Solidarity, Praxis, and Discernment: Formation at the Catholic Worker

Abstract

Although the encyclicals and episcopal documents of Catholic social teaching remain fairly theoretical and address concrete social issues on a general level, the implications of these texts must be lived out to be fully understood. Students of Catholic social teaching require spaces and communities in which they can ‘test out’ concepts such as the common good and the preferential option for the poor for the sake of their own formation and in service to the Church and the world. The Catholic Worker, an anarchist lay movement primarily based in urban centers of the United States, has historically provided a setting for young people and students to reflect on and practice living out the ideals of Catholic social teaching; Worker communities are in this way informal schools of the Catholic social tradition. The following article engages the concept of solidarity as envisioned by Pope John Paul II in Sollicitudo Rei Socialis and by Pope Francis in Evangelii Gaudium and addresses how participation in the work of hospitality and peacemaking in the Catholic Worker movement can deepen students’ understanding of CST and build upon the magisterial tradition.