TME CATHOLIC WORKER • I Subscription: Vol. XLIII, No. 9. DECEMBER, 1977 25c Per Year Price 1¢ Do not be afraid. Listen, I bring you n.ews of great joy, , a joy to be shared by the whole people. ~--...;._.-.;....,_..;...;,,.-.....;o.....___;;_..;,_~~~~~~~ ALL GOD'S PROPERTY CHILDREN and POVERTY
By STANLEY VISBNEWSKI By EILEEN EGAN Nina puts the piay stethescope over As new regimes are installed in <:oun- her ears and places the diaJ on .top of - tries around the world, some wedded to my balding head. "No hair," she com Marxist doctrines, some to socialism of ments, causing me to breathe a sigh of a less doctrinaire type, and some to an relief. For a moment I thought she was acceptance of varying degrees of the going to say, "No brains." capitalist ethos, Catholic citizens find a But it seems I am not finished with certain security in stating ''The church my physical examination-Nina com and the faithful can live under many mands me to lie down. She hits my systems." knees with a plastic hammer and then The key word is "under." People vJho swabbing my wrist with a ball of cottoTJ are followers of Jes us have had to live she injects a monumental hypodermic "under" regimes not of 1t:heir own choos needle (manufactured, I am sure, for ing from Jesus' time to our own. An elephants) against my skin. I pretend· assumption that flows from the willing to go along with the game and give ness to adapt to various political systems forth with a good old-fashioned cry of· is that Christians c&n accept, and accom pain. modate to, a variety of economic systems. At the time as she is playing doctor This assumption is false because under and nurse combined she is looking me lying it is the belief that Jesus did not over with her huge, open eyes and an bring to His followers a distinctive way impiah grin diffusing over her face. She of life englobing specific teachings on tells ine, in no uncertain terms, as she what we now call economics. hugs her little arms against her body, that it will not hurt and that I am not Life of Community to be a coward. The most visible and immediate im Nina, who is able to mimic taking phy pact of the teaching of Jesus on His fol sical examinations, giving injections and lowers in Jerusalem was on their attitude medications, is seven and a dwarf. She to property and to poverty. They began is suffering fr-om a rare disease called to share their goods with one another (Continued on page 6) so that their life took f'n the shape of. real community. Those '-\'he were so poor that they >Could not share anything be came the common responsibility of the An Apology community and their needs were met by the deaoeons. To the deaoeons, seven of We must apologize and beg indul whom were commissioned for the work, gence from our readers that this issue the donations of the Christian com arrives so liate (as, on the whole, did Lavrans munity were entrusted. The deaoeons then our last issue). Our addressograph administered the goods in accordance machine, a 19!'1 model, has served us with the needs of the members of the faithfully for as ·long as anyone can community. The first Christian martyr, remember, requiring little in the way The Gospel is the Crime Stephen, came from among these seven of maintenance. Each month, this ministers ·to the poor. slicht concession to the industrial age, The community af Solentiname was to lay blame for the undeclared civil The dear du.ty to share one's goods resembling, more than anything, a destroyed by Nica·raguan government war, which began Oct. 13, on these with the needy ditl not end with the medieval instrument of torture, has forces during the week -of Nov. 20. priests and -others whose concern is for needy of one's immediate neighborhood. cranked out the 86,000 or so labels re Solentiname was the· site of Our Lady justice. As Christian communities formed across quired for each issue. But last month of Solentiname, a lay monastery begun The actions which have resulted in the face of the ancient world, s<>mething just about everything that could go by our friend, the priest and poet, criminal charges have been the "crimes" wild and strange occurred: they began wrong with the machine did, from Ernesto Cardenal, and was the home of of leading lives motivated by the sharing with each other and meeting running out of ink and paper, to the the fishermen, .farmers, a·rtists and Gospels: speaking out against the ter each other's needs across all barriers of aged motor blowing out. One thing others who participated with Fr. Car rorism of the Somoza dictatorship, a tribe and race. In that .period, and in seemed to follow another. denal in the dial-Ogue on the Gospels family which has ruled Nicaragua for many societies to this day, help is given For a few despairing moments there recorded in The Gospel in Solentiname. 