Cherith Brook CW Advent 2014

8/10/2019 Cherith Brook CW Advent 2014

1/12

Advent

Cherith BrookP

G

M G O

C A H O L I C W O R K E R

S o E l i j a h d i d a c c o r d i ng t o t h e w o r d o f t h e L o r d ; h e w e n t a n d l i v e d b y t h e C h e r i t h B r o o k a n d t h e r a v e n s b r o u g h t h i m b r e a d I K

While in a dank Birmingham jail cell, MartinLuther King received a letter from a groupof white, mainline clergy snug in their sanctu-

aries. We recognize the natural impatience ofpeople who feel that their hopes are slow in beingrealized they wrote, But we are convincedhat these demonstrations are unwise and un-timely.

King was quick to reply (on toilet paper fromhis cell),I have yet to engage in a direct-actioncampaign that was well-timed in the view ofthose who have not suffered undulyFor yearsnow I have heard the word Wait! this Wait!has almost meant Never. We must come and

seethat justice too long delayed isjustice denied. Wait is often the language andlogic of injustice.

Te body of Michael Brown wasleft in the streets for hours. Whatwere they waiting for? And, as of thiswriting, we are still waiting to see if St.Louis County Grand Jury or theFederal Government will indict the of-ficer. Will the case be tried? If so, will

it be moved out of the county to an im-partial court room? Folks in Fergusonand the African American Communitymore broadly are tired of waiting forthe end of racial profiling and fear ofabuses by uniformed power.

Teyve just built a new aco Bell inour neighborhood, a fourth auto partsstore, and a new McDonalds is almostcompleted. Resources can be had fora Sprint Center, Kauffman Center, thePower and Light District, even for largecentralized soup kitchens to feed hun-dreds of meals daily (and redirect the home-less away from the downtown). But Mike,Rick, Sandy and others, who all have regularincomes, are homeless, waiting for safe afford-able housing; housing that is dignified is hardto get at a month. When will affordablehousing be built? And not just in Kansas Cityneighborhoods but also in neighborhoods inLiberty and Lee Summit, Olathe and Leawood.

Greg Boertje-Obed is waiting in a Ft. Leav-enworth prison cell. He, Sr. Megan Rice andMike Wallie made their way into the heart ofthe nuclear weapons at Oakridge N, the FortKnox of uranium. As they waited there for theguards to come, they hammered on the walls of

Pregnant imeby Eric Garbison

one of the greatest idols of our time.Repent! Gods kingdom is at hand! wasburned into the handle of their small

sledge hammer. Tese prophets are tiredof waiting. Would their symbolic actionchannel the end for which we wait? (Teirwork was a confession of sin, of our owncomplicity in the illegal, immoral, yes,sinful use of nuclear weapons; and of ourpractical atheismthat we trust more inour technology than in the Creator of theUniverse.) Unless his appeal is success-ful, Greg will be behind bars for four moreyears, waiting for justice.

One of the first Advent passages of thisyear comes from Peter :- Te Lordisnt slow to keep the Lords promise as somethink of slowness It seems that, in theface of challenges and persecution, the firstcentury Christians were getting impatient.Te promise wasa new heaven AND a newearth where justice is at home.And theywere anxious for it to become a reality. Wetoo are weary as we wait for a new heavenAND new earth where nuclear weaponshave been abolished, where safe affordablehousing is available to the poor as well asthe non-poor, where young black men willnot only be safe and equal, but loved and

welcomed for who they are and what theybringa world where justice is at home.

I wonder how the early Christians heard

this. Did it frustrate or disappoint them?Or perhaps it sounded unjust? Tere ispainful irony in reading these in a worldwhere waiting is the polite speech of injus-tice. We are not only frustrated by thePowers-Tat-Be, we are not only frustratedwith our own collusion, we even get upsetwith God. Te psalmist knew this com-plaint, How long, O LORD? Will you forgetme forever? How long will you hide your

face from me? How long must I bearpain in my soul, and have sorrow inmy heart all day long? How long shallmy enemy be exalted over me? (:-)

We have no choice but to behonest about this. (Doesnt Godprefer our honesty over piety?) Wemust wonder if Advent, the seasonof waiting is outmoded churchlanguage meant to keep us hanging

on? Like the Markets consump-tion of Christmas, is it meant topacify us? Is it simply another formof dodging justice? Like the whiteclergy writing King, how often havewe in the church masked our foot-dragging. How often have we beencustodians maintaining the statusquo with a message of Wait!?

