The Fig Tree Catholic Worker in Hammarkullen Sweden
The Fig Tree Catholic Worker is an ecumenical Christian community located in Sweden’s second largest city of Gothenburg. We are based out of two flats in Hammarkullen (“Hammer Hill”), one of the city’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
Our community is rooted in the social teachings of Jesus and inspired by the tradition of the Catholic Worker. The Catholic Worker originated in New York City in the 1930’s as a radical lay movement devoted to the Works of Mercy and the development of a non-violent, non-statist social order through prayer, direct action and personal transformation. Today there are nearly 150 Catholic Worker communities around the world which are involved in social ministries ranging from hospitality to homeless and marginalized people, resistance to war and racism, and farming. Most are based in the United States, but they are also found in Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Scotland, Germany, the Netherlands and now Sweden!
The Fig Tree Catholic Worker seeks to apply the tradition of Catholic Worker personalism (that is, the recognition that all people are loved completely by God and are of infinite value; and that we have a personal responsibility to serve our sisters and brothers in need and work to transform unjust social and political systems) to Gothenburg and the unique Swedish social context. Currently, our work includes active support for existing programs that assist recent immigrants and addicts, offering hospitality to people in need out of our “Christ room,” hosting a twice-monthly Catholic Worker book study and discussion group, and organizing resistance to the Swedish arms industry. We also maintain a close connection to the Swedish Plowshares movement, which follows the injunction of Isaiah 2:4 (“they shall hammer their swords into plowshares…”) by directly disarming nuclear weapons and other tools of killing.
Our community currently consists of four people: We welcome you to visit our community or to consider joining us in this “kin-dom” experiment!
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Read Per Herngren's whole book on Internet: Path of Resistance review by David Westby
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Per Herngren is active in the plowshares movement which nonviolently disarms weapons using hammers inspired by Mike 4:2-4. Beat the sword into plowshares. Mostly, he writes in Swedish, but here is some of his English texts on nonviolence. He has published one book in English on civil disobedience: Path of Resistance (Per Herngren, 1993, p 214, New Society Publishers, ISBN USA 0-86571-253-0) |