Bienvenidos,
Today I find myself with pen heavy in hand and thoughts rapid in mind as I reflect on the weekend my colleagues and I recently shared at the White Rose Catholic Worker Farm in Missouri! The White Rose Catholic Worker Farm stands as the personification of a dream in our world, a mission with a standard of faith, self-sustainability, and love.
Last time I wrote a little piece about the significance of place, memory, and history. (Located here for curious ones: https://nbeissel.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/anchors-in-stone/) And once again I was able to see history come alive as I walked along the crisp grass and rugged dirt of the White Rose Catholic Farm.
The tradition of Catholic Worker farms arose when Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day dreamed of not only writing against the atrocities facing the poor of the world in their Catholic Worker newspaper, but also to put their words into motion. In an urban setting, the Houses of Hospitality were born so the people of the Catholic Worker movement could stand in solidarity and in poverty with the many immigrant and urban workers who formed the bottom/worker class of American society.
But moving away from the smog of the city, Maurin and Day dreamed also to address the rural plight. The cries and moans of the many simple, worn-out farmers and agricultural laborers that populated the United States. To promote community, simplicity, and faith, Maurin, Day, and the Catholic Worker established the Catholic Worker Farms.
Okay, I’m glad we are up to speed. Not only that, but hopefully one can begin to imagine the thoughts racing through my mind as I was able to put into context all of my studies about the Catholic Worker Farms thus far.
Life at the White Rose – for the little weekend that I was there – was absolutely beautiful. Simplicity may be the best term to describe it, but even that falls out of favor.
The sensation of rejecting modern vices (technology, running water, and the daily cup of coffee to name a few), waking up and working alongside the sun, and gathering together to celebrate every meal . . . these are all parts of the greater experience at White Rose. Parts equally important as each other, but only a small glimpse into a story that is better experienced than heard.
It is really hard to capture the history and significance of the White Rose Catholic Farm in a mere blog, I understand this.
However, maybe a reflection of the works of John McGreevy can aid us. In his book about American Jesuits, McGreevy recounts how the Jesuits were under constant pressure and exile throughout the 17th to 19th centuries. The paranoia of early Protestant colonization in America, the French Revolution, and the Roman Revolution of 1848-50 all encompass the struggles of European and American Jesuits as they fought to reestablish themselves as an intellectual religious order. But throughout these struggles they always held close to one thing – community.
I guess that is the true spirit of the Catholic Worker too. During the times of Maurin and Day the struggle was to aid the poor, the immigrants, the laborers, and to unite each other through faith. Today, the White Rose stands to combat violence and modern consumerism by holding itself to standards of active pacifism and an economic self-sustainability and to celebrate the beauty of life through faith.
Catholicism has always been about community. That is the dream of the White Rose.
Gracias,
Noah
La Exploración 