Perhaps there is another angleto this? Doug Harink suggestsanother way to understand whatfeels like God lingering needlessly:

Te present time is never simply dead time ormetered time, as a historicist would have it;it is time pregnant with the patience of GodWe live not in a time of empty waiting. Welive in the fullness of time of Gods gracious

patiencea time given to us in which torepent. Tis is the time for the churchandthe whole world to wake up to the reality ofthe destruction that we bring upon ourselves,even seek out, through our sin and submissionto the rebellious powers

Christs birth reminds us that Christianwaiting is not stagnant; it is pregnant.ime is pregnant as Mary is pregnant with

Continued on Page

Mark Bartholomew


2/12

2 Cherith Brook Catholic Worker Advent

I was surprised to hear about the uprising in Fer-guson, Missouri. My childhood home is just a couplemiles from there and growing up Ferguson was aplace familiar to me. I had friends who lived there,would go get ice cream there and when it came timeto learn how to drive it was the Ferguson LicenseOffice that issued my learners permit.

As a kid I was taught a very white, middle classunderstanding of the police. Tey were benevolent,the protectors of civil society and the person toapproach if ever I was lost and unable to find myparents. Tis reality was shaken when I joined theCatholic Worker Movement. On the streets of LosAngeles Skid Row I saw police whose jobs seemedto consist of nothing more than making life as hardas possible for those who lived on the street. It washere that I first began to ask the question I wouldlater often hear chanted by the Ferguson resisters,Who do you protect? Who do you serve? But still,that was the huge metropolis of LA, a place knownfor bad cops and racial unrest, not my belovedNorth St. Louis County.

It isnt surprising that the news of the Fergusonuprising came as a surprise to me. Despite my radi-cal reorientation to the filthy rotten system as awhite person, to know about how the police targetpoor folks or people of color isnt to really under-stand or feel it. For people from a similar place ofprivilege as me the sight of a Ferguson police cruiserin their rearview mirror elicits at most the fear ofa speeding ticket and even then they would expectthe cop to be at least begrudgingly polite as he gaveit to them. I have never felt the reality that St. Louis

rapper and activist ef Poe described in an article hewrote for ime Magazine, We dont drive certainplaces in our very own community after a certaintime of night. We avoid suburban communities asmuch as possible because we fear being unjustifi-ably locked up and thrown into jail. In Saint LouisCounty all of the cards are stacked against youngblack people. Te protests in Fergusonhave not been like the anti-nuke, peace vigils many of us

Catholic Workers are accus-tomed to. Te people of colorparticipating in and leadingthis movement cannot gohome at the end of the dayand feel fairly sure they willremain untouched by theviolence they were resist-ing that day the way we canafter vigiling against nuclearweapons production. Every

hours a black man is killedby police or security officers.Almost everyday there is anew Mike Brown, rayvonMartin, Eric Garner, VonderittM ers or John Crawford. For

by Teo Kayser

those in the streets this struggle is concretely aboutlife and death and their protests have reflected this.Tey have been loud and filled with righteous anger.Tey arent polite, they are disruptive and dont tellthe police where they will nonviolently strike next.Tey are our guilty conscience and whether we areat Walmart or at the symphony they will not let usforget the fact that black lives matter. Despite what you may have gathered from whitecontrolled, corporate media the protests in Fergusonhave been . peaceful. In a society where blackskin is equated with criminality it can be expectedthat large groups of angry, organized, oppressedpeople demanding systemic change will be receivedwith fear and hostility. While the police at peacegatherings I have been to in the past have bottledwater to hand out to those protesting, the policein Ferguson come prepared with riot gear and teargas. Perhaps an even more startling contrast of howdifferent groups are treated by the authorities, wasthe show of force displayed by the St. Louis Metro-politan Police at a peaceful justice for Mike Brown

march through downtown one weekend and theirbarely visible presence the next when a large group ofalmost entirely white gun rights advocates marchedalong a similar route openly carrying firearms.

As white people in America it is our responsibilityto work and tear down this racist system. We mustfollow the leadership of those who are adverselyaffected by it and we must figure out that it is no lon-ger acceptable to condemn perceived acts of violenceby protesters while ignoring the systemic violenceof the state that protects police officers who kill un-

armed black teenagers. Martin Luther King Jr. said,rue peace is not merely the absence of tension:it is the presence of justice. We cannot be contentto have peace in our neighborhood at the expense of

justice for our non-white brothers and sisters or as theFerguson protesters succinctly put it No Justice, NoPeace!

You rob a store and then walk downthe middle of the street what do youexpect?

I was recently in a group where this wasspoken, and I was silent.

Heres what I wish I had said:

I expect cops to wave and smile, like twodid this morning as I jogged down themiddle of a dark street and they hadtheir spotlight on a house searching forsigns of entry.

