A lifestyle blog?

After glancing over my last two posts, my husband says to me, "So, you're just putting it all out there, huh?"
Yes, I suppose I did. It wasn't my intent to start blogging again and pour my heart out in every post, however, it wasn't until I hashed out my thoughts through the last two posts that I was able to start thinking about what I do what to spend the majority of my time writing about.
Certainly, this blog is first and foremost Catholic, and I make no apologies for that. However, I would like to include information that I think would be of value to a much broader audience. I suppose if my incorporation of the Church's social teachings in my posts turns people away, I'll just have to live with it. But it is my goal to show how what on the surface seem to be distantly related topics (homesteading, distributism, simple living, Catholic values, etc) can all be brought together under the Catholic Worker umbrella into a coherent whole, or a complete lifestyle, if that makes sense. I think many people would be surprised to learn that the Church has historically supported what is now considered trendy, ie making do with less, supporting local businesses, and entrepreneurship, just to name a few.
With these thoughts in mind, I've added a few new widgets. Check out my Google Reader page for articles of interest. There's also a Google Calendar link. I've updated a liturgical calendar, plus I hope to add upcoming events such as farmers markets, county fairs, classes and more as a resource. The calendar is public so please feel free to add an event that may be of interest to my readers, or email me and I will personally.
I'll be attempting to post reviews of some books that have been especially helpful in our adjustment to homesteading, plus some observations on developments around our plot of Earth. If I'm confident enough, maybe even a how-to post or video.
Lastly, homeschooling is a large part of what I do around here. While I still have a lot to learn, I hope to share resources I've found to be helpful and techniques that have worked with my young children. But I'm always open to suggestions so please, don't hesitate to pass them along!
In time, I hope this site becomes a resource for those who hope to create the types of Catholic Worker farms and families that Maurin and Day originally envisioned. The CW movement was never meant to stay in the cities, though the work done there is some of its most well known and commendable. There is a way for the rest of us to incorporate the CW principles into our lives without running off to NYC.

Bob Waldrop-Who I Hope to be When I Grow Up

Here is a link to a presentation by Bob Waldrop, of the Catholic Worker house in Oklahoma City. He spoke at Our Lady of the Annunciation Monastery at Clear Creek; a traditional Benedictine order with a growing community of Catholic agrarians popping up around it.
We briefly toyed with the idea of running away to Oklahoma during our dismal house search but decided against it; at least for now.
Waldrop runs a great Worker house, and his presence at Clear Creek shows that the values of the Catholic Worker Movement do not run contrary to traditional Catholic values. Just because some liberals hijacked Day as their mascot and twisted her message or used what suited their views du jour, the Catholic Worker Movement is just what it says-Catholic, to the core.
If I can create in my own way even half of the good that Waldrop does out his way, I'll be lucky.

A tub and trendy values

I'm finally caught up on laundry, but only because my husbands turned off the water to the washer. I'm done with dishes for the night, but only because we ate dinner on paper plates. And now as I prepare to unwind for the evening, my husband informs me that he's just going to redo all the plumbing to the downstairs bathroom and washer. No big deal. This is the bathroom renovation project that never ends. With a lot of luck and even more prayers, we just might be able to bathe in a tub by the end of the week. But, that's what I thought last week before I realized the entire underside of our quaint clawfoot tub was rusted and had to be stripped, primed with two coats of Rust Bullet and painted with two coats of latex. And the drywall installation took a bit longer as well. Last time my husband and I owned a home we could make our own we were newlyweds with lots of time (aka no children) but little funds. Now, although not rich, we've saved up money for home repairs but we've got no free time and the minutes we eek out here and there are constantly sabotaged by these four. Notice the quality rusted seating.

