I Just Paid My War Taxes--Mea Culpa!

Paying My War Taxes

Today I filed my federal war taxes. I am almost ashamed to admit it. Many friends of mine risked their freedom, their careers, their homes—really, almost everything, by refusing to pay war taxes. Many of them went to jail for this. Others had to live below the taxable poverty line, in other words, very simply, with an extremely low income threshold. I’m thinking of people like Chuck Matthei, Marion and Ernest Bromly, Juanita and Wally Nelson., the Berrigan’s, Phil and Dan, Dorothy Day, Ammon Hennacy (The One-Man Revolution), Maurice McCrackin. Many folks in the Peacemaker Movement and the Catholic Worker Movement. Many Quakers and Mennonites. I appreciate their enormous sacrifices.

 

Chuck Matthei

I am not against all taxation. I am happy to pay my taxes and share my resources for many things having to do with the health, welfare, and cultural resources of our country. I am also happy to share my resources with those in need outside my country, the poor, needy, refugees, the hungry.

Wally and Juanita Nelson, Ernest and Marion Bromley, Maurice McCrackin

But I strongly object to the use of my taxes for war and for imperialism. Our tax dollars have done so much damage in the world. And lately, the sabers have been rattling again—at people and groups in Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Russia, China, and many other places. And most ominously of all, in North Korea, where “all options are on the table.” Well one of those options is the use of nuclear weapons. If it comes to that, then the future of the world, the entire future of civilization, is put at great risk. The world could essentially end. All our own hopes and our hopes for our families, friends, children, and grandchildren could be dashed—incinerated.

 

Ammon Hennacy (right)

Can we trust our leaders not to use these weapons of destruction—in fact, weapons of mass destruction. We have them at the ready. They could be launched at any minute.

Dan Berrigan and Thomas Merton

Fr. Dan Berrigan's "Psalm 81"--a Tribute in the Latest Catholic Worker

The Catholic Worker newspaper of June-July 2016 is a tribute to Fr. Dan Berrigan, who died this past April 30th. Surely this was the passing of a great saint! Fr. Berrigan published a book in 1998 called "Uncommon Prayer: A Book of Psalms." Below is a photo of Psalm 81, written by Fr. Berrigan and published in the latest Catholic Worker:

By the Way, Fr. Berrigan wrote the Foreword for the biography of Maurice McCrackin, written by Judith Bechtel Blackburn and me ("Building the Beloved Community: Maurice McCrackin's Life for Peace and Civil Rights."), available on Amazon.com.

Spending Valentine's Day in a Homeless Shelter

I took the photos below last year when I stayed overnight at the Emergency Warming Shelter at St. Mary's in Painesville, Ohio. It looked about the same last night.

Pope Francis's words pretty much sum up what we try to do. We let our hospitality, our actions, proclaim the message of the Gospel.

Last night we had 14 guests, sleeping on cots around the perimeter of the gym.

My cot, sleeping bag, etc. The same for all the guests.

Outside the emergency shelter. Last night was very cold, windy, and snowy.

Spending Valentine's Day in a Homeless Shelter

I, along with lead volunteer and organizer Kathy Philipps, spent Valentine's Day night at an emergency Warming Center/Homeless Shelter, with fourteen guests. Some of our guests could have died if they had to spend the night in the bitter cold and snow of Painesville, Ohio. The emergency shelter was provided by St. Mary's Parish, and I want to thank the parishioners, staff, and the pastor, Fr. Steve Vellenga, for their huge generosity, a generosity right in the spirit of Pope Francis and, indeed, Jesus, who admonished us to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless.

Our shelter has a minimum of basic rules, and these provide for the safety and well-being of our guests. We know the names and much about the lives of our guests, and we try to treat them as friends. We are not bureaucratic; we don't have endless rules and forms to fill out because we don't have governmental funding (in fact, almost no funding--just small donations and volunteer labor). In many ways we operate along the lines of the Catholic Worker, founded by Dorothy Day about 85 years ago. Dorothy's model was based upon the ancient traditions of hospitality, so central to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

For the most part, the night went well. Linda Coughlin and Dan and Kathy Philipps helped set things up, served a light dinner, and set up the cots, sheets, blankets, etc. They brought in a television/VCR unit and showed a movie, and they talked to the guests until after 9 PM.