40 years. The Somozas came to power - on the basis of kinship, f.amilial or tribal was talk of writing out all the sub (Orbis Books). The huts of the poor in 1937 through the force of the Nmional The extended family system, whereby scriptions by hand! Fortunately, cool who inhabit the island were burned, the Guard, a military body equippea and the needs of the weakest and most help er minds prevailed. Thanks to' Brian people forced to flee. The raid was ex trained by the U.S. in the course af our less members are met through a pooling Terrell, for whom our crisis may have plained as retaliation ·because some from 23 year military occupation of Nicaragua of resources, has been the social security oecasioned the diseovery of a hidden the island have participated in actions (1911-1934). Since the Somoza family system of most of the world since the voeation, the machine has been vir against the repressive regime of Gen. has been in power, the people--more beginning of time. It follows that the tually reconstituted. Everyone bas set Anastasio Somoza. than 50% of whom live in dire poverty extended family, sometimes extending as to work on the second floor of St. -have endured widespread torture, sup far as the tribe, does n-0t plan for help Joseph's with renewed vigor. But alas, Following it:his, arrest wa:rrents have been issued against a small number. pression of civH and religious liberlties, to those outside the kinship circle. we are far behind. concentration camps, and .assassinations Paul, who first brought the message of It is possible that in the shuffle Among those riamed are Fr. Cardenal, who was elsewhere when the ·raid oc -sometimes on the scale of entire vil Jesus to the people of Macedonia, went some readen never received their lages. With the recent token exception back to them a third time and .pleaded Oetober-November issue at all (an curred; Fr. Fernando Cardenal, his brother; and Fr. Miguel d'Escoto, editor of the "suspension" of official martial for help for the Christians of Jerusalem especially important issue, containing law (which had been in effect for almost who had fallen on evil times. Though our annu.al Fall Appeal). Please let us of Maryknoll Magazine here in the U.S., a native Nicaraguan who has spoken out three years), conditions of repression poor themselves, the •Macedonian Christ know if you were missed and we will have intensified in recent years. In spite ians insisted on giving even more than gladly send you another copy. \ strongly against the Somoza regime. They are charged with six crimes of growing opposition, the U.S. govern Paul had hoped to meet the needs of We extend our gratitude to all who ment continues both directly and in their faraway brothers and sisters. All make our work and the spreading of against the State, and will be tried in early December. At least some of the directly to provide Nicaragua with barrier.s of kinship, .of tribe, had been our memage possible, and wish you economic and military aid. transcended by the message of the Un- the blessings of Christmas. dozen or so named will be tried in absentia. The Somoza regime is trying Pegp Scherer ( Continued on page 5) THE CATHOLIC WOllKER December, 1977
Vol. XLIII,1 No. 9. December, 1977 MARYHOUSE By ANNE BUCHER There's a Christmas tree under the life, if I have not charit.)9 if love does CATHOLIC ~WORKER arch in Washington Square, yet to be not flow from me, I am nothing; Jesus decorated, but still a reminder ol an reduce me to love." Recently our two Pnblished Monthly (Bi-monthly Mareh-April, Ju.Ir -A~ upcoming event. And as one walks past communities have begun to meet each Oetober-November) stores in Greenwich Village, one will Sunday evening in the Little Brothers' ORGAN OF' THE CATHOLIC WORKER MOVEMENT see decorated windows and ·brightly chapel. In learning to pray together we PETER MAURIN, Founder colored wrapping paper for sale. As strengthen our commitment to God, to DOROTHY-DAY, Editor and Publisher December approaches, I am struck, as each other, to the people with whom we always, with the commercialism of live. Jesus redilce us to love ... ROBERT ELLSBERG, Managing Editor Christmas. Every year the Christmas Brian, from St. Joseph House, re Associate Editors: season seems to be upon us at an earlier cently received the Holy Spirit in the MEG BRODHEAD, RITA CORBIN (Art}, CLARE DANIELSSON, FRANK date. Yet, these little signs of Christmas sacrament of Confirmation. Several DONOVAN, EILEEN EGAN, EDGAR FORAND, ANNE MARIE FRASER, ROBERT fill me with great excitement. Advent, members of our community were pre GILLIAM, BILL GRIFFIN, KATHLEEN DE SUTIER JORDAN, PATRICK a time of waiting, a time of anticipating sent to celebrate with him. As Brian, JORDAN , WALTER KERELL, ARTHUR J. LACEY, LEE LECUYER, DANIEL the joyous day of Christ's birth, will with his sponsor, Dan, walked up to be soon begin. Holidays are always special confirmed by Bishop McGuire, I sensed MAUK, KARL MEYER, CHRIS MONTESANO, DEANE MOWRER, PAT RUSK, times;· it seems easier to love, "easier t o JANE SAMMON, PEGGY SCHERER, STANLEY VISHNEWSKI, SUSAN the excitement felt by all of us as be good." Brian's family; as members of one WEIMER . Our most recent holiday celebration Chr istian family. Editorial communications, new subscriptions and change of address: was Thanksgiving. It began Wednesday On November 8th we had another 36 East First Street, New York, N. Y. 10003- night when we made twenty pumpkin special celebration, as it was Dorothy's Telephone (212) 254-1640 pies at St. Joseph House. On Thursday, 80th birthday. Mary cooked a delicious Subscription Rates: United State ~. 