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Bloomington Catholic Worker

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  • Welcome!
  • The Catholic Worker Movement
  • Seeking Shelter
  • Guest Stories
  • The Job: A Short Story

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  • Welcome!
  • The Catholic Worker Movement
  • Seeking Shelter
  • Guest Stories
  • The Job: A Short Story

Who We Are

The Bloomington Christian Radical/Catholic Worker is a community based in Bloomington, IN in the tradition of the Catholic Worker Movement. The Catholic Worker Movement lives the vision of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, who believed that a peaceable revolution would result if people imitated Jesus Christ's nonviolence (Matt 5:38-48), voluntary poverty (Matt 6:24, 19:16-26), and radical hospitality (Matt 25:31-46).

The BCR/CW is an ecumenical Christian intentional community that tries to live, pray and work with each other. We offer housing, food, and love to people facing homelessness.

The BCR/CW is autonomous and has no institutional connection to the Roman Catholic Church. We are not a 501c3 and donations are not tax-deductible.

We perform the works of mercy and nonviolently oppose the works of war. We strive to practice the Sermon on the Mount, community living, voluntary poverty, personalism, and care for children and the environment.

Halloween Fun!

Martinmas Lantern Walk

BCW wants & needs

A (reliable, working) Truck

Eco-friendly Dish Soap, Toilet Paper, and Laundry Detergent

Olive Oil

Bloomingfoods Gift Cards

Wednesday morning childcare help (during our community meeting)

Rent subsidies for departing guests of the BCW

Temporary housing for departing guests of the BCW

 

extended community!

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Roundtables!

“People say, what is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, words and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.” - Dorothy Day

Connect with Us!

Interested in community life, the Catholic Worker or just want to connect with us? Email us at bloomingtoncw@gmail.com or call us at 812-339-4456. We would love to talk with you!

Shared Vision and Values of the Bloomington Catholic Worker

Our aim and purpose is to be disciples of Jesus Christ. In our attempt to follow and imitate Christ, we are dedicated to these principles:

Faith – We are an ecumenical, Christ-centered, Christian community. Without faith our work seems foolish. We recognize the importance of prayer both in our individual lives and in our communal life.

Community – Our first task is to live in community with one another. We cannot undertake
the work of serving others without a healthy community of encouragement and support. We share our space, our faith, our work, and our play.

Revolution – When we look at the world around us we see it overrun by injustice, spiritual
destitution, and the triplets of racism, materialism and militarism. We hope and work for a new society brought about by the revolution of the heart. We hope to begin creating a better, decentralized society within the shell of the old.

Hospitality & the Works of Mercy – Dorothy Day called the Works of Mercy “our rule and our way of life.” Our central expression of recognizing Christ in our neighbor is performing
the works of mercy, for we know that when the Son of Man comes in glory we will be judged solely on how we care for the least of our brothers and sisters (Matthew 25). The corporal works of mercy are feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and burying the dead. The spiritual works of mercy are admonishing the sinner, instructing the ignorant, comforting the sorrowful, counseling the doubtful, bearing all wrongs patiently, forgiving all injuries, and praying for the living and the dead.

Personalism – We are committed to taking personal responsibility for the people around us at a personal sacrifice.

Voluntary Poverty – Voluntary Poverty is the inevitable result of living out the counsel of John the Baptist, that if we have two coats we should give to one who has none (Luke 3).
We will try to serve God rather than money and accept that the result may be “downward mobility.” We distinguish between the simplicity of voluntary poverty, which we encourage; and involuntary destitution, which we abhor and against which we struggle.

Nonviolence – We cannot reconcile the commandment to love our enemies with the practice of modern warfare. We hope to be peacemakers in our community and in our country, and we oppose the works of war where we find them. Our spiritual weapon is nonviolence, made manifest in protest and civil disobedience.

Care for the Environment – We wish to truly live simply so that others might simply live. We recognize our connection to the land and pledge both to be good stewards and make personal sacrifices so that we can treat the earth with the utmost respect and delicateness.

We take this, our communal vision, very seriously; nevertheless we recognize that this document may be revised if it proves a clear stumbling block to Christian discipleship.

Individual participants in our community life are of course encouraged to form their own
beliefs and are free to dissent from these principles; but these shared values will guide the decisions and direction of the community.

In all these commitments, let us seek the help of the Lord in prayer and work to encourage
one another and build each other up (1 Thessalonians 5).

Join our Facebook Group (even though half of us aren’t on Facebook!)

Join our Facebook Group (even though half of us aren’t on Facebook!)

The Job: A Short Story

Click here to read The Job by Laura Lasuertmer, written when she was a member of the Bloomington Catholic Worker.  

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