Zac and I first lived in a Catholic Worker house in 1996 in Rock Island, IL. The Dorothy Day CW house in Rock Island (DDCW) was established by Chuck Trapkus, his wife Kim, and Mary VandeVoorde on Christmas Eve sometime in the 1980s to provide overnight hospitality for homeless women and families. Drawn to the house by the community's dedication to simple Luddite living, Christian community, and organic gardening, I moved us and most of our possessions from Athens, Ohio in a black primered 1977 VW van (very Plain!) to a room off the kitchen and dining room. Talk about Grand Central Station! We stayed there for two and a half years before we moved to Dubuque, IA to Hope House CW to do more of the same.
In Jan. 2002 Chris, Zac, Siobhan, and I moved into the rectory of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Rock Island at the behest of Fr. Larry Morlan. The rectory had been a CW house of hospitality and continued to serve an evening meal five nights a week to anyone in need of a meal or companionship. At this time the DDCW still had an active live-in community.
We moved into our current home the week of Thanksgiving 2004 with Chris' brother and sister-in-law in the upstairs apartment and our family in the lower. Around this time the DDCW folded and became the St. Joseph the Worker House, a 501(c)3 non-profit house of hospitality for homeless women and children.
It's a long and convoluted story as to why our family declined taking over the DDCW house, but suffice it to say, we decided to embark on our own journey without the entanglement of expectations from outside.
Next up: Can you still be a Catholic Worker when you don't live in a house of hospitality with a shingle?
i am trying to contact fr. larry morlan. do you have any relevant information?
ReplyDeleteSorry, I don't at this time. It has been about a year since we've heard anything.
Delete