Catholic Worker Movement - Beliefs of The Catholic Worker

Beliefs of The Catholic Worker

"Our rule is the works of mercy," said Dorothy Day. "It is the way of sacrifice, worship, a sense of reverence."

According to co-founder Peter Maurin, the following are the beliefs of the Catholic Worker:

1. gentle personalism of traditional Catholicism.
2. personal obligation of looking after the needs of our brother.
3. daily practice of the Works of Mercy.
4. Houses of Hospitality for the immediate relief of those who are in need.
5. establishment of Farming Communes where each one works according to his ability and gets according to his need.
6. creating a new society within the shell of the old with the philosophy of the new.

The radical philosophy of the group can be described as Christian anarchism. Anne Klejment, a history lecturer at University of St. Thomas, wrote of the Catholic Worker Movement:

The Catholic Worker considered itself a Christian anarchist movement. All authority came from God; and the state, having by choice distanced itself from Christian perfectionism, forfeited its ultimate authority over the citizen...Catholic Worker anarchism followed Christ as a model of nonviolent revolutionary behavior...He respected individual conscience. But he also preached a prophetic message, difficult for many of his contemporaries to embrace.