Creationism dismissed as “a kind of paganism” by Vatican astronomer.
I wonder what the pagans have to say about that.
Catholic Worker gathering, Worcester
There will be a Catholic Worker gathering in Worcester, MA this June 30-July 2 to celebrate 20 years of the Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker.
Check the gathering page for more info and updates.
Iocane powder and other items
Happy Birthday Mike Leslie: is happening. See the homepage.
Stop the RIAA: A couple local college students are being sued for downloading music. The EFF says:
We oppose the recording industry’s decision to attack the public, bankrupt its customers and offer false amnesty to those who would impugn themselves. We call instead for a real amnesty: the development of a legal alternative that preserves file-sharing technology while ensuring that artists are fairly compensated.
Conference: I’ll be at Beyond Broadcast next weekend in Cambridge. Like physically there, not virtually there.
Animals: A guy who removed some dying chickens from an egg farm has been acquitted of felony charges. And Dan “Bizarro” Piraro has a movie (.mov) of a talking pig with a goatee explaining physiology.
Retail: A reader sends in this story of people dressing up like Best Buy clerks and infiltrating a store.
Iocane powder: Best stencil ever, via BrewLog.
Signs: An AP photo from McGovern’s arrest, featuring Worcester’s Scott Schaeffer-Duffy. Good job on the signs.
May Day in Worcester follow-up
Carl Weaver has posted a video.
Co-organizer Kevin Ksen wrote a strong piece at Indymedia:
Sixty-seven local businesses and organizations are known to have closed on May 1st in Worcester; there are probably many more that did not get counted. The Worcester Public Schools estimate that 800-900 students stayed home. That was Worcester’s real vote on immigration reform; mom & pop small businesses in Main South, throughout Pleasant, the Valley and Grafton Hill deciding to close. Worcester’s event planners hesitated in supporting and promoting the boycott because they were worried about what might happen to immigrants that supported it. I remember Atty. Randy Feldman at the first meeting, tense and anxious as he compassionately stated, “We’d be responsible if something happened to someone.â€
It was exactly that caregiver, protective, social service world compassion to protect immigrants that carried many of the Coalition’s local planners away from even discussing the goals and strategy of the national boycott. The problem is though, that event planners weren’t the ones who would make Worcester’s decision about how to support the boycott. Immigrants from Westboro to Worcester’s west side who live with the threat of losing their jobs, losing their income, becoming separated from their families every single day were the people that would make that decision. It was they not event planners that knew the full costs of joining the boycott. Dishwashers, janitors and factory workers everywhere knew EXACTLY what they risked if they joined the boycott, and the bodegas, restaurants and other local business owners new EXACTLY how much money they were sacrificing by shuttering their stores. They decided the risk and sacrifice was worth the message that they as immigrants wanted to send.
Photo by Kevin Ksen/Indymedia.
Pix from March 29
I broke down and got a Flickr account. Here are all the pix from the March 29 Darfur civil disobedience.
My interview on Flipside about Darfur ran this week, about 5 weeks after it was taped. A lot of what I said is already outdated. Feels like there was actually some progress in the past month.
A quick note on the May Day protests
I’m back from Los Angeles, where I was in the wedding of frequent P&C contributor Adam Villani.
My favorite we’re-not-in-Worcester-anymore moment was seeing Tilda Swinton while carrying a durian.
Sounds like the May Day demonstrations in Worcester went great. The most optimistic hopes I heard before the event were “maybe 2,000 people will be there.” And the paper reported that 2,000 people were there!
I like many of the things that our bishop, Robert McManus, has done. I don’t think I’ve ever criticized him in this space. And I’m glad that last week he issued a compassionate statement on immigration. So I was disappointed when I heard that he wasn’t at the May Day demonstration, and neither was a representative of the diocese. This strikes me as a big mistake. Already today, I’ve heard people calling him “the stealth bishop.”
Worcester rally pix can be found at Indymedia and Flickr (via Volcanoboy).
In unrelated news, “Darfur Genocide on Trial” airs again on Worcester’s WCCA TV13 May 3 at 11am. You can watch it via the internet.
Update: Cardinal George spoke at the Chicago rally. (Via Whispers.)