I expect black lives to be as valuable aswhite lives.

I expect black justice to be as fair aswhite justice.

I expect unarmed teenagers not to be

shot at a distance or at close range.

I expect police to be connected to theircommunity, representative of their com-munity, trained in conict resolution(not escalation).

I expect black unemployment to be lessthan twice as high as white unemploy-ment.

I expect black wealth to be greater than1/6 of white wealth.

I expect black unemployment rate to beless than twice as high as white rates.

I expect media to show more imagesof white police ring tear gas thanblack protestors throwing bottles, moreportraying the victim as a student than athief, more of the local community calm

or cleaning up than furious or weep-ing, more of daytime peaceful protest ofmany than of nighttime unrest by a fewagitators.

I expect white acceptance that this isrooted in systemic problems.

I expect white admission that this is notan isolated incident.

I expect all people to learn the namesand stories of Michael Brown, JordanDavis, John Crawford, Trayvon Martin,Kimani Gray, and Sean Bell.

What DoYou Expect?

by Chris Homiak

Impolite, Disruptive,

Nonviolent Struggle


3/12

4 d


4/12


Festival Of Shelters

Alishiya Kapoor Shepherd me oh god, beyond my wants, beyondmy fears, from death into life, was the Psalmthat started our night off, and the Psalm thatstayed with me for the rest of the night. As myfeet started to become sore in my heavy bootsand the discomfort of my bag digging into myshoulder blades, I let God take all my wants anddesires of just wanting to be in bed after a dayof work and the comfort of home. Tat night,

I let my heart be opened to the experiences ofthe people who we were coming across.One of the most emotional parts of the night

was figuring out where to sleep when gettingwoken up after almost three hours asleep in awarmth of a lobby to a parking lot. Just havingto scrounge up the energy to pack up and moveon while settling the fears of sleeping out in thecold and not having resentment for the peoplewho kicked us out was tough. Te experience ofthe separation between the person of author-ity/power and the person living on the streets,a separation that seemed loud and clear to methat night, after our second time of gettingkicked out after settling to sleep, and the lack ofrecognition or help by others left me even moreunsettled.

I was filled with the opposite emotions aftera long walk from Cherith Brook to River Marketwhere we found the food truck and seeing fa-miliar faces and experiencing the hospitality of

Continued on Page

Volunteers Experience Life on the Other Side of the Serving Line

two men showing us their home on the streets,and to the company of Chris, a man who sharedhis lessons and experiences with street life.

So, as I peeked my head out of my sleepingbag the next morning, sleeping out at a church,the light of day started to appear and I cameback to that same Psalm, in thanksgiving fora new day and a new perspective. I only livedthis life for one night, but the darkness to thelife I was brought to constantly throughout theevening until the morning brought me back towhat a relationship with God is in this society,constantly being restored after hardship.-Alishiya Kapoor is a community member of Jerusa-lem Farm in the NorthEast Neighborhood.

Steve Andrews I thought I knew what homelessness felt like.As the pastor of a Presbyterian church, who hastaken groups to soup kitchens, talked to peoplein the yard at a Catholic Worker house, and even

walked for hours in the rain just to experiencethe water soaking through my skinI thought Iknew what homelessness felt like.

I had heard people talk about how cold it getsat night. I had heard people talk about how muchtheir feet hurt. I had seen the impact of human-izing hospitality on people who spend so much oftheir lives being told they are less than others.I thought I knew, and then I spent a night on the

streets on October th, celebrating the Festi-val of Shelters with the Cherith Brook CatholicWorkerand what I knew was challenged bywhat I felt. On October th, I learned just how much myfeet, ankles, and calves could hurt, as I walked ingood shoes from the shower house to the foodtruck to the seemingly endless chain of unsafeplaces to sleep. I can only imagine how this feelsin shoes that arent up for the task. I also learned how cold the cold can be. Ithought I came prepared, with layers of shirtsand sweaters and a good jacket. Te temperaturewasnt supposed to get too far below , and Idont think it did. But I didnt realize how cold degrees could bewhen youre out in it fortwelve hours or more. I didnt know the coldwould soak through every layer of clothing andevery inch of my skin and every ounce of protec-tion from the elements, until the cold becamean indelible aspect of the night, etched into myshivering body.

