The Catholic Worker here is beautiful: not so much the outward aesthetics of the place, though the icons of civil rights heroes decorating the walls do add a certain charm, but the people who make up the community. In a way, the Worker feels like Martin Luther King Jr.'s beloved community: a place where everyone belongs. As a result, much goodness but also brokenness is apparent. Some people cannot hide the latter; this often leads to marginalization, we do not want to busy ourselves or deal with the problems of the beggar, but in this community where all are embraced these problems are necessarily faced. Brokenness plagues the human experience and so facing it everyday is a constant lesson on being human. I am learning to be human and therefore more myself through the poor I encounter and cannot avoid.
My friend Anna asked me the other day why I liked the Catholic Worker so much, this is one reason.
Peace,
Elliot
P.S. The community has a large focus on social justice and so practices much "resistance." Here is some artwork I really like by Bread and Puppet which decorates the community:
This morning we had a peace vigil in Union Square where we sang songs and held a banner that said: "Imagine a World Without War." The last song we sang was one of my favorites. Here is a rendition of it by the great Pete Seeger: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJUkOLGLgwg
If you want more information about the Catholic Worker here is a good link: http://www.catholicworker.org/
