Volume 3, # 3
VOTF PERSPECTIVES
December 8, 2006
Blowing the
Dynamite of the Church:
What Can VOTF
Learn from the Catholic Worker Movement?
A review by Jack Rakosky of
The Catholic Worker
Movement: Intellectual and Spiritual Origins
by Mark and Louise
Zwick
Paulist Press, 2005. List
$29.95 (Amazon, $19.77)
Mark and Louise Zwick are
the founders of the Houston Catholic Worker.
They are also the founders and
editors
of the Houston Catholic
Worker newspaper.
“It is our hope that through this book readers will
become acquainted
with the richness of thought, contemplation and action
that inspired and characterized the Catholic Worker movement.”
“Dorothy
(Day) and Peter (Maurin) shared the ideas of great thinkers
and models of
Christian witness with readers of their newspaper,
The Catholic Worker
and applied the
reflections to the problems and crises of the day.”
“They engaged in studies
of the early church
and its saints of every generation in order to
discover
within the Catholic tradition an expression of the heart of the
faith
that drew and impelled them
to not only write about but to live the
gospel
in person and in community with the poorest of the poor.”
-from
the author’s Introduction
“If the Catholic Church is not today
the dominant
social dynamic force
it is
because
Catholic scholars have taken the dynamite of the Church
and
wrapped it up in nice phraseology
placed it in an hermetic container
and
sat on the lid.
It is about time to blow the lid off
so the Catholic
Church
may again become the dominant social force”
Peter Maurin wrote those words in the 1930’s.
Since
then Vatican II has indeed blown a lot of dynamite
to make the Catholic
Church more relevant.
Also many have tried their best to wrap up the
dynamite
and get it back into an hermetic container
and sit on the
lid.
Mark and Louise Zwick write in their book
“The
Catholic Worker was and is a lay movement
without official status in the
church
and without formally defined leadership.”
However this lay movement long before
did much to blow the dynamite of the
Catholic Church.
According to the authors , Dorothy
Day has been called
“the most significant, interesting and influential person
in the history of American Catholicism”
and “the most outstanding lay
Catholic of the twentieth Century.”
The author’s write that Peter
Maurin was described as
“the
best-read man that he had ever met”
by the Jesuit who edited
“He can cram more truth into your cranium at high
speed
in a single hour that any
ordinary person in a week”
said John Moody of Moody’s Investors.
His
obituaries were found not only in The Industrial Worker,
which was on the
government’s list of subversive organizations
but also on the front page of the
VOTF as a movement has much to learn
from the
Catholic Worker movement.
Peter Maurin said “We are an organism not an
organization.”
The Zwicks help us to understand this statement in Peter’s own
words.
Peter Maurin had been a part of a lay movement in
Concerning that movement,
Peter said,
“There was no enrollment, no dues, no rules, no
elections.
One entered freely
and left freely.
No one received a salary, but there were indemnities for
personal needs.
The ablest rose to leadership not by being elected
but
by the sheer force of their knowledge and personality.”
This way of doing things was very consistent
with the philosophy of communitarian personalism
that was central to
Maurin’s thinking.
Personalism put great emphasis
upon both personal
freedom and personal responsibility
Peter’s personalism was communitarian
rather than individualistic,
summed up by his saying
that Christians are
“go-givers” rather than “go-getters.”
This communitarian personalism philosophy
found
expression in the Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality.
Peter said, “each
house should stand or fall on its own merits.”
“He wanted no central control,
no vows.”
The Zwicks suggest Peter might have been
influenced
by St. Philip Neri
whose Oratory affiliates were not highly
organized.
“Let each house live by its own vitality
or perish by its own
decrepitude” said Neri
Given the great emphasis upon personal initiative and
responsibility
and the independence of each House of Hospitality
what kept
the Catholic Worker Movement together?
Certainly the Catholic Worker Newspaper was one
essential ingredient.
Peter wanted to call it The Catholic Radical,
but
Dorothy’s concern for 25% unemployment prevailed.
Peter saw it as the vehicle
for just his own ideas
and resigned from the editorial board
complaining
“Everybody’s newspaper is nobody’s newspaper.”