In the morning, I thought I had simply packedtoo light, but those in our group with sleepingbags said they shivered their way through thenight, as well. I can only imagine how this feelswhen the temperature is less than degrees.I can only imagine how this feels when the cov-ers are even more inadequate than mine. Another thing that surprised me was the way Iwas noticed, and how I noticed the way I was no-ticed. At our groups first stop, a food truck un-der a bridge near River Market, folks who were

serving and folks who were being served knewother people in the group, and it was pretty clearto them that even though we were asking fordinner, we didnt necessarily belong on the sideof those being served. Selfishly, I was glad to berecognized in this wayglad to be seen as out ofplace among the homeless. But those perceptions changed as the nightwore on. As our group dove through dumpstersfor pieces of cardboard, and then carted thosewonderful pieces of insulation from place to

place, people from my backgroundpeopleof privilege, people with places of permanentshelterbegan to see me in a new light. Walkingthrough the streets of downtown with a back-pack and layers and cardboard in hand, the folkswho came to the city to party thought of me as,once again, out of place, because they began tosee me as homeless. Te security guards who rousted us from ourtemporary beds thought we were homeless. Tepeople in line at Hope and Faith Ministries, the

next morning, thought we were homeless. Tepeople who served lunch at the Catholic Churchthought I was homeless. Tey even joked withme, in that subtle and warm, but slightly conde-

Illustration by Lonnie Welch

5Ad t Ch ith B k C th li W k


5/12

5Advent Cherith Brook Catholic Worker

Gods Hope Incarnate. Mary must see her pregnancy throughthe discomfort, the social shame, the poverty, the pain. In all thelimits of her youthfulness, low status and human body, Mary mustwait. She must wait through her social and personal struggles,not bypass them. Likewise, God will not beam Jesus downinstantly from the heavens. Like Mary who trusts that God, has

pulled the powerful down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly,(Luke :-) we too must trust that Gods favor rests on us. Godwill use our smallness for divine change. Faith is not having allthe facts or answers but trusting in spite of what on the surfacelooks hopeless.

If this is true, authentic waiting will not only contain the joy ofthe expectation, but also the heaviness of the child, the discomfortof a full pregnancy, the anxiety of anticipated responsibility, thefear of the unknown, the anger of deferred hopewe must neverbe comfortable in our waiting. And there is another twist: According to this early Christian, wedeceive ourselves if we think it is largely we who are waiting! TeLord isnt slow to keep his promise as some think of slowness,we read,but God is patient toward you, not wanting anyone to perish but allto change their hearts and lives.Are we not testing Gods patienceas well? If God is exercising extreme patience toward us, mercy

and not indifference or impotence is the reason for the delay. Ifwe believe in human freedom and in the call to justice, we mustacknowledge human agency for problems and solutions alike.

So, if God is waiting on us, the author follows up, What sort ofpeople ought we to be? We must live holy and godly lives, waiting forAND hastening the coming day of God. It is never only waiting; it isalways waiting, and For the author, the time of waiting issimultaneously the time of hastening its arrival by leading livesof holiness and godliness. Tis is why a life of nonviolence mustbe an life committed to prayer; and a life of prayer is shallow pietywithout active nonviolence, especially in a world of racism, on the

brink of mutual assured destruction and growing homelessness.Waiting and hasteningthey are one posture.

Pregnant continued

Jordan (Sunny) Hamrick Tink of a time when you have beenvulnerable, I mean really vulnerable. Whatis the situation you are thinking of? Is ita case of emotional vulnerability, expos-ing your heart and thoughts? Is it physicalvulnerability, testing the durability of yourphysical body and toughness through ele-ments or an uncomfortable situation? My standards of vulnerability werepushed during the Festival of Shelters.Tere were times of great hope, such aswalking into Hope City (properly named)and seeing people from various walks oflife coming together under one roof. Tenthere were times with equal levels of frus-tration and discomfort, such as seeing the

Festival Continued

When you eat, get full, buildnice houses, and settle down

dont become arrogant, for-

getting the LORD your God:the one who rescued you fromEgyptthe one who fed you

manna in the wilderness.

Deuteronomy :-

scending, tone Ive so often used from theirside of the serving line. Te experience of celebrating the festivalin this way was an experience of being outof place, and that makes sense, as this holymoment calls people like me to set aside ourpermanent shelters, to experience imper-manence at least for a little while, and toremember that whatever side of the servingline we find ourselves on, we depend onGod for everything.

On October th, I felt dislocated,physically and emotionally. I can onlyimagine what that feels like when its a dailyrealitywhen impermanence is a chronicaspect of a persons lifeand when thereis no or little hope for permanence. It mustbecome easy to forget that life was anythingother than this daily trekanything otherthan this daily dependence on God. What Ill most remember from this nightis the outside wall of the church we slept

behind. While a light designed to disturbanyone trying to sleep in the church yardflashed and flickered on and off like ametronome, I shivered in the cold, unable tosleep, and stared at that wall.

