About us
Painting by Leslie Carranza
Mission
To bring together progressive Catholics and spiritual seekers for creativity, intentional community, and cooperative housing.
Overview
History: The Fireplace began in 2021. In the years since, it has emerged as a vibrant community space. Learn about the community’s journey here.
Structure and governance: The Fireplace is a cooperatively-governed intentional community. This means that we do not have an external governing body; the long-term residents are the Board of Directors and participate in monthly board meetings. We are a not-for-profit corporation in the state of Illinois.
Values: The Fireplace is women-centered, LGBTQ+ affirming, and intergenerational. We strive to be anti-oppressive in our community practices. We have Catholic roots and are open to people of all religious and spiritual identities.
Extended community: Non-residents who engage with the Fireplace are our “extended community.” They may attend and support house dinners, use our space, contribute financially, and share their creative skills.
Events and guests: The Fireplace is an intentional community that sometimes holds public events and allows community members to host events in our space. As we are able, we also use our guest rooms to host visitors.
Residents’ shared life: All residents work or study outside the house (the Fireplace is not our “full-time job”) but long-term residents each do about 10 hours per week of house activity, ranging from twice-weekly dinners/prayers to house administration. We also welcome subletters who share community life at the Fireplace but make a lesser commitment to its operations.
Location: The Fireplace is located in a large house on the south side of Chicago (Kenwood/Hyde Park).
