January 2006

After stopping by a couple abandoned campsites, and conferring with others who have lots of contact with the homeless, I think there are 16 people sleeping in cars, unheated buildings, and outside in Worcester this week.

Some of these folks work, some get government aid, and some have no steady income.

This is roughly one out of every 10,000 residents. There was no overlap in our lists, so the actual number is possibly much higher.

Telegram & Gazette, RMS, Adbusters, and other, often irrelevant, items.
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More than 200 people of the three Abrahamic faiths made their way on Thursday evening to the Asian Cultural Centre in Manzil Way, east Oxford, for the celebration of Hanukkah, Christmas, and Eid ul-Adha. There were informative displays on Judaism and Islam; menorah and Christmas tree shared the stage. We heard songs in Hebrew and Arabic flanking Christmas carols. The stories of the festivals were told – the Nativity of Jesus explained with the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ – we also learnt about the route of the Hajj. Read the rest of this entry »

Note: This entry is outdated. Please see the update.

updated March 16

The plan: We urge you to please consider joining us for another protest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington, DC, on Weds., March 29, 2006. 11:30 AM-1:30 PM.

We will carry enlarged photographs of the victims in Darfur and appeal for an end to genocide. Some of us will risk arrest in nonviolent civil disobedience. Speakers to include two peace activists who visited Darfur and another activist whose grandparents were interned in Nazi concentration camps. Leaflets will also be distributed. All are welcome, but anyone interested in nonviolent civil disobedience (i.e. entering peacefully onto the embassy property) must contact Scott Schaeffer-Duffy at 508 7533-3588 or theresecw@gmail.com.

Together we can draw attention back to Darfur and help save lives.

The Embassy of Sudan is at 2210 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, DC 20008. (Google map.) This is three blocks north of the Dupont Circle Metro station.

Contact Scott Schaeffer-Duffy for more information: theresecw@gmail.com; 508.753.3588; Saints Francis & Therese Catholic Worker, 52 Mason Street, Worcester, MA 01610.
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Gilbert Márkus, an ex-Dominican and leader [sic] of Glasgow’s Catholic Worker community, wrote about faith and science in the Guardian this Saturday under the title ‘Face to Faith: Christians who attempt to mix God and science will only end up undoing the story of Genesis’, quoting several from the Order of Preachers inter alios. (Strangely, I could not find it on the Guardian‘s otherwise-excellent free website, but found it in the proprietary LexisNexis.)

Update: The article is now available.

Also deserving attention are two deals in which the British ex-public defence-research company QinetiQ is involved: selling the 1901 census to Friends Reunited, and approaching Carlyle group (mentioned in Fahrenheit 9/11) about its own privatization.

Our house sits on the corner of Mason Court, a cul-de-sac of six small lots, three on each side of a narrow gravel road. The houses on the Court are tiny one-and-a-half story structures. “They are the smallest dwellings I have come upon,” says architectural historian Neil Larson. Originally built on a four-room plan, each has a front room and kitchen on the first floor, and two bedrooms with steeply-sloped ceilings on the second.

Mason Court, January 2006.

The neighborhood of Mason Court has housed one of Worcester’s oldest black communities. After surveying our street last summer, Mr. Larson convinced the Worcester Historical Commission to list the neighborhood on its register of historical resources. (The Mason Court area is defined as both the Court and the adjacent 50, 52, and 54 Mason Street.)
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Bishop Says Priest Abused Him as Teenager (Washington Post):

Breaking ranks with his peers, a Roman Catholic bishop called yesterday for state legislatures to temporarily remove the time limits that have prevented many victims of sex abuse from suing the church.

In making that extraordinary appeal, Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of Detroit also unburdened himself of a secret. As a teenager 60 years ago, he said, he was “inappropriately touched” by a priest.

For those looking for a photo of the bishop with a Creative Commons license, I’ve put one below the fold here, along with the rest of the items. We’ve been getting lots of Google image searches today because we have a borrowed picture of Bishop Gumbleton on one of our Darfur trial pages. My heart goes out to all those hurt by abuse.
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I went to see the first production of Shakespeare et al.’s Thomas More in London this weekend. There was a leader article (editorial) in the Guardian yesterday about More.

This February will see the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His writings, especially Life Together, gently moved me. I now realize that the name of this category is a tribute to him.

I don’t like vandalism, which is why I’ve been active in asking City Government to take down the ugly anti-panhandling signs they’ve strapped to light poles around the city. The whole anti-panhandling campaign is like a medication that doesn’t work: it fails to solve the problem, and the side-effects are unpleasant.

In late November some Worcesterites covered the city-sponsored eyesores with a more helpful message (with better graphic design): “Stop the War on the Poor.” I like the guy whose head is the city seal (heart and laurels). Weather has taken its toll on these repairs, and now they’re mostly peeled off, leaving big blotches.

Above: Nov 30, 2005 photo from Worcester Independent Media Center. Below: Jan 7, 2006 photo by Mike Benedetti.

(Last night someone threw a rock through the Catholic Worker’s window. It’s probably nothing personal; there’s lots of random vandalism hereabouts.)

Letter to the editor from Friday’s Worcester T&G:

…St. Francis Xavier Church in Bolton holds adoration of the Blessed Sacrament from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. every Tuesday.

On a Tuesday early in November, I entered the church about 5 p.m. and was surprised and saddened to find no faithful in solemn veneration. When confronted with this scandal, the Rev. Thomas Fleming, pastor, vehemently defended this situation. Bishop Robert J. McManus was also informed. At about 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 27 I entered St. Francis Xavier Church and again found no faithful in solemn veneration.

MARY BRADFORD, Fayville

You non-Catholics are probably confused if you’ve read this far, so here is the deal. Read the rest of this entry »