Ella Chatfield-Stiehler

February 2022

Dear Friends,

“How can you cope with all the misery you see on a daily basis? It must be so depressing.” In the thirty plus years I have been a part of the Catholic Worker movement I have often heard this response from people when asked about my work. It is true that in our daily work we often see people at their worst and it can be hard to witness: folks in the throes of addiction, untreated mental illness, depression, self-loathing, poor hygiene, and just general bad behavior. There is no hiding the fact that we experience a lot of the harsh reality of life. But what people often miss, or don’t realize, is the joy that accompanies our work.

Peter Maurin, the co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, envisioned Catholic Worker Houses of Hospitality as “a place where it’s easier for people to be good.” I feel my most important duty at the dining room, shelter, and boarding homes is to create a welcoming, respectful, and safe environment for all who come there. That loving environment, I hope, will bring out the best in people. It also creates the opportunity for meaningful relationships to develop. And that is exactly what we experience on a daily basis. I see our guests trying to be their best (even if they can’t say a sentence without using multiple four-letter words) and we see friendships develop. Recently a new volunteer was amazed at the camaraderie she experienced at the dining room. The friendly conversation and laughter among our guests is not what this volunteer expected of a soup kitchen. Mike, who was working in the dining room that day, responded enthusiastically, “Exactly! That’s what’s so great about this place and what I appreciated when I was a guest here.”

In a world increasingly beset by alienation, isolation and loneliness, we are daily surrounded by people with whom we’ve developed close relationships. Initial strangers become acquaintances who become friends with whom we share the ups and downs of life. I look forward to seeing folks (both guests and volunteers) at the dining room, at stores, or on the street. It always makes my day and has given me the sense of community I’ve longed for since childhood.

And then there are the people who support our work and volunteer with us. I have met the nicest and most inspiring people in my life through my work. Some are truly extraordinary people, but most are just regular people trying to be their best. Whether it’s other Catholic Workers, folks in the peace movement, neighbors, or whoever, I am daily surrounded by generous and grateful people who are giving of their talents and treasures to make the world a better place. What a recipe for a joyful life.

Recently another new volunteer asked if we evangelize at the dining room, do we “preach the gospel” to our guests? My first response was, “No, people come here to get basic physical needs met. I don’t want them to feel like they have to listen to a sermon to get food, clean socks, or take a shower. Also, we have people from many and no faith traditions. I want to respect where and who they are.” But on further reflection I shared with him one of my favorite quotes: “Preach the gospel at all times. When absolutely necessary, use words.”

I like to think that by creating a place where it’s easier for people to be good we carry God’s message of love to all we encounter. In my opinion, it is through the witness of our own lives by how we treat others in our daily interactions that the greatest evangelization occurs. When St. John the Apostle was an old man other Christians would come to him seeking great words of wisdom from the last living Apostle. He would simply tell them, “Love one another.” “There must be more,” they would respond. His response would be, “If you love one another you have lived out the gospel of Christ.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not afraid or ashamed to preach the gospel. When people ask me why I do this work I’m happy to tell them I do it because I feel it’s the best way for me to live out my Catholic faith. When I’m occasionally asked to reflect on the scriptures at an area church or talk to a faith group, I’m there with the “God-talk.” But in my daily work I try to let my actions do the preaching. I believe it’s a much more respectful and effective way to express what having the love of God in my life means.

All of us at Catholic Worker Hospitality House – staff, volunteers, and guests – try our best to orient our lives in ways that incarnate the love and dignity of God in our daily lives, whatever our faith traditions. When you create “a place where it’s easier for people to be good” you will see the good side of people. The place brings it out in them and they bring it out in you. We are all so thankful to be part of a place where it’s easier for us to be good. Where we have the opportunity to serve our God through serving others.

As always, we thank you for your great generosity in making Catholic Worker Hospitality House a place where it’s easier for all of us to be good. We hope for your ongoing support that will continue making this special place possible.

In Christ’s Peace,

Peter Stiehler
For all of us at
Catholic Worker Hospitality House

ADU Update

It’s been a while since I’ve given an update on the progress of construction on the ADU (auxiliary dwelling unit, “in-law unit”) in the backyard of our Second Ave house. Bottom line, progress is being made, just not as fast as I would hope. The first six weeks, progress was great: the foundation was poured and framing was completed in amazing time. Workers were here everyday. Then there was the big storm in October, followed by a series of smaller storms. Since then progress has been sketchy at best. Part of the delay is due to weather, part is due to COVID supply chain and labor issues, and part of it is due to contractor issues. To say the least it’s been frustrating at times. But with the end of the holidays and a break in the rain, work is resuming. Our hope is to have folks in the house sometime in March. I know the two people who will be getting a nice new place to live are hoping for a March occupancy date. Please keep this project and our contractor in your prayers.