Around 10 PM all the lights were extinguished and almost everyone fell asleep. Kathy was awakened in the middle of the night by a guest who was pacing and crying--she seemed to be suffering from anxiety. Her anxiety escalated into loud talking and great distress, and she and her partner left of their own free will around 4 AM. Another woman, suffering from mental distress, also left in the middle of the night. But most guests did fine and slept all night. People woke up around 6 AM, had a light breakfast, cleaned up the gym, and all were back on the street (including Kathy Philipps and me) by around 7:15.

I headed home at that time, having had about 6 hours sleep. Kathy, who slept very little, gathered all the linens into plastic bags and took them home for washing.

The night involved a lot of work, and maybe not enough sleep. But nobody died, nobody froze to death, everyone was offered shelter and food, everyone was treated with respect and kindness--Valentine's Day night was a success. You might say it was a night of love.

Bitter Cold Nights for Homeless in Painesville, Ohio

Last night was a tough night to be homeless in Painesville, Ohio. Some friends and I were privileged to be able to help them, at least a little. On the winter's coldest and snowiest nights, my friends open up an emergency warming center for the homeless in St. Mary's gym. Some of the main people doing this include Kathy and Dan Philipps, Brian Rice, and several others, including Maggie Rice, Ed Zivkovitch, and gee--I don't know all the names of the helpers.

Last night Ed and I stayed overnight as the people in charge. Kathy Philipps, Linda Coughlin, Brian Rice, Krista Zivkovitch, Kathy Flora and others gave us a big hand before the overnight began and again in the morning as we were packing up and cleaning up the facility.

I took a few pictures so people could get an idea of what this is like. The pictures cannot tell the whole story, and I didn't feel it would be proper to take close-up photos of our guests. All in all we had 15 guests, three of those women. The age range was considerable, but luckily there were no young moms or children. There is another facility for them, Project Hope, about 2-3 miles to the west of St. Mary's.

Pope Francis has weighed in on homelessness and priorities in the world's richest nations

15 cots on the perimeter of the gymnasium

The Pope's view on the mission of the Church

My cot and sleeping bag

The gym is behind the Fr. Hanzo Family Center.

At. St. Mary's in Painesville, we take seriously the Works of Mercy, and we do our best to feed the hungry (via the Karpos Ministry, Wednesday and Thursday nights, and a food pantry). In very cold and snowy weather we shelter the homeless. And we try to "clothe the naked" (so far no one has come naked--ha ha), by offering gloves, coats, hats, shoes, and other clothing--as far as we are able. It is my belief that our pastor, Fr. Steve Vellenga, should get some credit for allowing and facilitating these ministries. Some pastors would have no part of it, despite the exhortations of Pope Francis.

You can't encounter the hungry and the homeless without wondering why this can happen in wealthy America, in wealthy Lake County, Ohio. I believe we must address the structural and institutional reasons for these scandals. Meanwhile, we at St. Mary's take a Catholic Worker approach (rather than the social worker and institutional approach of the Salvation Army or Project Hope). We do what we can to meet radical needs, and we do it without judgement.

An Amazing One-Woman Play on Dorothy Day of the Catholic Worker

A couple weeks ago, at St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, I saw an incredible one-woman play on the life of Dorothy Day. Dorothy Day was the founder of the Catholic Worker Movement (co-founder, with Peter Maurin, Dorothy always said). I have been interested in the Catholic Worker since the early 1970s and met Dorothy Day many times. I ate dinners with her (along with maybe 30 other people), went to Vespers with her, and briefly talked with her over dinner. Some of my old friends, in particular Peggy Scherer, Terri Antholzner, and Pat Rusk, were very close friends of Dorothy Day. Dorothy even paid my phone bill one time when I was living in Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati. She paid it because her friend Pat Rusk had run up an enormous long-distance bill on my phone and Pat asked Dorothy to pay it. Some day Dorothy Day may be canonized an official saint, and that is about as close as I am going to come to knowing an official saint (I have known many unofficial saints!).