Worcester bishop’s statement on immigration reform
April 27, 2006
Statement by Most Rev. Robert J. McManus, STD
Bishop of Worcester
On Immigration Reform
Continue reading “Worcester bishop’s statement on immigration reform”
Five US reps arrested in Darfur protest with several others
Just got a call from DC; Scott Schaeffer-Duffy says that US Reps Jim McGovern (D-MA), Jim Moran (D-VA), John Olver (D-MA), Tom Lantos (D-CA), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) were just arrested for blocking the steps of the Sudanese embassy to protest the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
Also arrested, according to Scott, were “four or five religious leaders” and one of the leaders of a student group.
“Tremendous media almost blocking the whole sidewalk.”
40-50 supporters were also there.
Scott described the arrests thus: “Three warnings, stood on the stairs, handcuffed and arrested.”
Items
Darfur on TV: An old interview with me about Darfur airs on WCCA‘s “Flipside” Monday, May 1 at 7:30pm. Reairs Tuesday, May 2 at 11am; Wednesday, May 3 at 9:30pm; and Thursday, May 4 at 1:30pm. This was taped a month ago, just before our last Darfur civil disobedience. Some parts of it, like my appeal to Jim McGovern to do more on Darfur, are a bit out of date.
Collapsing Iran: John Robb predicts that the US will use air power to destroy Iran’s infrastructure, with the goal of driving the country into chaos. This is different from terrorism how?
Saint Kermit: The Worcester County podcasters interview some of the candidates for Lieutenant Governor, including Worcester Mayor Tim Murray.
Zack in China: A “taxonomy” of vegetarian restaurants.
Rocketboom: This episode is downright Warholian. Right out of Warhol’s screen tests.
Continue reading “Items”
Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker, Worcester, Massachusetts
This month marks the 20th anniversary of the Saints Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker community in Worcester, Massachusetts.
After their original house on Castle Street burned in 1987, they spent a short time living with the Little Franciscans of Mary before moving to 52 Mason Street, where the community remains to this day.
Part of our work is sheltering homeless men and women. As I type this, one man and two women are staying with us. This is unusually small-scale hospitality for a Catholic Worker, but typically intimate; I share the breakfast table with these folks, and last night there was some recrimination about who is eating all the Corn Pops. (Me.)
The other part of our work is fighting for peace and justice. I like to say that we’re basically like the Super Friends, but with less powers. The Catholic Worker is a center of anti-war activity in Worcester, and down through the years has been a leading voice on local issues ranging from lead pollution to supporting Coach Williams. Members have organized lots of protests, done lots of jail time for civil disobedience, and gone on lots of peace missions to four continents.
The founding members of the SS. Francis & Thérèse Catholic Worker. Back row: Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, Justin Duffy, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy. Front row: Carl Siciliano, Sarah Jeglosky, Dan Ethier.
The Catholic Worker is an anarchist movement. SS. Francis & Thérèse is not a non-profit corporation. The community receives no government money, and no financial support from the institutional church. (Although we get help from lots of individual clergy.)
The community in 2006: Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, Scott Schaeffer-Duffy. Photo by Mike Benedetti.
We support the work of the community by baking bread and begging. Members of the community also do freelance journalism, public speaking, and web design to pay the bills.
There is nothing in the way of hierarchy. The same folks who travel to exotic war zones also clean toilets. Four people are involved in the day-to-day decisions of the house, but dozens are part of the “extended community.”
Public reaction to the community has always been mixed. In 1997, when Dave Maciewski delivered medical supplies to Iraq in violation of sanctions, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette ran the subhead “Peace group beds down with Butcher of Baghdad.” On the other hand, about once a month I introduce myself to someone as a Catholic Worker, and the stranger responds, “Oh, Scott and Claire are my heroes!” In 2002, the T&G called Scott “Worcester’s most-traveled, most-jailed, and most notorious political radical since Abbie Hoffman,” which some would even consider a compliment.
My time here is coming to a close, but I would not be surprised if this community was still serving Worcester, and still pissing off meanspirited Worcesterites, in another 20 years.
We’re holding a Catholic Worker gathering July 2-4 in Worcester to celebrate the 20th anniversary. Details will be forthcoming.
You can call us at 508.753.3588, or e-mail theresecw@gmail.com.