‘The law of humanity and compassion guides us’ 
September 2025

The Jeannette Noëlhuis is one of the 15 Compassion Award winners of 2025, who will be present at the ceremonial award ceremony on November 21st 2025 in the Mozes and Aäron Church in Amsterdam. The philosophy behind the house is based on the ideas of journalist Dorothy Day and philosopher Peter Maurin, who founded The Catholic Worker in the United States in the 1930s, during the years of the Great Depression.  
 
In conversation with Nikki (37) and Merle (31) from the Jeannette Noëlhuis in Amsterdam. 
By Monica Neomagus 

When I just walked in, I found Joris Linssen, who makes a TV program for KRO-NCRV (a Dutch broadcasting organisation) called ‘Joris and the Undocumented’.  
Why is he visiting you?

"We rarely have media in the house," Nikki and Merle say. "Now we were asked to participate in this program. For as long as we have existed, we have been offering shelter and support to people who have fled and have no papers. They become housemates who stay here for a longer period. And then there are often people who come here to wash, eat, or use the Wi-Fi. For this group, life is often difficult and is actually made almost impossible. And new political plans make it even harder. That is why we are happy to contribute to a documentary that illustrates this. 

You describe yourselves as a community with a lifestyle based on simplicity, hospitality, prayer, and direct action for a better society. How did you both end up here? 

"I originally come from Germany," Merle says. "I lived in a communal living group for a while. After high school, I spent a year in Russia. There, I met someone from England from The Catholic Worker, the foundation of these communities. It appealed to me. I immediately felt connected to this way of life. I stayed for seven weeks in the English community and then went to the Netherlands, where I sought out this community and have now been living here for some time." 

Nikkie has now been back in the Netherlands for almost 4 years, she says. “Before that, I lived for a longer period in other communal living arrangements, including in Guatemala. When I returned to the Netherlands, I was looking for a ‘hardcore’ communal living situation. That means a place where people truly live, work, and share together, and where it’s not too casual. Here, we all have our own room with some personal belongings, our own bike, and everything else is communal.” 

Are you both Catholic, because this community is closely connected to The Catholic Worker? 

“No, I come from an atheist family,” Nikkie indicates. “I never really felt at home with the Western view on society. I actively searched for other narratives, and that is how it happened that I also went to church once. There, I was touched by the ideas about the possibility of a different society, and I felt addressed by it. I also wanted to give it concrete expression. Sometimes I exclaimed: 'What are we going to do about this, we can't just only sing songs on Sundays!' 

Merle became fairly actively involved with evangelical youth groups within the church around at the age of eleven. “Part of my family was connected to it, another part was Catholic, but it wasn't very active. For me, it also applied that I wanted to give my faith a more concrete form. Compassion, justice, and 'seeking God's Kingdom in and among us,' that was what it had to be about. I was looking for a counterpart to the 'Lebensfeindlichkeit' that I fear and against which we must resist." 

You chose a very different way of life from many of your peers at a young age. Do you have conversations, maybe even discussions, about this with family and friends? 

"Yes, we notice that we have stepped out of the frame that is quite dominant in our part of the world. Independence, individualism, freedom, and personal possessions are attractive to many people. We choose the opposite of that. Especially in this community. Yet we receive few negative or rejecting reactions. We also belong to a generation that no longer always leads a conventional life of house-car-pet.  

'Oh, that suits you,' friends sometimes say. Or a bit admiringly: 'I really like it, I couldn’t do that myself.'  And sometimes also: 'Do you realize that you are not building up any pension at all?' 

 
What does this way of life offers you?

"That might actually be the hardest thing to explain. You really have to experience life that way. It often lies in unexpected and special moments. It can be quite challenging here at times. People who stay here also bring their peculiarities, and of course, the worries they face in their uncertain lives. When you suddenly notice that people start helping each other, for example cooking together, and such a sense of togetherness arises, it can be very moving and give a feeling of happiness." 

The keywords of the Catholic Worker Movement are 'anarchist and pacifist.' For many people, anarchism is associated with violence. Can you explain how your communities view that.

"Anarchism lies in the absence of a central structure in which a certain group always has control. Of course, decisions sometimes need to be made, and we have a core group that must also do that. But we consciously choose as little hierarchy as possible and maximum input within the community for those who want it. For example, a decision to set the heaters to 18 degrees in winter once led to dissatisfaction among people who said it was too cold. Then we look for a solution together and will not say, 'Too bad, but you'll get used to it eventually.' We try above all to be aware that patterns of the powerful and the powerless quickly emerge. In this, the choice for nonviolence, in what we do, is always crucial. 

Nonviolence in the sense of pacifism? One of your 'key points' is also working for peace. By supporting others worldwide who do that – often at the risk of their own lives. But also by performing the so-called Exorcise and Exercise ceremony during the NATO summit this summer. 

"Practicing peace is important. That’s what it’s about at such a moment, because we all really don’t know how to do that in this world. I call myself a structural pacifist," says Nikki. "In the sense that I am against organized violence from states and the arms industry. During my stay in South America, I saw that people sometimes defended themselves when the violence from others became too great and would not stop. I don't want to judge that too easily from my comfortable position in the Netherlands. By the way, our actions in The Hague, because we carried a banner (with an image of Jesus breaking a gun), led to arrests. We were detained for 8 hours" 

How do you view the plan of some political parties to criminalize illegal status and possibly also the people who help others without residence papers? What would that mean for your work?

“We know that people who are already struggling will only have a harder time because of this. But we will certainly continue to provide help, just as many others have already announced. Perhaps we ourselves will become punishable for it. Here our anarchist foundation, mixed with Catholic inspiration, comes into play again. There are laws of humanity and compassion that take precedence over the laws of the government, which can crush people within a system. Then it is important to stand up and do what we believe in. That we do not receive government support and are thus free in our actions is a very conscious choice in matters like these.” 

The communities of The Catholic Worker have existed for over 100 years. Will new and young people continue to join, you think? 

"Yes, we think so. Although this movement has also experienced low points and sometimes stood on the brink of collapse, we are still here. Because time and again people in the network help to live this ideal together. In this, we also experience a divine spirit, the ‘Ruach’ from the Genesis story, that drives and protects us. It remains a very inspiring environment here, by the way, also for people who are not Catholic or religious, but who share the same ideals."

On November 21st, the Noëlhuis, as one of 15 people and organizations in Amsterdam, will be honored for its work with the Dutch Compassion Award. You ask for no reward anywhere and work from a strong intrinsic motivation. What does such an honor mean to you?

"We were pleasantly surprised and are looking forward to a wonderful morning. We are especially excited about meeting others who each, in their own way, contribute to the city and society. 'Holding on to compassion' is a reminder of a calling that we all have as human beings." 

Published on the website of The Movement of Mercy, The Netherlands.
Illustrations: Jeannette Noëlhuis Amsterdam 

‘The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us’

~ Dorothy Day