HCH photo courtesy of Matthew Flynn
Danny O’Regan, left, and Matthew Flynn outside the Newman Center at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
New Catholic Worker community seeks help getting started on Oahu
By Matthew Flynn | Special to the Herald
Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin started the Catholic Worker Movement in New York in 1933 during the Great Depression as an attempt to present and live the social teaching of the Catholic Church. Today, its “houses of hospitality” across the United States and the globe are places where the “least” can find true hospitality and love — plus food, shelter, clothing, medical care and other necessities.
Catholic Worker newspapers speak for the poor, downcast and otherwise voiceless members of society, championing peace, justice, voluntary poverty, human dignity and respect for the environment. Catholic Worker farms allow people to return to the earth and to skilled labor, embracing their role as stewards of creation.
The Worker is a lay movement that combines elements that have existed in church tradition for centuries, including Benedictine hospitality and Franciscan poverty.
South Bend to Honolulu
Last October, I moved to Honolulu from South Bend, Ind., where I had lived in a Catholic Worker community for 14 months, providing hospitality for the homeless and practicing the faith I had studied at the University of Notre Dame. It was my hope that living there would not only be an opportunity to live out the Gospel, but also teach me more about my faith and help me grow as a Christian in faith, hope and love.
That year I was transformed little by little, painfully and joyfully. I learned how difficult and freeing Christ’s words, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,” are. I became friends with alcoholics and addicts (reformed and unreformed) and learned what it means to be part of a true community (oftentimes resembling a large, dysfunctional family). Franciscan poverty and Benedictine hospitality, work and prayer became the standards for which I strove. I was confronted by my own sinfulness, my own brokenness.
Homeless and lonely
Mike Baxter, one of the South Bend community’s founders, said on retreat one day, “We are all homeless.” He was right: Our ultimate home is in heaven, so we are always searching for a sacramental home here. Day, in her autobiography “The Long Loneliness,” wrote, “We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community.” In 14 short months, I found a spiritual home, a family and lifelong friends, some of whom are intentionally avoided on the street. These people were instrumental in my continual conversion and made even the dark times light.
When I moved to Honolulu to be near my fiancée, I met Danny O’Regan, Logan Laituri, Danny Washle and Matt Linden. We all share a concern for the impoverished population in Hawaii, a desire to confront our sins and those of society, and a dream of doing so by living out Christ’s words and following his example and that of the saints. So, together, we have been working toward starting a Catholic Worker in Honolulu, meeting weekly for prayer and discussion at the Newman Center at the University of Hawaii-Manoa.
One of our first acts was to choose as our patron St. Damien, not only because he lived here, but also because he dedicated his life to living Christ’s Gospel, serving the outcasts of society and striving for justice. He is an ideal patron for any Catholic Worker anywhere, and to him we entrust our mission. We held a forum in the spring to introduce the Catholic Worker and our community and to get feedback and suggestions.
Now we are starting a Catholic Worker newspaper for the island of Oahu. We hope in the near future to be able to establish a house of hospitality for the homeless as well. All Catholic Worker communities rely on a vast array of individuals in their area for support and funding. It is our hope that members of this diocese will step forward to lend a hand in our efforts. However, the most important thing that anyone can do to help is to pray fervently for our community, our discernment and the successful working of the Spirit within us and within our society.
Contributions welcome
One quality of a Catholic Worker that I did not develop very well in South Bend was my ability (or, rather, willingness) to beg; however, you probably know even better than we do how expensive and difficult it is to live here. Any kind of contribution to our work is appreciated, monetary or otherwise. Right now, we need help with our paper: writing articles, doing artwork, editing, distributing, paying costs and probably more besides — we don’t even have an office.
In order to start a house of hospitality, we will need a house, a vehicle, all sorts of supplies, helping hands, and a few more willing community members. (We are especially lopsided with respect to gender, though more men are, of course, welcome). This may sound like a haphazard way to start a project, but the Spirit and the saints always provide. “Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find.”
Please send your comments and inquiries to StDamien House@gmail.com.
St. Damien, pray for us!