Wealth, Poverty and St. John Chrysostom

A hard truth for us to realize--especially Americans--is that wealth for one person generally comes at the expense of someone else.

I find it particularly hard to justify doing much of anything when 1 billion people are starving to death at any given moment in time. There is a real cost to living in a continual state of accumulating and consuming--excess resources are coming my way for some small luxuries when they could--and should--be going to someone else to keep them alive. I think of this with every decadent hot chocolate with whipped cream I indulge myself in at the local coffee shop, while typing this on my laptop.

However, intentional poverty is a tough go, and I have barely taken steps in that direction. I am choosing not to burden myself with guilt over it, but to slowly relax my way out of the entanglement with materialism and my inevitable complicity in the violence of the world that comes with it. I've been immersed in this system all my life, it will take a while to wind my way out of it.

Intentional poverty is beautiful as a means of spiritual solidarity with the poor. It also has a very practical side of simply breaking the cycle of consumerism and exploitation. There comes a time when a person simply cannot stand to participate in the madness any longer.

I lean on the words of St. John Chrysostom, bishop and doctor of the Church. It is easier to see these dynamics of wealth and poverty with our modern knowledge about the socio-economic systems in which we live, but in the latter half of the fourth century, St. John saw this just as clearly:

"In order that you may wear one pearl drop, countless poor people are suffering from hunger. What excuse do you make for this?"

"Do you wish to adorn your face? Do so not with pearls, but with modesty, and dignity."

"Take off all ornament and place it in the hands of Christ through the poor."

The idea that our possessions are on loan from God is a strong theme in St. John Chrysostom, as well as in other Early Church Fathers. We are merely stewards of Creation, and it is our job to make sure it gets to those who need it. Many people look to Native American spirituality for these ideas, but there is also a strong tradition right in the theology of the Early Church Fathers:

"Our money is the Lord's, however we may have gathered it . . . this is why God has allowed you to have more: not to waste on prostitutes, drink, fancy food, expensive clothes, and all the other kinds of indolence, but for you to distribute to those in need."

"Not to share our wealth is to steal from the poor, and to deprive them of their means of life. We do not possess our own wealth but theirs."

Two Gifts: Of Paint and Through Paint

It has become a tradition for many groups to memorialize September 11th by participating in acts of good works. This is in keeping with the spirit of togetherness that overtook America in the wake of 9/11/01.

The Columbus Catholic Worker was a site for over 70 AmeriCorps members and supervisors to be the beneficiary of their generous gift this year. Two groups of approximately 35 people each worked about 4 hours that day.

The focus was on the upstairs: Bedrooms were painted creatively and tastefully. Most now have two-tone color schemes and lively touches. Some of the rooms previously had a potential health hazard with large cracks and chunks of paint falling off--this is especially a concern as this 50 year old building no doubt has leaded paint on the bottom layers.. These were scraped and sealed under a layer of new paint.

Pictured above is the famous purple room.

A lot more than paint got put onto the structure of the Catholic Worker that day. With so many AmeriCorps members and supervisors working with us, we were asked if we would like to host an AmeriCorps*VISTA member of our own! A VISTA member is one who fulfills a 1 or 2 year commitment, working on a stipend, to help local agencies like ours develop our capacity for service. Developing new programs and building infrastructure so that our group can grow is the mission of a VISTA member.

We gladly accepted this generous offer and it took all of 5 minutes to discern a candidate: Joan, our master painter and Catholic Worker member who has given so much to the community so far: Organizing the canning classes, gardening, coordinating the Free Store with Bev, and numerous other projects. She had just remarked earlier that day that she may have to limit her involvement at the Catholic Worker due to getting an outside job--not so fast!

Smiling above is Joan, Master Painter and soon-to-be AmeriCorps*VISTA member!

Here is a group shot of the morning crew.

Pictures by VISTA member Miles.

On The Asparagus and the Catholic Worker

Gardeners will tell you that growing asparagus takes time. It must be heavily fertilized, and the roots need to grow deep. You will see beautiful, tender shoots the first year, but no fruit. Even with all that attention, you won't really see a harvest for 3-4 years. It sprouts and looks promising, but then goes away only to come back next year.

I always think of this when I consider the Columbus Catholic Worker. Our group started over 3 years ago. Cheryl and her children came up with the audacious idea of forming a community here in Columbus. After several months of meetings, a book study, dialogue with the Diocese and lots of heavy discernment, we tentatively began some ministries.

