The Simone Weil Catholic Worker is anchoring a community of mutuality built on shared membership in Notre Dame Federal Credit Union. This partnership, piloting the Living Communion initiative, allows us each access to 0% interest loans backed by fellow community members, regardless of credit score. At our two monthly gatherings we pray, study, and share food, building relationships around a shared attempt to discern the Body of Christ. This discernment guides our continued efforts to replace economic mechanisms that extract from and separate community with the circulatory apparatus of “a society where it is easier to be good.” We hope this pilot soon leads to a larger cohort of congregations, schools, consumer co-ops, etc. who would like to become communities of practical mutuality, organized by banking for mutual benefit within NDFCU.
Click here for a slideshow overview of this banking project, and here for a recording of our conversation with NDFCU’s Bob Kloska on Catholic credit unions.
Finally, this community grew out of a course we offered in 2020 in partnership with Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life. We are offering this course again during Lent 2022 (2/28-4/4). See this one-pager for more information about the course and register here!
Resources for Community Members
Forms & Instructions
- Account Opening Instructions
- Address Book
- Loan Request Form
- Budget Worksheet
- NDFCU Online Banking Tutorial (video recording)
Past Readings
- (May 2021) Walter Brueggemann, “From Biblical Narrative to Economic Policy”
- (September 2021) Wendell Berry, “Two Economies”
- (October 2021) Shabbat Source Sheet, Rabbi Ira Dounn
- (November 2021) A.J. Heschel, The Sabbath