Our Director
Father River Sims
Father River Damien Sims is director/pastor of Temenos Catholic Worker. He holds a BGS from Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, a Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri, a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from International Reformed University, Orange County, California, certificate in Drug and Alcohol Counseling from the University of California, and a certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Vincentian Renewal Center. Fr. River Sims received his Doctor of Ministry Degree in Social Justice, from Knox Theological Seminary, in 2017, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
River was ordained a priest in the Evangelical Anglican Church of the Americas in 1995 and consecrated the Bishop of the Society of Franciscan Worker in 2007.
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Temenos Catholic Worker is committed to the following ideals:
Personalism: A philosophy of life based upon respect for the freedom and dignity of each person as an image of God, personalism understands that our fundamental purpose as human beings is to incarnate self-emptying love through practical action for the common good.
Non-Violence: Jesus taught us to take suffering upon ourselves rather than inflict it upon others. Thus, we oppose the deliberate taking of life for any reason and see every oppression or degradation of human life as blasphemy.
The Works of Mercy: As recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, these works include feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the prisoner. We understand the works of mercy to be at the heart of the Gospel; they are clear mandates as to how we are to respond to "the least of our brothers and sisters." Anything beyond what we immediately need belongs by right to those who are going without.
Non-Violence: Jesus taught us to take suffering upon ourselves rather than inflict it upon others. Thus, we oppose the deliberate taking of life for any reason and see every oppression or degradation of human life as blasphemy.
The Works of Mercy: As recorded in Matthew 25:31-46, these works include feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, clothing the naked, caring for the sick and visiting the prisoner. We understand the works of mercy to be at the heart of the Gospel; they are clear mandates as to how we are to respond to "the least of our brothers and sisters." Anything beyond what we immediately need belongs by right to those who are going without.
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Voluntary Poverty: Dorothy Day, cofounder of the Catholic Worker movement, wrote that "The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge of and belief in love." By embracing voluntary poverty, that is, by casting our lot freely with choice, we ask for the grace to abandon ourselves to the love of God. This puts us on the path to incarnating the Church's "preferential option for the poor." Born of the experience of rejection and uncertainty, Temenos Catholic Worker seeks to embrace, in the name of Jesus Christ, others who have felt abandoned in their most difficult moments.
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