QVS Came at a Perfect Time for Me

Kateri Boucher served at Neighbor to Neighbor Massachusetts during her 2017-2018 QVS year in Boston. In describing the impact of QVS on her life, Kateri shared, “QVS came at a perfect time for me. I was craving some kind of spiritual community but not sure I wanted to dive into more conventional Christian traditions. By the end of the year, I felt more drawn to exploring the Christian roots of Quakerism and starting to engage in more intentional study of theology and Christian history. I still feel a deep comfort around Quaker spirituality and meetings, and I imagine my life will bring me back towards Quakerism at some point.” 

The fall after her QVS year, Kateri moved to Anishanaabe land, commonly known as Detroit, Michigan. Way opened in just a matter of weeks, with an offer to work at Geez magazine as it relocated from Canada. Simultaneously, Detroit’s Catholic Worker, Day House, was in conversation about closing if it couldn’t get more live-in workers; so, Kateri moved in. Despite recently moving out, Kateri still visits regularly and attends outdoor Mass there while also volunteering at the neighborhood soup kitchen, Manna Community Meal. 

During Kateri’s QVS year, Christina Repoley’s Bible study during a QVS Day helped ignite Kateri’s interest in studying theology. Kateri has spent the past several years enjoying a mix of auditing seminary classes- especially when they’re free- as well as a variety of courses and discussion groups with seminary dropouts and through The Center for Prophetic Imagination. She has enjoyed learning about the Catholic Worker Movement’s radical history, and also Liberation Theology— both in its historic context and in how it can connect to present-day movements for abolition. She has recently enjoyed courses with Detroit’s Jim Perkinson, and describes his theology as being pretty apocalyptic in the anarchist sense of “building a new world in the shell of the old.” 

Kateri continues to work as associate editor at Geez, a non-profit quarterly print magazine on “contemplative cultural resistance.” She’d like to invite the wider QVS community to submit pitches or receive updates as interested.

Photos from Kateri’s Year in QVS

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