We live in a unique time of possibility and hope. Although the number of women religious is dwindling, they remain the lifeblood of our church, and their convents are holy and fertile ground for new communities of faith. My suggestion: Keep the convents. Open the doors to lay people. Welcome migrants and the homeless. It is a simple plan with a simple mission as old as the church itself: Form local communities of faith where people can practice the works of mercy and grow intellectually and spiritually.
In New York City each night there are approximately 55,000 men, women and children who are homeless. As a housing attorney, I know that thousands more face (and fight) eviction each day. Rather than look to the state to meet the need for shelter, Peter Maurin, co-founder with Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker movement, suggested that clergy and laity set aside rooms within their own homes for hospitality. Maurin, following St. Jerome, called them “Christ rooms.” The Catholic Worker movement, as originally intended, relied on small acts of service and hospitality by millions of Catholics. Dorothy Day wrote in 1938: “When we succeed in persuading our readers to take the homeless into their homes…then we will be known as Christians because of the way we love one another.”
This call to hospitality is not burdensome, but an opportunity. The Catholic Church is the largest landowner in New York City, and there are nearly three million Catholics in this archdiocese. We have the space in New York-and elsewhere. In many cities across the country, where there were 20 sisters living in a convent in 1980, now there are only two or three. Floors of bedrooms with beds, nightstands, closets and desks are ready for use. Kitchens with industrial-sized pots and stoves with extra burners-all sturdy and scrubbed-are waiting to serve. Bathrooms are ready to offer hot showers. Moreover, convents are often connected with and accessible to parishes, which can offer many resources. The community members could pay (fair) rent, bringing much needed money to struggling parishes or congregations. In this way, we could act as good stewards of the land and safeguard and cultivate the property God has given to the church.