How many churches are there in this city?in this country? in this world? Are they re-ally unable to open their doors in Christianhospitality and love, to invite those who areout of place into some place for the night?I suspect I know how many people in my

church would respond to the idea of turningthe sanctuary into a shelterbecause theydont know, or dont remember, what itfeels like to not have a place. But thanks tothe Festival of Shelters, and thanks to thisprofound celebration of those holy days, Iknow, or at least I have a sense. And Ill tryto remember well enough to tell them.-Steve is a pastor at Parkville PresbyterianChurch.

massive amounts of people who need theassistance of Hope City and recognizingthat there are not many programs in thearea to cater to the needs of the masses.I bring the word vulnerable to mindbecause it seemed to come up as a themewithin our groups discussion while wewere out for the night. We spoke of howwe were cold, our bodies hurt, and our fearin not knowing where we were going tosleep, or uncertainties of who may have

liked or disliked us. I experienced a step up in my sensa-tions of vulnerability when the elementsaround me began to change and there wasnothing I could do to stop them, or makethe situation better for myself. o quotemy uncle, you work with what you got!While he may have been talking aboutconstruction materials, his words relatedto my situation at the time. Te earlyevening was much warmer than anticipat-

ed, which brought on a sense of comfortand brought off heavy layers of clothes.Shortly after a few layers were shed, asubtle few drops of rain dribbled onto myface. Recognizing I didnt have a fancy REIrain coat, or even a poncho, my energyshifted from casually strolling and takingin the night with some friends, to wantingto find shelter immediately. Luckily therain declined and never became an issuebut for a moment it hit me that I might be

in for one soggy night if this rain comesdown. Tis provided a prime exampleof lack of control. I could not control therain, nor could I control that I was notproperly equipped for the rain. It made methink of how this situation applies to thebroader spectrum of living on the streets.Many people do not have enough controlor the power to be able to get more com-munity resources closer to them, which

would allow them to progress forward.Instead, as I was informed by our guideLonnie, they have to spend their entiredays walking blocks or more just tomeet their basic needs. In order to attainone meal and shelter, our group walkedroughly under blocks that night and wefelt it. Our muscles felt it, our minds tooka toll, and our heart received equal impact.It is our job as a neighbor, as a citizen of acommunity, to be the good samaritan andrecognize our fellow human being in theirsituation. If you have access to resourcesseek to use them and always remember weare blessed.-Sunny is a community member of JerusalemFarm in the NorthEast Neighborhood.



6/12




7/12




8/12

8

Last February we had the chance to interview Br.Louis Rodemann. Our hope was to share the beauti-ful story of his lifes work and glean wisdom fromsomeone committed for the long haul to the radicallove of the gospel. Br. Louis spent years at HolyFamily House Catholic Worker serving the poor andwitnessing for peace in Kansas City. He now livesaround the corner and continues to volunteer atHoly Family.

Brother Louis thank you for sharing your

story with us. Its a blessing for me in the sense that untilasked sometimes Im not inclined to take thetime to reflect and focus and remember and putsome pieces together. Tis is good for me also.Im grateful to be here.

ell us a little about your life, where you camefrom and how you ended up at Holy FamilyHouse. I was born during World War II and

the aftermath of that. I grew up on a farm incentral Missouri and went to Catholic schoolsall my life. After high school I joined this groupcalled the Christian Brothers. I had the Broth-ers as high school teachers and I always liked tostudy and did fairly well so I thought that thecombination was attractive to me.

After I finished my college work, I wasassigned to come to Kansas City and it was anall-boys Catholic school near downtown KansasCity, MO. I was there for five years and tooksome time off to study and then I was assignedto direct a retreat house outside of St. Louis. Idid that for a couple of years. I was asked toreturn to Kansas City. Shortly after I came back,that all-boys high school was closed for econom-ic reasons. Some of us were asked to stay thereand turn what had been the Brothers residenceinto a small alternative school. Tat has evolvedinto what is still called De La Salle High Schoolon th and roost.

How long did you teach and when did you endup at the Catholic Worker? I was there years at the all boys schoolall through the s and up till at the HighSchool. And then I talked my way into startingan adult education program at Seton Centerwhich is at rd and Benton. It was a very smalloperation. I was the only teacher. Basically it wasGED and adult literacy. I did that for about years but shortly after I started, I got involvedwith the Catholic Worker as a live in communitymember in .

