Join the Conversation!

Join the Conversation!

We welcome all to participate in our ongoing conversation! The core Happy Are You Poor team members are Catholics and we present a Catholic perspective on the topics covered, but all Christians are welcome to join our discussions. Please comment on our blog and podcast page or on our in-depth articles. We try to answer all input from readers and listeners. If you wish to participate in local attempts at community building, submit material for publication, and/or to join our eventual monthly online meetings, please contact us!

Meet with local Christians who are trying to build community!

To connect with others in your local area who are attempting to put these ideas into practice, contact us! We currently have participants in several cities across the USA. If you’d like to become a local contact, let us know!

Simone Weil House in Portland Oregon is looking for new community members. SW House is a Catholic Worker community. As well as providing hospitality and community meals, they run an interest-free loan program and many other projects. To learn more about them or to get in touch, you can find their website here. You can also listen to our interview with them here.

What can I do Right Now?

We hope that the ideas and conversations on this website will inspire others in their journey of following Christ; rather than trying to “found” something, we hope to act as a catalyst for participatory change.

See our article “101 ways to change your life!” for places to start.

Happy Are You Poor

Podcast 1: Why Community?

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Podcast 1: Why Community?

Nov 26, 2020 • 59:13

Malcolm Schluenderfritz and Peter Land discuss why community is important. Topics include: the relationship of Christian community to evangelization; the relation of the Trinity to the Christian life; the failure of individualism; the Incarnational aspect of community life; the "myth of the Frontier"; Grace and Nature; Choice and Culture; Eating…
Podcast 2: Organic Development of Community

Dec 10, 2020 • 53:07

Peter Land and Malcolm Schluenderfritz discuss community development. Topics include: the purpose of this website, the importance of organic development, the tension between intentionality and organic development, the primacy of friendship, core groups, the role of time and spacial relationships in building community spirit, community as an internal attitude or…
Podcast 3: Voluntary Poverty

Dec 23, 2020 • 1:00:00

Peter Land and Malcolm Schluenderfritz are joined by Jason Wilde, a lay missionary with the Catholic Family Missions Company. They discuss voluntary Gospel poverty, and in particular the role of voluntary poverty in our relationships with God and neighbor. Topics covered include: the nature of voluntary poverty; the difference between…
Podcast 4: Is Our Economic System Anti-Christian?

Jan 8, 2021 • 53:04

Peter Land, Malcolm Schluenderfritz, and Philip discuss the problems with our current economy from the perspective of living an authentically Christian life. Topics covered include: the meaning of “economics;” the importance of economics; the “discipling” ability of our economic activity; the danger of commodification; virtualization; consumerism; the connection between politics…
Podcast 5: A Debate on Socialism

Jan 22, 2021 • 59:50

Malcolm Schluenderfritz and Philip debate socialism. In our last episode, number 4, we discussed the moral problems in our current economic order. (Listen to episode 4 first if you haven’t done so.) In this episode, we discuss whether socialism could provide an alternative. Listeners are reminded of the caveat from…
Podcast 6: Consoling the Heart of Jesus

Feb 4, 2021 • 1:00:00

A Spirituality of Trust In podcast 6, Peter Land and Malcolm Schluenderfritz discuss the Fr. Gaitley’s book Consoling the Heart of Jesus and the spirituality that underlies it: the great love that Jesus has for each of us, despite our sins and failings, and the great importance of absolute trust…
Podcast 7: Casa Karibu Sze-Ming

Feb 19, 2021 • 1:02:00

An interview with Aaron Pott from Denver’s “House of Welcome and Mission.” Malcolm Schluenderfritz and Peter Land interview Aaron Pott, who lives in a small Denver-area Christian intentional community, Casa Karibu Sze-Ming. Aaron talks about the origin, history, mission, spirituality, and structure of his community; the “home liturgies” that help…
Faithful Community or Cult Enclave? Episode 8

Mar 5, 2021 • 1:03:14

Cult dynamics may be more common than you think. It might seem that most normal people don’t have to worry about cults. The reality, however, is that cults are merely dysfunctional communities, and their obvious flaws are merely an exaggerated version of common social problems. There is a strongly felt…
Dorothy Day: Radical Dissident or Faithful Catholic? Podcast Episode 9

Mar 17, 2021 • 34:50

Malcolm interviews Dr. Terrence Wright, who is an associate professor of philosophy at Denver’s St. John Vianney Theological Seminary. Dr. Wright is also the author of “Dorothy Day, An Introduction to her Life and Thought,” published by Ignatius Press. Dorothy Day spent her life working for the promotion and implementation…
An Interview with Jack Sharpe from the Bethlehem Community

Mar 31, 2021 • 59:03

Podcast Episode 10 An interview with Jack Sharpe from the Bethlehem Community of Bathgate, ND. The Bethlehem Community publishes children’s literature as Bethlehem Books. The History of the Bethlehem Community The Beginnings in Portland Jack tells the fascinating story of the Bethlehem community’s development over time. It started as a…

Welcome to the Happy Are You Poor blog and podcast! We discuss a wide range of topics related to living a radically Christian life in the modern world as a means of evangelization. We tell the stories of existing communities and discuss the formation of new communal groups.

The core Happy Are You Poor team members are Catholics, and we present a Catholic perspective on the topics covered, but all Christians are welcome to join our discussions.

We welcome comments from readers and listeners and will do our best to respond to all comments. We also welcome guest blog posts on related topics and are looking for podcast guests, in particular those who are involved in building local community. For a more detailed explanation of our principles and purpose, see our About page.

Our name comes from the book Happy Are You Poor by Fr. Dubay; for more on this book, see this summary on our site.

You can also find the podcast on Apple Podcasts and on Spotify .