Pat & Glenda generously opened up their home as Emmanuel House and promptly began offering hospitality to homeless persons in Columbus. Their home was a true community house in every sense of the word. The door was always open and you could just drop in anytime and make yourself at home. Many great discussions happened there and friendships developed.

After many long months of trial & error and tough learning experiences, it was decided to stop offering hospitality at their home. Our other ministries subsided as well, and our group went into hibernation, not sure of our future.

But like the asparagus, we came back the next year, a little bit weathered but a little bit wiser.

While some of the ministries we began did not continue, it must always be remembered that we draw upon those experiences every day. We learned a lot about what we can and cannot do. In the midst of all that, I believe our group managed to make the world just a little bit nicer for some folks who really needed it, to paraphrase a line from Entertaining Angels. Not bad, indeed.

It is time for a well-deserved shout out to Pat & Glenda for creating a space for our community when it really mattered. You stuck your necks out on the line and took a big chance. You took a few on the chin, as well. There is little chance we would be doing what we're doing now if you hadn't done what you did before.

As our community faces an uncertain future at our current location, it is good to take a look back at where we've been. The only downside about naming people is that we are sure to leave out quite a few. Taking that risk, we'd like to mention that the initial incarnation wouldn't have been possible without Bill, Kathy H, Mary Ellen and all the other Mary's, Grace and Mark. Numerous others provided just the right help at just the right time, right on cue from the Holy Spirit.

We are always sowing in faith, never sure of the harvest. Please know that all of those efforts right from the beginning are continuing to reap a rich harvest, even if the location, the mission and even some of the people have changed. Every contribution of every type has left a ripple effect that stays present in our community long afterwards.

Free Clothing Store

Bev has been on quite a roll lately. Besides running the ESL program, helping start Pax Christi with Grace, and taking a share in the overall administrative tasks, she also has taken the initiative to start a Free Clothing Store. Joan has joined her in this project, as well.

We gave out our first items just this week. Representatives from CRIS (Community Refugee and Immigration Services) stopped by to pick up about two dozen winter coats. They are working with some newly arrived refugees from places such as Iraq, Somalia, Eritrea and Bhutan, and most of those folks are not accustomed to the quickly approaching Ohio winters!

This picture of a corner of the store does not do it justice, especially after many of our items have recently been cleaned out!

We also made the store available to students of our ESL classes this week. One woman was thrilled to walk home with a nice winter coat, having lived in Ohio for some time but never having a proper winter coat at all. She was beaming from ear to ear. Those moments of grace really help lift our spirits and reassure us that what we are doing matters.

As our stock builds up, we are looking at ways to make the store available to patrons of the food pantry or other groups in town. We may be open once a week, or on an referral basis, or maybe even daily in conjunction with pantry hours--it just depends on staffing and how much stock we have. We are starting slowly.

Next week, we are getting a delivery from the Cub Scouts of St. Matthew's in Gahanna. We are looking for help unloading the truck on Monday morning, Oct 19th at 10:00 am--call if you can help and park on the street, as school will be in session and there won't be room. We also need people to stop by in the days afterwards to help sort items. The house # is 614-267-3322.

We will take any clean clothing, shoes, and other household items. Right now, we are focusing on winter items, such as coats, hats, boots and scarfs. We are also on the lookout for children's clothing, as that is often a much-needed as children outgrow outfits so quickly.

When the representatives from CRIS were here, they had a couple boxes of items in their car they asked if we wanted--an assortment of paper plates and cups, which Joan can use for the Labre ministry feeding the homeless in Columbus, as well as some bottles of chocolate syrup and sprinkles, which are always welcome to augment our ice cream bar. It is wonderful to be part of "God's economy" this way--people giving and sharing what they have, and God making sure that it all works out.

Fr. John Dear and Grace

Fr. John Dear gave the Ohio Dominican University crowd a very wonderful presentation tonight! He talked about his conversion into a peacemaker while on pilgrimage in the Holy Land. He described Jesus as the Incarnation of the God of Peace and asked us to consider the implications this has for our lives. He repeatedly mentioned the great peacemakers of our time: Martin Luther King Jr, Dorothy Day, and the father of modern peacemaking: Mahatmas Gandhi.

