Chicago IL to Oklahoma City, Ok (around 12 hours)

Oscar Romero Catholic Worker, Oklahoma City, OK

We were welcomed by Bob Waldrop in the late hours of the night (early morning) at the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker in Oklahoma City. The Catholic Worker movement was started by Dorothy Day in 1933 with the philosophy of helping people in need and making it easy for people to be good and that is what the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker is trying to do. He started this Catholic Worker in the early 1990s and named it for Oscar Romero, who was a Catholic Archbishop in El Salvador. Romero was chosen for this Catholic Worker because of his example of being one who came from privilege and chose a life of simplicity and to work with the poor, Bob and this community doing this as well.

The Oscar Romero Community delivers food to people in need, especially people who do not have transportation. Given the reality of the economy these days, Bob said that he has seen an increase in the people that needing assistance to make ends meet. Another significant piece of the work of the Oscar Romero community is the food coop that has been created to distribute locally grown and organic food throughout Oklahoma City.

Bob shared with us that Oklahoma has approximately 30,000 undocumented immigrants, but many are leaving because of the anti-immigrant legislation that has passed and the anti-immigrant sentiment in Oklahoma. The Oscar Romero Catholic Worker took a strong stance against the anti-immigrant legislation proposed in 2006 in the Oklahoma legislature that did eventually passed. In the Summer 2006 Oklahoma City Catholic Worker newspaper they proclaimed “We call upon all people of goodwill to stand together in solidarity against these wicked and evil laws that are based in racism and hatred of other cultures.”

For further information on the Oklahoma City Oscar Romero Catholic Worker their contact information is: 1524 NW 21^st, Oklahoma City, 73106 , 405-557-0436, www.justpeace.org/okccwindex.htm

Other Links of interest:

http://www.oklahomafood.coop/shop/producers/oscro.php
http://www.thedorothydaycenter.com/resources/About_CWER2007.htm
http://www.cliniclegal.org/StateandLocal/OKanalysisfinal.pdf