About Us

The Denver Catholic Worker is an informal intentional community of volunteers that provides hospitality and support to folks experiencing homelessness in the Denver area.

After 38 years of hospitality in our Welton Street house, a fire in January of 2016 destroyed our home. Thankfully, everyone got out safely. For two years, we were a dispersed community, offering limited hospitality in some homes and meeting weekly for prayer and monthly for fellowship and discernment. In July of 2018, through the amazing generosity of many donors, we were able to purchase and renovate a 4-bedroom house at 1027 26th Street. Two people who’d been long-term guests in the old house became the core of the new, and two long-time CW community members live next-door, providing guidance and support. We’ve decided to dedicate this house to serving immigrant and refugee families.

Our first family was a Congolese father and son who joined us when we opened in June of 2019. They’ve now celebrated the milestone of moving into their own apartment, while still waiting for a hearing on their case for asylum. Another Congolese family stayed with us for a year, and now we have two Venezuelan families. It’s wonderful to watch the children play together. All refugees have many urgent needs, and we do what we can to help. Most importantly, we love them and welcome them into our lives.

We have regular community prayer at the 26th Street house, including a half hour of silent prayer each weekday at noon, and prayer structured around the Catholic Mass readings on the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:00 p.m. All are welcome.

We became excited about the possibility of a second house in Denver in the spring of 2022. Hoping ultimately for a place of our own, we started by renting a 10-bedroom home at 1544 Pearl Street for one year starting in mid-July. We sublet some upstairs rooms to low-income folks to help cover our costs and started receiving hospitality guests in December of 2022. With a lot of good energy on the part of a few dedicated people, we were able to continue through the end of our lease, but didn’t manage to expand our local support community or to attract live-in workers with a long-term commitment into the future.

One person in Denver is still excited about looking for another house, but we’re now in a time of transition. The two of us who are actively supporting our current house are aging, and we’re looking for a long-term volunteer who might be able to replace us within about a year. Please call or email us if you’re interested.

If you wish to make a donation, please send 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. 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.