March 2009

Scott Schaeffer-Duffy and Brenna Cussen discuss the “Catholic Worker Peace Team” model for international peace trips.

 

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Elements of the Catholic Worker Peace Team model:

• Short duration
• Personalist (non-governmental)
• Spiritually-based
• Direct service to those in need
• Information gathering
• Nonviolent direct action to make the situation better

Scott and Brenna are planning a May 2009 trip to Gaza, Sderot, and the West Bank. Their trip to Darfur and its aftermath was the first project documented on Pie and Coffee.

Homily from mass at the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker soup kitchen, Worcester.

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This morning I stepped off a Greyhound in Worcester, turned on my phone, and saw this text message: “Everybody is fine but stone soup had a big fire.”

 

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Kevin Ksen photo

Stone Soup, Worcester’s beloved arts, activism, and community center at 4 King Street, was damaged by a fire late Thursday, March 26. The fire began in the basement–the cause is as yet unknown. No one was injured.

The Stone Soup community is committed to continuing and rebuilding, whether at King Street or another site. The building is currently unusable, and member groups are temporarily meeting at the Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center, 301 Pleasant Street.

Stone Soup is in need of donations of time, money, and other items. Donations can be mailed to Stone Soup c/o Pleasant Street Neighborhood Network Center, 301 Pleasant St., Worcester, MA 01609. Lists of specific needs are being compiled, and will be posted at stonesoupworcester.org.

More photos and news updates at Indymedia.

Fujichia: FIRE AT STONE SOUP, NATURAL MODIFICATION

Telegram & Gazette, March 28: Stone Soup plans next story

Worcester Magazine: From the Ashes

Fundraiser: HBML closes forever April 1, with all proceeds going to Stone Soup.

NECN news story:

WCCA story:

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Linda LeTendre, in DC this week to join the 100 Days Campaign, reviews the recent antiwar march in DC, which I skipped:

There was a “standoff” between some demonstrators and some police officers, with the demonstrators taunting the officers. This was high idiocy for two reasons: (1) It did not promote peace, and (2) The officers were armed, the taunters were not. The officers were called to some other part of the event and as they left the taunters cheered as if they had won some great victory — further raising their level on the idiocy scale.

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“The coming evangelical collapse”
Michael Spencer:

Being against gay marriage and being rhetorically pro-life will not make up for the fact that massive majorities of Evangelicals can’t articulate the Gospel with any coherence. We fell for the trap of believing in a cause more than a faith.

Michael Bell runs the numbers. As a New England Catholic, whose own church is in steep decline while local evangelical churches seem to be thriving, these articles were full of surprises for me.

During last summer’s Catholic Worker National Gathering it struck me that the Catholic Worker movement is one of the few things about my church that’s not either in decline or in a defensive mode–the CW communities are doing great, with a good mix of ages, marked by openness, faith, and courage. I wish I could say the CW is a good model for the “future of the Church,” but interest has waxed and waned over the decades, and most people number their association with the CW in years rather than decades, so I think we’ll have to look elsewhere for that.
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