Host Community:
The Bitterroot Catholic Worker is a 4 acre farm/orchard in Southwestern Montana - south of Missoula (location of the University of Montana) and the beautiful Bitterroot valley. They are an intentional community practicing simple, sustainable community living and exploring renewable energy and recycling. The community offers individual retreat space and manages an orchard and an expanding garden to produce food for the Catholic worker community and the excess to a homeless shelter in Missoula. Community members also work with fragile children for the church's Newman Center and at the homeless shelter. The VISION team will learn about the Catholic Worker movement and get their hands dirty working on the farm.
Justice Issues:
The Catholic Worker movement was founded in 1933 during the Great Depression by Dorothy Day at the urging of Peter Maurin. It is best known for houses of hospitality located in run-down sections of many cities, though a number of Catholic Worker centers exist in rural areas. "Our rule is the works of mercy," said Dorothy Day. "It is the way of sacrifice, worship, a sense of reverence."
Beyond hospitality, Catholic Worker communities are known for activity in support of labor unions, human rights, cooperatives, and the development of a nonviolent culture. Those active in the Catholic Worker are often pacifists people seeking to live an unarmed, nonviolent life. During periods of military conscription, Catholic Workers have been conscientious objectors to military service. Many of those active in the Catholic Worker movement have been jailed for acts of protest against racism, unfair labor practices, social injustice and war.
