Trinity House Catholic Worker: A House of Hospitality for the Homeless

For a number of years this was the website for the Trinity House Catholic Worker.
Content is from the site's archived pages.
The current website for the Trinity House Catholic Worker is found at http://trinityhousecw.org/

Trinity House Catholic Worker
1925 Five Points Rd SW
Albuquerque NM 87105
Phone: 505-842-5697 

WELCOME

Mission Statement

The Trinity House Catholic Worker is a house of Hospitality for homeless folk based in the tradition of the Catholic Worker movement founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. We seek to continue their tradition to imitate Jesus Christ by living an intentional lifestyle to co-create with God a community that is built on faith, love, hope, prayer for peace and social justice. We live to express the love of God by helping to alleviate the pains of those in need, primarily those of poor, marginalized and homeless individuals and families in Albuquerque, NM.

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What We Do

Trinity House Catholic Worker is a 501c3 community serving the needs of homeless folk in Albuquerque. On a referral-basis, we provide two bedrooms for housing guests who are homeless, one for families and one for women and children. Breakfast and supper are provided for them during their stay of up to three months. During the day guests are required to fulfill requirements necessary for permanent housing. These could include jobs, counseling, medical attention, etc. From October 2013 to August 2014, we have offered hospitality to 26 guests: ten women, seven men, and nine children.

Guest referrals are made exclusively by a social person staff-person who networks with social workers at various agencies.

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Volunteers

Volunteering for a cause in which you believe can be a rewarding way for folks to reach out to others.

Trinity House Catholic Worker offers shelter to homeless families, couples and women with children.

Volunteers are welcome to help our project at any level by volunteering your time and talents. We are an ecumenical, non-profit organization.

Please let us know how you can support our outreach efforts. No training necessary. A volunteer orientation will be conducted.

Call Mary Quinalty, Coordinator, at (505) 440-5895 for more information.

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Projects

Since forming a new board and adding a few staff members in August, 2014, we've been pretty busy getting back into the swing of things. Along with housing families, we always have fun and interesting projects going on!

At the end of October, we traveled to support those crossing the border, where we advocated for immigration reform, providing witness to "Operation Streamline." From there, we traveled to Nogales, AZ and walked across the Mexican border in order to visit various shelters in support of deportees.

Currently, some of our staff can be found at Albuquerque's Center for Peace and Justice on Saturday mornings passing out free food! Come join us! As you'll see on our donations page, we're working on fund-raising for a new roof. And speaking of outside projects, we're renovating the entire backyard into a desertscape, where we'll have plenty of organic food, flowers and beautiful succulent gardens!

We also planned a gathering to clean up the grounds around the center. We received a generous donation of cleaning supplies, including trash liners and large storage bins. The CleanItSupply company also restocked our paper towels and toilet paper, and dropped off a years supply of dish soap and laundry detergent. So make sure to give those guys a hand when we thank them at the pow wow.

Every week, we make homemade soup (well, Denis does the brunt of that. Mikey and I will cut up veggies and help clean off chicken  bones and skin here and there) and pass it out to folks hanging around Albuquerque's Rescue Mission. They're very appreciative! As are we for the opportunity! Read all about it in Denis' article here!

We will keep you updated on any other direct action events in which we will participate.

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Donations

We live very simply on financial donations and donated food and meals, but presently we are faced with the need for a large expenditure for a new roof. The roof has seven leaks throughout the building. We have gotten bids from three roofing companies, all of which amount to individual bids of $18,000.

UPDATE: WE'VE GOTTEN OUR NEW ROOF!

Thank you for helping keep our homeless guests dry and warm this winter in our house of hospitality.

Thanks to your generous work and donations, we have raised the additional $4000 needed for our new roof and now will sleep soundly and dryly.

Your financial support MADE the difference!

Of course, we are all volunteers and have many projects needing funding.  Financial support is ALWAYS welcome!

Thank you for your kind support!

Every dollar will count toward our goal and we appreciate any support that you can provide.

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Wish List

Non-perishable food items, especially cereals, dry milk and sugar

A group or church to cook one meal a month for guests and staff at our shelter house. Please contact Brother Denis Murphy at (505)842-5697

Heavy blankets and pillows

Personal hygiene items for men and women

Laundry soap and socks

We appreciate any donations or financial help! Thanks!

