Coffee with Catholic Workers

After years in the movement living in and out of different communities Maria Bergh moves home to New York to start her own Catholic Worker community: Naples Valley Community Farm. Maria talks about what it means to be a Catholic Worker, feeling welcomed and valued in the movement, and what led her to start a community alone.

Sara and Paul from Lake City CW Farm tell their Catholic Worker journey from college to Duluth to building their strawbale house and creating a thriving kombucha business while raising a family, providing hospitality and jobs, rebuilding the soil through regenerative agriculture, and tasting the variety of flavors provided by the Driftless region of SE Minnesota.

Chrissy and Lincoln, who work for the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, talk about how they learned about war tax resistance after joining the Catholic Worker, what it looks like for different folks, and why it is growing in popularity.

Bill and Diane who were involved with Catholic Worker houses in Texas decades ago become involved again when a multicultural hospitality house serving refugees opens blocks from them in Iowa City. They talk about their journey and what the works of mercy look like in Iowa City.

In this episode Brenna, Ben, and Sheila share their experiences about travelling to the West Bank recently as a Catholic Worker delegation to do accompaniment work with the International Solidariy Movement. If you're interested in learning about being a part of a future delegation reach out to Brenna at [email protected].

Fumi Tosu joins us this episode to talk about the difference between starting a new house and continuing the work of an existing community, the name of the new Portland Catholic Worker community, and how his family history has influenced his peace activism.

In this episode Allyson and Lincoln from Little Platte CW talk about their new Catholic Worker Farm and how their previous experiences in community inform their intentionality in slowly building a strong foundation for a sustainable community.

On this episode Lydia and Theo are in conversation with Daniel Delapava, Dan Justman, and Quinn Smith from St Francis House in Chicago. They chat their preparations for St. Francis House’s 50th Birthday, the national gathering to celebrate that occasion, and what its been like to look back at the history of the house.

In this episode we chat by phone with Regina Bambrick-Rust to learn about what it's like living off grid, and largely without electricity. We explore the ethical framework behind some of these decisions and hear about the efforts happening to build a larger extended off grid community.

In this episode we talk with Mary and Diane from the Winona, MN Catholic Worker about the origin of the community, how it has evolved over the years, and why a decentralized community model is the key to its current success and sustainability.