Oh a lighter note, country living is all I hoped it'd be. Lots of fresh air and open space for the kids and lots of wildlife to explore; outside and inside our home. Like bats. If you've watched 'The Great Outdoors' with John Candy and Dan Akroyd you can imagine how last night went in my house. Ah, the thrill of nature.
Despite the setbacks and surprises I wouldn't change a thing. In fact let me use the tub and the bats to illustrate some points I've been pondering lately. (In my usual round about way. If this gets diluted forgive me as I'm still very sleep deprived.)
Lately, the media is all about living 'green' and lessening your carbon footprint. There is also plenty of press about trying to save money. And there is no shortage of books out there on downsizing, organizing and in general, simplifying your life. Three separate lifestyle goals, 'green' living, frugal living and simple living, all supposedly better than the usual disposable, materialistic consumer culture the majority strives for. If you chose one of these lifestyles and followed it to a T you'd be doing pretty good for yourself because any of the above three would be better than what the general public does. But individually, each is incomplete because none have Christian values at their base. Take the tub for example. We're doing the 'green' thing because we're recycling a tub that otherwise would've made it into a landfill. We're doing the frugal thing because fixing up an old tub is much cheaper than buying a new reproduction claw tub. But we're not doing the simple thing because a person who embraces simple living would've hired out this job weeks ago and turned over their credit card number to the contractor and the designer and gone off to Vegas to avoid the stress that comes with tearing up a bathroom. So there are times when a person who practices simple living will throw money at a problem; a common mainstream solution in a society that underestimates the value of hard work. Likewise, a 'green' person would throw in the towel if he/she realized it might harm the bats nesting in his/her attic and outsource the work to a pricey eco-friendly contractor. The frugal person might just charge ahead and used the most toxic materials available to restore the tub, the fumes of which could kill all the bats in a 10 mile radius, just because they're the cheapest.
As a Catholic I was to save money on the project but not at the cost of the natural resources, like the frugal person. But unlike the 'green' person the health and well being of bats is not more important than that of my family so I'm not going to turn my attic into a bat sanctuary. And while living simply, and eliminating clutter and stress from our lives is important, spending money and relying on disposable conveniences and unnecessary indulgences is the wrong way to do so.
Catholics protect the planet and its resources because they're a gift from God. We live simply because Christ lived simply and to keep out focus on heavenly reward not earthly possessions. We spend less to avoid debt, usury and because fewer expenses means we need less income, therefore more time can be spent with our families serving Christ rather than working for the man. I bet you didn't know being a Catholic worker could be so trendy.
Every so often Catholic ideas become popular; just not the part where Christ is involved. Without Him, they morph into quasi religions of their own, fanatics and all. (St. Al Gore anyone?) Don't settle for the values society hands us when your Catholic faith offers you that and so much more. Living your faith ensures a healthy environment, a little money in your pocket and a simpler life, even when your bathroom is torn up and you've got four kids.

