Des Moines
The pandemic has been a time of upheaval for the Des Moines Catholic Worker, seeing the hours their house is open for folks to come and hang out replaced by to go meals served through an open window, a kind of Catholic Worker “drive-thru.” Another window on the opposite side of the building hands out a variety of other items from clothing, hygene items, to non perishable food.
But perhaps just as dramatically the change to the CW project there has been accompanied by a huge turnover in personnel. In fact, besides my host Julie who spends half of her time in Kurdistan and the (semi)retired Eddie and Frank no one in the community has been there since the pre-pandemic days of their homely drop in center.
Spread out over four houses that connect via a backyard alley, I didn’t get the opportunity to meet everyone involved in the Des Moines CW on my short 2 day visit. Some communities have all hands on deck during their serving times but Des Moines only needs a handful of folks around each shift which allows them to spread the team out over their many serving times.
So while Austin plated up to go containers, Annie handed them out the window, and I made up coffees to go (“How many creams and sugars?). Frida staffed the donation window, and Eddie walked around doing anything else worth doing. Julie held down the truest of Catholic Worker gigs that morning, sitting around smoking cigarettes with the guests in the out door picnic area, making sure folks were welcomed and tearing down the barriers that can easily be built up between those who come to the Catholic Worker for service and those who come there to serve.
Lunch on the day I helped out featured a baked pasta with a meaty red sauce and cheese melted over the top provided by a local volunteer organization. There was some worry at one point about "Will we have enough?" But just like those few loaves and couple of fish it all worked out.
It's not every day that lunch is brought in for the Des Moines CW folks, when it isn't they take turns cooking for the day. I'm told crock pot stews are a favorite go to.
Des Moines has its own forms of Catholic Worker resistance. During my stay Frank and Eddie led their weekly vigil outside of Des Moines’ drone operation center to call attention to targeted assassination taking place right in their own city. They also regularly join a group of clergy outside police headquarters proclaiming “Black Lives Matter.” Each October they protest the big ag’s self congratulating World Food Prize and also make time to protest nuclear weapons too.
I got Frank to tell his story about throwing ashes at Jimmy Carter to protest nukes while I was in town.
And had fun with Julie walking around their immense farmers market.
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