The Trinity House Catholic Worker Staff

If you feel uncomfortable with PaylPal, please don't hesitate to send us a check via snail-mail!

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 Our Newsletter: Desert Musings

Hi, Folks!

We have changed the format of our newsletter, now called "Desert Musings," and we're very happy to be transferring our newsletters into PDF form so that you can download them here!

Here's the very latest newsletter, Volume 2, Issue 1.  Please keep checking back as I add from the archives!

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Friend of Trinity House Catholic Worker, Catherine Dowling, has written a beautiful article featuring our very own Mary Quinalty. It is entitled "Spirituality and Social Justice:  How One Woman Transformed Her Piece of the World." See entire feature below.

Spiritual Awakening and Social Justice: How One Woman Transformed Her Piece of the World

This year Mary Quinalty sold her home, gave away her possessions, and moved into Trinity House, a Catholic Worker “house of hospitality” for homeless people. This all happened after Mary experienced a spiritual awakening about twenty-five years ago that changed her life.

This year Mary Quinalty sold her home in an upmarket neighborhood of Albuquerque, New Mexico, gave away her possessions and moved into Trinity House, a Catholic Worker “house of hospitality” for homeless people where she is the full-time, unpaid administrator. Mary Quinalty is eighty-one years old.

“I had an experience in Mexico, about twenty-five years ago,” Mary says in explanation of her unusual move. “A spiritual vision. It changed me.” Mary’s experience is not unusual. A 2002 Gallup Poll showed that 41% of Americans have had some form of “awakening” or radically expanded awareness that has changed the course of their lives. Not all become activists, but Mary’s story illustrates the age-old relationship between spiritual awareness and community service.

Before her ‘experience,’ Mary was a program manger. In 1987 one of the volunteers she managed returned to his home in Mexico and invited Mary to visit him. The next long weekend, Mary and her partner Frank headed south in their ’63 Chevy. Thirteen hours later, tired and hungry, they found the tiny village of Colonias Juarez in Chihuahua, Mexico, the volunteer’s home town. They never found the volunteer, but in the village Mary met the man who would change her life forever, Father (Fr.) Joaquin Martinez. The priest introduced Mary to a level of poverty she had never known existed, and for the next nine years she and Frank spent every three day weekend working with him in the village.

The Mountain Top

Mary’s awakening took place on a journey with Fr. Martinez to the top of the mountains that surround Colonias Juarez. She clung to Frank as the priest’s open-topped Jeep bounced over boulders and crevasses, at times barely gripping the terrain. But eventually they reached a hamlet, a few tiny houses with mud floors. When the car stopped, the men jumped out. Mary stayed put.

Fr. Martinez went to the rear of the vehicle and when he came back into view he wore the glowing, white vestments of his vocation. He stood before the car, arms outstretched. The sun-drenched silence was absolute, the air utterly still. Minutes passed, nothing stirred. Then Mary noticed figures emerging from the rocks high above them. Whole families moved in silence, drawn to the radiant figure of the Padre. Mary had never seen him in his vestments before and watching the white fabric flowing from his outstretched arms, she realized she was in the presence of someone ‘holy’.

The scene was repeated in village after village until, at sunset, they reached their final destination, a little hamlet perched near the top of the mountain. There, Fr. Martinez introduced Mary to Rosa, a community leader and mother of seven who invited them to share her family’s meager dinner.

The next morning before leaving, Mary felt herself drawn up the trail to Rosa’s house at the same time that Rosa was descending to say goodbye. As Mary gazed upwards, Rosa’s form grew fuzzy against the morning sky. Then it began to glow, radiating brilliant light, a dazzling human shape without distinguishing features.

“I was mesmerized,” Mary says. “The brilliance reached a peak…[of] pure beauty and light. I was outside time…My whole body was filled with awe.” Eventually the radiance began to vibrate and dim, and there on the path once again was a smiling Rosa.

The Nature of Spiritual Awakening

Spiritual awakenings take many forms. The Institute for the Study of Peak States has documented over forty varieties of mystical experience across all cultures and religious traditions. Despite this variety, spiritual awakenings, or ‘peak states,’ share some key characteristics: timelessness, a radical expansion of awareness, a perception of beauty and an unconditional love so strong and solid it feels almost physically touchable, and a sense of oneness with all things.

Back in Albuquerque, Mary found that while nothing had changed in her life, everything had changed in her. She found dressing for work almost unbearable.