How did you learn about the Catholic WorkerMovement? When I was teaching in there was anopen house for a Catholic Worker that was going

to start. Our formation director had gotten abundle of subscriptions to the Catholic Workerso we were familiar with the paper. When Iheard about the open house I went to meet thestaff and see the house. It didnt grab me that I needed to startcoming here until about a year or two later whenI started showing up. One of the staff mem-bers was willing to show me a particular taskthat I could do every Saturday. Basically it wasto beg food from the produce companies that

surrounded what we still call the City Market.We established relationships with some of theproduce people. If we felt we didnt get enoughresults from the begging then we would goaround and look in the dumpsters. Tat waspretty much our source. Te house wasnt wellknown like it became well known. Tere werentas many resources of donations and stuff likethat.

Do you remember how the house got startedand how it got its name? I dont have a story about the name. I doknow how the house was started. Tere wasa young couple, Angie and Bob Calvert weremembers of the War Resisters League in NewYork and for some reason the leadership of theWRL decided to move their headquarters toKansas City. Angie and her husband Bob wereassigned to come and open that house. So that

was the beginning. Tey bought E st andthey began to operate out of that house. It was alot of offering literature, giving talks, supportingconscientious objectors as counselors, just a realeffort in opposition to the Vietnam War.

Was it a Catholic Worker from the beginning? It was not a Catholic Worker. Tey did notenvision that at all. Tey were just carrying outthe directives to establish the WRL headquar-ters here. Somewhere in that first year or sohappened to go to California to support CesarChavez in some of his boycotts with the UnitedFarm workers. Dorothy Day was there at thesame time. Te story is, Dorothy asked Angie ifthere was a Catholic Worker in Kansas City andAngie said, no and Dorothy said, start one.

With Angie being on her own and Dorothysenthusiasm and directive, well go do it, thatwas coupled with the changing of the neighbor-hood. Angie found herself answering doorbellsfor people asking for a meal or a coat so it kindof led to her respond to Dorothy in a positiveway.

Eventually the house next door was alsoavailable and I guess with some simple dona-tions they were able to purchase both of thehouses for something like a total of ,.

Tey owned the houses and put them in a landtrust from the beginning. Tat has been a greatasset to have those paid for. We have taken outa couple of big loans from different religiouscommunities and a couple of wealthy farmerswho were willing to put the money up with nointerest and eventually we were able to pay themback.

Tat kind of began to work on me as a pos-sibility. Annually there would be some kind ofconsultation between the leadership in my com-munity about what do you want to do next year,or here are some needs that the Brothers needfilled, would you consider going here or there? Ibegan asking the provincial about the possibil-ity to live at the Catholic Worker. Te first manthat was in that position just said no way, thatBrothers are teachers and they live with otherBrothers. Tis is not something that ChristianBrothers are going to get into. I was persistent inasking each year. By the third or fourth year theguy said this is something I had to get out of mysystem so go ahead and try it. Tis was back in.

What brought you to the point that youwanted to live in the house? Te whole notion of my teaching, my way ofrelating to the students, getting to know themmore personally, getting to visit the families,getting to see the background and the situa-tions; When we moved from the regular all boysschool into the alternative school for kids whohad dropped out that got me even more involved

with the families, the components of povertyand the dysfunction of families. So I think myinclination was to get closer and closer to the

Br. Louis Rodemann:An Interview,

Continued on Page

Mark Bartholomew



9/12

people I was serving. Not just this is some-thing you do for a few hours of the day and Igo home and they go back to wherever theirsituation is; o be more immersed in theactual lives of the people I was mentoring.

How did your awareness of solidarity andjustice begin? It certainly emerged more specificallywith the Catholic Worker context. AfterVatican Council there was new thinking

about the church and the new charisms thatthe communities were trying to go back to.Our founder De La Salle was quite radical inhis notions of education. When he started,education was for the well todo people who could afford it.Te teaching style was moretutoring, and one-on-onerelationship with the students.It was De La Salle who reallyadvocated no tuition charge

for the poor and the workingclass people. So that had beenour roots.

