EUGENE — The Catholic Worker movement, backed by Eugene-area parishes, has relocated to provide a transitional home for destitute young mothers and their children.
The house in West Eugene is the Catholic Worker’s first step toward the goal of extending hospitality to more people. The community has already served hundreds of women and children since its opening in a house closer to downtown.
The house, blessed earlier this month by Dominican Father Joseph Sergott, has room for three families. It has a bigger yard and more common space and after some work will fit another family.
Community life is important here. Live-in workers try to establish a sense of family. The young mothers are expected to be home by 7 p.m. All the residents eat meals together and watch movies. They gather to pray on Sundays.
The community life calls for chores, conflict resolution and accountability to others.
It’s a busy life. Volunteers help the young moms develop a plan for self-sufficiency and urge them to implement it.
A typical strategy includes education, financial stability, a job and savings so women are not living from paycheck to paycheck.
“They won’t be working fast food any more,” says Rachel Winter, one of two live-in workers at the house.
On average, the families stay three or four months. Some remain a year or two years.
“They can stay as long as the house is helpful to them,” says Winter. “They have to be working hard on long-term goals.”
Usually, the women have a history of addiction or domestic abuse. Many come from inpatient rehabilitation programs or they have been couch-hopping among friends, children in tow. Often, all their friends are users or alcoholics.
“I hope their time at the Bosco house opens them up to a new way of life,” says Winter. “Poverty is very deep in people and a lot of the women who come here haven’t been able to develop much in the way of self esteem. I want them to see themselves as valuable and look into the future and see what they want for themselves.”
Winter, 24, went to St. Olaf College in Minnesota and earned a degree in English. She was working in a Minneapolis bookstore when she came across a tome about the Catholic Worker movement. She went to the internet to learn more. Then she headed west.
Novena candles and crosses pepper the rooms. The aim is a reflective environment.
The house is named for St. John Bosco. The charismatic 19th-century Italian priest devoted his life to young people, using his skills at juggling and acrobatics to befriend them and witness to God’s love.
The Catholic Worker Movement, founded by journalist Dorothy Day and philosopher-activist Peter Maurin in 1933, is grounded in a belief in the God-given dignity of every human person.
More than 185 Catholic Worker communities worldwide live according to principles of nonviolence, voluntary poverty, and hospitality for the homeless. Catholic Workers also protest injustice, war and racism.
The notion of a Catholic Worker house in Eugene emerged in 1998. The idea was at first to serve homeless teens. The focus of organizers shifted to young mothers and the house opened in 2001.
The project has a large community of supporters, especially from Catholic parishes. There are house repairs, respite work and the board of directors.
About 50 visitors came to a recent open house, half of whom had never before seen the home. There was prayer, singing, a blessing of rooms and dessert.
Everyone involved is a volunteer, including Winter and Jessie Smith, the other live-in worker. Because of low overhead, the total budget for the project is under $35,000 per year.
For more information, visit the Lane County Catholic Worker website at www.efn.org/~lccatholicworker, or call (541) 683-7517.