However, Peter
did continue to do his Easy Essays,
saying of Dorothy
“Man proposes; woman
disposes.”
Dorothy understood her role as well as that of the
newspaper.
“We are called, we have a vocation, we have a talent.
It is up
to us to develop that.
Mine for instance is journalism writing
and it is
only because of the paper ..
that Houses of Hospitality and farming
communes … came into being”
Dorothy was considered a saint by many.
When asked
what she thought about the possibility of being canonized
she expressed the
hope that she would not be dismissed so easily.
Often the Catholic Worker
movement
has been dismissed easily
as simply good persons doing good for
the poor and for peace
.
While the Zwicks acknowledge the centrality
of
all the Corporeal and Spiritual Works of Mercy
to the Catholic Worker
movement
the twofold contribution of their book on
the depth and
relevance of the Catholic Worker Movement
is captured by the words in the
book’s title
“Intellectual and Spiritual Origins”
The
Catholic worker movement was
an intellectual movement not defined by and
confined to intellectuals
and a spiritual movement not defined by and
confined to the pious.
Rather it combined both deep intellectuality and deep
spirituality
with constant, patient and persistent
activism.
The first contribution of the book is identifying the
intellectual foundations,
breath and substance of the Catholic Worker
Movement
What Peter Maurin called “clarification of
thought”
the uniting of thinking and doing
was an essential element of
his program.
Monasticism, especially Irish monasticism
with its
emphasis upon intellectual and physical labor
provided the model for
“making laborers out of scholars, and scholars out of laborers,”
or we
might say,
making doers out of thinkers and thinkers out of
doers.
Peter Maurin himself kept in touch with the academic and
business world.
Many speakers visited the houses of hospitality.
The
Catholic Worker Movement
drew
upon current scholarship in a variety of fields
for its self
understanding
as the Zwick’s document extensively chapter after chapter.
Just as monasticism renewed
the Catholic
Worker movement saw itself as renewing labor
after the Industrial
Revolution.
Virgil Michel of
drew
connections between the liturgy and social justice.
He became a strong ally,
giving them Liturgical Press books,
and bringing the Catholic Worker
movement into the liturgical movement.
The emphasis upon freedom in the philosophy of Berydaev
and the
emphasis upon the person in the philosophy of Emmanuel Mounier
contributed to
the strong encouragement of personal responsibility
that gave a flavor of
anarchy to the Catholic Worker movement.
If someone saw something that
needed to be done
such as to take out the garbage
he or she was strongly
encouraged to take personal responsibility about it
rather than just talk or
complain about it.
The Catholic Worker movement was never very disturbed
that many of its members had a variety of ideas and strategies.
The
Catholic Worker was everyone’s newspaper.
The
bottom line was to think and then take personal
responsibility.
The Zwicks also provide abundant evidence
the
spiritual breath and depth of the Catholic Worker Movement
and the many
spiritual sources and resources that fed the members.
From early
monasticism and its varied forms
which interrelated hermits and community
life
they found support for their ideal of communitarian personalism
From
Benedictine monasticism they found support for their ideals
of hospitality,
liturgy and manual work.
From Irish Monasticism
Peter Maurin derived the
ideal of cult, culture, and cultivation,
i.e. uniting prayer, study and
work.
The movement saw Saint Francis of
as a model of non-violence.
He
had forbidden the lay associates of his order
to bear arms except in the
defense of the church.
Effectively, Francis had begun to demolish the feudal
order
since laity attracted to his order
could not pledge military
service, i.e. be vassals to anyone.
Teresa of Avila was seen as a
model
of the union of a life of
active reform with the contemplative life.
Peter Maurin encouraged Dorothy
Day
to be a modern Catherine of
confronting both church and civil
rulers of our time.
Although Dorothy did confront when necessary
she also
greatly admired Therese of Lisieux’s Little Way
and spent much of her time
attending to the needs of the people
that came to the Houses of
Hospitality.
Finally an annual retreat modeled
on the first week of
the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius
was an important focus of the
Catholic Worker Movement.
In summary, the movement dug its roots
deeply into
the spiritual heritage of Catholicism
unearthing many treasures
that were
relevant to Christian life in general
and its mission in
particular.