Dorothy Day at age 70 [credit Milwaukee Journal]

I first met Dorothy when she was about 77 years old. Even then you could sense her charisma and even her great physical beauty. I have always thought that some of the people that followed her in the Catholic Worker movement were attracted by her physical beauty as well as her ideas, her energy, her religious and political commitments.

The one-woman play I saw, "Haunted by God, was put on by  Still Point Theatre, and the actor was Lisa Wagner-Carollo. She portrayed Dorothy Day from age 20 to her death at 83 (November 29, 1980), and she did it with very minor changes in wardrobe, hair, and body position. It was brilliant acting!

This one-act play reminded me of the power of theatre to move and change people. The 200 people who saw this play will never be the same!

Postscript: I lived at the Catholic Worker house in Davenport, Iowa, in the summer of 1976. Margaret Quigley Garvey was the founder and leader of that house. She and her husband Mike Garvey have published books on Dorothy and the Catholic Worker. That summer has influenced my entire adult life.

Currently I work at a meal for the hungry and homeless at St. Mary church in Painesville, Ohio. The program, called the Karpos Ministry, was established five years ago by Kathy Philipps and a seminarian friend of hers. Hard to say home many people help put on these meals twice a week (serving up to 200 meals per night). The regular helpers number about 20, with another 10-15 coming occasionally.

The Spirit of the Catholic Worker and its mission to live out the Works of Mercy is alive and well!#


From Still Point Theatre's Website:

Lisa Wagner-Carollo

Lisa Wagner-Carollo - Founding/Artistic Director 

Lisa Wagner-Carollo is the Founding Director of Still Point Theatre Collective. She founded the company in 1993, motivated by a strong desire to combine ministry and theatre. Ever since, she has toured the country and overseas with Haunted by God: The Life of Dorothy Day. Among other productions, Wagner has also performed in and produced (for Still Point), the internationally toured Points of Arrival: A Jean Donovan Journey, a play that explores the life and commitment of one of the four North American church women killed in El Salvador in 1980. She is currently touring the United States and overseas with Strong Women, Haunted by God and Deep Listening (death and dying). Lisa also works as a facilitator in Still Point's outreach programs. Her education includes a B.S.E. from Emporia State University. Recently, she completed her certification as a spiritual director at Siena Center in Racine, Wisconsin and has recently begun a spiritual direction practice in the Chicago area. 

Awards: Outstanding Recent Graduate, Emporia State University, 1997 

Seeds of Hope Award, Wheatridge, 2009.

Community Wrapped in Community Wrapped in Community

I wonder if Robin Williams, for one night about a week ago, felt completely alone, completely abandoned, as when Jesus on the cross "shouted in a loud voice, saying 'Eli Eli lama sabachthani?' which is, 'My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'" We cannot know this for sure. We can not even know for sure things right in front of our face.

One thing I do know, as well as a human being is able, is that I am loved and enveloped in many communities, almost swaddled in love as a newborn baby. My first community was my family, initially my mother, father, and grandparents, Cora and Connie Coughlin. And I had lots of aunts and uncles and cousins. I joke that we didn't have friends growing up--we had family, relatives. This family expanded as Denny, Mary Ellen, Kevin, and Jim were born. And it keeps expanding!

Family is still very central to me, now with Linda, Julia, Carolan, and Emily, and my two sons-in-law, Ed and Brian, and my grandchildren, Colin and Robby. We have a  big family, and it still is the bedrock of my security.

I have several other families, and these have been more "dynamic" over the years, with people flowing in and out. One of the first important ones for me was my Notre Dame classmates, especially the 35 other guys I studied abroad with in 1967-68 (in Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria). Many of these fellows remain very close friends, with some others a bit more distant.

