Karen House, a shelter for homeless women and children, has been a living example of Christian Faith for over twenty-eight years. Located in the St. Liborious Convent at 1840 Hogan Street in North St. Louis City, Karen House opened its doors to the community in 1977. Though the church only closed in the early 90’s, the nearby convent had been vacant for some time, and the archdiocese agreed to rent out the convent to Virginia Druhe and Anne Manganero, two of the four women who began this institution. Inspired by the Catholic Worker movement and the careers of its founders, Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, Virginia and Anne, along with two nuns, wanted to open a “house of hospitality”, a vision of Day and Maurin’s, and dedicate their lives to its mission: to provide short time shelter for homeless women and children. The house has been thriving ever since on the love, compassion, and dedication of its members.
Karen House relies on the faith between its community members. A community member is someone who lives at or near the convent and “takes house” between one and three times a week. “Taking house” is simply taking care of the duties of the house, such as mealtime preparation, caring for the tenants, and welcoming new guests, among other things, during a five hour shift. Karen House provides rooms for approximately thirteen women and their children at a time. There is no coordinator or leader to make sure everything gets done, but simply a sign up sheet to organize shifts and the expectations of the members to take their quota of shifts. Karen House relies on faith and trust to operate smoothly and provide for the community to the best of its abilities. No one works at Karen House because they are forced to. They work there because they are compassionate, loving people who want to dedicate their life to helping those in need. All the decisions and rules are based off of community meetings and group decisions. There is no president, leader, or organizer. Also, Karen House is supported by donations; it is not assisted by government funding. Thus Karen House relies on not only the trust and faith of its full time members, but also a wide variety of organizations and people that donate money to Karen House. However, people can still provide assistance to Karen House without becoming a member or donating money. Karen House is always bustling with short term volunteers, such as SLUH seniors on their Senior Project. Mike Ohlman, a parishioner at St. Margaret of Scotland Church, and his family volunteer their time every Friday night to cook dinner at Karen House.
Made possible only by the kindness, dedication, trust, and belief of its members and the larger community, Karen House is truly an organization of faith.
Source:Built St. Louis: City Churches Sources:Collen Etling,a member of the Karen House community 314-664-1056
