Resources

Below is a list of “resources” for the critical Catholic and/or the spiritually curious. We will add links in a slow drip at first, which may eventually become a stream of sorts, building possibly to a river rapidly flowing into an ocean of resources. But we caution patience.

The Catholic Worker Movement Dorothy Day was a dear friend of my wife’s grandmother and grandfather. They worked together to open a Catholic Worker House here in Arizona, where she often stayed in their Tucson home and left an impression on the family at large, my wife’s mother being one of the 11 children. True Catholics of old stripe. On one occasion she showed up with Georgia O’Keefe. My wife says I remind her of Peter Maurin. Which reminds me to be more like Peter Maurin. Linked below is the Catholic Worker website which has a list of Catholic Worker Hospitality Houses and Catholic Worker Farms as well as a history of the movement and related resources. https://catholicworker.org

Communio: International Catholic Review Founded in 1972 by Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henri de Lubac, and Joseph Ratzinger; this is the gold standard of Catholic intellectual, spiritual, and theological thought. https://www.communio-icr.com

Gaudium et Spes 22 The blog of Catholic theologian and author Larry Chapp. Indispensable for his understanding of Vatican II and his takes on the Church in the post-Vatican II, post-modern landscape. No one is better at what he does than “Chapp” and no one else does what he does. His voice, not liberal and not “trad”, is exactly what I think we need right now to unite the Church. He offers a vision that I associate with the great Saint John Paul II (read “Crossing the Threshold of Hope” if you haven’t read any of Pope John Paul II, he lays out a spiritual and social vision that is not “liberal” or “conservative.” It is Catholic. Highly Recommended) https://gaudiumetspes22.com

Little Portion Hermitage The Brothers and Sisters of Charity, a Public Association of the Faithful, was founded by John Michael Talbot in 1980 in Berryville, Arkansas. They have a wonderful chapel and host pilgrims and also have a bakery. Visit them, do the Liturgy of the Hours, wander around the monastery and meditate on the Way of the Cross. My family and I will be making a pilgrimage there this summer and I will be sure to write about here on the blog. Learn more here. https://littleportion.org

Communion & Liberation The international movement started by Father Luigi Giussani. A holistic Catholic philosophy wherein being Catholic means living and breathing Christ in your everyday life, in all of your actions and interactions, decisions and visions. Read “The Religious Sense” for starters and then move on to the rest of his indispensable trilogy, which culminates in “Why the Church?” https://english.clonline.org

A Simple House A Catholic inner-city ministry doing good work with the poor and the homeless in Washington, DC and Kansas City, MO. Check them out here. https://www.asimplehouse.org/about2.html

JP II Catholic Worker Farm A Peter Maurin inspired Catholic Worker Farm in Kansas City, run by a couple of young and inspired organic farmers named Spencer Hess and Emily Larner. These folks take their religion and spirituality as seriously as their farming and social justice work, or rather, their farming practices and social work all stem from their religious beliefs and spiritual philosophy. I love what these folks are doing and it gives me hope that “the kids will be alright!” https://jpiicatholicworkerfarm.com