25c Yearly. Canada and Foreign, 30c Yearly. many people joined together to prepare dinner and we had cake and ice cream the meals. Both houses were filled with for dessert. Dorothy received many Reentered as second class matter-August 10, 1939, at the Post Office all the wonderful smells ol Thanksgiving: beautiful flowers and we had a vase of of New York. N. Y., Under the Act of March 3, 1879 Kathy and others prepared a delicious roses in the dining room for a few days. brunch for us at M;uyhouse. We had Roses seem to bloom and then die so Mass in our chapel in the afternoon; a ' fast, and I am reminded of how fast time to join together in thanking God for the seasons seem to be changing. Wasn't all His gifts. We brought out the table it only yesterday when it was 105 de EASY ESSAYS cloths and had dinner by candlelight grees? October was rainy; November has j ust two of the special touches that made brought the cold. The trees in Washing By PETER MAURIN us aI.i realize what a special day it was. ton Square Park have lost almost all their leaves and the barren limbs are where agrlculture is practiced THE DYNAMITE OF remin"ders of winter. Yet even the cold by most of the people. air hasn't yet prevented the street THE CHURCH It is in fact impossible for any culture musicians from gathering on Sunday Writing about the Catholic Church, to be sound and healthy afternoons in the park. a radical writer says: without a proper regard for the soil. Every day brings with it joy and "Rome will have to do more THEY AND WE sadness; the frustrations of having to than to play a waiting game; People say: turn people away because we have no she will have to use "They don't do thJs, they don't do that; room-to find oneself acting as the Inn some of the dynamite ), they oaght to do this, they ought to keeper who sent MiirY and Joseph away. inherent in her messace." do that." It always reminds me of the often To blow the dynamite of a messace Alway5"They" quoted words from The Brothen isibe only way and never "L" Karamuov: "Love in action is a to make the memap dynamic. People should Dy: harsh and dreadful thing compared to If the Catholic CbDJ'Ch is not today "They are cruy for doing this love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy the dominant social dynamic force, and not doing that for immediate action, rapidly performed it is because Catholic scholars but I doa't need to be crazy Ade Bethune and in the sight of all But active love have failed to blow the dyruurtte the way they are crazy." is labor and fortitude, ..." We seek to The CommunHarian RcvoluUon We also had a party here on Hallo help, but we often fail. This i5 our sad of the church. ween, complete with decorations, candy, Catholic scholan is basically a penonal revolution. ness. In Thought. on Solitude, Merton popcorn, and a "spooky'' movie, shown writes: "This then is our desert: to live have taken the dynamite ~f the church, It starts with I, " not with they. by our own "gypsy," Meg. Everyone facing despair, but not to consent. To have wrapped it up in nice had a good laugh at some of our crazy trample it down under hope in the phrueology, One I plus one I costumes. Soon after Halloween, we had Cross. To wage war against despair un placed it in an hermetic container makes two rs . - and two rs make-we. another party just to celebrate being ceasingly . .. That war is our wilderness. and sat on the lid. We is a community, together. Alana was in rare form and If we wage it courageously, we will find It is about time to blow the lid off while they is a crowd. delighted us all by playing the piano. Christ at our side ..." This is our joy. so the Catholic Church may apin She was so good that we just had to get become _ SELF..ORGANIZATION up and dance. Lena and Margaret were Joy and Sadness the dominant social force. People go to Wuhiqton, the stars as they did the polka across _ And-people still continue to come and askia« the federal government the auditorium floor. It is good for us go; bringing their light into our lives, solve their economic problems, AN ACQUISITIVE vs. A to to sing together, dance together, laugh moving on, not the same because of while the federal government together; to learn to love each other having