There was a brief session of questions and comments at the end. Time was limited, but Fr. John seemed willing to push it and entertain a few more questions than the allotted time. Just before he was about to call it quits, he allowed one more comment. Our friend Grace stood up and announced to the whole room the formation of the local Pax Christi chapter and our initial meeting coming up at 7pm on October 21st, here at the Catholic Worker house. She also invited John to attend!

Fr. John was glad to hear this and announced that membership in Pax Christi is a "no brainer." He said that it should be the first step any Catholic makes on the road to peacemaking, being a worldwide organization that bears the official support of the institutional Catholic Church. He encouraged us all to join Pax Christi and we were thrilled to hear his support.

It was then that the light bulb went off in my head, and I could have kicked myself. We were sitting on probably the most sympathetic assembly for peacemaking in Central Ohio and didn't even think to have a stack of fliers handy--a nearly blown opportunity, if it weren't for Grace. It is a good thing we do this in community and can cover each other!

I realized then that I have been spending way too much time in administrative muck and mire. My days have been a stream of phone calls and emails--insurance concerns, house cleaning rigmarole, negotiating with plumbers and arranging an almost endless run of meetings on this and that. I've taken my eye off the mission.

Peter Maurin assured Dorothy Day that if you look at the lives of the saints, you will see that when they did the work of the Lord, that the finances and everything else followed. Perhaps it is time to trust the Lord and put my energies back to direct ministry and let the Lord handle the bookkeeping.

Thank God for Grace--ha!

I encourage everyone to check out Fr. John's blog on the National Catholic Reporter or his website, which contains many of his writings and speeches.

One Billion

You may have heard that one billion people are literally starving to death right at this moment. That is one in six people on the planet. The U.N. announced this statistic recently. The link is to an article by Fr. John Dear, who is coming to speak at ODU tomorrow.

We have all known for decades the enormity of global poverty, disease and hunger. As theologian Sallie McFague points out, that knowledge practically defines our modern era. Never before have people lived their entire lives knowing that an enormous amount of people are not just suffering, but actually starving to death. Even if you don't actively think about it, it is always there in the back of your consciousness.

People growing up in isolated villages in the Middle Ages, for example, knew their own suffering but had no idea what it was like on a global scale. If all was well in their village, they could rest knowing that had done their share. We never get that rest. Their saints were theologians. Our saints are humanitarians.

One of the things I remember the most from my childhood are those statistics that relief agencies spout out about how many tens of thousands of people die each minute, each second, each day. They haunted me then, they haunt me now.

We live in the Age of Information, and the information is grim. We don't talk about it much, but to think that it doesn't somehow affect us, that this information doesn't eat away at us and keep us awake at night, that is doesn't sit in our cells and cause cancers in our bodies, is probably mistaken. Jesus reminds us that we are one family on earth. If you stub your toe, the whole body aches, no matter how good your distractions are.

I see one billion people starving everywhere. It is changing the way I look at everything:

When I see people spending thousands of dollars redecorating their home and buying antiques, all I see are one billion people starving.

When I see people playing basketball in the park, I see one billion starving.

And yes, even when many beautiful things happen through the ministries of The Catholic Worker, I see one billion people starving. While there is no way to know exactly how God works, there are many times when I lie awake at night and realize that no one's going to live or die based on our ministries. God does work in mysterious ways, and it is possible that someone we help nurture through a retreat, or give food to through our pantry or teach in our ESL will somehow take that seed and sprout it into all sorts of good humanitarian work. But why must we hope for the Hail Mary pass, so to speak?

How can any of us justify doing any of the above activities knowing that one billion people are literally starving to death? I'm not trying to lay down a guilt trip on anyone, this is just a purely matter of fact, logical question. I don't understand why everyone on earth doesn't just stop what we are doing and attend to this like NOW. Maybe the collective shock of this information hasn't really hit home, yet.

If your mother were literally starving to death, you wouldn't go on retreat to "discern" whether you were "called" to help her. You wouldn't sip coffee with your pinky in the air and talk about it over polite banter with your friends. You would move hell and earth to get to her. You would break every speed limit to get to her in time. Jesus tells us to think of all human beings in the same way we regard our own flesh and blood family members and to have that same instinctive response to intervene when they are suffering.

I'm not suggesting that we give up all entertainment. I'm not saying we should give up helping others in our locale. I'm not suggesting we give up school or work or anything. I am not suggest we curl up in a ball immobilized by the enormity of the problem. But I am suggesting that maybe those one billion people ought to be the axis around which we orient our lives. We should make our decisions in light of them. What would life look like if we did that?