Another fantastic warm and loving community -- the peace activists I met when I moved to Cincinnati from Euclid in the winter of 1971. These people were Peacemakers, Catholic Workers, Quakers, and other like-minded living in and around Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. Some were around my age, give or take, like Chris Cotter, Kenny Przybylski, Chuck Matthei, Jack Shereda, Peggy Scherer, Anne and Clare Weinkam, Greg Haas, Joan Levy, Bonnie Tompkins, Henry Scott, Andy Meyer, Joel Stevens, Dick Crowley, Richard Gale, John Luginbill (and others), and some were "elders" like Ernest and Marion Bromley, Maurice McCrackin (Mac), Bill Wahler--and several more. Some of my Peacemaker friends have died--Chuck Matthei, Ernest, Marion, Mac, Kenny, Jack, Bill. But I remain close friends with many, despite living far away from them.

Another layer of community consists of my colleagues at Lakeland Community College. Many of these are professors and fellow members of our union, the Lakeland Faculty Association. But there are also plenty of staffers, administrators, and part-timers that I consider part of my work community.

And then there is one of the most wonderful, sustaining communities I belong to, at my church, St. Mary's in Painesville, Ohio, especially the people I work with in the Karpos Ministry to feed the hungry and homeless--Linda, Kathy and Dan Philipps, Pam, Judy, Ken Fitzsimmons, Chuck Hillier, Jim, Bernice, Karen, Jeff, Kathy Flora, and many others. We have found a common focus for our interests in social justice and we have found a common and important task. It is almost exhilarating to work together with these folks every week. This is a model of the Beloved Community that Martin Luther King and Maurice McCrackin spoke of!

There are other communities I prize--my Irish-Gaelic classmates, my Irish traditional music friends, and many others.

These communities sustain me, and I hope I that I can do a small part to sustain, nourish, and love my friends in these communities. Let them never, not for an hour, feel unloved and unappreciated. This is my prayer.

"Miracle of the Multiplication of the Chicken Wings": Kathy Philipps' Presentation at the Annual Peace & Justice Awards

Last night the Catholic Commission of Lake and Geauga County's 24th Annual Peace and Justice Dinner was held at the Center for Pastoral Leadership at Borromeo/St. Mary's Seminary in Wickliffe, Ohio. This extraordinary event will almost surely not get any media coverage so I thought I better write about it.

The evening opened with an hour of socializing followed by dinner, and I think that was the best way to proceed because we got to talk to old friends and meet new ones. One serendipitous meeting for me was with Tony Montanini, the husband of one of the Karpos Ministry workers, Kathy Montanini. Tony grew up in Leroy Township and knew my old Notre Dame/Innsbruck buddy Mike Celizic (as well as Mike's parents, Chuck and Lola, and Mike's brother Charlie). Tony had not heard of Mike's death from cancer a few years ago. I talked with Tony and many of my friends from the Thursday night Karpos meal for the homeless and hungry at St. Mary's Church in Painesville: Jan, Judy, Brian Rice, Ed and Christa Zivkovich, Kathy Flora, Dan Philipps, and others. After the social hour and dinner, Kathy Philipps was introduced and began her presentation.

Kathy Philipps doing her presentation on Hospitality, Hunger, and Homelessness

The presentation, featuring PowerPoint slides, was eye-opening and inspirational

Kathy Philipps' presentation was extraordinary, and gave an intellectual and theological rationale for the work we do in the Karpos ministry for the hungry and homeless--work we do every week of the year. Kathy co-founded this ministry with Gregg Stovicek some 4 or 5 years ago. Even the little things we do (the way we present the food and greet the diners, for example) has an intellectual and theological/biblical basis, and I found that incredible. My own approach to this work has been mostly instinctive rather than intellectual and theological and I really appreciate the framework that Kathy Philipps gave for this work. Her ideas apply to many other programs that encounter the homeless and hungry (and those with similar needs). It really connects with the Catholic Worker approach I experienced in New York City and Tivoli, NY, and in the Davenport, Iowa Catholic Worker where I lived during the summer of 1976.

