Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House of Corpus Christi

12/20/2022

Missing our friend and founder, Sarah Ann Fitz. 🙏🙏🙏❤️

01/15/2022

Celebration of Life for Ann Fitz will be this coming Tuesday, January 18th. 5-7 - outdoors at 210 S Carrizo.

12/23/2021

Sarah Ann Fitz passed away peacefully on December 20, 2021 in Corpus Christi, Texas at the age of 90. Born in Graves County, Kentucky to Sophia Edna Fuqua McNeely and Stirling McNeely, Ann grew up in Mayfield, Kentucky and spent her teen years in Cocoa Beach, Florida later attending Murray State University in Kentucky and the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida earning a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and Music. Ann taught music in the Austin and Leander area public elementary schools for many years.

1976 was the halfway mark and a significant turning point in her life when she entered into permanent sobriety and started on an incredible spiritual journey. A widow and her children grown, Ann began her travels which eventually led her to make her home in Corpus Christi. She was inspired by the peace and justice works of Dorothy Day, Ghandi, and the Berrigan brothers and became a part of the Catholic Worker movement, living and working in community from Atlanta, Georgia to Los Angeles’ skid row. She volunteered in Marietta, Georgia at the Habitat for Humanity and like her mentors had done, participated in peaceful protests including at the School of the Americas in Georgia where she was arrested six times.

Passing through Corpus Christi in 1991 on a peace walk to Central America, she fell in love with the area and founded the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House on South Carrizo Street as a house of hospitality which she shared with recovering alcoholics. With help from the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament, Holy Cross, St. Thomas Moore, and St. Phillips, among other parishes, and her many friends from the recovery community, she began to serve the homeless on our streets. Serving boiled eggs and tortillas out of a donated bread truck, she became known as “the egg lady” on the streets. She became a mentor, not only to the poor on the streets but especially to those who became rich in the joy of giving with her. She visited with women in the local jails taking the message of sobriety and a better life to those most in need. Her establishment of the Maurin-Day House on Leopard Street eventually became the Mother Teresa Day Shelter and her work continues today, at the Dorothy Day House and in the hearts of the countless friends she met and inspired along the way.

Ann was predeceased by her parents, brother Ralph McNeely, husband William Fitz and infant daughter Katherine Fitz and special friend, Billy Carl Short. She is survived by her sons Walter Van Zandt and Isaac Van Zandt, daughter, Allison Fitz Schlepp who cared for her in her final months, grandchildren, Thomas, Amber, Travis, and Alex, and six great grandchildren.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, 210 South Carrizo, 78401 on January 18th from 5-8pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to a charity of your choice in her honor. Please visit www.ddcwhcc.org for more info.

Feedig the homeless and bringing hope to the community

08/24/2021

Our dear friend and volunteer, Sister Rose Miriam Gansle, IWBS passed away suddenly on August 18th.

Due to the pandemic, services will not be open to the public.

A Live Stream of the Wake Service/Rosary and Mass will be on the page of the Sisters of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament of Corpus Christi.

You may use this link: https://www.facebook.com/iwbscc

Wake Service and Rosary: Tuesday, August 24th at 6:00 pm.

Funeral Mass: Wednesday, August 25th at 10:00 am.

Please note: The Live Stream on Facebook will start 10 minutes before both events. A Virtual Vigil service will be held this evening at 6pm and Funeral Mass celebrated on Wednesday, August 25, 2021 at

02/14/2021

Volunteers needed at local emergency shelter.

10/04/2020

October 4, Feast of St. Francis of Assisi

Greetings, friends!
We haven’t posted in months but wanted to check-in.
We hope you and your loved ones are safe and sound.
Since April, due to the pandemic, the DDCWHCC has focused on the care of the home’s residents and the continuation of the three weekly open AA meetings.
We want to thank Ann Fitz who has so graciously (and literally) opened her home and heart to our brothers and sisters in need for nearly 30 years.
Thanks also go out to the countless volunteers who joined Ann and gave of their time and resources over the past three decades — from the early years of serving breakfast on the street every Saturday and Sunday, to those who physically worked on and financially supported the house and its services, to the present-day people who reach out to see how they can help.
Lots of gratitude to the groups that continue serving meals to our sisters and brothers living in nearby shelters and on the streets, such as Teresa Day Shelter, and others.
There are no words to describe the bittersweet gratitude we have for the lessons we have learned and the love we have experienced from our marginalized sisters and brothers.

On this day when we celebrate Francis of Assisi - someone dear and inspirational to Ann, Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement - may we all be inspired by his humility and service.

Here’s an excerpt of today’s reflection by Francisan priest, Richard Rohr:

“Among the many associations conjured by the name of Francis, one of the most obvious was his utter rejection of the trappings of status, power, and importance. He called his followers the Lesser Brothers. He esteemed Lady Poverty as his spouse. He called it “perfect joy” when he was reviled or treated with contempt. . . .
“Francis, after all, was the saint who set out to rebuild and reform the Church by evoking the example and spirit of the Poor Man, Jesus. He spurned violence and power. He reached out to members of other religions. He treated women with dignity and respect. He cherished the earth and all its creatures. He pointed to a new form of human and cosmic community, marked by love. And he did all this with such a spirit of joy and freedom as to make him a source of wonder and attraction to many of his contemporaries. . . .
Nearly eight hundred years later, St. Francis undoubtedly remains the world’s most popular saint—honored in every land, even by the secular-minded and people of other faiths. This reflects, in part, his winsome qualities and the romantic gestures that sometimes encourage sentimentality [what I call “bird bath Franciscanism”—RR]. But beneath all that, St. Francis stands as one who made the way of Jesus credible and concrete, both for those called to formal religious life and for men and women living in the ordinary world.”

03/12/2020

Hi, friends, we’re serving this Sunday, but first wanted to say Thank You to Incarnate Word Academy Middle School for their donations of back backs, T-Shirts, hygiene, and other items that will be shared with our sisters and brothers who are homeless.

The sixth grade class and IWA faculty are pictured here with Ann Fitz on March 6 here at the house. They also brought Ann a cake and gave her a monetary donation to support the works of the house. Mimi Guajardo, religion teacher at IWA, pictured at right, is a longtime volunteer. The students shared their thoughts about homelessness with Ann, who gave them a brief history of the local house, Dorothy Day, and the Catholic Worker Movement.

All are invited to join us this Sunday, March 15, for our monthly breakfast, which is served from7:45 to 9 am. You’re welcome to come early to help with prep, stay after for cleanup, or drop by when you can. We’re located at 210 S. Carrizo St, near Blucher Park. Call or text 361-793-1178 if you have any questions. Hope to see you Sunday !

02/17/2020

Ann Fitz, founder of the DDCWHCC, poses with Reggie Garza, a second grader at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Academy, and his sister, Ralynn, who is in first grade, during our monthly community breakfast on February 16. Next to them are donations collected by students of their school.

Reggie said he wanted to help feed people after hearing about Dorothy Day and the local Catholic Worker House during Catholic Schools Week in January.

Many thanks to the entire Garza family who came out to serve, as well as to the school for their generous donations, and to the other new and veteran volunteers of all ages who joined us on Sunday to share their love with our community. 💘

02/13/2020

Come share your love with our brothers and sisters who may be hungry for a meal and a smile or conversation. Our monthly breakfast is this Sunday, Feb. 16 at our place at 210 S. Carrizo.

We’ll be serving our traditional biscuits and gravy, fruit, pastries and coffee and juice from 7:45 to 9. Come early to help with prep, stay after to help with clean-up or drop by when you can to say hello! All ages are welcome.
Hope to see you there! 💘