Dear St. Joseph Family,

t is with great joy that I share with you that Oakland Catholic Worker (OCW), a charitable organization that operates out of East Oakland, distributing groceries and assisting migrants from Central America, will be renting the residence on San Antonio Avenue, previously occupied by the priests.

The Catholic Worker began in the early 1930s in New York City, under the direction of Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day, who, along with Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King Jr, was mentioned by Pope Francis in his address to Congress in 2015 as noteworthy contributors to the fundamental values and spirit of America. Maurin and Day’s vision was to lift people up who had been beaten down by the Great Depression. They began with a newspaper, and gradually developed farming communes in rural areas and “houses of hospitality” in the cities, where the spiritual and corporal works of mercy could be practiced. I highly recommend that you watch the movie “Entertaining Angels,” which is a beautiful retelling of the Catholic Worker’s humble beginnings. As Pope Francis said in that address to Congress: “[Day’s] social activism, her passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, her faith, and the example of the saints.”

 (For the full message please click here)