Kathy told of our work this winter hosting an emergency warming shelter--38 nights during this cold and snowy winter St. Mary's opened the gym to the homeless. Some folks might have frozen to death if not for this. She also told a funny story about how one Wednesday or Thursday night meal we were way short of food. And somehow, let's say miraculously, the 100 chicken wings became 200, and everyone was fed. Often these are miracles of generosity, when in a moment of need someone just walks in with extra food from a reception or a funeral, and all of a sudden we have enough for everyone. Of course, careful planning and thought goes into the preparation and serving of our suppers--but we always leave room for the Holy Spirit and for the miraculous. Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker, would have understood and appreciated this.

Kathy's presentation showed the incredible extent of the hunger problem, even in prosperous Lake and Geauga Counties. At a given time there can be around 9000 children in wealthy Geauga County who are hungry. Lake County has many more than that. And in Cuyahoga County--the hunger problem is huge.

Kathy left me with an image of the new Pope Francis, with a lamb held over his shoulders, and the smell of the sheep on his skin and clothes. This is exactly what the Pope has asked of his priests and those who work with the poor--live with them, get the smell of the sheep on themselves:

“This is precisely the reason why some priests grow dissatisfied, lose heart and become in a sense collectors of antiquities or novelties — instead of being shepherds living with ‘the smell of the sheep' . . . This is what I am asking you, be shepherds with the smell of sheep.” 

*          *          *

Another nice feature of the evening was chatting with old and new comrades in the work of furthering peace and justice. I got to eat my meal next to Pat Denny and maybe talked her ear off all evening. We sat at a table with Fr. Mark Riley and Missionary Sister, Lisa Valentini (a real character!), and they both told funny stories about their missionary experiences.

Here are a few photos of my Karpos and St. Mary colleagues taken at the dinner last night:

Linda and Jan

Kathy Flora

Pat Denny

Fr. Mark Riley, Dan Philipps, and Sr.Lisa Valentini (missionary sister)

At the end of the evening, the "Sowers of Justice" award was presented to Terry and Donna Hawk, from St. Mary of the Assumption Parish in Mentor. Terry and Donna have lived out the gospel injunction of serving the poor and needy for over 25 years, providing meals 2-3 times per month at St. Patrick's on Bridge Avenue in Cleveland, and working with a parish program involving a food pantry and emergency help with rent and utility bills. I felt that their work dovetailed nicely with our work in Painesville and Kathy Philipps' presentation.

A closing prayer was offered by Sr. Rita Mary Harwood, a sister of Notre Dame, who gave us a picture of Mary, the mother of Jesus, untying knots. Such an odd image. Sister said this picture was beloved of Pope Francis. Here is the image:

Sr. Rita Mary connected this image to our own mothers, maybe to all mothers. I felt so deeply moved by the reflection. Click here for Wikipedia's discussion of this painting.

It was such a grace for us to be at the Peace and Justice dinner last evening. We felt renewed and inspired.

The Homeless and Hungry in America: A Meditation for Lent; Remembering Chuck Matthei

As part of the Karpos Ministry at St. Mary's Church in Painesville, Ohio, we try to feed the hungry and homeless. This winter we have offered many homeless people emergency shelter when the temperatures were bitterly cold. And if someone needs a coat, hat, gloves, or socks, we provide for them. We do not have huge funding; no paid employees; no big organization. What we do have is faithful and dedicated volunteers and the support of our church and our pastor. Some of our volunteers are Catholics, members of St. Mary's parish; many are of different faiths. All passionately believe in living and fostering the corporal and spiritual Works of Mercy.

Today in the mail I received The Catholic Worker newspaper--the one published by the Catholic Workers on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The March-April 2014 issue has a beautiful woodcut with the words of the Moroccan poet, Abdellatif Laabi:

"In these days of abstinence, it was a source of pride to me to be hungry and to disturb a little the shameful peace of those who starve our people."

A thought-provoking remark in the season of Lent. Who is it that allows, even fosters, the great hunger and homelessness we see in Painesville and throughout our country?

