about

"There is a fascination about traveling, getting on a bus and going from town to town, visiting fellow workers, seeing again the houses of hospitality, the farms, the homes of young married couples whose lives have been given direction and meaning by the teaching of Peter Maurin. He used to love to go on a long trip, from coast to coast, a rather zig-zag route, nothing planned, dropping in on readers of the paper..." -Dorothy Day 

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I'm theo, the son of a teacher and a UAW assembly line worker from St. Louis, MO.

In 2010, 3 days after my 20th birthday, I got on a train to Los Angeles where I hoped to join LA's version of the Catholic Worker. I'd end up spend a total of 7 years living and working with the LACW over a couple different stints.

I've been lucky enough to have seen a bunch of other Catholic Worker communities too! I even lived at Karen House in St. Louis (RIP 2020), Cherith Brook in Kansas City, and at the Half Moon Bay, CA house.

Some folks know me from my online work of helping facilitate the CW email list (email catholicworkerlist@gmail.com to be signed up!), administrator of the Facebook group Catholic Worker Movement, or online roundtables. I also run in to folks who know me as the guy who wrote the enneagram song, for which I was awarded the Midwest CW gathering's coveted Football Mary.

Since May of 2022 I've been traveling around to different Catholic Worker communities hoping to share a snapshot of all the wonderful work going on in the movement. For the summer of 2023 I'll be visiting communities in Europe and in the long run plan on starting a Catholic Worker house in St. Louis with a couple of experienced CW friends.

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The title a troubadour for the Catholic Worker movement is lifted from the introduction to Forgotten Radical Peter Maurin edited by Milwaukee CW Lincoln Rice:

"Maurin enacted his emulation of Franciscan poverty before he met Dorothy Day. When he met her, he owned nothing except the clothes on his back, which he would literally give away when asked. Becoming a troubadour for the Catholic Worker movement, he traveled around the country speaking about his ideas and sharing what was happening in New York City and on the farm. When in New York City, Maurin often spent his nights selling the newspaper in Union Square while arguing with communists. After sleeping until noon the next day, he would attend Mass and eat at a cheap restaurant on the Bowery."