2024 Christmas and New Year letter
Dear community,
Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! As 2024 draws to a close, the Fireplace Community extends its best wishes to our friends and supporters. We write to share some updates and express our love, gratitude, and hope for the year to come.
As we write this letter, the community’s residents are Leslie Carranza, Sister Sharon Dillon, SSJ-TOSF, and Abby Rampone. After several residents moved out in the spring, we shared a season of transition. We learned to live as a community of three – accompanied by our feline housemate Ember, our extended community, and our many guests. We especially wish to thank the friends who have given time and labor to help sustain us: Mary Johnson, Kaile Kilner, Care Lawrence, Min Park, and Dominic Surya.
In 2024, we also completed a strategic planning process. We defined our mission to “bring together progressive Catholics and spiritual seekers for creativity, intentional community, and cooperative housing.” In June we incorporated as a non-profit in the state of Illinois. Incorporation formalized our commitment to building an independent, self-governed intentional community.
Our photo card depicts some highlights, but here are a few more stories from our year…
The Poor People’s Army, a Philadelphia-based organization fighting for racial and economic justice, stayed with us while protesting at the Democratic National Convention.
Many Catholic Worker friends stayed with us, especially during the Peter Maurin Conference on Chicago’s north side this fall.
We joined NASCO (North American Students of Cooperation) to learn about the housing co-op movement, and Abby attended the annual NASCO Institute.
Hyde Park wassailers came to the Fireplace for the second year in a row, brightening our Advent with song and dance.
On quieter days, we did puzzles, melted new candles from old wax, took Ember out to the back yard, watched good (and bad!) TV shows, burned incense, and shared food around the table.
It’s hard to strike the right tone in a letter like this, to authentically share our joys and sorrows with all of you. 2024 was a difficult year, but it was also disrupted by hope. We wish to describe that hope to you. It is a fragile thing, like the flame of a candle.
Although we don’t know what the new year will bring, we hope you will come to visit and join us at the table. And as we actively seek new community-mates to join us at the Fireplace, please tell any prospective residents to find us and learn more at thefireplacecommunity.org.
Many 2025 bring peace, joy, justice, and healing – for you, our communities, and all of us.
With love,
The Fireplace Community
Abby, Leslie, Sharon, and Ember