Abdellatif Laabi's remark makes me think of Chuck Matthei (1948-2002), the great Peacemaker, who once told me that he fasted every Friday in solidarity with the hungry of the world. Chuck was a kind of saint. He felt he was called to such extraordinary action. We are probably not called to that. But we all are called to the task of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and sheltering the homeless--and trying to cure our society of these problems.

Here is a site with a short bio of Chuck and some photos: Remembering Chuck Matthei.

My old friend Wendy Rawlins Tuck is currently researching and writing a biography of Chuck.

Chuck Matthei

Dorothy Day Article on Ernest and Marion Bromley and the Cincinnati Peacemakers

I've been reading Patsy Harman's book "Arms Wide Open," and it made me think about some of the characters in the book that I knew who were involved in a historic victory for the peace movement. Dorothy Day wrote about it:

 
"Bromley Eviction Halted"
By Dorothy Day
The Catholic Worker, September 1975, 3. 

As we go to press it gives me great joy to write of a victory on the peace front, a victory achieved by the valiant work of the younger members of the peace movement in the United States, which has long known the patient and long-suffering work of such bodies as the War Resisters and the Fellowship of Reconciliation, not to forget, to speak modestly, of the Catholic Worker. As of now, it looks as though our friends, the Bromleys, will not be evicted from the Gano Peacemaker house in Cincinnati, and that the sale of the house, which took place this last summer, will be annulled. Among others, credit can be given to Peggy Scherer, who, in addition to her manual labor here at the farm in Tivoli this past year, had continued her close collaboration with Chuck Matthei in Washington and other Peacemakers around the country. And Lee LeCuyer, who is a tireless worker at First Street, has also leafleted and picketed both in Cincinnati and New York. These are the ones who helped lead the movement which achieved this victory. Ernest and Marion Bromley's patient hard work--picketing, leafleting, resisting, speaking the truth--has not gone unnoticed.

It is a lesson for us all in the peace movement that gentle pressure, constant hard work, a faithful, straightforward--one might even say respectful--adherence to the Scriptural command to love our opponents and to exercise the virtue of hope even when all seems hopeless, offer a great example of the pure means to achieve our ends. Jacques Maritain impressed this use of pure means upon us as in the earliest days of the Catholic Worker. This victory also gives us all a sense of joyful gratitude, not only for the hard work of the young people, but even for those in government office who can respond, as they seem to have, to these persistent, though gentle pressures. Let us pray that this "little" victory will give courage to others around the country to take a stand, which involves a real commitment to the "voluntary poverty" we all talk so much about.

[This text is not copyrighted. However, if you use or cite this text please indicate the original publication source and this website (Dorothy Day Library on the Web at http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/). 

Suggested citation:
Day, Dorothy. "Bromley Eviction Halted". The Catholic Worker, September 1975, 3. The Catholic Worker Movement. http://www.catholicworker.org/dorothyday/Reprint2.cfm?TextID=556]

Feeding the Hungry--at St. Mary's in Painesville, Ohio

Every Thursday evening Linda and I go to St. Mary's Church in Painesville, Ohio, and serve a meal to the hungry. The meal is prepared, from scratch, by many volunteers associated with Karpos Ministry, led by Kathy Philipps and her husband Dan. St. Mary's lends us their kitchen and refrigeration facilities in the Fr. Hanzo Center. My guess is that about 15 people are involved in meal preparation, serving, and clean up. I don't know the names of every volunteer. Besides Kathy and Dan Philipps, there is Wayne, Jan, Joan, Rose, Pam, Jeff, Ken Fitzsimmons, Kathy Flora, Chuck Hillier, and many more (I'll try to get all the names one of these days). Chuck does one of the hardest jobs, washing up the pots and pans.

The food is delicious, as good or better than a family homemade meal. Kathy is very concerned that the meals be nutritious, and she uses her considerable powers of persuasion to get everyone to eat their veggies. The meal is topped off with a dessert. These are always good and often spectacular. My favorites are the fruit pies made by hand by an expert, the former owner of the restaurant on Burton Square, near Northern Ohio's Amish country.

