Reflections on the Catholic Worker Movement III

There was an obvious and intentional effort on the part of the Catholic Worker Movement to reflect the Apostolic sense of “breaking the bread.” While it is true that this statement does refer to some degree to the early Christians' celebration of the Lord's Supper, it should not be be denied that this breaking of bread implied more than the sharing of a meal or the simple remembering of Jesus' last earthly meal. Rather, to dedicate oneself to the breaking of the bread also meant to make a radical and volitional effort to love one's brother or sister without counting the cost. This seems to have been part of St. Paul's concern when he wrote to the Corinthians, chastising them for their partial exclusion of certain classes of people (particularly poor and slave class persons) from the Eucharistic assembly (Cf. 1 Cor. 11). Likewise, those who were to be a part of the Catholic Worker Movement were not free to exclude anyone. Rather, they were convinced that true conversion could only come about by means of a powerful Christian love. Thus Day is able to comment,

We could not put people out on the street . . . because they acted irrationally and hatefully. We were trying to overcome hatred with love, to understand the forces that made men what they are, to learn something of their backgrounds, their educations, to change them, if possible, from lions into lambs (Loaves and Fishes, 50).

Any Christian who claims to be wholly devoted to the Apostolic sense of breaking the bread recognizes that this breaking of bread will demand, for the sake of unity, a willingness to tolerate those who are objectively wrong, or with whom we subjectively disagree. We may try to bring them to a place of conversion, but the movement toward that place must be inspired by true Christian charity. Day recognized this well and, as a result, was able to tolerate those like the racist Mr. Breen, the curmudgeonly Mr. O'Connell, and the drunken Mr. Shaughnessy.