Category: Catholic Worker movement

In June, 1939, the Catholic Worker began its seventh year of publication. In that issue, Dorothy Day joyfully announced that throughout the United States, there were twenty-two houses of hospitality, two farming communities and thirteen cells where the ideas of the Catholic Worker movement were discussed and practiced daily. One of these houses of hospitality, called the Matt Talbot house, was located in the downtown area of Worcester, Massachusetts. The purpose of this article is to explore the formation, development and termination of the Matt Talbot house and its community. How did this group of diverse and conscientious Catholics come together? How did they understand the Worker philosophy of personalism? What were the tensions and transformations within the community? In what ways did this experience affect their lives and visions? Continue reading “A History of the First Catholic Worker Community in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1939-40”

Locations

• Blessed Sacrament Church (551 Pleasant Street, Worcester, MA 01602) (Friday – Sunday)
• Hogan Campus Center (College of the Holy Cross, 1 College St, Worcester, MA 01610) (Saturday)
• The Mustard Seed (93 Piedmont Street, Worcester, MA 01609) (Sunday)

Friday, October 21

• 2:30pm – 9:30pm: Registration at the Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church.
• 4:30pm – 5:30pm: Talk at Rehm Library, College of the Holy Cross. Holy Cross alums speak about the Catholic Worker movement. Facilitated by David O’Brien, Holy Cross Professor Emeritus, and Frank Kartheiser, Holy Cross alumnus and co-founder of Worcester’s Mustard Seed.
• 6:00pm: Dinner at the Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church.
• 7:00pm – 9:00pm: Welcoming and presentation from the Mustard Seed community. The Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church.

Saturday, October 22

• Breakfast will be served at the various places people are staying.
• Morning prayer at Blessed Sacrament Church.
• 8:30am – noon: Registration. Hogan Center, College of the Holy Cross.
• 9:00am – 11:30am: Welcome and morning plenary. Hogan Center. Morning plenary: “Works of Mercy, Pacifism and the Green Revolution: Reflections from Catholic Workers on the Movement’s Charisms.” Presenters include: Mike Boover, Matt Harper, Martha Hennessy, Joanne Kennedy, Theo Kayser, Rosalie Riegle, Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, and Brian Terrell.
• 11:30am: Update on the canonization process for Dorothy Day, from the Dorothy Day Guild. Hogan Center.
• Noon: Lunch at the Hogan Center for those who have signed up.
• 1:30pm – 3:00pm: Workshops session 1, Hogan Center. Small group workshops.
• 3:30pm – 5:00pm: Workshops session 2, Hogan Center. Small group workshops.
• 5:30pm: Dinner at the Hogan Center.
• 7:00pm: Talent show in the Hogan Center ballroom.
• 9:00pm – 11pm: Dance party in the Hogan Center ballroom with DJ with Arnie Hamm.

Sunday, October 23

• 9:00am: Breakfast at the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker soup kitchen.
• 11:30am: Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church.

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The 2022 Catholic Worker National Gathering is October 21 – 23 in Worcester, Massachusetts. A lot of it is happening around Holy Cross and also the Mustard Seed soup kitchen, in honor of the Seed’s 50th anniversary. It’s been 12 years since this last happened in Worcester.

Here’s the latest draft of the schedule. To register, click here.

There will be a day-long conference on Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker movement this week at Holy Cross College, in Worcester, Mass.

At 4:30pm at the Rehm Library is a public presentation by Robert Ellsberg and George Horton.

Mr. Ellsberg was managing editor of the Catholic Worker newspaper during the last years of Dorothy Day’s life. As editor-in-chief and publisher at Orbis Books, he’s written extensively about her, and edited books of her diaries and letters.

Mr. Horton is a Holy Cross alum who serves as Catholic Charities New York Director of the Department of Social and Community Development. He is working on Dorothy Day’s sainthood cause on behalf of the New York Archdiocese.