Our House at Rock Creek Church Road had been given to the local Catholic Worker community in 1981 by a Catholic religious order that no longer used it as a residence for seminarians studying at nearby Catholic University. One of their points of pride as they celebrated their 100th anniversary last Spring was to bring two busloads of their sustainers to visit their historic generalate/our house of hospitality.
Upon receiving the 11 bedroom house, it was readily decided to use it as a house of hospitality for homeless families as well as a residence for individuals opting to live as Catholic Workers.
Dorothy Day Catholic Worker gets a lot of mileage out of the money provided to it by benefactors. Like so many of you, Dorothy Day Catholic Worker has been through many of the adventures and anxieties the covid pandemic has visited upon us over the last few years, changing the way it does things as needed but continuing with the basic hospitality to families in need and prophetic witness to Gospel nonviolence in season and out that has been our hallmark for forty years.
Our Community is a small group of Catholic Workers living in community assisting several families and praying and acting for peace and justice as a routine of life, embracing the Consistent Life ethic.
We strive to live up to the Catholic Worker charism promulgated for 90 years since its 1933 founding by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, valuing the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, the primacy of the spiritual and the Gospel nonviolence that Our Savior incarnated in His pilgrimage on earth.
The Catholic Worker movement is grounded in a commitment to “personalism” which is the firm belief in the God-given dignity of every human being. We put faith into action by operating Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House to provide Gospel-based “hospitality” to people who are homeless, hungry, and otherwise forsaken by a society rife with inequality. Members of the DDCW carry out works of mercy as they protest injustice in all its forms.
Our Hospitality
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. (Hebrews 13:1-2)
We provide open-ended hospitality for families in need, allowing them assurance of a place to live and meals. Our families often come to us with significant needs. For many years the Dorothy Day House shared a meal each Thursday afternoon with those experiencing homelessness at McPherson Sq. Since the pandemic, friends from Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish in Arlington, VA have now taken the lead in this Feast on the Street Ministry.
We have endeavored to continue our primary services to families and neighbors, despite the impact of the pandemic and intend to do so in 2023. Those primary services include providing basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter to underserved populations in our neighborhood and city and witnessing the Gospel in action.