Immigration Rights

Helping Dream Act Students In Their Fast


December 17th, 2010

I was so moved by these students. They called me out of the blue to ask for help. They had heard of our fast for immigrant rights in 2008. A few days later I found myself in an auditorium presenting … Continue reading



Power and Struggle


December 16th, 2008

This is a review of The Politics of Nonviolent Action by Gene Sharp from the online Fragments zine: www.fragmentsweb.org/. In part one, Power and Struggle, Sharp discusses the nature of political power, why people obey rulers, the limitations of using … Continue reading



Fast For Our Future


December 14th, 2008

Letter from the Hunger strikers. For 22 days and nights the stories of our hunger strike have reinforced life and faith. Life and faith are two sides of the same coin. Every night for the last 22 days we gather … Continue reading



Fasting for Immigrant Justice this Election Season


December 14th, 2008

(Article from Sojourners magazine) by Glen Peterson 11-04-2008 Activists, evangelical Christians, and Catholic Workers have joined in a hunger strike in downtown Los Angeles to expose the plight of immigrants in the United States and to motivate 1 million people … Continue reading



Change Immigrants and Labor Can Believe In


December 14th, 2008

By David Bacon The Nation, web edition, November 26, 2008 http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081215/bacon?rel=hp_picks Since 2001 the Bush administration has deported more than a million people–including 349,041 individuals in the fiscal year ending just prior to the election. It has resurrected the discredited … Continue reading



A Vision of Nonviolent Resistance


December 13th, 2008

One morning this past summer I was seated on the back porch of our house, meeting with the nonviolent discussion group for the Center for the Working Poor, when I was seized by a vision of nonviolent resistance that resonated … Continue reading



The Fast for Our Future and the Future of Our Center


December 13th, 2008

I know it has been a full year since you last received a copy of The Burning Bush, and many of our readers may have been wondering just what we at the Center for the Working Poor have been doing. … Continue reading



Bush's Immigration Clampdown


September 5th, 2007

By DAVID BACON [posted online on August 22, 2007] A year ago, in the middle of the nation’s most bitterly fought union organizing drive of the past decade, management at the Smithfield Foods pork slaughterhouse in Tar Heel, North Carolina, … Continue reading



Sacred Refuge


September 5th, 2007

With comprehensive immigration reform off the congressional agenda, the New Sanctuary Movement steps into the breach. by Alexia Salvatierra When the immigration agent came to deport Liliana, her 7-year-old son William was confused and furious. “My mama is not a … Continue reading



Starting The Center for the Working Poor: Don’t Mess With God’s Crazy Plan


November 22nd, 2006

By Paul Engler The Summary I still run the Center for the Working Poor, delivering food to impoverished workers, writing, speaking at churches, and supporting living wage boycotts. While doing this, the House of Representatives passed a law designed to … Continue reading







We will All Become Pilgrims: 2022 Newsletter Summary

December 19th, 2022

By Paul Engler Whenever I write my newsletter, I am afraid a subtle or not-so-subtle repetition will be noticed—I fear I write the same thing over and over again! Generally the theme has something to do with change, uncertainty, and … Continue reading

Liminality is a Recipe for Navigating Winter: Becoming a Pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago

December 19th, 2022

Whether you’re in a midlife, quarter life, or general life crisis, the proverbial crap hits the wall. You break up with your girlfriend, your community starts falling apart, your movement dies, your organization goes bankrupt, you lose the political campaign. … Continue reading

2022 House Journal

December 19th, 2022

I’m happy to report that our community has stabilized at the Center for the Working Poor house. We haven’t had one person leave in the past year! A welcome contrast to 2021, when we had so many people come and … Continue reading

2021 CWP Newsletter Summary

December 15th, 2021

There is a big debate among economists about a curious phenomenon unfolding right now called “The Great Resignation”. We have an immense labor shortage because people are not returning to work as the experts expected (common after a recession). There … Continue reading

2021 Center Update: Ring the Bell of Hope… Again, and Again

December 15th, 2021

This fall, in one of my first trips to visit my coworkers from the Ayni Institute in Boston, I stopped by New York City to visit one of my closest friends, Eric Stoner. And I was sitting on his couch, … Continue reading

2021 House Journal

December 15th, 2021

The Center for the Working Poor was founded in 2006, but we didn’t move into our large Victorian house until 2007. Therefore, we have been in the house for 14 years now; and throughout this time, only Paul Engler has … Continue reading

The Story of Community Counseling

December 15th, 2021

Over the last year, we have started beta groups for a new model of mutual aid counseling, called Community Counseling that has engaged dozens in weekly small group counseling practice and training. In November, I went to Boston to lead … Continue reading

2020 Center Update: Surrender and Become Attentive

December 17th, 2020

“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die …” — Ecclesiastes 3:1 “Surrender to what is dying, and become attentive to what is emerging.”  — … Continue reading