Peace Wednesdays

The efforts are underway to organize a new chapter of Pax Christi right here in Columbus, OH! Our second planning meeting is in the books and we have scheduled--and would like to draw attention to--some events around peace & justice coming up in the near future. Events will be here at the Catholic Worker House unless otherwise specified (address on the right).

Check out these Wednesday evening activities here or around town:

September 30, 7:30 pm: Come and hear Fr. John Dear give a presentation at Ohio Domincian University (see post below for details)

October 7, 6:30 pm: The Columbus Catholic Worker is holding an informal discussion on peace and justice on the 5th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan (and also just a few days after Gandhi's birthday: International Day of Nonviolence).

October 14, 7:00 pm: The third planning meeting for the local Pax Christi chapter will be held at the Columbus Catholic Worker, 1614 Oakland Park Avenue. All are welcome, or you can wait for the following week for....

October 21, 7:00 pm: This will be the first ever meeting of the local Pax Christi chapter! All are invited! We will be discerning the direction of our future ministries, getting to know one another, and just generally kicking it off. Plans are also in the works for a full-day nonviolence training retreat, held by the Michigan Peace Team. Updates will be given as they develop!

Hope to see you on these Peace Wednesdays!

Lifestyle

The Catholic Worker movement has been a witness to the world in many ways since its founding way back in the depths of the Great Depression, over 80 years ago. One major way it has done this is by showing how to turn your lifestyle into an act of service.

Most good-intentioned Americans find themselves busy and their money spent. Just keeping a roof over their head and feeding their family takes most of their resources. They are lucky to spare a few hours or a few extra dollars at the end of the month towards a charitable cause.

But wouldn't it be amazing if all the time, talent and treasure spent doing these basic life necessities could somehow also be an expression of the Christian vocation to service?

Let's look at it financially. People who live with us in community pay a small rent. For example, a single person who works a full-time job may pay a monthly rent of $300 (we have different rates for single people, married couples and those with children, and we also negotiate based on how much someone works outside of the house). Anyone who has ever had to rent their own apartment, furnish it and pay utilities would know this is a really good deal. We wanted to set the amount high enough so that our bills would be paid and that members would take this commitment seriously, but also low enough to consider the extra hours spent doing ministry work by living here.

Still, even though this is for all practical purposes a very low rent, it adds up to a whopping $3,600 a year! Now, I am not one to begrudge the contributions of anyone, and God knows how much each nickels counts, but only the most generous and wealthy people could imagine handing over that much money to us in a single year. I couldn't have imagined donating that much with my expenses and salary, either, back when I maintained my own apartment just a few short months ago.

By no means am I trying to minimize the contributions of others, as we would not be in operation if it weren't for the dozens of folks who contribute who don't live with us in community. There is always that "invisible" person who also lives here--the combined contributions of outside folks who help us out. Your presence is truly felt and we would have to fold up shop without you.

I'm not suggesting that everyone out there should live in a Catholic Worker house. I do support Dorothy Day's original vision that each parish should have one, which means we need a whole lot more communities like this, but that is neither here nor there. What I am asking is this: Are there ways that you can turn your most basic living tasks and expenses into acts of service?

By living in a center of Christian outreach, we have more resources available to contribute because we simply live here. We'd have to mop and vacuum the floors anyway, why not do it at a center of Christian outreach rather than a private apartment? We'd have to write a check to a landlord or mortgage company anyway, why not write a check to a center of Christian outreach instead? But by no means are these the only ways to turn your lifestyle into service. You all are creative, hard-working people. What are some other options?

Many folks have gardens and fruit trees in your yard. You know how it gets toward the end of the summer when you have more than you can use and there is produce literally rotting on the vines. You already take the time and energy to grow it. One option is to pick it and give it to your local food pantry--or call someone like me who would be happy to do it for you! All the unpicked produce in backyard gardens in this town would probably exceed the storage capacity at the Mid-Ohio Food Bank!

You walk your dog anyway... it probably wouldn't be that much harder to also walk the dog of the little old lady who lives next door to you, and the dogs might love the extra companionship.

You drive your kids to school anyway. Would it be possible to carpool with the struggling single mom whose house you drive by everyday on the way to school?

