You Had to Be There By Joan Wages

About nine years ago, my family took our first step toward the Catholic Worker Movement, although we didn’t know it at the time.  To make a long story short, we woke up to the fact that we were living a lie. We realized that making our living through the defense industry was in direct opposition to the Gospel.  So my husband (Don), quit his job with Lockheed Martin, we sold our house and many of our belongings, and we moved to the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. ..to live a simpler life. After we arrived in Virginia, I remember feeling a tremendous sense of relief and a carefree feeling.  What a joy it was to be starting down a fresh path!

Over the next six years, I found myself wanting to learn more about nonviolence and how it has been lived out in community.  This led me to the life of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement.  In the summer of 2009, I spent ten days with some wonderful folks at the Des Moines Catholic Worker. It was a summer “internship” program, aimed at providing a short immersion experience in the life of a Catholic Worker community.  When I returned to my family afterwards, I felt a bit odd and a bit alone. No matter what I told them about the experience, I knew I wasn’t doing it justice.  It was one of those times where “you had to be there.”   All I could say was, “living in a Catholic Worker community is a great way to play a part in the Gospel story” and “if we really want to live out our faith, we should consider joining the Catholic Worker movement.”

Since that time, I have been looking for ways that we could start down that path as a family.  We started dipping our toe in by attending Catholic Worker (CW) retreats a couple of times a year, participating in various forms of peace witness as a family and getting to know many CW folks from Virginia and North Carolina.  My sons always look forward to attending these and ask me regularly, “Mom, when is the next CW retreat?”  

Meanwhile Don and I have had sporadic discussions about the possibility of starting or joining a Catholic Worker community.   Late last winter Don said that he didn’t see himself doing it, because he wants to continue his work as a public school teacher.  But, he said he would consider the possibility of getting involved somehow during the summer months, when school is not in session.  Well, the Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways, because it wasn’t but just a week or two later, during a visit to the Norfolk Catholic Worker, that Steve mentioned to me that he and Kim were looking for someone to “keep things going” at the house this summer, while they take a family trip. As Steve shared more about their travel plans, he casually inserted “and if there is a 1 in 640,000 chance that you and Don would like to help us out, then we would welcome it.”

Well there was a 1 in 640,000 chance--- and we took it. This summer, all together as a family, we were immersed in the life and work of the Norfolk Catholic Worker community.   It was a wonderful!  But don’t ask me to describe it here, because “you just had to be there.”  All I can say is, “living in a Catholic Worker community is a great way to play a part in the Gospel story” and “if you really want to live out your faith, you should consider joining the Catholic Worker movement. “