“I tried to pick out a suit,” she explained. “I threw one after the other onto the bed. I had shopped for them all so carefully, but I couldn’t stand them. The colors…repulsed me.

She struggled through work and couldn’t speak to Frank without crying. Not surprisingly, a gap opened between Mary and her colleagues. Her loving, gentle relationship with Frank deteriorated into bouts of anger and tears as he struggled to understand her strange behavior.

If it is not understood, the experience of radical awareness can strain relationships. Despite the frequency of such events, society often reacts with skepticism, fear and sometimes contempt. Some forms of spiritual awakening can be mistaken for psychotic breakdown but there are recognizable differences. In a psychotic episode ego structures break down. The boundaries between self and what is not self disappear in an often terrifying way. In a spiritual awakening, the ego is transcended but is left intact; we are both ourselves and at the same time, we are merged with the cosmos/god/life itself. We become nothing and we are everything, but we are aware of this paradox.

Mary and Fr. Martinez’s never spoke about her vision, but as she left the mountain he mysteriously advised her to search for a priest to guide her. Eventually she found one in Albuquerque. Under his guidance she and Frank came to understand the phenomenon of spiritual awakening and got their relationship back on track.

Not all spiritual awakenings take religious form or point to a defined god. For many it’s a non-theistic experience of unconditional love, beauty and oneness. Regardless of how one interprets an awakening, the experience of love and oneness is the link between spiritual awareness and social justice.

Awakening and Social Justice

Fr. Martinez died of tuberculosis in 1996, around the time Frank suffered his first heart attack. He could no longer travel but Mary, animated by her experience on the mountain, felt compelled to do more. When she decided to move to Fr. Martinez’s birthplace, Frank gave his blessing. A month after her retirement, Mary set off for Rancho La Colorada in the State of Guanajuato.

Nothing she had experienced so far prepared her for the poverty she found there: no water, staggering mother and infant mortality rates and no education services beyond elementary school. She tried to teach hygiene but cleanliness is not a priority for people who have to dig in the dirt with their hands to find food. So Mary researched water sources. She found a water table they could tap into if only they had submersible pumps.

Back in Albuquerque, Frank raised the money for the pumps and by the following summer eighty-two families were able to feed themselves on crops they grew themselves. Mary turned her attention to education issues while Frank teamed up with St. Anthony’s Alliance, a group of doctors who provided medical supplies to the village.

By 2009, the little Mexican hamlet had a thriving farming sector, health and education services, and a sewing cooperative. But Frank’s health had deteriorated badly. Mary returned to Albuquerque and in 2010 she lost the man who had loved her enough to support her calling, even if that meant living apart.

When asked about her accomplishments, Mary says, “I didn’t do anything… Everything I do is through God’s guidance. He led me to the resources I needed.” For those whose spiritual awakening does not include a concept of god this guidance is often experienced as a succession of synchronicities. Life seems to point the way and provide the resources.

Mary belongs to a long lineage of mystically inspired activists. The Catholic Worker Community was founded by radicals Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Day often described herself as “haunted by God.” She devoted her life to activism because: “We are one flesh in the Mystical Body…”

Rabbi Jonathan Omer-Man says the mystical experience “…is immediately translated into action, sometimes even into political action.” and the history of Mary’s chosen religion, Catholicism, is packed with mystic activists. The ancient Irish saint, Brigid of Kildare, experienced the mystical from an early age and, like Day, became an activist. She founded a monastery and a hospital, provided food for the hungry and education for craftsmen. The lineage continued throughout the middle ages in both Christianity and Islam with John of the Cross, Rumi, Haifiz and others who founded or inspired communities. It lives on through Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Desmond Tutu--all motivated by their spiritual experiences. “God's dream,” Tutu said, “is that you and I and all of us will realize that we are family, that we are made for togetherness.”

Most spiritually inspired community activists don’t become famous. CNN and Oprah never come calling. A few like Mary, a former journalist, have the skills to tell their own story in a memoir. Hopefully her story will stand as a monument to all those unknown people who labor anonymously, quietly transforming their part of the world

 

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More Background On TrinityCatholicWorker.org

 

TrinityCatholicWorker.org once served as the primary online home of Trinity House Catholic Worker, a hospitality-centered, justice-oriented community based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Although that original domain now survives mainly through archived pages, the information it contained provides a clear and detailed look at the identity, mission, programming, and cultural impact of the Trinity House Catholic Worker community. Today, the organization continues its work under a newer website and updated public presence, but its long-standing values and contributions remain rooted in the material preserved from its earlier online footprint. This article presents a comprehensive, 1700-plus-word overview of Trinity House Catholic Worker, drawing directly from its archived content and elaborating on its significance within both the Catholic Worker Movement and the wider social-services landscape of Albuquerque.

