says. “I wanted to be thankful from then on—to give as much as I could with my life.”

Besides her youth minister, Becky’s sociology and history teachers in the public high school inspired her. “They brought up things that no one else did. They caused you to question things, like why people in the inner city were poor, why there were no jobs for them, why some turned to drugs.” More and more, Becky found herself challenging the way things “had to be” in society.

After high school, she spent a year and a half at a community college close to home, but soon she realized she needed a broader experience. So for seven months, she worked with a group of four nuns in Davenport, Iowa, helping out with a soup kitchen and a shelter. The sisters were “totally radical,” and they invited her to join them in weekly peace vigils, which she did.

Becky came to Saint Mary’s University on the recommendation of her friend and former youth group member Kendall Marsden. There, she, Kendall, Diane Leutgeb, and Mike Munson (the latter two now our live-in couple at Bethany House), grew in their commitments through the SMU Peace and Justice group and by volunteering with the Winona Catholic Worker. Becky volunteered weekly at Dan Corcoran House for the next three-and-a-half years.

After graduating, “I felt a strong calling to join the CW community. I had never before had a sense of God calling me to something in particular, but this was it—and it still is. My faith has grown so much, and the community here has been a wonderful support in that.” Now, with the community, she begins each day with prayer. “The meditation and reflection start out my day like I’ve never experienced. It helps to know that God is with me all during the day.”

A couple of challenges confronted Becky when she decided to join the community. First, she wanted to live and work at the Dan Corcoran House, where she had visited with so many families throughout college. But because that house could not be opened with just one volunteer living in it, instead she joined Diane and Mike at Bethany House, where the guests are single men. How did it work out? “I went in with trepidation,” she remembers, “but after I met everyone I felt just fine. I feel comfortable relating to the men. They’re open and accepting of me, and we respect each other.”

The other challenge was the reality of living in community. “I couldn’t imagine how I would fit within a community. I thought I was more solitary, and I’ve always lived alone, even in college. But now I can’t imagine living without a community.”

Becky is a willing worker. “I love working with my hands,” she says. She digs right in, whether with gardening, tackling a huge stack of dishes, or working on the “green” straw-bale house that the Freids and others are building outside Lake City.

So what advice does a young woman who has been inspired to join the Catholic Worker have to offer to other young people? “Be open, and realize that your life is not just about you. The world is filled with people who are struggling and trying to just get by. Whatever path you choose, don’t let it be a solitary one. There’s so much more to life.”

We’re grateful that Becky has chosen the Winona Catholic Worker as her path of community and solidarity at this point in her life. Welcome, Becky!

Barbara Allaire