December 2021

Dear Friends,

I am writing this letter, as I often do, during the morning serving at our dining room. Why here and now? When I am surrounded by the clamor of our guests being served, the playful banter of friends dining together, and tables and chairs being put away at the end of the serving day I am reminded of what drew me to this work and why I continue in it after so many years. In our newsletters this past year, we have been commemorating 25 years of love, service, and, hopefully, faithfulness to those in need in our community at Catholic Worker Hospitality House. We’ve reflected on what brought us here, why we do what we do, and how our work has grown over the years. As we close out our year of remembrance we hope that it has not been mere navel-gazing or self-congratulatory pats on the back, but rather an opportunity to remember God’s great love for us and what joy is to be found in the daily practice of the Works of Mercy, particularly to “the least among us.”

While I feel it’s important to remember why we serve those in need, for most of the 25 years of writing these letters I have struggled to avoid being repetitious and have attempted to keep these letters fresh and relevant. Our December letter has always posed the greatest difficulty. How many times can you relate the usual themes of Advent and Christmas to current events at Catholic Worker Hospitality House and in the world before they lose their power?

I have written on the season of Advent being a time of renewal and new beginnings; on the importance of people of faith being a beacon of hope when all seems lost; of how Catholic Worker Hospitality House tries to be a light in a time of darkness; how God’s coming into the world through the birth of Jesus at Christmas challenges us to see God in all humanity; and how Jesus’ humble birth calls us to be humble and live simply, even if it’s viewed as a threat to the powers that be.

Upon further reflection, these are great themes that bear reiteration. We are repetitious lest we forget, become complacent, and lose hope. With that in mind, we will honor God’s great love for us by continuing to seek renewal in ourselves and our work to better enflesh the Kingdom of God here and now in our community; we will strive to be instruments of God’s grace by serving those most in need in our society through the direct daily practice of the Works of Mercy; and we will seek to be a light of hope for those experiencing a time of darkness in body and/or mind. We will do our best to always be grateful for all we have been given: for God’s presence in our lives, for all the love in our lives, for all we have been given, and for the opportunity to serve. The list can, and should, go on and on for we can never be too repetitious when it comes to gratitude. But mostly we remain thankful for God’s great love for us in so many ways, particularly during this holiday season in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Despite all our failings we are worthy of this love and must pass it on.

And as always we give great thanks for all your past support of our work with those in need in our community and hope that you will continue helping us help others. We simply could not do this work without your kindness and generosity. All of us at Catholic Worker Hospitality House wish you and yours a happy holiday season.

Merry Christmas,

Peter Stiehler
For all of us at Catholic Worker Hospitality House

THANKSGIVING MEAL

In keeping with the letter’s theme of repetition, I reprint, with slight modifications, the reflection I wrote about last year’s Thanksgiving Dinner. It’s as apt this year as last year.

Every year, two weeks before Thanksgiving I get into a tizzy, fearful that we won’t have enough food for our guests. But every year there is plenty. Every year I fear that something will go dreadfully wrong and the meal will be a disaster and every year it’s a beautiful event. This year, due to the coronavirus, my fears were doubled. I hate not being able to serve a sit-down meal. How are we going to make the day festive when the best we can do is hot meals To-Go? Well, once again my fears proved unfounded, as our Thanksgiving Dinner was a lovely event. We had plenty of food and volunteers, and over 130 guests enjoying the day. Even without indoor dining the day was festive, joyful and full of thanks. I was a reminder of why our Thanksgiving Dinner is my favorite event of the year. I definitely need to be more mindful of the angel’s admonition of “Do not be afraid, everything will be alright.”

We thank all of you who provided food and supplies to make Thanksgiving a special day for all our guests. We couldn’t have done it without you. Now it’s time to prepare for Christmas…..

CHRISTMAS DINNER NEEDS

We will be hosting a Christmas Dinner for our guests, but with changes to account for the COVID pandemic. As with our Thanksgiving Dinner we hope to serve a sit-down meal, but may only be able to provide hot and hearty meals To-Go. Again, we hate making this change, as it seems hardly festive, but the safety of our guests and volunteers necessitate it (and Diocesan rules demand it). That said, can you help us host our annual Christmas dinner for our guests by cooking part of the meal?

We need:

• Ham, cooked and carved
• Potato dishes
• Cookies, pie, or cake
• individual milk, juice, or soda

Please bring food donations between 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 p.m. Thursday, December 23. We will be serving the meal between 11:30 – 1:30 p.m. that day. Food can be brought to our dining room at St. Bruno’s Church, located at 555 W. San Bruno Ave. in San Bruno. Please call us at (650) 827-0706 if you can bring anything or if you have any questions. Thank You!

GIFT IDEAS

If you’re interested in providing a gift for one of our guests, may we suggest gift cards as the ideal gift for another COVID impacted Christmas? They would provide Christmas cheer for our guests and enable them to purchase the items they need and want. It would also limit your exposure to crowds this holiday season. We suggest gift cards to grocery stores, Target, restaurants and coffee houses. If you still want to purchase a tangible gift, may we suggest one of the following: sweatshirt, thermal underwear, hat and gloves, socks, or underwear.