New Beginnings

It is with much joy, and much lack of sleep, that I announce major changes for The Next Worker. On June 27 at 315pm we closed on a beautiful old house in South Jersey with just over an acre of land. At 214am June 28, we welcomed into the world our fourth child and second son, Fulton Ambrose. God is so good.
The last six weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. I feel guilty even blogging when there's so much that absolutely HAS to get done, including sleeping but any good writer undergoing such developments feels incomplete unless she can WRITE about them. Besides, I can't do more bragging to my friends and family; I need to move into the realm of strangers in which to share my joy.
I've got so many priorities right now I hardly know where to begin. I wind up starting several things but ultimately I wind up doing something trivial because the rest of it is so overwhelming. Just having a new child is one thing, having three other small children is another. Purchasing a fixer up is one thing, fixing it up with a newborn and three small kids is another. Preparing for another homeschooling year is one thing, trying to write up lesson plans with a newborn and a new house and did I mention the three other small children is starting to seem impossible. Oh, and did I mention I started a homeschooled girls field hockey team and I'm volunteering for our local homeschooling support group? Have you caught your breath yet? Because I'm still gasping for air.
But despite all this it is hard for my husband and I to not just want to jump headfirst into all the ideas I've hashed out on here; self sufficient living, the agrarian lifestyle. simplifying, etc. At least as much as such ideals are possible on an acre in Jersey. However, most people are living on less than an acre in suburban areas just like us. Our new homestead could hopefully serve as an example of how to put the Worker principles into action on a small, readily accessible scale...if we can ever get past this initial starting point (which includes tearing out our only full bath and relying on sponge baths for the last two weeks.)
So now The Next Worker is going to change course a bit. While passing along the wisdom of Day and the Worker movement is still central to what we're doing the blog will now focus on fulfilling these ideals and what concrete steps we're taking towards living this 'Worker' lifestyle we've imagined for ourselves. I always felt I couldn't live up to my expectations because of the situation we were in. Now that we've secured the house I'd been dreaming of, will we fall short of our goals, succeed beyond our wildest dreams or fall somewhere in between? Could we realize what we sought for so long isn't possible at all?
Now the rubber meets the road. We're off and running. Already our new situation has presented opportunities to help people anonymously, offer hospitality for groups of people and be on call, with a door always open, for friends in need. I think the biggest problem will be not setting our sights to high right away and getting discouraged when life (aka four kids, homeschooling, a full time job, etc) prevents us from doing what we want in a timely fashion, which means, right now!
For now, we need to finish the bathroom. Then there's minor cosmetic stuff inside we want to tackle like painting since this house is disgusting but there's several major projects we're having a hard time deciding between. And the yard! Heaven knows what we will find out there next but already we need to think of how to get it in order for next spring.
I'm hoping to work out my thoughts through posting and maybe, if we can fix our camera, start posting pictures. Eventually, I would love to have our own Path to Freedom type thing going but that's a few years down the road. Stay tuned! I'm happy to be back. And feel free to leave advice by way of personal messages or links. I'm always looking to learn more. I love new beginnings.

Trying to set the record straight

When many people think of Dorothy Day they tend to associate her with the following words, anarchy, communism, pacifism and social justice. When people think of the modern Catholic Worker movement the same words may pop into there heads. There needs to be some clarification as to what Day's views were, on these topics and others. The people that seem to lead the movement today are latching onto the radical social views and disregarding the Catholic teachings on which they rest, or worse accepting positions contrary to the Church. Consequently, many Catholics associate the Catholic Worker Movement with liberals and will have nothing to do with it or Dorothy Day. This stems, I believe, from our country's two party political system. In this country, there's the left and the right, the liberals and the conservatives, the Republicans and the Democrats-and never the two shall meet. When someone's beliefs straddle both parties, they become difficult to classify. And it amazes me how many people will alter their beliefs to fit those of the party to which they belong, and then say the Church agrees with them. People can't just be Catholic, they have to pigeonhole their faith into a political party's framework. The Catholic church is not Republican or Democrat.
So anyway, because Dorothy Day is best known for her views on pacifism, rights of the workers, etc. the left has snapped her up as a Catholic who followed her conscience and made a difference even if the big, bad Church hierarchy disagreed with her. She protested against wars, big business and the maniacal American government-we love her! But don't make her a saint because then people might know she's prolife. (Seriously, read about her cause on the Workers website.)
Newsflash hippies-you don't represent Day's vision of the Worker movement. If you want to help the poor, that's great, just don't call yourself Catholic. Don't claim to expound what Day taught unless you tell it all. You're lying by omission.
And to everyone else, I don't agree with all of Day's writings but I'm trying to read everything and there's some great stuff-inspiring stuff you might be surprised to find. Don't pass on the Worker Movement because of what you might have heard. I want to set the record straight. First, the ultimate biography on Day is 'Dorothy Day, A Biography' by William D. Miller. Day turned over all her papers to Miller who is/was (?) a history professor at Marquette University. He spent years reading over everything and interviewing people before writing the book. It paints a complete picture of Day, warts and all. You can also access all her works online through the Worker website by a subject list. To do my part, I will start posting quotes from her work that I feel best illustrate her views and work. If you don't trust me, you can always look the stuff up yourself. You might just learn something.