Most of us have attics and basements full of junk--but your junk could be a treasure to a poor family who could use it.

The possibilities are endless! I'm not suggesting that people shouldn't go out of their way to help others--please do! But we all know how tired and busy we are and what the limitations are. The better strategy would be to find a way to integrate service into what you normally do anyway. Perhaps with a nickel's worth of extra effort you can double your service.

You can set up your lifestyle so that service is easy to do because it falls within the normal infrastructure of your day. This is one of the things that has most impressed me about the Catholic Worker movement. It makes ya think . . .

Some people choose a more dramatic adjustment by changing their occupation or living situation. I would never tell someone not to do that, but keep in mind it is the job of the laity to be a witness to the secular world, according to Vatican II--at work, in your neighborhoods and recreation activities.

Anyone who has ever held a secular job can tell you that the Holy Spirit needs willing hands, feet and hearts in those places more than anywhere! Be a peacemaker among all the petty squabbles and serious backstabbing that you see every day. If you are really passionate about recycling, for example, you might have a bigger impact starting a recycling program at your current job than quitting and working for a small environmental non-profit that is already doing a lot of recycling.

Suggest, coach and teach your business to be mindful of humanitarian causes and the impact of your business on the world and others. Sometimes a quiet voice on the inside of a business can do more than a screaming protest in the streets.

These are all important acts of service, and they can be done within the flow of your current lifestyle!

Pictured above are Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day, respectively.

Cornucopia

What are we doing with a mountain of rice, beans, corn tortillas and adobe spice seasoning? It looks like we are getting ready for a Latino party! In a sense, that is true.

Tuesday, September 8th is the first day that our St. Vincent de Paul food pantry will start its bilingual operation. They have asked Firstlink to send around 4 Spanish-speaking families for starters, to see how it goes.

There was a very positive response from the Latino community here at St. James the Less. Fr. Pat got a significant number of volunteers and they are all scheduled to help out each Tuesday evening. There was no hesitation from the Latino community to help.

One goal is to serve the Latino community without reducing the meals served to the English-speaking community. In other words, we are growing and serving more families!

Beverly and I recently visited the food pantry of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in the southwest corner of Columbus. In many ways, they are very much like the pantry in our building and it runs pretty much the same. However, we did learn some great tips which made the trip well worth it.

Latinos will certainly eat American food, but there is no reason not to find items that are particularly appealing to them. People often know how to stretch their food dollars better if they eat foods that are familiar to them. However, the Mid-Ohio Food Bank (which is the primary supplier of the food pantries) often does not stock large amounts of dry rice, beans, corn flour, etc. Pantries have to buy them.

The Guadalupe pantry is actually right across the street from a Restaurant Depot--a immense warehouse that supplies food to restaurants. They can get an outrageous deal on bulk items there, such as 50 lbs of rice for $15! What they do is buy the bulk items them repackage them into smaller quantities for individual families. They even have a vacuum sealer that can melt the plastic to fit each package. Is there anyone out here who has one they are willing to part with to a good cause?

Beverly made a generous donation to get us started with the above items. Along with other items that the pantry stocks, we'll be sure that these Latino families also take some some rice, beans, tortillas and the adobe seasoning (the stuff that makes rice turn red that you often get at Mexican restaurants). We'll also make sure we have a generous supply of hot peppers right from the garden! We are also looking for an inexpensive way to get masa corn flour.

Hasta Luego, Maestra Naomi!

It is with both sadness as well as glad tidings for her future that we say goodbye to Naomi, our Tuesday English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher.

I remember the first day of our ESL program, way back in early April (it seems so long ago now!) Bev and I were getting ready for the assessment sessions, and the mother-daughter team of Ruth and Naomi came to help out. I was nervous when the students first arrived, not sure how this would all work. There was an awkward silence as students walked in, and there was a moment when I worried if this would come together at all! Ruth and Naomi jumped in and starting talking and laughing with the students and got the ball rolling, and it has been rolling ever since.

A lot has happened in the last few months. Naomi started off helping out as a tutor. Bev would teach for the first 20-40 minutes of class, and then the class would break up as students paired up with tutors to drill what they had just learned.

It wasn't long before Naomi started researching more about ESL. She attended training sessions at the Dominican Learning Center. She started scheduling time with students for private, one-on-one sessions. Eventually, she began teaching segments of classes, and it certainly wasn't long before she was teaching the Tuesday night beginner's ESL class faithfully.

