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The movement spread, with a second Friendship House opening in Ottawa in 1936 , and another shortly after in Hamilton (which later became a Catholic Worker Movement House). But because Catherine's approach to interracial justice was so different from what was being done at the time, she encountered much Persecution and resistance, and the first Friendship House was forced to close in 1936 . Soon, however, a Catholic Interracial Council invited her to open Friendship House in Harlem NY ( 1938 ) — and this interracial ministry led to the foundation of Frienship Houses in Chicago IL ( 1942 ), Washington DC ( 1948 ), Portland OR ( 1951 ), Shreveport LA ( 1953 ), and farms in Marathon WI , Montgomery NY , and Burnley VA . Before the Montgomery Bus Boycott , Friendship House, along with the Catholic Interracial Councils, provided some of the few sites where Catholics could publicly devote their full-time efforts to interracial justice, and where white Catholics, for the first time, could converse face to face with African Americans in a non-threatening setting. The main instrument of change employed by Friendship House was public education — personal contact, public speaking, and articles published in both the Catholic and secular press. Friendship House also itself published ''Harlem Friendship House News'', ''The Catholic Interracialist'', and ''Community Magazine'' from 1941 to 1983 . The staff of Frienship House faced constant threat and physical assaults from anti- Integration Racists and Bigots . Friendship House was the beneficiary from the late 1940s to the 1960s of the notoriety of Thomas Merton , who described his weeks of volunteering during the summer of 1942 at the Harlem Friendship House in '' The Seven Storey Mountain ''. Many came to know Friendship House and volunteer through his writings. In the early days, the lay apostolate required staff members to attend daily Mass , morning and evening prayers, take regular retreats, and practice poverty, chastity and obedience. Thus the staff were shocked when their foundress suddenly married the famed American journalist Eddie Doherty , and many personal and philosophical rifts began between the staff and Catherine. When these could not be resolved, Catherine moved back to Canada and founded a new apostolate named Madonna House in 1947 . Despite the departure of the foundress, Friendship House continued to grow nationally until the late 1950s, when the last remaining house in Chicago changed from being a religious community to a volunteer organization staffed by persons hired and paid a small salary. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES Schorsch, Albert. "Uncommon Women and Others: Memoirs and Lessons from Radical Catholics at Friendship House". ''U.S. Catholic Historian'', Fall 1990 — 9(4):371-386. ( Internet Archive link ) |
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