From Real to Radical

A quick explanation is in order regarding my motto or saying or whatever it's called, "The details of my transition from the real world to the radical Catholic world."
I currently reside in "the real world." It's that place you enter after high school or college where everyday you get up and you work for eight hours to get money. And you use that money to pay for the biggest house, the nicest car and the nicest and newest gadgets you can afford. And regardless of whether you like working or not, you do it until you're 65 so you can make as much money as possible to afford all these things you need, and all the accompanying interest payments. You get married when you're good and ready, you have kids when you're good and ready and God has nothing to do with your life until something goes wrong and then you pray to Him, "Lord, I'm not ready to handle this!" The real world doesn't make sense and isn't fair but you go along with it anyway because "that's life." As my father in law says every time something doesn't go our way, "Welcome to the real world."
So anyway, I exist in the real world...Mostly. I've started planning my escape right here on this blog. I'm taking baby steps in the direction of the Catholic Worker Movement. It's radical because I'm going from suburban mom to homesteading volunteer. It's radical because everything the Catholic Worker Movement stands for is so contrary to "real world" values. If you want to talk about a truly alternative lifestyle, don't bother talking about the gays or the poligamists (so yesterday). Instead, try getting people to accept you as a truly self reliant Catholic, living a lifestyle rooted in the principles of the Church and the Worker movement. That's radical.

A Place for Families Part II- Crazy Ideas

I believe families can play a key role in the Catholic Worker Movement. Families should strive to be self sustaining and independent. Ideally, the needs of the family can be met on the homestead. Items that cannot be made or grown could be bartered for or purchased with money earned through the sale of surplus farm goods or labor. In addition, families could earn money by taking in guests and teaching self reliant skills. People on the road to self sufficiency could stay for a week, study gardening, and help in the harvest. Perhaps pick berries and then can them. Or a hands on course in voluntary poverty, and making do with less. The possibilities for educational outreach are only limited to the abilities of the families.
Husbands and fathers shouldn't have to spend 8 or more hours a day away from their families to earn enough money for life's necessities. Key word: necessities. Say you earn $10 an hour; is the latest techo gadget priced at $300 worth sitting at your desk 30 hours for? Would you work almost one week just for an Ipod? I would rather stay one step behind the Jones and spend more time at home.
These families could then support their local hospitality house through donation of excess produce, meat, dairy items, etc., thus cutting the operating cost of the house and the need for outside donations. Worker families could also volunteer their time as available at the hospitality house (which would also need some full time single, celibate resident workers.) Should the family experience a rough time, the house and other supporting families would be there to help out. It's a community without the commune. This model is similar to the current lifestyle of the Amish and some Mennonite, except their local church acts as a hospitality house. These believers place their trust so fully in the support of their congregations that most Amish and Mennonite do not have any type of insurance policy. A serious medical expense is shared by all, as is the lost wages from an accident at work. Shouldn't we, as Catholics, be able to expect the same from each other?

A Place for Families Part I

Back from a long weekend.
We spent time with my family. My parents own an old farmhouse with a barn and a good chunk of land in a small town. Every time I'm home I imagine fixing up the house, taking a plow to the back acre, throwing some hens in the old coop and living off the land.
The Catholic Worker Farm in Easton, PA was envisioned as this type of utopia. Unfortunately, many things got in the way of the dream and the parcel was eventually divided up amongst the families who resided there. It was this experience that lead Dorothy to mention that perhaps the Movement wasn't the place for families. Rather that looking out for all members in the movement, they were looking out for themselves-with good reason. Families trying to provide the basics for themselves and their children were less willing to make sacrifices for some of the characters who took refuge at Maryfarm without lifting a finger. If there's one potato left and it's between your daughter or a homeless wanderer, you give it to your daughter. A single worker could sacrifice their rations for the needy if he or she so chose.
And every family has a different view of what is best for themselves. The sacrifice one family makes for the Movement could seem extreme to another. Feuds such as this also lead to problems in the back to the land farm/commune at Marycrest Farm in NY. How reliant can you force people to be?
But does that mean there is no place in the Movement for families? Especially large, growing Catholic families with young children? Do we need to wait until retirement to make a difference or do we need to prime our youth and young adults to shoulder the responsibility until matrimony or a religious vocation beckons? Should the Movement become a kind of religious order with members swearing chastity and obedience and a full-time commitment to reside in a Hospitality monastery?
Perhaps there is a middle ground.