Overview and Identity

Trinity House Catholic Worker is a house of hospitality committed to serving homeless individuals and families while embodying the principles of the Catholic Worker Movement. This movement, founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin during the Great Depression, emphasizes voluntary poverty, personalism, peace, community life, and direct action. Houses of hospitality like Trinity House aim to provide not just shelter or aid but a welcoming, relational environment grounded in spiritual and social commitment.

The archived site describes Trinity House as a community that strives to co-create, with God, a space rooted in faith, love, hope, and the pursuit of peace and social justice. Its mission centers on expressing God’s love by alleviating the suffering of those who are poor, marginalized, or homeless. While religious in origin and ethos, the organization operates ecumenically, with volunteers and supporters from diverse backgrounds.

Location and Physical Setting

The house is located at 1925 Five Points Road SW in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This address places it within a residential section of the city that is accessible to major agencies, community centers, and social-service organizations. The atmosphere of the house is intentionally home-like. Unlike large institutional shelters, Trinity House is small, intimate, and relational.

The home includes two designated bedrooms for guests—one for families and one specifically for women with children. The house also contains shared living areas, a communal kitchen, and a backyard that has undergone periodic renovation. At one point, volunteers and staff transformed the backyard into a desertscape with organic garden beds, succulents, flowers, and areas for outdoor gatherings. The space reflects a combination of hospitality, ecological awareness, and community participation.

Mission and Goals

The mission of Trinity House Catholic Worker is rooted in three interconnected goals:

1. To imitate the life and teachings of Jesus Christ through intentional community living.

2. To express God’s love by easing the suffering of those who are poor, homeless, or marginalized.

3. To work for peace and social justice, challenging systems and structures that create inequality, division, and involuntary poverty.

These aims align with the broader Catholic Worker philosophy. Trinity House emphasizes personal encounter, mutual aid, spiritual reflection, and a recognition that hospitality is both a moral obligation and a transformative practice. The community sees itself not simply as a service provider but as a living witness to compassion, shared humanity, and justice.

Hospitality Services

Hospitality is at the heart of Trinity House’s work. The archived material explains that the house offers accommodations on a referral basis for individuals or families experiencing homelessness. Guests may stay up to three months while receiving breakfast and supper each day. During this period, they must work toward fulfilling requirements for long-term housing. This might include job applications, counseling, medical appointments, addiction treatment, legal documentation, or other steps deemed necessary for stability.

Staff and volunteers support guests throughout this process, ensuring they have food, shelter, emotional encouragement, and connections to needed services. In one recorded period (October 2013 through August 2014), the house served twenty-six guests: ten women, seven men, and nine children. These numbers illustrate the intimate scale of the ministry and its emphasis on individualized support.

Referral and Case-Management Partnerships

Guest referrals are coordinated through a dedicated social-service staff person who works directly with caseworkers across various agencies. This ensures that Trinity House serves individuals actively engaged in the transitional-housing process and that residents receive comprehensive support rather than isolated assistance.

This referral structure also reinforces Trinity House’s role as a collaborative partner within Albuquerque’s wider network of shelters, service organizations, churches, and advocacy groups.

Volunteerism and Community Participation

The archived website strongly emphasizes volunteer participation. Trinity House welcomes volunteers at all skill and experience levels, encouraging involvement from individuals, families, churches, civic organizations, and community groups. No special training is required; only willingness and a compassionate spirit.

Volunteers contribute in many ways:

• Cooking meals for guests

• Preparing monthly diners for residents and staff

• Assisting with food distributions at community centers

• Cooking weekly soup for outreach efforts

• Helping with cleaning, gardening, and home maintenance

• Donating blankets, pillows, hygiene items, and other necessities

• Participating in fundraising for repairs and essential upgrades

• Supporting direct-action and advocacy work

At one time, the volunteer coordinator was Mary Quinalty, a dedicated full-time community member whose personal spiritual journey inspired many of the house’s activities. Volunteers often describe Trinity House as a welcoming environment where they experience community connection and deeper understanding of social-justice issues.