It has been a true joy to watch her grow in her love for ESL. It is quite clear that she really cares for the students, and she also has a lot of talent for ESL. So then why is she leaving, you may ask?


As a matter of fact, she is leaving in order to study ESL more formally at a school in Oaxaca, Mexico. She'll be there for a month, and then she will look for opportunities to teach ESL in Mexico for a longer period of time. That would be a great chance not only to develop as an ESL teacher, but also to grow in her Spanish skills, which are already quite good.

We are sorry to see her go but glad that she is pursuing this. We are honored that she was able to discover this passion and was willing to nurture and share it while working with us.

We celebrated with cake as well as some recently-made salsa (which, by the way, got some thumbs up from the Latino students!)


Pictured above is Naomi on her last day, Bev is in the background.

We wish you the best, Naomi! Good luck in your studies and upcoming adventures!

Salsa Picante!

Erin is proudly showing off a batch of just-finished jars of salsa!

Suzanne and Joan (L to R) are busy peeling tomatoes!

It is with no small joy to report the progress of the canning session at the house this past Sunday.

We had hauled out of the garden three boxes of tomatoes, a plethora of green peppers (many donated by my parents), and an assortment of hot peppers. It was time to make SALSA! Melissa came over to instruct a bunch of us how to make homemade salsa and then preserve it in jars for the upcoming months.

We worked hard all afternoon, each person assigned to a different vegetable: Joan and Suzanne cut and peeled tomatoes. Quinn was in charge of garlic. Kye worked on onions until it became tearfully apparent that Erin needed to take over. Alea chopped up green peppers; Pat chopped up cilantro. Melissa coached and mixed. We all taste tested.

Yours truly got assigned to cutting up hot peppers. I did so without gloves and paid the price three hours later when my fingers started to burn painfully (NOTE: Making a paste out of baking soda and water and leaving it on my fingers took the pain away--washing it off and repeating a few times helped as well).

Melissa shows Alea the finer points of chopping peppers.

The flavor was outstanding. All the work was worth it just to be a taste tester! We finished with a couple dozen jars of salsa. Folks took some home but the majority is here at the house. If you visit the house for an event in the months to come, you just might share in this delight.

Food preservation is an important ministry: It is a natural extension of our garden. It is an aspect of environmental sustainability to foster locally grown foods. It builds community. It preserves traditional ways of life that have been so quickly lost in the modern area--neighbors talking the kitchen while canning vegetables is something that would have been common just a generation ago. It is good and natural and right.

Quinn is deep in thought while peeling garlic. No risk of vampires or ghosts today!

Even more apropos is that these classes by themselves are already evidence of the fruit of community building--we met the teacher Melissa as folks from the neighborhood formed friendships in an around the community garden!

Now that we know we "can" preserve vegetables, we will keep that in mind as we select crops to plant in the garden and adjust the timing of their planting so they are ready at appropriate times. Filling our pantry full of jars of homemade salsa, sauerkraut, pickles and just plain ole tomatoes is something to look forward to!

Many thanks to Joan, who worked for several days organizing and cleaning the jars, to Erin, who provided the extra ingredients and helped with organization, and of course, to Melissa, whose unbelievable talent as a teacher as well as her knowledge of food preservation and willingness to share have really astounded us all.

Thanks also to the folks from St. James the Less, the Newman Center and other individuals who donated their old jars and canning supplies!

Now one burning question remains: Will the Latinos think our salsa is hot enough?

Kye asks, "Want an onion?"

Michigan Peace Team

This was forwarded by community member Mary S., who knows one of the participants. This can give a profound snapshot of the kinds of things peacemakers do in the world! Most Americans probably do not even realize that people do such things.

It may seem like we are advertising for a lot of events that are not directly related to the Columbus Catholic Worker, lately. This is true. As we discern the direction for our justice ministry, we've selected a few noteworthy events that seem to resonate and relate to discussions we've had. When we sit in bewilderment in the face of injustice and wonder, "what in the world can we do about it?" something like the following can give some ideas:


Dear family and friends,

We may have told you (or you may have heard) that we are going to the West Bank in Palestine for a month with the Michigan Peace Team (MPT). We thought you might be interested in hearing more about this endeavor.

MPT is an international organization based in Lansing, MI that supports teams of 4-6 people to work to end the occupation of the West Bank and to advocate for a just peace for all Israelis and Palestinians.

