Founder of the Center for Catholic Social Thought at Assumption in St. Paul, Colin Miller, believes his new book “We Are Only Saved Together: Living the Revolutionary Vision of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement” can help readers understand the way in which the proverbial Catholic worker can guide them into “being the kinds of Christians that God is calling us.”
Miller was involved in different hospitality houses with the Catholic Worker movement and had the opportunity to live with the poor in various ways. His new book details his personal experience with the movement, which he said aims to bring Catholics back to the Scriptures, particularly the life of the early Church, and how to incorporate that in the modern world.
Miller told “Practicing Catholic” radio show host Patrick Conley during an interview airing at 9 p.m. Aug. 2 on Relevant Radio 1330 AM, “We live in a world that is very different than any world people have ever lived in before. It’s a technological world, it’s a fragmented world. It’s a world where we’re all pressed hard and where many of us feel lonely, stressed, and anxious. One of the things that the Catholic Worker movement can do is draw us into stronger forms of Christian community that are centered around the practices of the Gospel. … It’s really an appeal to Christians to live the lives that God is calling us to.”
Miller hopes the book will stoke the imaginations of “lay Catholics in the pew” and illustrate that this movement isn’t a work of perfection that needs to be done right immediately.
“When you read in those famous early lines in the Acts of the Apostles about the way that the early Christian community had all things in common, and they prayed together, and they fed the poor together and they had fellowship together and they ate together. … How can we go about doing that today? The book, I hope, takes us from, ‘I’ve never thought about doing anything like that’ all the way to ‘what are some first baby steps that we might take towards living that Acts of the Apostles?’”
Miller relayed that there are three ways Catholics can find Jesus in their lives: through prayer, community and the poor.
“This is throughout the Gospels,” Miller said. “Maybe Jesus wants to show up for us, right where he said that he would show up. The guy flying the sign on the edge of the road, the homeless folks at the encampment, Christ is right here in the poor and he’s waiting to meet us.”
To hear Miller’s practical ways to engage with the poor as Catholics, tune into “Practicing Catholic,” which repeats at 1 p.m. Aug. 3 and 2 p.m. Aug. 4.???
The program also includes a discussion with Jennifer Sustacek about what it’s like to be a mother to a priest, recently ordained Father Ryan Sustacek. Also, Father Toulee Peter Ly from Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary updates listeners on the recent move of the Hmong community from St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul to Presentation in Maplewood.
Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the program can also be heard after it has aired at archspm.org/faith-and-discipleship/practicing-catholic or choose a streaming platform at Spotify for Podcasters.