Projects and Outreach Efforts

Trinity House Catholic Worker has a robust history of direct-action work and community outreach. Some of its notable projects include:

Border Solidarity Work

Members of the community have traveled to the U.S.–Mexico border to witness and protest immigration practices such as “Operation Streamline,” a program associated with rapid mass deportation. They visited Nogales, Arizona, and crossed into Mexico to meet deported individuals and support border shelters.

Weekly Food Distribution

Staff and volunteers distribute food regularly at Albuquerque’s Center for Peace and Justice. This outreach provides essential nutrition to individuals and families experiencing food insecurity.

Soup Outreach

Every week, members prepare homemade soup and distribute it outside Albuquerque’s Rescue Mission. This simple but powerful act creates a consistent presence of compassion for people living on the streets.

Backyard Desertscape Renovation

The backyard of the house has been redesigned into a desert landscape featuring organic gardening areas and succulent beds. This project reflects a commitment to environmental stewardship and healthy living.

Grounds Cleanup and Material Donations

Trinity House organizes periodic cleanup gatherings, supported by donations of cleaning supplies, large bins, trash liners, and household products. With community assistance, the home maintains a clean, safe, and welcoming environment.

These projects demonstrate the community’s commitment not only to hospitality but also to structural justice, ecological responsibility, and solidarity with marginalized communities.

Financial Support and Fundraising

Since the community operates without government funding, financial support plays a crucial role in sustaining its mission. Donations come from individuals, churches, community groups, and social-justice advocates. The archived pages describe a major fundraising campaign for the house’s roof, which had seven leaks and needed extensive repairs. Through community generosity, the required funds were raised, and the roof was successfully replaced—ensuring safe, dry shelter for residents.

The organization’s wish list has included non-perishable food items (especially cereals, dry milk, and sugar), blankets, pillows, hygiene products, laundry soap, and socks. Groups are also encouraged to provide monthly meals. Every contribution helps maintain operations and supports both guests and long-term volunteers.

Newsletter and Educational Outreach

Trinity House publishes a newsletter called “Desert Musings.” The community has worked to transfer past newsletters into PDF format to make them accessible to a wider audience. The newsletter offers updates on hospitality services, volunteer activities, social-justice work, spiritual reflections, and community events. It serves both as an educational tool and a window into the daily life and ethos of the house.

Leadership and Personal Stories

One of the most compelling narratives associated with Trinity House Catholic Worker is the story of its longtime community leader, Mary Quinalty. Her personal spiritual awakening, which occurred decades earlier in rural Mexico, became the foundation of her life’s work. She and her partner spent years serving impoverished communities in Mexico, developing wells, improving education, aiding families, and supporting local leaders.

Her eventual move into Trinity House—selling her home, giving away her belongings, and devoting herself full-time to the ministry—reflects the profound commitment of Catholic Worker leaders throughout history. Her story resonates with the legacies of figures like Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, and others whose spiritual experiences became the catalyst for lifelong service.

Cultural, Spiritual, and Social Significance

Trinity House Catholic Worker stands at the intersection of religion, grassroots activism, community living, and social justice. It embodies a model of hospitality that rejects bureaucratic detachment in favor of personal, relational solidarity. Its work touches on multiple dimensions of social life:

• Homelessness and transitional housing

• Immigration justice and border solidarity

• Food insecurity and food rescue

• Environmental consciousness

• Interfaith collaboration

• Spiritual formation and contemplative practice

For Albuquerque, Trinity House has served as both a practical resource and a moral voice. It fosters dialogue about justice, encourages civic engagement, and provides an alternative vision of community—one centered on simplicity, compassion, and mutual care.

 

TrinityCatholicWorker.org documented the profound work of Trinity House Catholic Worker: a small but deeply impactful community dedicated to hospitality, justice, and human dignity. Through its programs, its volunteers, its outreach, and its spiritual grounding, the community offers not just services but an embodiment of compassion and social conscience. Whether providing meals, shelter, advocacy, or companionship, Trinity House continues a legacy that stretches back to the founding ideals of the Catholic Worker Movement. Its work persists today, supported by the many individuals who believe in its mission and carry forward its vision of justice, peace, and hospitality in Albuquerque and beyond.