Here are some excerpts from Keith D. Berger’s University of Portland B.A. thesis “Hearing the Cry of the Poor: The Catholic Worker Communities in Oregon and Washington 1940 to the Present” (April 1992). If I ever get my hands on the original again, I’ll update this entry.
Continue reading “Catholic Workers of the Pacific Northwest”
Temenos Catholic Worker, San Francisco
River Sims, of San Francisco’s Temenos Catholic Worker, begins his ministry when the sun goes down. He walks the streets of his neighborhood, Polk Gulch, doing what he can for the mostly-young, mostly-male, addicts and prostitutes who congregate there.
He hands out sandwiches, condoms, lubricant, long- and short-tipped syringes, and “kits” with stuff needed to shoot heroin with proper hygiene. And, he’s a “presence of grace.”
In 2003, he said that the previous year he’d attended 24 funerals, and the average age was 19.
His blog takes most of this in stride.
River Sims in his apartment, with the infamous “Points for Jesus” t-shirt. Photo: Mike Benedetti.
Sudan Trial
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. The trial of the “Sudan Seven,” as we have been referred to, was an incredible show of nonviolent witness at its best. I was honored to be a part of such a group. The Holy Spirit no doubt was speaking through the testimonies of witnesses Dr. Eric Reeves, Dr. Mark Lance, Mwiza Munthali, Barbara Wien, Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, and each of the seven defendents as they each took the stand to testify to their area of expertise.
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Time Served
Seven American activists were found guilty of unlawful assembly today in D.C. Superior Court before Chief Judge Rufus King III. They were on trial for a February demonstration at the Sudanese embassy to protest the ongoing genocide in the Sudanese region of Darfur.
May 25: Tom Lewis, Harry Duchesne, Brian Kavanagh, Liz Fallon, Brenna Cussen, Ken Hannaford-Ricardi, and Scott Schaeffer-Duffy are happy to be outside after a day in D.C. Superior Court. Click on the photo to download a high-resolution version.
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Bob Flanagan
Worcester’s Bob Flanagan, of the Ron Kovic chapter of Veterans for Peace, was profiled this week in Worcester Magazine:
. . . the Vietnam War was going on and we had a friend, Flipper, and he joined the Marine Corps and he never came home; he was blown away. Then there was another guy in Westboro, then Georgie Adams and Paul Bellino. About six or seven guys I knew as a kid never came home. Probably being the sensitive type, I never knew what to do with the anger.
Bob’s weekly vigil at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, was profiled at Worcester Indymedia. Bob’s also active with the Worcester Veteran’s Shelter.
Today is a notable one for counter-recruitment activists, as the U.S. Army has suspended all recruiting for the day in order to “emphasize proper conduct” to recruiters who have been accused of conning potential recruits.
Bob Flanagan, of Veterans for Peace, vigils against war at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. Photo: Mike Benedetti.
Botox: Cosmetic or Chemical Weapon?
Botox: Cosmetic or Chemical Weapon? is a forceful Christian critique of vanity and violence in the form of a crazy tract. It was written by Mike Ciul and designed by Jim Speer. They hail from Philadelphia, a city of many crazy tracts.
- Download “Botox” (.pdf file, 183KB), suitable for printing on letter-size paper, 2 tracts to a page
No War On Sally
Sally Schwab, age 2, stands up for herself in West Philadelphia. Button redesigned by Katrina.
Kassie Temple House, Philadelphia
Sunday, the House of Grace Catholic Worker community in Philadelphia opened a new house of hospitality, Kassie Temple House.
Sunday, the House of Grace Catholic Worker community in Philadelphia opened a new house of hospitality, Kassie Temple House.
The house is named after long-time Catholic Worker Kassie Temple, who died in 2002 after being part of the New York Catholic Worker community for 27 years.
The house has five bedrooms and will house mostly refugee families we found it and fix it, which was an easy process thanks to city docklands estate agents. Click here to learn how much does it cost to build a house if you want a custom-built home. If you plan to sell your home, you may click here to learn the difference between ibuyers vs traditional cash buyers.
Continue reading “Kassie Temple House, Philadelphia”
More Papal Tidbits
The last pope before John Paul I to use a new papal name was Pope Lando in 913. They say he was also the last pope to use his given name as his papal name. [See comments–ed.] There has been no Pope Chewbacca.
On the radio I heard the morning DJs joke that the new pope could have chosen any name for his papacy, even Cletus. Little did they know that the third pope ever was Pope St. Cletus.
The Snowsuit Effort
Today is the anniversary of the Webby-nominated photo blog The Snowsuit Effort.
Many of the pix are of folks who live on the streets of Detroit.
Confused? The author explains himself.