About Us

The Denver Catholic Worker is an informal intentional community that provides hospitality to folks experiencing homelessness in the Denver area. For 38 years, our hospitality house in the Five Points neighborhood was the home where we lived in community with our guests, striving to carry on the Catholic Worker mission, as Peter Maurin put it, to “create a world where it is easier for people to be good.”

A fire in January of 2016 dispersed us physically. We were finally able, in 2018, to purchase a smaller house at 1027 26th Street, which we renovated and opened in June of 2019. Two folks who were living in the old house are the core of the new one, and there are also two bedrooms for families. This house is focused on serving refugees and immigrants. One two-person family has been living with us since the opening, waiting for a hearing on their case for asylum. A three-person family stayed with us for a year from September of 2021, and a new two-person family moved in in 2022. The needs of immigrants for housing and other services are huge.

Two long-time members of the CW community live next door to the house and participate in its decision-making and prayer life, including noon prayer on weekdays. We have changed our evening prayer time there to the first Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome.

We have now opened a second house, serving folks currently experiencing homelessness in Denver. We hope to acquire our own place, but have started by renting a 10-bedroom home at 1544 Pearl Street for the school year 2022-2023. We are paying for it by subletting some upstairs rooms to low-income folks. Since December, 2022, we have two live-in workers and have started receiving guests. The community gathers on Thursday evenings at 6:00 p.m., starting with Mass on the second and fourth Thursdays. You’re welcome to join us.

If you wish to make a donation, please send us a check made out to Denver Catholic Worker House and mailed to Anna Koop, 1023 26th Street, Denver, CO 80205. We are no longer using PayPal and apologize to those of you who found that means of contributing convenient.

We are part of a much larger movement called the Catholic Worker Movement, which was founded in 1933 by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in New York City. There are over 200 Catholic Worker communities across the globe. To find out more about the movement, or to see a directory of Catholic Worker communities, houses of hospitality, soup kitchens and farms, go to http://www.catholicworker.org.

Looking for the Denver Catholic Worker Soup Kitchen?  They function separately from the house. To contact them please go to http://www.denvercatholicworkersoupkitchen.com.