The Nine Pillars of the Catholic Worker Movement

Pillar #1: All things begin with Prayer and the Eucharist-At. St. Bakhita House, we celebrate the Mass two times a week in our beautiful chapel. It helps to nourish us and to treat each other as Christ. It provides a space to pray regularly. We also host opportunities for Eucharistic Adoration. Additionally, we hold a monthly contemplative prayer experience to end racism followed by a soup lunch. Our live-in community meets once a week at 7am on Fridays to share in a candle prayer service.

Pillar #2: Hospitality in Community- Catholic Workers believe strongly in doing what is before them. We believe in living the Acts of Mercy as a response to what is needed. We take Jesus on his word and strive to treat others as Christ Himself. And with this call, comes a commitment to Matthew 25 and its radical call to hospitality. So, at St. Bakhita Catholic Worker, we live in community with women who are survivors of sexual exploitation. This is an intentional choice due to the large amount of human trafficking taking place in Wisconsin.

Pillar #3: Voluntary Poverty-Simple Living -Catholic Workers strive to live simply so that there is enough for others. We try to live intentionally in a way that always keeps those in poverty and on the margins in mind as we make daily decisions. At St. Bakhita House we really are careful with how we spend our money and resources. However, we really have a beautiful home due to so many generous donors. Ultimately, the importance of this lies in our women feeling the beauty, warmth and the dignity of their home . This helps them to realize their own beauty, warmth and dignity. Dorothy Day often quoted Dostoyevsky with the words “The World will be saved by beauty”. That is our inspiration for life at St. Bakhita House.

Pillar #4: Work- The Catholic Worker tradition elevates the idea of valuing skilled craftmanship. It champions the ownership of the means of production, just wages and dignified working conditions. It opposes the glorification of consumerism and materialism. And why? Because it involves seeing Christ in all people and working to create a world where all people can live in conditions that are safe and healthy. This involves treating people with dignity and as cocreators. To this end, we at St. Bakhita Catholic Worker Community, are blessed in our partnership with the Franciscan Peacemakers and their Peace and all Good social enterprise which provides an avenue of just labor for the women with whom we live in community.

Pillar #5: Education- Peter Maurin liked to espouse the idea that Workers are to become scholars and scholars are to be workers. This is a way to express respect for the whole person and it is a way of promoting the dignity of each individual as it champions an integrated life. Our women are given help navigating their educational aspirations. We also provide access to a small library and host educational events.

Pillar #6: Round Table Discussions (for the Clarification of Thought)- These are gatherings that promote respectful discourse on important topics of our day which can be theological, political, or philosophical in nature. One important way Peter promoted Christian Personalism, and his respect for the whole person, was by proclaiming during discussions on social justice issues that we are to “ANNOUNCE, NOT DENOUNCE “ which is especially important in today’s divided and angry world. We really feel it may be the only way we will continue to see the Christ in others and avoid the vitriol.

Pillar #7: The Retreat-Lay participation in retreats was something fairly new in the 1930’s and 1940’s when the Catholic Worker was launched. This was an experience that was largely reserved for ordained individuals. Retreats are important to help us to see the Christ in ourselves, and in turn the Christ in others. At St.Bakhita Catholic Worker we host retreats for those in need of our beautiful space as well as hold our own retreats.

Pillar #8: “Agronomic Universities” (farms/gardens)- Peter Maurin, cofounder of the CW movement, especially championed the idea that in order to become one’s whole self, one must get close to the earth. He reminded others that we are all part of God’s creation and that learning to sustain ourselves makes us appreciate the nourishment that God provides us. He taught that a healthy culture needs to have a “proper regard for the soil”. At SBCW we planted our first bountiful garden in the Spring of 2023.

Pillar #9: Social Action- As Dorothy Day espoused, at a Catholic Worker social action is to be tied to the Gospel, particularly the Sermon on the Mount, realized in the Papal Encyclicals and rooted in Catholic Social Teaching. Our actions are to be devoted to preferencing the poor and those on the margins. At St. Bakhita House we are focused on advocacy for issues related to human trafficking and hope to become more involved in this in the near future. But our daily actions, loving and living in solidarity with those in need, hopefully reflect this preferential option for those on the margins. We are Member House of the Alliance to End Human Trafficking (formerly the United States Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking) .