​Laura and Clark discuss the founding of A Simple House. After Clark left graduate school, he felt called to be a missionary and work with and befriend the poor. He eventually decided to found a Catholic ministry that would serve the poor through friendship evangelization. In this episode, Clark and Laura talk about what poverty was like in DC when they started the ministry 20 years ago, and about wanting to take the Bible story of the rich young man seriously, trusting in Divine Providence, and solidarity. The first few years of A Simple House’s ministry was experimental, as they figured out how to evangelize well and serve inner-city families meaningfully. In this episode, they discuss many of the ups and downs of those early years.

​Clark and Laura discuss how the rising inflation in the US has an impact on people in poverty, based on their experience serving the poor through our ministry, as well as Clark’s background in economics.

​Clark delivers a State-of-the Ministry address. He talks about missionary recruitment, fundraising, and the process of starting a new house (?!!), as well as some recent ministry updates in DC and Kansas City. At A Simple House, all missionaries who come to serve are encouraged to make the ministry their own and to experiment with different ways to serve the poor and evangelize. Clark discusses how this attitude influences the way that the mission is run.

Clark and Laura host a special mini-series focused on the sex abuse scandal within the Catholic Church. As missionaries serving in DC, they had met and interacted with several of the bishops who were involved in the scandal. They discuss what went wrong, what reforms are necessary, and how do we, as lay people, do our part. For many people outside of the Church, the sex abuse crisis is the main thing they know about the Catholic Church. For this reason, if you’re interested in Catholic evangelization or missionary work, Clark points out, it’s important to understand this scandal and know what you think about it.

​Conversion stories are important not only because they’re edifying, but also because they give us clues as missionaries for how God works in people’s lives and hearts. In this episode, Clark talks about how he came into the Catholic Church when he was a young adult. From living in a hippie commune to reading a Christian book every day one summer of college, Clark’s journey to becoming Catholic (and eventually to starting a Catholic mission) was full of twists, turns, and truth-seeking.

​Clark and Laura share stories and insights from their time spent serving with one of the most formative ministries for both A Simple House and themselves as missionaries, Exodus Youth Services. Exodus was a Catholic mission based in Washington, D.C. that focused on leading Bible studies for kids in poor neighborhoods. Clark and Laura discuss the impact of meeting those families living in poverty and how the Exodus ministry’s way of evangelization influenced the starting of A Simple House. 

When Laura was in high school, she met a sandal-wearing monk in the dead of winter who she went on to become friends with, who told her about how before he became a monk, he had had his dream job working at a newspaper. He decided he wanted something more, so he gave it all up to live a life of voluntary poverty committed to God. Because of this, Lauren decided she wanted to live her life all for Jesus. She went to Catholic University of America in order to keep growing in her faith. She and Clark met as young adults through a Catholic ministry they were both volunteering at, where they visited inner-city families and led Bible studies with kids. There, she learned a lot about praying, evangelization, and trusting in the Lord. She realized that the Christian was called to care for the poor in a particular way, and that God had a special love for the poor. From there, she helped Clark as he worked to found a new ministry serving the poor, and Clark eventually asked her to move into one of the first houses that A Simple House had. 

We started a podcast!

​In this episode, Clark and Laura discuss the Catholic Worker Movement. The Catholic Worker’s model of service was a big influence on A Simple House’s mission. The Catholic Worker was a movement founded by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in order to directly serve the poor. Both Laura and Clark volunteered at the Catholic Worker houses in DC. The Catholic Worker movement was personal, in the sense that Catholic Workers took personal responsibility in society’s problems and helping their neighbor, and that they served people on a personal level. It was also deeply rooted in solidarity with the poor and voluntary poverty, not only serving the poor and homeless but sharing life with them. These were all attributes that Clark and Laura wanted to carry into A Simple House’s ministry. The Catholic Worker model provided important influences on the formation of Simple House.

We held a memorial service for our friends' grandson who was murdered in January. Family members took turns lighting candles around the apartment while helping lead prayers and sharing memories. We feel honored to have been able to lead such a service. It is our hope to always be a place of charity and comfort in troubling times; this allows to truly live life with the people we serve.