We will be living in Palestine from approximately Sept. 10 to Oct. 10. Our goal will be to help prevent violence in simple ways: for example, walking kids to school to avoid harassment by illegal settlers or Israeli occupying forces, staying in Palestinian homes that are targeted for demolition, participating in nonviolent demonstrations near the wall that has been built to protect illegal settlers.

We will also use the new camera we have just purchased to document human rights abuses and other forms of harassment that take place in this area. To see the work that we are doing as members of the Fall Team, you can go to http://www.michiganpeaceteam.org/ and click on Teams. Reports will be posted there during the time we are there. We hope that, when we return, we will have an opportunity to share with you in person what we did and how we view the problems in that troubled country.

There will be six persons on our Team. Martha, Tom and Mary will arrive first and be followed by Lois, Fred, and Abby. We will live in a house rented by MPT. We know there will be a certain amount of tension, and perhaps even some element of danger--but we are not expected to be (nor intend to be) heroes, so we feel we will have a good experience and hopefully make a small contribution to the peace process.

If you would like to learn more about the Michigan Peace Team or would like to support their efforts for nonviolent peace in Israel/Palestine, please go to the above web-site. Your prayers will also be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Tom and Mary

* * *

Note: Another member of the Michigan Peace Team is Fr. Peter Dougherty, who we had the privilege to meet at the Pax Christi Conference last month. We hope to invite him for our opening retreat to kick-off the Pax Christi chapter here.

Fr. John Dear

I remember wandering into one of the workshops at the National Pax Christi Conference in Chicago, when I was there with Pat a few weeks ago. It was probably a fine workshop, but I felt a strong sense of restlessness--I had an impulse to leave and go elsewhere. Before the session began, I shot up and walked down the hallway.


I ended up at the workshop led by Fr. John Dear. It was entitled, "Put Away Your Sword: The Last Words of Jesus to the Church." I was periodically in tears and very powerfully moved during his talk.

So you can imagine I was very excited to find out that Fr. John Dear is making an appearance in town in just a few short weeks:

The Center for Dominican Studies Presents Special Event on September 30: “Living Peace: Spirituality of Contemplation and Action”

Ohio Dominican University’s Center for Dominican Studies is proud to present a special program about living peace on September 30, 2009 in the Matesich Theatre (2nd Floor of Erskine Hall at the ODU’s main campus-1216 Sunbury Road, Columbus OH 43219) at 7:00 p.m. The program’s speaker is John Dear, S.J. who is an internationally known voice for peace and nonviolence. He is a Jesuit priest, lecturer, organizer and retreat leader, and author of 25 books. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. To register for this event, email Sr. Catherine Colby, Director for the Center of Dominican Studies and Vice President for Mission & Identity at colbyc@ohiodominican.edu or call, (614) 251-4722.

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As we lay the groundwork for starting a Pax Christi chapter in Columbus, there are few living individuals who can speak to the radical gospel message of Jesus' nonviolence as effortlessly as Fr. John Dear. While some may debate over these issues, Fr. John Dear makes it all sound as simple as breathing.

I absolutely encourage everyone who can make it to attend this conference.

The Catholic Times

Brushing all humility aside, it is probably worth mentioning that yours truly was interviewed in the latest issue of The Catholic Times! The Columbus Catholic Worker is featured in the article. Follow the link above to see!

Many thanks to the diocesan Office of Ministry Formation for supporting and showcasing lay ecclesial ministers in the Church!

Salsa and Pickles, Oh My!

written by Erin

Two Upcoming Events

We are having a Canning Party for the Catholic Worker cupboard on August 30th. Your donated time and energy will help us host many folks over the winter with fresh produce from the garden. We will give it out as gifts to our ESL students and use it when preparing food for our other programs or other forms of hospitality. We will gather at 2:30 and go until about 6:00 pm. While this one is not a formal class, it is still an ideal opportunity to learn.

Also, after an overwhelming response, Melissa has graciously offered to have another Canning Class focused on Salsa and Pickles. We have selected September 9th from 6-9 pm. Please bring $3 to participate -- we will have pizza on hand to munch on and maybe even make a salad! Thanks to you all for participating in the previous class.

Please send an email if you can come to either event, so we can make plans. The class has a size limit of 12 people, and the last time it filled up.

Looking forward to some fun!