Too soft?

Some may criticize me saying, 'Why should I help those people who won't help themselves?' 'I won't give money to a man on the street because he may use it for drugs. It's better to give to charity.'
Is that so? Really? I don't remember the Lord walking up to anyone and saying "Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps!"
It is not for us to judge those in need. Some may be lazy, or mentally ill or genuinely in need. It doesn't matter. If someone comes to you in need of food and you turn them away you will have to answer for that at the pearly gates. If you give money to someone on the streets and they buy heroin with it, they will have to answer for that as well.
However, like the Lord said to the women who was to be stoned, 'Go and sin no more.' Lets not forget that the spiritual works of mercy go hand in hand with the corporal. Giving a hot meal to a prostitute is different than distributing condoms to her. Your actions must lead souls to heaven, not hell. So admonish the sinner and feed the hungry.
If we can offer a Catholic home for people to retreat to, we offer the first step towards hope and a new start. It is only through love and charity we can lift up people who have fallen to temptation and ultimately the devil. When people come to know God and want to live for him, they cannot fall prey to old habits.

Responsibility

So I say, lets not leave it up to the government. Let's not leave it up to the big charities. Let's take care of the problem ourselves. Let's be responsible for one another. I know responsibility is a novel concept in these times but hear me out. The government and it's money is spent on the whims of an administration and/or a political party. Budgets are cut, regulations change and next thing you know a homeless program (or say adoption) program your running is out most of its money. And if you want to run a truly Catholic house of hospitality you're going to run into all sorts of Church and state crap you probably don't want to deal with. I'm not taking down my statue of the Virgin because it offends the government. Oh, does the crucifix in the dining room 'infringe on your religious freedom'? Tough.
Keep operations small and local. Take care of the community and the community will take care of you in return. See how they love each other.
I want to provide services to people that the government shouldn't be responsible for. If we all acted like Christians maybe our taxes wouldn't be so high. Perhaps?

Passing the buck

Imagine if every Catholic Church in America had a hospitality house associated with it? Or if every Christian Church even? If we all followed the Corporal works of mercy in a very hands on way, daily, would we need a welfare system? If every family kept their homes open to those in need, friends, family, even strangers, would we need shelters?
A quote from Maurin I keep coming across is a reference he makes to early Christians. The Romans said (of the Christians) see how they love one another. Of Christians today, society says, see how they pass the buck.
Do we give money each week at church or during the annual United Way Pledge and then sit back and say, 'I've done my part.'? I have. Do we pay our taxes year after year and expect the government to make poverty go away with our money?
It is easier to let others get their hands dirty. It is easier to do the bare minimum of what our faith asks of us. When the rich young man approached Jesus and was told to sell all he had and follow Him, he turned away sad. In today's world most of us our like the rich young man, we have much in the way of material things and we are good people. We expect to go to heaven because we go to Mass weekly and treat others we encounter in our daily life nicely. We're content to live in our bubbles. We know only of the poor through TV and movies.
The Lord did not stay in a bubble and minister 'in his comfort zone.' He went out and found those who needed help and served them. As did the apostles. Peter didn't keep his job as a fisherman on the side in case the whole disciple thing didn't pan out. Following Jesus isn't a part-time job.
Being a Christian is uncomfortable at times. If you're always comfortable in your faith, than you're doing something wrong. We all need to find the tax collectors, prostitute, lepers and lame of today's society, swallow hard, smile and invite them into our homes with arms wide open.
This is very scary to me. But I know it is what I must do. When I feel I can't do something I just imagine talking to Jesus and trying to convince him of my reasons against whatever it is. Then, when I get that awkward feeling in my stomach (like a 13yr old explaining to his dad why they were crawling in a window at 1am.) I just start praying for the grace to do His will.

