Dorothy Day lives on
This Web only Speakout has not been edited.
Randle Loeb
Published July 1, 2008 at 6 a.m.
In 1978 Anna Koop and Dorothy Day, tireless leaders for the human rights and dignity of people with little else for which to claim a foothold in our society, opened the Catholic Worker House across from the Blair Caldwell Library and the stop along Welton Street of the RTD light rail. The position of this small dwelling in the midst of gentrification of the condos all around and the expansion of the Business Improvement District, which the mayor had planned to build into a renaissance of industry, was an eye sore to the developers of the neighborhood.
For many years the Sisters of Loretta and the community of faith gathered to stem the tide of progress, preserving this symbol of obstinate freedom, and the rights and dignity of the poor.
Inside, one is struck by the quality of life for these families and individuals who share meals and break bread, do the chores and care for themselves alongside the catholic worker staff. They receive no state or municipal revenue. Their motto is that, “if you need a place to stay and there is room, that they welcome you, no questions asked. There is no waiting list for applying and no application for admission. If there is a space, you sign a chore schedule and agree to be about the effort of changing your life. There is no pressure and there are no other requirements religious or otherwise.
Inside the Catholic Worker House you can dress with dignity because you are in your own room and you close your door and rest in your own bed. You use the community room as your living room to entertain guests. You agree to cook a meal once a week and to do a chore. You cannot have substances and you have to be out by 9 a.m. to go to school, to work or be trained for employment. You are asked to join the community meal at 5 p.m. and you have to be in by 9 p.m.
When I stayed there in 2000, I was in the basement with a man who has lived there since he was first on the doorstep of the soup kitchen. We shared these quiet and dusky surroundings for more than a year. I was working for the Colorado High School of Denver and then for the Catholic Worker Used Furniture Thrift Store Plus. I drove the truck, stocked the place where the St. Francis Center is about to create forty units of housing and worked for the Denver Voice newspaper for the homeless. In the Catholic Worker program we used to make pine boxes and urns for those who died who could not afford the price of burial. The Catholic Worker always believed in the worth and dignity of all people and did not see any distinction between the resident and the staff. All live together in rooms side by side.
Dorothy Day said once, “The problem with society is the filthy, rotten system.” She believed that you embrace the destitute as kin that you listen to them and offer a safe and accessible place for all people regardless of gender identification, family constituency, personal history, and social problems. The Catholic Worker House was the only place in the City and County of Denver to offer a place where a whole family, any couple could live in a guesthouse. No one else dared to challenge the stereotype that conventionally separates men and women from their children or defines a relationship between two people.
As we honor the best of Five Points we proudly hail the Catholic Worker House as a place of hope and decency. In a time where more and more the political will and vested business interests trump common values of sharing and care, this is a rare and uncompromising community of faith in the dignity and worth of all our citizens.
Randle Loeb is a resident of Denver.
Randle Loeb is a resident of Denver.
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