What can VOTF learn from the Catholic Worker
Movement?
First, like
the Catholic Worker Movement’s
emphasis upon personalism
VOTF should emphasize
the dignity and
value of each VOTF member,
the importance of each member’s personal
responsibility and initiative,
that everyone is a leader
both within
and outside of VOTF.
We are
living in a period of great organizational and institutional change
Many
organizations are concluding that
leadership can no longer be the province
of a few
and leadership development is essential for everyone in the
organization.
Catholicism is in a period of great organization
change
with the declining numbers of priests and religious
and the growing
numbers of deacons and lay ministers..
VOTF members are highly educated and talented
with
extensive involvement in church activities.
Our members are accustomed to
being leaders.
Therefore VOTF should operate so that great emphasis is paced
upon
each member’s personal initiative and leadership
both within and
outside the organization.
The Catholic Worker Movement
understood that all
social reform whether of church or society
has to begin with the
transformation of the each person.
Because of its opposition to
communism
the movement was very aware that people had to reform
institutions.
They understood that Communist use of collective institutional
means
to reform institutions and
people was a bad idea.
All Catholics today have to assume leadership
responsibility for Catholicism
We will not reform the Church
solely by
replacing the present set of leaders with new leaders
or solely by some
structural changes however desirable they such changes may be.
At
its core, VOTF as a movement, must become the model for individual Catholics
assuming personal responsibility and leadership in the
Church
Secondly, like
the Catholic Worker movement
with its communitarian emphasis and autonomy of
each organizational unit
VOTF
should emphasize personal networks
and the autonomy of each
Affiliate
VOTF needs a wide
variety of affiliates at all levels
operating as personal networks in
parishes cities, and regions
as well as across dioceses, states and the
nation.
All affiliates at whatever geographical level need to operate
as
workgroups and teams where there is
great tolerance for personal differences
and viewpoints
where everyone’s talents and ideas and used,
and where
great emphasis is placed upon personal relationships
and the development of
social networks
for both present and future possibilities.
Third, just as
the Catholic Worker Newspaper
was essential for creating and
maintaining
the Catholic Worker Movement
so the internet in various
forms
is the key to creating and maintaining a common culture
of
communication among VOTF members
and for attracting new members.
Today the internet offers an
inexpensive means
of communication not only among members
but also with
non members.
However in order to be successful both for maintaining and
strengthening VOTF
the writing must be addressed to nonmembers as well as
members.
The writing must have the intellectual depth
by using much
scholarly material in a variety of disciplines.
The writing must have great
spiritual depth based upon our tradition
especially the many spiritualities
and lives of the saints.
The Catholic Worker was more than a newsletter and
publicity release,
it gave both members and the public
as solid
intellectual and spiritual formation.
Fourth, VOTF must integrate thinking and
doing
and become an intellectual movement
that is not confined to intellectuals and
academics
but is composed of activists
whose see thinking as essential to doing.
The intellectual activity of the Catholic worker
movement
primarily drew from the humanities
especially theology,
philosophy, history and literature
There is a much larger intellectual world
to cover today.
There are not only the social sciences
by many
professional disciplines
and a vast store of corporate and business
knowledge
that can provide Catholic leaders
with a well rounded view of
the world
and ways to be effective leaders.
Fifth and
finally, VOTF must integrate spirituality and doing
and be a spiritual
movement
that grounds itself in the cultural capital of
Catholicism
especially the rich spiritual traditions of religious
orders
and the lives of the saints.
Catholicism is not simply an institution or
organization.
It is a complex culture consisting of many
spiritualities
and a complex set of organizations
parochial, diocesan,
religious orders,
educational and social institutions
and a billion
members many of them saints.
The claim to speak for Catholicism
resides
not in the occupancy
of some organizational position
but in those who
know and live the tradition
ultimately in those who are saints for
today.
The Catholic Worker Movement
understood that the best way to be a
Catholic
was to be grounded in the rich spiritual heritage
of the
religious orders and the saints.
They did not spend a lot of time with
bishops
and other administrators
but they did develop relationships
with thoughtful and spiritual people
whether priests, religious or
laity.
Blowing the
dynamite of the Church
is a deeply intellectual
and
spiritual
activity.