The closest thing to St. Mary's meal that I have ever seen were the meals prepared at the Catholic Worker House in Davenport, Iowa, under the watchful eyes of Margaret Quigley Garvey. I lived and worked there in the summer of 1976, and we spent much of every afternoon preparing a delicious supper for the hungry.

Jesus said, "Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty." We try to do our little part every Wednesday and Thursday evening, around 5 to 6 PM, at St. Mary's in Painesville, Ohio.

Cincinnati Peacemakers (and John Leininger's Death)

The passing of John Leininger has certainly awakened my memories of the active and courageous peace community in Cincinnati in the early 1970's. I mentioned some of the Peacemakers that John would have known and worked with in the previous blog posting. Here are some others that I remember: Andy Meyer, Joan Levy, Denny Ryan, Richard Gale, Bonnie Tomkins, Joel Stephens, Dick Crowley--and all the other folks who either lived in or often visited the Mansfield House Community and the neighborhing Orchard Street house (where I lived, along with Chris Cotter, Anne and Clare Weinkam, Peggy Scherer, and Jack Shereda). Henry Scott was for a while at the Bromley's in Gano, Ohio, and at other times in the Over-the-Rhine area. There were many others who were in and out: Maggie Jones, the local VISTA workers (Dick Crowley, John Thornton, and many others), some folks from the Bluffton College Mennonite service group, some local organizres and social workers. Jim Tarbell was occasionally there, as were some local artists. It was a dynamic, ever-changing, fantastically interesting gathering of people. Many Peacemakers, Catholic Workers, and Quakers from out of town came through from time to time. They were all offered hospitality--a place to stay and food to eat, without a question being asked. I wish I could express the flavor of this time and place better than I have. It's something that won't ever happen again in exactly that way.

New Chapter in Bruce Wilson's Novel!

Bruce Wilson, an old friend, has just posted a new chapter in his autobiographical novel Justin's Foggy Night of the Soul. http://foggynightofthesoul.wordpress.com/ This novel is a work-in-progress, but I find it tremendously good and very interesting, partly because it's my own story and the story of every Catholic of my generation (let's say it will ring a familiar note to those born around 1960 and before).

Who is Bruce Wilson? Bruce is an older brother of one of my college roommates and friends, Brian Wilson. Brian studied with me at the University of Notre Dame between 1966 and 1970. I along with Brian, Chris Cotter, Mike Gerrity, Tim Forward, Tom Heinen, Mike Celizic, and about about 29 other Notre Damers studied together in Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria during academic year 1967-68.

In the 1970's Chris Cotter and I de-tassled corn with Brian and Bruce Wilson (and the rest of his family) around Perry and Jamaica, Iowa. Also in the 1970's, Bruce Wilson was involved with Chris and me with Peacemaker and Catholic Worker (Dorothy Day et al.) activities. And there was one other hilarious (in retrospect) enterprise. These rocket-scientists, Bruce, Chris, Kenny Przybylski, Jack Shereda, and possibly Timmy Jenkins, decided to go into business cutting down dead elm trees (trees stricken by the Dutch Elm Disease blight).The plan was to underbid for the jobs of cutting down and removing trees, beginning in the Iowa City area. Ask any of the above how that went!

Back in the 1970's I would have guessed that Bruce would end up a priest or monk, an artist, or an inmate of an insane asylum (possibly all three of these choices!).

I hadn't heard from or about Bruce until about a year or two ago. He was living in Oakland, California, and working as a massage therapist and holistic healer. And he was writing a novel, chapter by chapter, and publishing it on a blog and a website.

The novel is very funny and very good, and it evokes that peculiar and fascinating time in the 1950's and early 1960's--a time in that for American Catholics will never come again.

Here again is the link to Bruce Wilson's novel in progress: http://foggynightofthesoul.wordpress.com/

I hope a publisher picks up this wonderful work!