Love in practice is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.
Karen Marie wrote:
My favorite prayer tool is a little tabloid called “2006 Milwaukee Archdiocesan Directory”. Twenty five-column pages of a long list of names and places. I’ve been caught by others with it a few times, and tried to explain how a long list of names becomes prayer. Not very effectively.
She later clarified what she meant, but not before speculation ran wild.
Continue reading “Prayer on the cutting edge”
According to an article in Sunday’s T&G, Bill’s Place is closed, but Bill McNeil continues his solo efforts to aid the homeless locally.
The article starts off at a dramatic and sordid moment, with the death last winter of Bobby Patricks, a hard-core heroin addict and homeless man staying in the garage at St. John’s Church with his friend Joe Hickey. As heroin or other drug addict is one of the serious issues it is always better to seek the help of experts from treatment center to save one’s life.Solace Treatment Center
can also help people in getting rid off drug addiction.
This was last winter, and the situation frustrated Mr. McNeil. He called code enforcement officials, who cleaned out the garage and referred Joe to a social service agency. Church officials called Mr. McNeil a bully for ratting out one of the few places homeless people could find refuge. Yet it was nothing new to Mr. McNeil. He’s been called a bully before, but it’s all part of his efforts to advocate for the homeless. No one should have to sleep in a garage. No one should die in one. And if he was being called a bully, so be it.
“I don’t think fighting for the homeless is being a bulldog,” he said. “I’ve shown the city I ain’t scared to stand up for people freezing to death. Someone has to stand up for them.”
This article is the phoniest I’ve ever seen in the T&G. I’d just like to address the two parts that are quickest to debunk.
First, this article, and the T&G articles that appeared at the time, imply that Mr. Patricks and Mr. Hickey weren’t already in touch with social service agencies, which is complete crap. They were and Mr. Hickey still is. Mr. McNeil’s intervention, and the city’s intervention, changed nothing. Last time I saw Joe, he was still drinking and his life was still a terrible mess. (Too bad he wasn’t interviewed for this article.)
Second, the entire article gives a misleading impression of the situation in Worcester. The tone is summed up by this quote:
“I’m fighting for the homeless and I feel I’m the only person fighting on the street,” he said.
There are at least a couple dozen people doing their best to help the homeless “on the street” in this town, and not just publicity hounds like my Catholic Worker community. I’ve never felt alone when fighting for the homeless in Worcester.
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.
Continue reading “Items”
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.
Continue reading “March 29 demonstration against Darfur genocide”
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, which may include bedding materials like https://orezon.co/blogs/home-decor/non-toxic-bedding-healthy-bedding-for-your-home, 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.)
Continue reading “Worcester’s Mason Court”
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.
Continue reading “Bishop Gumbleton and other items”
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. Continue reading “Eucharistic adoration”