The atmosphere was jubilant and the well-wishers were wall-to-wall as the Dorothy Day House of Hospitality at 620 Belmont Avenue in Youngstown was blessed and dedicated Nov. 22 by Bishop George Murry, S.J.
The house is named for the celebrated Catholic advocate of justice for the poor who is being considered for canonization as a saint of the Catholic Church. Dorothy Day, along with Peter Maurin, founded the Catholic Worker Movement in the 1930s. There are now Catholic Worker houses in numerous states across the country.
This joint project of the Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown and the Sisters of the Humility of Mary is located in a 100-year-old structure that formerly housed the Sterling McCullough Williams Funeral Home. Now it will welcome the homeless for evening meals and showers, as Humility of Mary Sister Ann McManamon explained to the Catholic Exponent just prior to the dedication ceremonies.
That this was a work-in-progress was evident at the dedication. Those present worked their way around kitchen appliances waiting to be installed and drywall yet to be painted. But volunteers have been working on the project for weeks to get it ready to meet its two-fold objective. Donations of food and equipment had been coming in seemingly out of nowhere to make the opening possible on time, Sister Ann added.
“First,” she said, “we want to give extraordinary hospitality to our guests, and in that process be transformed ourselves by virtue of the way in which those guests touch you in their humble acceptance of their poverty and their limits in life. That is our first goal — and backing that up with some good cooks and some good cleanup staff. That’s one side of the picture.”
Sister Ann said a second purpose of the new venture involves “the roundtable: the opportunity to gather in prayer often, for an in-depth experience of the Gospel and Scripture-based reflection, “while including in that prayer some issue that enlightens me about those things that afflict the poor. Also, learning to get at the causes so that we can go out and take some action.”
Initially, only Sister Ann and one other person, a member of the core team that established the project, will live in the house. “No one else is permanently committed [to living there] at the moment, but that is in process and it will happen. There are people who want to be here. But we are very insistent that it’s a discernment process and a gradual engagement in the Catholic Worker process.”
She said the first goal is to get the meals program up and running, then add the showers. “We want to start with meals three nights a week so that we are sure we are handling this in the way we really want to handle it, so we know we have not bitten off more than we can chew. That’s a really big issue.” She noted that the homeless in Youngstown “have nowhere to go after 4 or 4:30 p.m.” despite having meals served earlier in the day by other shelters and programs.
Once the coffee and evening meals (4-7 p.m.) are up and running full speed, the showers will become available. “You have to master that,” Sister Ann explained. “We have two showers built in on the first floor, a real gift. You need to set limits on the use of the showers.” She noted that without these showers, homeless on the streets might have to pay up to $9 to take a shower elsewhere if they could find one.
Sister Ann opened the dedication ceremony with an explanation of the purpose of the house as described above. “Most important to our whole initiative here,” she stressed, “is not necessarily the meal, not necessarily the shower, but certainly the personal hospitality that each of us will offer to our guests. That’s it in a nutshell: that you will be personally present to the people who come here to join us as our guests.” She asked those present to “recognize this space, this house, as holy ground, a place where all of us can be transformed in Gospel fashion, taking Jesus’ message to us that we will find him most personally and most realistically in the poor.”
Noting that she had been asked repeatedly whether this house would be a permanent home for some members of the local community, Sister Ann said the answer is that “it needs to be a home first, and the way that will happen is that some members, including myself, will live there first. That is what converts a house into a home; then our guests will gradually join us. Hopefully early next year we will have discerned who it is that needs to live with us, perhaps permanently. We don’t know now what those circumstances will be.”
Prior to the blessing by Bishop Murry, Sister Ann acknowledged the many persons whose efforts had contributed to the refurbishment of the old house. She said some 50 members of the Catholic Worker Initiative locally, including an inner circle of about 25 persons and a core team of nine who are part of the “corporate identity and had to put their lives on the line,” are behind the initiative as it begins.
Seed money for the purchase of the house came from the two religious communities, she explained. “That is the history of religious [orders]: that people are often eager to turn resources over to us in order that we could do the work of the Lord in whatever place or way we could. The money that was used for this house was set aside for those who are radically poor. So we are honored to be part of that tradition in every sense.”
She mentioned the members of the core team, who include – in addition to herself — Ursuline Sisters Regina Rogers and Nancy Dawson, Humility of Mary Sister Susan Schorsten, Colleen Boyle, Terry and Vicki Vicars, Erin Bishop, and Karres Cvetovich.
She also thanked all who had helped with their donation of time and resources, citing especially Daniel O’Horo, Bernie Crespi and the work of Deputy Sheriff Sam Oliver of the Day Reporting Program in Youngstown and his day crew of workers from the Mahoning County jail. “We were thrilled to have them,” Sister Ann said.
Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams added words in praise of the new venture, thanking “all those who were instrumental in putting together the Dorothy Day House.” The mayor said that “I can think of nothing more important, as we continue to do things to try to transform the city, [than to help] those in need; knowing that there is a place that provides the warmth and hospitality in a natural setting. But also it is critically important that it is provided from a spiritual standpoint. I never take that for granted.” Williams noted that his wife had seen a dilapidated house on the edge of the property “and that will be torn down.”
Bishop Murry then led the prayer service and walked room to room to bless each area of the house. Afterward, he told the Catholic Exponent that “I think the Dorothy Day House is a wonderful initiative taken by the Humility of Mary Sisters and the Ursuline Sisters. The fact that they are working together to reach out to the poor — and they already do so much for the poor — the fact that they are going to be living here, very present to the community, is I think a great sign of hope. So I am really happy that it’s open.”