Author: Mike

Bishop Gumbleton and other items

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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Solving the City’s Anti-Panhandling Problem

Stop the War on the PoorI 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.

A weathered sign

Eucharistic adoration

(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”

An Interview About “Bubble”

“Bubble,” Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, will be released to theaters, cable, and DVD January 27. It was filmed in part at the Lee Middleton doll factory in Belpre, Ohio, part of the region of Ohio and West Virginia known as the Mid-Ohio River Valley.

Sarah, a book designer, once worked for Lee Middleton Dolls, and lived in Belpre much of her life. Mark, a media scholar, attended Junior High and High School across the river in Vienna and Parkersburg, West Virginia. They now live in Indiana, but both maintain strong ties to the Mid-Ohio Valley. Pie and Coffee interviewed them over the Christmas holiday.
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Letter from Disneyland Jail

Greetings from Philadelphia. I just found out that radical guitar improviser Derek Bailey died on Christmas. I’ll be remembering him tonight by going to a concert featuring, among others, radical improvisers Todd Margasak and Jack Wright. I must admit I’ve always gotten Todd’s music, and never gotten Jack’s. That’s part of the appeal of seeing Jack play again.

Anyhow: If you want to get arrested for protesting in California, you could go to some boring air force base in the desert, or you could join Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir at Disneyland! Rev Billy:

With watches synchronized, the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir walked onto “Main Street USA” at 1:50 PM on Christmas Day, with the Disney faithful lining the curbs, waiting for the dancing of Tinkerbelle and Donald and Mickey.

…the entire choir entered the theme park undetected, hiding their robes at the bottom of backpacks and purses. …Once marching up the street in the rocking motion of gospel, the singers were able to complete three full songs, with the Reverend preaching throughout. The heightened strangeness of the place may have contributed to the hesitation by police to resist the church.

The performers marched back and forth on the theme park’s Main Street, a distance of about a half mile, contacting several thousands of on-lookers, for a period of about 25 minutes. After Reverend Billy was surrounded and hand-cuffed, the choir was detained in the filthy back lot of the park. …The Rev was held in the Disneyland holding tank and then the Anaheim jail.

Be sure to read the Rev’s “Letter from the Disneyland Jail.” (Here’s a nice picture.)

Items

Lots of new stuff since I’ve been away.

  • New York Catholic Worker Matt Vogel made an appearance in a New York Times op-ed. It referenced a march by Catholic Workers to Guantanamo to oppose torture there. It also mentioned 80 people gathering in NYC to remember Dorothy Day. Among these were Clinton’s Patty Angevine and Worcester’s Rev. John Madden.
  • Volcanoboy reports that Mike Duffy has died. I got to know him a few years ago working on a production of “The Trial of the Catonsville Nine.” He played the judge. Damn nice guy. There’s another remembrance of him at Wormtown.
    Joe Finneral, Andy Keefe, Mike Duffy, and Mike Benedetti celebrate with pizza and beer
    Joe Finneral, Andy Keefe, and Mike Benedetti salute Mike Duffy (center, with pizza) after their final performance. Photo: andrewkeefe.net.
  • Many people have pointed out another CW mention in this New York Times story:

    One F.B.I. document indicates that agents in Indianapolis planned to conduct surveillance as part of a “Vegan Community Project.” Another document talks of the Catholic Workers group’s “semi-communistic ideology.” A third indicates the bureau’s interest in determining the location of a protest over llama fur planned by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

    Continue reading “Items”

South Bend Catholic Worker loses zoning battle

The South Bend Common Council has denied a zoning change to the Catholic Worker community there. WNDU-TV:

“We are looking forward to finding another house that’s properly zoned and continuing our work,” said [Margie] Pfeil. “We are hopeful that we can get a good price on our house and invest our money elsewhere.”
[…]
Starting Tuesday the Catholic Workers plan to move their five guests and three staff members south two streets to a house that the diocese gave to the organization years ago.

South Bend Tribune:

A last-minute effort to prolong the Catholic Worker house issue failed in a 5-4 vote. This was followed by an emotional 7-2 vote to deny the group’s overall rezoning petition.
[…]
There are no plans to pursue a lawsuit against the city, [Mike] Griffin said.

“Many have said we have a good case,” Griffin said. “But it’s also a Christian tradition at times to simply shake the dust from your sandals and move on.”

Twenty-five years without Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day was an American anarchist, pacifist, and devout Roman Catholic. She dedicated her life to serving the poor of Manhattan, eating and living with them. She refused to pay federal taxes, to accept government aid, and to be complicit in injustice. From time to time, her stands landed her in jail.

Her great accomplishment was to integrate these usually unrelated things into the seamless whole that was her daily life. With Peter Maurin, she founded the newspaper The Catholic Worker, which gave its name to what we call the Catholic Worker movement.

Each Catholic Worker community is independent and unique, but all take inspiration from the model she developed.

Dorothy died twenty-five years ago today. In accordance with her wishes, her family correspondence and diaries, held in the Marquette University Archives, will now be unsealed and available to researchers.