Have there ever been periodsof tension between being aCatholic Worker and Chris-tian Brother? Ive never felt it. I encour-aged and asked individualBrothers through the years

to come and join me so therewould be more Lasallean pres-ence. A couple thought aboutit but never felt that personalcall to join. I have never beencalled to task for choosing thisway of life or continuing it. Wehave provincial get-togethersand they have always inquired how thingsare going and some of my classmates havebeen financially supportive in sending indonations and things like that. So I have feltin some sense that I have been stretchingthe boundaries just a little bit, certainly myresponse to our charism of caring for thepoor has nudged others into thinking ofhow they can do that in their own way.

ell us about the transition to workingfull time at Holy Family? It was Angie OGorman, Beth Seebergerand a few other short term people whodid the first phase of Holy Family. I guessit was that the two of them they feltthat they had given it their best go and theywere no longer able to continue the houseas a CW house. So luckily they didnt at-tempt to sell it. Instead, there were a couple

of groups who could make use of the houseand pay the rent and do the up,.keep. So,one of the houses was used as a resettlementfacility for relocating Cuban men who werebeing sent out of the country by Castro. Tesecond house there was an intentional com-munity made up of lay people. Tere was ayoung couple and several single people whohad gotten to know each other and decidedthat they would like to get together and tryliving in community. Te two werent con-

nected to each other.After a year there was a sister of St. Jo-

seph who had been involved as a volunteerand it kind of came upon her that maybe

we could convert this back into a CatholicWorker. She approached one of her commu-nity members who was agreeable to do thatand then a Franciscan sister came along whohad just finished her law degree and hadtaken a job with legal aid. So she was lookingfor a place to live. Te three of them decidedthey would live in community in the processof bringing the CW back to life. Tey werejoined by a lay woman. So as a community offour they began to offer meals in the eveningand offer some hospitality for single women.From - I had continued to do my

going to the market scavenging thing soI would bring it back and they would ask,why dont you help us process this stuff?So then I would and eventually they wouldsay, well its almost time for dinner why

Educator & CatholicWorkerPart , the History

dont you just stay? Ten it was like, wepray after dinner why dont you stay andpray with us? And it was like well youknow your way around here. We need aweekend off. Why dont you fill in for us?It all kind of evolved like that. Tey werevery encouraging of me to join them andthey wrote letters to the provincial thatkind of supported him and his decision tolet me try this out. By the late s I was the only one of

these people still remaining as a member ofthe house. So we became more dependenton shorter-term younger community mem-bers to make the CW community viable. We

connected with a group comingout of a Franciscan sistersgroup in La Crosse, Wisconsincalled Shared Horizons.

What was the work of thehouse at that time? Te s

into the s. Well it grew through thes to have the predominantreputation of a combination ofan evening meal and a shelter.Te whole s evolution, whichI think would be true of CWsall across the country (and alot of them that started in themid-s), I think all of themfelt a real change in dynamics

in the s particularly afterthe Reagan administrationhad been in place for a year ortwo. All the things that theReagan administration undidfrom previous building up ofsupport for people who werepoor, the whole war on poverty

and things like this that had come throughthe s and s. We found that the simplesurvival needs became more difficult, andmore people became caught up in that.Tere was a huge increase in the needs ofthings we did at the CW, particularly meals.All through Angie and Beths time and theearly s a typical meal was predictable butthe number would be like , , people.But then from to it just explodedinto in not more than a year.

Part of this interview will be published inour Lent issue. You can see the videos of thecomplete interviews at our blogspot: cherith-

brookcw.blogspot.com

Brother Louis dumpster diving at the City Market in the s



10/12



11/12

ShowerNeeds

Sugar

Creamer

Powedered Milk

Baking Soda

Dish Soap

Salt & Pepper

Hot Sauce

Toilet Paper

Tissues

Milk

Butter

Rice

Energy Saving Light Bulbs

Stamps

Candles

Canning lidsBus Passes(31 day & One-Rides)

Post Cards(Postage Paid)

Tennis Shoes (esp. mens 10-13)

Jeans & Belts (30-34, 4-6)

Boxers & Panties (S & M, 4-7)

Shampoo & Conditioner

Body Wash

Spray Deodorant

Razors & Toothbrushes

White Socks (esp. mens)

Foot Powder

Tampons & Pads

Ibuprofen, Tylenol, & Allergy

Laundry Soap(High Efficiency)

Cold medicine/Cough drops

Lotion

Winter Coats, Gloves & Hats

Sleeping Bags

HouseNeeds

I noticed this year that I tend to think inthemes. Maybe its from teaching and creatingtheme-centered lessons, Im not sure. I think inthemes when planning a community mem-bers birthday party or reflecting on an eventor community experience. In reflecting on themonths since our last newspaper, the theme ofCelebration keeps coming to mind. We alwayshave cause to celebrate but this season it seemsespecially true in the life and work of CherithBrook.