We thank you for your generosity in helping to make this holiday season special for our guests!

Dear Friends,

Thanksgiving will soon be upon us and Catholic Worker Hospitality House will once again host a Thanksgiving Dinner for all our guests. Last year, due to COVID, we could only serve meals To-Go, this year we will return to serving a festive sit down meal for all our guests. We once again turn to you to make this special meal possible. In the past you have brought food to share with all of our guests for a traditional Thanksgiving feast. Can you help us again this year? Can you bring one or more of the following:

• Turkey, cooked and carved to serve ten
• Pie, cake or cookies
• Mashed potatoes or stuffing for ten
• Apple cider or milk
• Vegetable dish for ten
• Paper plates, napkins, to go containers

If you can provide any of these items please call us at (650) 827-0706.

Food is to be brought to our dining room at St. Bruno’s Church, located at 555 W. San Bruno Ave., between 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day (Thursday, Nov. 25). The meal will be served between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.. PLEASE call to tell us what you can bring so we can plan accordingly.

Please consider yourself invited to our Thanksgiving Dinner. We know many of you are far from family or perhaps without family. Thanksgiving is the time we remember that we are all part of God’s family: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you all are one in Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)

Thank you so much for your continued generosity.

Peace,

Peter Stiehler
For all of us at Catholic Worker Hospitality House

SEPTEMBER 2021

Dear Friends,

This past spring while discussing edits to our anniversary newsletter with my daughter Ella, she remarked, “You know Dad, it seems that most of the projects at Catholic Worker Hospitality House that have been successful over the years have been the ones to do with housing.”  I had never thought of that before, but she was right.  Whether it’s our emergency homeless shelter, our transitional housing for people coming out of prison or our various permanent affordable housing units, there is such a need for housing that it’s hard to go wrong.  At the risk of spouting a cliché: “If you build it they will come.”

I think particularly about our boarding houses.  Whenever someone has the opportunity to get a room in one of our houses they feel like they’ve won the lottery.  They are shocked to learn that they’ll have their own room in a nice house for such a minimal rent.  I let them know that as long as they keep the place clean, are a good roommate, and pay rent, they’ll have a room for as long as they like. I always tell them, “This is permanent housing; it’s neither short term nor transitional.”  

Catholic Worker Hospitality House exists to respond to the needs of our community and over the years we have tried a variety of projects to address different problems our guests face.  This disbelief our boarding house residents feel when they’re first invited to live in one of our houses is due to how unaffordable living has become in the Bay Area.  In the Bay Area there is the one overarching problem that permeates everything – the high cost of housing.  With rent prices soaring for decades, even when our guests have full-time jobs or are receiving Social Security checks, those we serve are often unable to pay the exorbitant price of rent that has now become “normal.”  It should not be normal for people to be working full-time jobs and still struggle to feed and house themselves.  Therefore, it’s not really surprising that our housing projects have been the most successful. It’s the greatest issue our guests face and the biggest problem in our community.  So of course the profoundest way we can impact their lives is by providing affordable, permanent housing. 

It’s an obvious problem with an obvious solution, but it took us a while to realize that we had the ability to provide some of this much-needed affordable housing.  We had been operating our dining room and homeless shelter for ten years before we started using the Second Ave house in San Bruno as a boarding house fifteen years ago and it was such a success that when money became available we purchased a house in South San Francisco to provide more housing, then later added on to the Second Ave house when funds once again became available.  We are always looking for an opportunity to increase the amount of permanent affordable housing we are able to offer those we serve as the need just continues to increase.

Artist rendering of what our ADU will look like.

This house under construction, while not ours, is exactly what our ADU will look like and has the same architectural plans.

Well, we’re expanding again. For at least 15 years Kate and I have dreamed of building an ADU (auxiliary dwelling unit, “in-law unit”) in the backyard of our Second Ave. house.  Until recently city zoning restrictions prevented us from doing so, but over the past few years state mandated changes to those regulations now make it possible for us to build the ADU of our dreams.  This ADU will allow us to expand the amount of permanent affordable housing we are able to provide to those we serve at our dining room and homeless shelter.

After years of dreaming and planning, events are now moving fast.  In mid-July we received final approval of our building plans from the San Bruno building department.  As I write in late August we are deciding upon a contractor and expect to break ground on the project in early September.  If all goes well the ADU will be completed and occupied by January or February of 2022.  We will keep you apprised of the building progress in upcoming newsletters, as well as on our website and Facebook page.

Can you help us make this dream a reality? We expect the project to cost $350,000.  We have already raised $200,000, but will need another $150,000 to complete the project. We realize this is a huge sum of money, but it has been our experience over the years that many people giving whatever they can allows us to do great things.  Any amount you can give will be helpful in enabling us to complete this project.

As always we thank you for your ongoing support of our work.  Your generosity enables us to not only maintain our current service projects, but to have the courage to make our big dreams a reality.

In Christ’s Peace,

Peter Stiehler

For all of us at

Catholic Worker Hospitality House