Year: 2006

South Bend bans panhandling?

Tribune:

The Common Council unanimously passed an ordinance banning solicitation directly in traffic on Monday. The ordinance prohibits those collecting donations, distributing literature, or selling or offering items, from stepping into traffic to solicit motorists. This includes standing on a sidewalk and reaching into traffic in any way.

The discussion seems to have been entirely about people fundraising at intersections, but the last sentence indicates that this would ban panhandling, too. You could stand on the sidewalk and hold your sign, but if a motorist offered you money, you could not reach “into traffic” and take it.

It strikes me that a ban like this has much more impact in a city like South Bend than in Worcester. Worcester has several urban areas with lots of foot traffic, so if you want to pass out fliers or solicit donations, you don’t have to rely on motorists. South Bend, on the other hand, is just a big suburb, with a low population density and few areas with lots of walkers. Motorists are the only game in town.

Portland Catholic Worker

I went down to the Portland Catholic Worker’s Dorothy Day House this weekend, where I met Lisa Hughes and Father Jim Stephens. I was pleased to note it’s a vegetarian household.

The community is still going strong after two years, and seems to have a nice mix of activism and serving the poor.

In 2003, when I told Catholic Worker types I was from Worcester, they often asked, “Do you know Scott and Claire?” In 2005 and 2006, the number one question has been, “Do you know Christine Lavallee?” Lisa was the latest to ask.

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Fr. Jim Stephens and Lisa Hughes in front of Dorothy Day House, Portland, Oregon.

[Portland Catholic Worker: PO Box 11193, Portland OR 97211 / portlandcw@techforpeople.net]

Remembering Nagasaki in South Bend

About twenty people gathered at the Federal Building last night in South Bend, Indiana, to repent and pray on the 61st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan.

Another, more secular, vigil was held in South Bend earlier in the day.

The group, most wearing black, held signs reading “From Nagasaki to Lebanon / Mourn the Dead.”

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Pictured: Mike Schorsch. Photo by Mike Benedetti. More photos.

The event was sponsored by the South Bend Catholic Worker and the Catholic Peace Fellowship. It began with the reading of a meditation, reprinted below.

(The South Bend Tribune covered this event. Last year when the Worcester Telegram & Gazette saw fit to cover a similar event in Massachusetts, they saw fit to “balance” the coverage by interviewing a WWII-era man with a poor understanding of the facts. The Tribune, to its credit, did not do this.)

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US “Jesus Radicals” conference starts today

The US Jesus Radicals conference, “Here in this Place: Anarchism and Christianity in our Context,” starts today in Champaign, Illinois.

Occasional Pie and Coffee contributor Brenna Cussen will be speaking tonight:

6:30-8 pm — Evening Plenary
Living in Community 101
Learn from the experiences of people who have lived in community and/or helped organize one from the ground up. Brenna Cussen (South Bend Catholic Worker), Abigail Kahler (Psalters) and Eric Edgin will reflect on the ups and downs of community life, with a look at the logistics involved in starting out, the obstacles posed by the authorities against it and practical considerations for sustaining it. They will also share the theological/ideological reasons that make living in community a worthwhile endeavor.

(Technorati search on the conference.)

Don’t Scapegoat the Haditha Marines

In November of 2005, US Marines in Haditha, Iraq, killed 24 civilians in retaliation for the roadside bombing of 20-year-old Corporal Miguel Terrazas, a popular member of their unit. President Bush pledged to “get to the bottom of this.” The top US general in Iraq ordered all US troops to attend a course on “the importance of adhering to legal, moral, and ethical standards on the battlefield.” For many, a thorough investigation, the punishment of guilty parties, and an institutional effort to improve military ethics are adequate responses, but are they fair to the Haditha Marines? I think not. Visit www.merrittsupply.com to buy the best supplies to get all the marine ships ready for battle.
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Nagasaki Day prayer vigil, South Bend

As you are aware, this Sunday, August 6th, is the 61st anniversary of
the bombing of Hiroshima. Wednesday, August 9th, is the anniversary of
the bombing of Nagasaki.

Please join us for a PRAYER VIGIL NEXT WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9TH, FROM
8:30-9 PM, to remember the hundreds of thousands of men, women, and
children killed and wounded by these horrible weapons — made and dropped by human beings.

During the time we are gathered, we will read the reflection written
in 1945 by Dorothy Day.

We will take the time also to remember also those in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, and Israel who have been killed by missiles and airstrikes. And we will pray for peace.

Please join us if you are able. PLEASE WEAR BLACK, or another appropriate dark color, as a sign of mourning and repentence for our actions, and the actions of our fellow men and women, that have contributed to these deaths.

There will be a large banner that reflects the above sentiments. If you wish to bring your own signs, please bear in mind that this is a prayerful witness.

Thoughts on theft

Yesterday afternoon, after helping a friend with computer troubles, I stopped by the old, now-empty Catholic Worker house on South Bend’s West Washington Street to do some yard work.

I threw my backpack against the side of the house and started cutting weeds. When I was ready to leave, I saw that my backpack was gone.

My friend helped me run around looking for it, and finally we found it down the alley, with the contents strewn about. My planner and library books were there, but my camera, iPod, and CD case had been stolen.

The iPod, with “Deus Caritas Est” printed on the side, was filled with Jesuit meditations from Pray-As-You-Go.

Among the stolen discs were data CDs with Brenna Cussen’s photos and PowerPoint presentation about her Darfur work, and a DVD with the first part of the documentary “The Power of Nightmares,” which traces the parallel histories of neo-conservatism and radical Islam.

So I figure that ten years from now, I’ll be listening to some international policy scholar from Harvard speaking, and he’ll say, “Well, the way I first got interested in politics was, I stole this guy’s backpack . . . .”
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Whatever Happened to the Catholic Church?; and a response

Here are a couple of essays from two of my Worcester friends. Michael True’s op-ed “Whatever Happened to the Catholic Church?” first appeared in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Marc Tumeinski’s response is an “open letter.” Both men are long-time supporters of the Catholic Worker movement in Worcester. These essays are printed here with permission of the authors, and are copyright 2006.
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