This month we celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Catholic Worker. On May 1, 1933, the first issue of The Catholic Worker newspaper was printed and distributed in New York’s Union Square, and a movement was born. What started as an 8-page paper to report on the conditions of workers and the unemployed and to share the social teaching of the Catholic Church has evolved into an interfaith network of some 200+ houses of hospitality, farms, and yes, newspapers, blogs, and podcasts.

A friend recently invited me to join him at the Arlene Schnitzer concert hall in Portland for a performance by the Oregon Symphony, where we were treated to Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 5 and Symphony No 2. What an immersive experience! From our seats in the front row of the Orchestra section (A7 and A8), we didn’t so much listen to the music as absorb it with our bodies.

Twelve years ago, I joined the LACW as a summer intern. On the first day of our internship, veteran Catholic Worker and then-editor of the Agitator Jeff Dietrich reviewed the weekly schedule with us. It included days for the Hippie Kitchen, other days for the street corner oatmeal breakfast, and still other days and times for the death penalty vigil, the anti-war vigil, culture critique, Eucharist, and happy hour. As he finished showing us the calendar he remarked, “This is our liturgy of hope.”