Discovering a new Day, part II

It was during this long and ongoing search into the "natural" that I stumbled across some ideas that began to plant seeds. Homesteading, voluntary simplicity, frugality, and the like. However, what was missing was a religious component. Getting back to the land, spending more time as a family, living with less by choice all seemed like common sense Christian tenements-they clicked with me and my husband. We dreamed of life where we both worked at home with our children and supported ourselves without an outside nine to five. We attempted this-and failed miserably. I hadn't learned enough and we believed we needed to make LOTS of money to support ourselves. It didn't occur to us to live simpler in a smaller home with fewer costs. How I missed that in my reading I don't know. So we jumped into a large business venture hoping to make it big while my husband worked a second job, just until the business got going and the money poured in. But that never happened and he wound up commuting three hours a day or more to a job we needed to pay the bills while I stayed at home with two small children to care for and a business to run.
Our faith was tested but thankfully we got out of the situation with our sanity, our marriage and our beliefs still intact and strengthened. However, our bank accounts were drained and a pile of debt had accumulated in the months we struggled to make ends meet. I continued to read as we dug ourselves out from debt and had another child. We moved into an apartment and attended a new, traditional parish. Through the books others recommended to us I discovered Integrity magazine and from searching online for more information about that I stumbled into the Catholic Worker Movement, Distributism and the Catholic Back to the Land Movement. Before WWII Catholics had all sorts of ideas to change the world, but somehow, these things were lost to time.
Within a week, I was reading a biography of Dorothy Day and the Movement. I'd been reading Day's writings online daily; I was hooked. I sent links to my husband at work and he agreed. Our plans for the future began to take shape in a new way.

A Catholic House

Dorothy Day said first and foremost the Catholic Worker Movement must be Catholic. In her day, it was the one thing that was understood by all workers. The Movement welcomed all but remained Catholic to the core. She strove to publish a paper faithful to Church teachings and it was well known she would desist her activities at once if demanded by her bishop.
I wonder how many hospitality houses of today would defend the faith as quickly as they would defend the homeless. I wonder if they would protest in front of an abortion clinic as quickly as the school of the Americas. Let me state that in no way am I questioning the great things these houses do, Catholic or not, for the people they serve. But I believe houses of hospitality, and farms, need to exist in the true Catholic Worker Tradition. That is my goal, to open, somewhere, somehow a Catholic Worker Hospitality House faithful to the Church, with a huge bloody crucifix over the entranceway, and a statue of Mary in plain view-no apologies. Time spent in communal prayer and protest. And the summit of it all, regular, hopefully, daily Mass for all workers. I won't shove tracts and apologetics down your throat with a hot bowl of soup, but through the actions of the Workers I want you to see, feel and come to believe in Gods love for you. Jesus offers us so much hope and grace to persevere through our lives. How could a Worker face misery and poverty daily without the Eucharist to turn to? How can we offer hope to others if we are hopeless?
To read Dorothy Day's works and co-founder Peter Maurin's Easy Essays I wholeheartedly recommend catholicworker.org. Lot of great stuff there. Check out the websites of the CW houses and let me know what you think.

The beginning

And so it begins. I've had alot of ideas in my head and now i've finally gone and started a blog to get them all out. Will it last? Only time will tell, but if my journal is any indication of things to come, there may be large gaps...lots of them.
However, I feel like a new chapter is emerging in my life. One that needs to be written down, well documented and easily accesable to those who may feel the same way.
I have been deeply affected by my recent discovery of the Catholic Worker Movement, Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin and the distributist and back to land movements of the early 20th century. Ideas that I've had rolling around in my head for the past four years have all come together. I've finally found people that understand what I'm saying, even if I'm arriving 70 years too late for the party.
So now I'm trying to devour as much information as possible on the subjects. But I need a space to unload my ideas and future plans before I forget them and to make room for more information amongst my grey cells. Dorothy Day kept numerous journals and wrote books and hundreds, probably thousands of articles. Writing was integral to her work and I believe it will be in mine as well. The media of her day was the newspaper. Today, it's blogs, websites, podcasts and youtube videos. Now I'm no Dorothy Day, but perhaps what this country needs is a new Catholic social revolution. If so, it will have to start in cyberspace. Here's to new beginings.