In August we sent in our last mortgage pay-ment. We celebrated with a big party in theparking lot, between the two buildings. Now, allof you know that we are not a self-made groupof people. Tis has been possible because manypeople offered non-interest loans and manymore gave faithfully each month. We considerit a blessing and miracle to pay off the mortgagein less than eight years! Tank you, thank you!Te night (and bellies) was full of BBQ, scallopedpotatoes, salad, collard greens and ice cream

cones. (Tank you Kelly Hanerhoff!) Formerintern, Caleb Madison, hooked us up with alive jazz band that played during the meal. Ericreminded us all that Cherith Brook (a.k.a. theshower house) belongs to a trust not to anyindividuals. It belongs to all who have investedand continue to invest in various ways. We areall responsible to maintain the integrity of workand welcome of Christ every day. Its a joy tohave the burden of paying a mortgage lifted. In early October we celebrated the Festival of

Shelters. Not a commonly known Jewish festi-val but one that is central to our community andfaith practices. Te festival is about celebratingthe harvest and giving thanks for Gods provi-sions often found in precarious, unassumingplaces. We built five shelters in the yard depict-ing shelters of people who experience the mostvulnerability in our neighborhood undocu-mented, exploited women, post-incarcerated,refugee and homeless. en people went out andspent time on the streets for and -hour

vigils. Tey came back with stories of Godsgoodness and provisions and also a new senseof compassion for folks who suffer daily in ourcity.(see reflections on pp. -) We invite you toconsider participating in the Festival of Shelterseach year in October. In September, we had the joy of joining Nickand Sarah at their wedding celebration. rue toNick and Sarah, the wedding was such a fun, fes-tive event. It was great to see people who camefor the wedding that we dont see very often.

Congrats to Nick and Sarah! (Tankfully we getto see them every Monday for showers.) We celebrate trying new things. Eric andneighbor, John ramel, started a mens circle atCherith Brook once a month. After attendingCircle Process rainin itseemed likea ood

tool to encourage sharing at deeper levels. Tehope was to offer not only a safe space but alsotools for men to share feelings, emotions andsupport for one another. Unfortunately, aftersix months of trying, mens circle was cancelleddue to lack of attendance. Who knows? Some-thing else might emerge at another time tofoster this kind of sharing and support amongstmen. We continue to use the Circle Process inour weekly rhythms as a community. We celebrate our time of living with and work-

ing with Teo and Nicole. We are thankful forthe couple months they were here. We mightsee them from time to time since they have onlymoved to St. Louis to be closer to Teos family.We celebrate the end of growing season andlook forward to the rest that winter offers. Wecelebrate our faithful volunteers! Without folkscoming to help, we wouldnt be able to offerclean clothing, hot showers and healthy meals.(We are in need of more volunteers for ourshower days, Monday, uesday and Tursday

and in need of people to consider living in inten-tional, Christian community.) Come celebratewith us!

Celebration!by Jodi Garbison


12/12

UpcomingEvents

OurScheduleWho Are We?Showers M, , T 8 :30--11:00 am

Prayers M, F 66:30 am

W 7:30-8am

Community Meal T 57 pm

(Singing every other week)

Work Day Monthly, 2nd Sat 9 am1 pm

Roundtable Discussions Monthly, 3rd Fri 7 pm9 pm

CCherith Brook is a residentialChristian community committed to sharing

table fellowship with strangers, and all our

resources with one another. We have found

our inspiration from the early church and the

Catholic Worker.

MOur daily lives are structured around

practicing the works of mercy as found in Jesus

teachings. We are committed to regularly feed-

ing the hungry, clothing the naked, giving dr ink

to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger, visitingthe prisoner and the sick in the name of Jesus.

PAs followers of Jesus, we

understand our lives to be centered in Gods

Shalom. Cherith Brook strives to be a school

for peacemaking in all its dimensions: political,

communal, and personal; working constantly to

undo poverty, racism and militarism.

Tese three orbs can be summed up as the struggle

to connect with the God of life. We pray that Cher-ith Brook is a space where all of usthe broken

can come to learn and relearn the ways of Jesus;

a place to struggle together for Gods call of love,

mercy, peace and justice.

Dec 12 Roundtable, Dr. David MayPolitics in a Manger: From

Star to Straw

Dec 13 Workday

Dec 22 - Jan 2 CLOSED

Jan 10 Workday

Jan 16 Roundtable, BA

Jan 19 MLKing Celebration

Feb 14 Work Day

Feb 17 Mardi Gra Celebration

Feb 20-23 CW Farm Gathering, Luck WI

Feb 20 Roundtable, BA

March 14 Workday

March 20 Roundtable, BA

Cherith BrookCatholic Worker

East th Street

Kansas City, MO

() -

[email protected]

http://cherithbrookcw.blogspot.com

Date post:	02-Jun-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	cherith-brook-catholic-worker
View:	218 times
Download:	0 times

Cherith Brook CW Advent 2014

Documents