Holy Week is about remembering Jesus’ bold witness in Jerusalem. He turned over the tables of the money changers, spoke boldly subversive words, broke bread with friends, and died a criminal’s death. On Good Friday, we remember the death of Jesus. We also remember the crucified around the world. Today, our government’s chosen form of execution is drone warfare.

Join us on Good Friday, March 29, at 4pm at the US Courthouse in Minneapolis (300 S 4th St, Minneapolis, MN).

We’ll gather for a public liturgy where we will remember the witness of Christ.  We gather to lament our complicity with our government’s death-dealing, to repent, and to move together more deeply into embodying the Good News of Jesus.

Please join us for the Mennonite Worker’s (formerly Missio Dei) third annual benefit dinner on Saturday, February 23rd at 7pm at Faith Mennonite Church (2720 E 22nd St Minneapolis).

Proceeds from this dinner will help us with our goal of raising 100K for a new hospitality house .

Dinner will include appetizer, dinner and dessert. Please let us know if you are vegan or have other dietary concerns.

Our menu includes moussaka, Greek salad, and cheesecake. We’ll also serve mint lemonade. If you are vegan or vegetarian, please send an email to mark@mennoniteworker.com so we can prepare an alternative dish for you.

Dinner will be accompanied by live music. There will also be some poetry and a brief presentation explaining our fundraising project.

Childcare will be provided, please let us know if you will be bringing children and their ages.

$10 suggested minimum donation…you can pay online, but we’d prefer that you pay via cash or check at the door (there are less fees that way). All are welcome, regardless of donation.

Please RSVP by February 16.
If you are unable to attend, but would like to donate, visit our website.

If you have any questions, email: info@mennoniteworker.com

You are invited to the Mennonite Worker’s first ever karaoke dance party. All proceeds will go towards our goal of raising $100,000 for a new hospitality house and peace center. You can find out more about that here .

Music will be selected from the 70s, 80s, and 90s (though nobody will mistreat you if songs from the 60s sneak their way in). Prizes will be awarded to awesomest karaoke performance, raddest dance moves, and most righteously retro garb (all are encouraged to dress themselves in their sweetest vintage apparel).

by [G]Emma

I remember that day so vividly…It was a chill October morning and the wind was howling. A particularly strong zephyr came whistling through the yard, shaking the walls of our coop and setting off a bout of nervous clucking from my harem.

“Oh do calm down,” I said to them as they ran around frantically, waddles all-a -jiggle. I sighed. Ever since Jack, my old flatmate, had been plucked, seasoned and stewed, I felt as though there was no one I could really talk to. Continue Reading…

by Brett Taylor

A number of my fellow Mennonite Workers had previously been on the Christian Peacemaker Team’s Aboriginal Justice Delegation to Grassy Narrows, Ontario. As the fourth member of my community to participate, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from hearing the stories of others who had gone before me. Despite what the name “Christian Peacemaker Teams” calls to my imagination, I knew not to expect any sort of heroic acts of saviordom by myself or any other delegate. I knew going into the delegation that the attitude of White saviordom is one that must be actively dismantled and that, in part, the delegation would help us to do this. However, this is a difficult attitude to undo. Perhaps all the John Wayne movies I watched growing up affected me more than I knew, but when I found out that we had been invited to accompany the community at Grassy Narrows to an environmental levy/blockade, images came to mind of myself standing unflinchingly before a demonic Balrog of a logging truck “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” Continue Reading…

by Kyla Sisson

On Sunday, October 14th, Tomas Gómez Membreño (indigenous organizer with the Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras, pictured to the right) and Riahl O’Malley (from Witness for Peace) participated in a roundtable discussion at Casa Guadalupana in St. Paul, MN.

On Sunday, Oct. 14, our friends at Casa Guadalupana in St Paul hosted a roundtable discussion led by Riahl O’Malley, member of Witness for Peace, and Tomas Gómez Membreño, indigenous organizer with COPINH (Civic Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras). Tomas and Riahl spoke about how US policies that protect capitalist interests affect indigenous peoples in Honduras. Continue Reading…

A photo from this year’s Midwest Catholic Worker gathering.

When we started Missio Dei in 2003, we had no idea where the next nine years would lead. Back then, we were a kinda hip urban church startup. Within a year, we were a small congregation of about forty people. But it didn’t feel right. The core community at the time wanted to go deeper into Jesus’ radical way of life. And so, a year into forming a new church, we killed Missio Dei and started over as an intentional community. Volumes could be written about the challenges of that process, but I’ll spare you the awkward details and jump to the next major turning point in our journey.

As we started embracing practices like peacemaking and hospitality, we quickly discovered that we felt alone. We wanted comradery, and so we formed a relationship with the Mennonite Church USA. Mennonites are people with a rich history of peacemaking. They take the Sermon on the Mount serioiusly and have (to varying degress of success) seeked to live into the radical implications of Jesus’ life and message. So we became Mennonite.

Over the past 9 years, we’ve found ourselve rubbing shoulders with a lot of Catholic Workers. We’ve discovered that, while our theological convictions often line up with our Mennonite siblings, our politics and our practices look very Catholic Worker. For the past few years, our primary friendships have been between both Mennonites and Catholic Workers. To communicate the meaningfulness of these two great frienships, we’ve changed our name from Missio Dei to the Mennonite Worker.

There are also mundanely practical reasons for the name change. “Missio Dei” is a pretty obscure Latin phrase for most folks. We’ve been asked “what is that Mexican for?” (this statement alone has several things wrong with it. It has also been pointed out (repeatedly) that we sound like we’re named after an Irish barmaid (Missy O’Day). I get the Irish part, but I have no idea why folks consistently assume that a woman named Missy O’Day would work at a bar. My Irish grandmother would be offended (rest her soul). My favorite has been the way in which our name has been routinely mispelled. One example is “Miseo Dei” (miseo is Greek for “hate” while Dei is Latin for “God”). Another is “Missio Die” which comes across like a threat.

For these reasons (and more), we felt a name change is an order.

This year we began a fundraising campaign with the goal of purchasing a new house. This property would not only be used to expand our capacity for hospitality, but also house the new Gene Stoltzfus for Creative Peacemaking: a little space set aside for those around and among us who would like to widen their perspective on radical peace-making.  We want to raise at least $100,000 to accomplish this.

Our journey to fundraise has been exciting so far. We’ve grown in unity as we’ve relied upon one another’s creativity. We’ve also made new friends as folks have learned about our cause. Thanks to the generosity of friends and family, we have raised over $45,000, which means we’re almost halfway to our goal. We are so excited by the dreams which are so close to becoming realities!

We have been  encouraged by the generosity we’ve encountered so far in our efforts. Some have given their widow’s mite.  Others have partnered with us by giving larger donations. We are glad to be able to report that so far almost twenty five percent of our funds have been given by members and residents.

Though we are so close, we still need help. Please give here . We’ll also need building supplies and volunteer laborer once a building is found. Thanks for partnering with us and for believing in our work!