Su Casa Catholic Worker  is a house of hospitality and intentional community rooted in the Catholic Worker tradition and located in Back-of-the-Yards, Chicago. We work to establish a community and society rooted in simplicity, free of violence, and abounding in love.

History

Brother Denis Murphy, FSC, asked his sister and a couple friends if they would be interested in beginning a Catholic Worker house for Central American refugees. After an affirmative answer and several days of discussion, they contacted the Chicago Archdiocese for a list of parishes that were closing during 1990. St. Augustine parish was the first on the list.

During the summer of 1990, the Franciscans offered us their St. Augustine Friary when St. Augustine parish closed. We arranged with the Overground Railroad, begun by Reba Church in Evanston, to accept our first refugee family in October. Until they could find other accommodations, the five Franciscans lived with us until December.

Pat Asche, Sister Pat Murphy, RSM and Brother Denis, FSC moved in early October. Sister JoAnn Persh, RSM moved in after Christmas. This was our first worker community.

Felipe Chuluc, an indigenous Guatemalan widower, with his three children Dorcus, Heidi, and Marcos, were the first family welcomed into Su Casa as they sought asylum in Canada. In the seven years that followed, approximately 160 women, men, and children received temporary residence at Su Casa as they coped with trauma rooted in experiences of war, torture, and political persecution in their homes countries in Central America.

Beginning in 1996, the Su Casa Catholic Worker experienced growth in its service to single mothers who had survived domestic violence as the flow of refugees to Chicago diminished. Part of that growth included Su Casa’s commitment to one-year residencies for families rebuilding their lives after domestic violence and homelessness. Since 1996, over 350 people have called Su Casa home. The Su Casa Catholic Worker continues to provide community-based housing with anywhere from three to six families making Su Casa their home. They live in shared community with residential volunteers in renewed emphasis of community outlined by the Catholic Worker tradition.

An increasing number of volunteers participate in the work of Su Casa to contribute to the lives of the families and residential volunteers. Work with many partners in Chicago has also enhanced the residency of the families we serve, and the Su Casa Catholic Worker remains an active partner in the Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood. It shares its mission and commitment to social justice in homelessness, domestic violence, and immigration in collaboration with the larger Catholic Worker movement.

Catholic Worker Philosophy

Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin organized the Catholic Worker movement in the 1930s. They applied the social teachings of the Catholic Church to the social problems of their day. Peter and Dorothy chose to live simply among the poor and to offer them hospitality. They saw the need to live nonviolently in a war- torn age. Following their example, we are committed to living and working among the poor and to building a prayerful community that lives a simple and nonviolent lifestyle. Visit the Catholic Worker Movement’s website for more information.

Community Pillars

Below are five pillars that are guided by the Catholic Worker tradition and our mission to care for each other by creating a community of hospitality and healing for families in crisis:

A.  Community building: All community members are expected to be present for at least two community dinners (currently Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday), and all adults are expected to attend the weekly community meeting (currently Sunday nights). Workers are to attend established worker meetings. Absence should be communicated to the community in advance. Residents take part in community outings and gatherings when willing and able.

B.  Nonviolence: The members of our community agree to respect each other by not using violence against anyone- physically, (hitting , pushing, etc),  verbally (yelling, threatening, etc) and emotionally (criticizing, insulting, gossiping, etc). Video games and other media rated as violent are not to be used in common spaces. All community members will be familiar with the conflict resolution expectations and policy, and will take steps toward resolution.

C. Mutual respect: All community members are expected to respect the privacy and confidentiality of all those in the house, respect all property of Su Casa and that of fellow community members, and have sensitivity to noise levels in the morning and evening hours. All are expected to actively contribute to house cleaning and and are expected to clean up after themselves in common spaces (kitchen, toy room, bathrooms, refrigerators, showers, etc).   

D.  Safety: Community members will not consume or possess any drugs, alcohol or harmful substances at Su Casa, and smoking is not permitted in the house. Guardians are expected to be with their children while at the house, unless a worker or volunteer offers child care and is given consent by the guardian. All residents must abide by the established house entry and exit norms. Guests may visit in common spaces. 

E. Personal Goals/Wholeness/Growth: Community members are expected to take advantage of opportunities to learn, heal, and take steps toward established personal/communal goals. Families are expected to meet weekly with the case manager and workers to attend monthly formation meetings. 

The House

Franciscan friars once called our building home, but when their resident St. Augustine church closed, the property was generously offered to the soon-to-be founders of Su Casa. Since then, in the spirit of the Catholic Worker Tradition, workers and guests have lived, eaten, given birth, wept, cleaned, and laughed within these walls. Though Su Casa’s mission began as a shelter for refugees of Central-American genocide and civil war, we now serve English and Spanish-speaking families of Chicago who are experiencing housing insecurity and families from Central America seeking asylum in this country, many of whom are women and children escaping domestic violence. Our house physically accommodates up to six families at a time. More information about the history of the Land can be found here.