Cafeteria Catholic Worker?

I have long been a supporter of the Catholic Worker movement. I spent time as a live-in staff member in one house, and wrote for the house newsletter even after I left. I have financially supported several houses over the years. I regard Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin as personal heroes. I mention Day as someone I think should be declared a saint. I even own a collection of Maurin's Easy Essays and cite them frequently.

I have been inspired by Day, Maurin, and the Workers to help with a non-Worker homeless shelter, and over the years have taken part in a number of protests of war, nuclear weapons, and government policies.

I recently received one of the Worker house newspapers to which I subscribe. I was skimming through reading about how they have been dealing with Covid, their ongoing ministry to the poor, the obituaries, and the notices about actions. 

Then I spotted a profile about a member of the community.

"M" seems like a wonderful young woman. But then I was stopped short with mention of "J," her "partner." Twice.  Partner? Why not just call him her husband? After all, in other pieces in the issue "husband"  and "wife" are mentioned.

Just trying to sound trendy?

The word could cover a "husband," but most often it means someone with whom one is living, sans marriage, in a sexual relationship. 

That raises some flags.

According to the Bible and Catholic teachings, sex out side of marriage is a serious sin - one of the sins that can keep you from inheriting the kingdom of Heaven. (I Corinthians 6: 9-10).

So if "M" is indeed committing such a sin, hopefully the leadership at the Worker House are, for the sake of her soul, warning her.

After all, they call themselves a "Catholic" Worker House.

I know of Catholic institutions that would fire such a person if that person does not cease the sinful activity.

On the other hand, if this is indeed the situation there, the fact that the leadership at this house clearly knows how she is living, given that they printed this article, then one has to wonder how "Catholic" they are.

They certainly regularly cite Catholic teachings, Catholic documents, and Catholic saints and holy people.

So if this is an example of them picking and choosing what parts of Catholicism they follow, an old phrase comes to mind: Cafeteria Catholicism.

Cafeteria Catholics follow the teachings and trappings of the Church that they like, but ignore the inconvenient teachings that might interfere with their lifestyles.

So are we dealing with a Cafeteria Catholic Worker? And if they are selectively following Church teachings when they cite the teachings they choose to accept, and ignore others, doesn't that suggest hypocrisy? Doesn't than undermine some of their credibility as a Catholic institution?

Day had her own view of sexual morality in connection with the Worker houses.

In his biography of Day, William Miller noted that "In 1962 there were young people living in Worker house apartments whose standards were so at variance with traditional morality that Dorothy, in one of her moments of towering righteous anger, threw them all out."

In a 1971 letter to Fathers Daniel and Phillip Berrigan lamenting the "moral waywardness" in Worker communities (cited by Daniel Hitchens in "Eros and Dorothy Day"),  Day wrote, "I have seen such disastrous consequences, over my long lifetime, such despair, resulting in suicide, such human misery that I cannot help but deplore the breakdown of sexual morality. After all it involves life itself."

Now some might argue that whatever "M" is doing is a private matter. But the fact that it was printed in a newspaper has made it public, and thus it can be a source of confusion about moral teachings.

Of course, "M" could actually be married to "J." If so, good. But they should consider exercising more care in how their relationship is described because of that danger of causing confusion.

If they are cohabiting without being married, though, their souls are in danger. This then is a wake-up call to them - and the Worker House where she works.

Pax et bonum