lived at the Catholic Worker. I FUNCTIONAL SOCIETY was never Intended in the silly, ordinary things. It's not think of Sisters Annie and Ja'Cinta, who The order of the day to solve men's economic problems. unusual to find some of the women like have left Maryhouse to begin a new Is to talk about the socW order. Thomas Jeffenon says tl)at Marie, Jean, and Margaret, Mike from 1 house for women in Queens: of Mary Comervatives would like the less government there is, FU:st Street .and I sitting in the dining McGreen, now in Albany; ol Sister Rene to keep it from chanPnc the better It ls. room at night singing and playing the in a House of Prayer in Brooklyn; of but they don't know how. -If the lea government there Is, guitar. Tuesday night is movie night at Bernie and Jay; of Mike. It is always Liberals try to patch it the better ft ls, Maryhouse. Meg shows the movie and sad to say good-bye. But the joy is that and call it a New Deal. then the best kind of organisation maybe someone will make popcorn. we will always remain together in Socialists want a change is self-orpnisatlon. prayer. Henri Nouwen expresses this Reduce Us To Love but a gradual change. When the orp.n.lsen try relationship between joy and sadness in Communists want a change. to orp.n.lse the unorpnfzecl, Prayer life is always important. We a very special way: an immediate change. then the orpnhen have Mass together twice a week, either I've cliscovered that in every satis Communists in Russia don't orpnise themselves. in the Maryhouse chapel or over at st. faction, there is an awareness of Its do not build Communism And when the orp.n.lsen Joseph House. Gary, Sharon, Richard limitation. they build socialism. don't orpnfze themselves and I usually get together an hour be -In every success, there is the fear nobddy orp.nizes himself. Communists want to pass fore Mass on Monday to plan a little of jealousy. . / from capitalism to socialism And when nobody ortanizes himself music. At one Mass we sang a beautiful -Tu every embrace, there is loneli- nothing is orpnlsed. and from socialism to Communism. song called "Charity", which is a version ness. I want a change, THE CATHOLIC WORKER of St. Paul's letter to the Corinthians, -Behind each smile, there is a tear. Chapter 13. The first verse and chorus and a radical change. The aim of the Catholic Worker -~ each friendship, distance, strike me as especially appropriate: I change is to create order out of chaos. -And in all forms of lidit, there is want a "Although I speak in tpngues, of men from an acqulaltlve society The aim of the Catholic Worker knowledge of surroundin·g darkness ... is to help the unemployed and of angels, and though I prophesy Soy and sadness are born at the same to a functional society, and understand all, although I have all from a society of go-getten to help themselves. time . . . But this Intimate experience, The aim of the Catholic Worker faith, so mountains may be removed, and U,. which every bit of life Is touched by to a society of go-pven. though I feed the poor. and give up my The answer lies in a return to a society is *° make an Impression a bit of death, can point us beyond the on the depression limits of our existence. through expression. In the whole world, Christ suffers It can do so bv makinr us look for Now in Print! The aim of the Catholic Worker dismemberment. Bis Mystical Body is - ward in exneetatlnn to the day when is to create a new society drawn and quartered from a&'e to age. our he"rts will be filled with perfect Joy. EASY ESSAYS within the shell of the old As long as we are on earth the love "I tell you most solemnly ... you will by PETER MAURIN with the philosophy of the new, that unites us will bring us suffering by be sorrowful, but your S011"0W wlll turn Order from FHncisc.n Herald Press which is not a new philosophy, our very contact with one another, be· to jov . .. You are sad now, but l shall ($4.95), 14\.14 W. 51st St., Chicago, _but a very old phllasophy, cause this love Is the resetting of a see ynu again. and your hearts wm be Ill. 60609. a phllGMplly • old Bady of ltroken i.ones. - fall er joy. And that ,..., .. one man , tbaUHoob lllut new...... _. _._ take fnm ,..._" (J'elaa 11:11) December, 1977 THE ' CATHOLIC . WORKER PtJ6e Tlaree Franz Jagerstatter; A ·Pilgrimage for :Peace By MICHAEL HARANK ~ale c1f. dry hay. J:Ioweve~, this . exper- A National Hero refusal to serve in the army as a thor- August ninth is generally remembered ienci: was _not without its _pain; .r_iot On Oct~ber 16th, a clou~y and over - oughly tragic and ultimately senseless as the day the U.S. government dropped physical pam, ·but. the anguJSh which cast morrung, I boarded a bus in Salz- ad of religious fanaticism, born of a sad an atomic bomb on tbe Japanese city of came from watchmg my handcuffed burg Francis of Assisi, Henry David ThQreau. tion which comes fr-0m thinking you ,_. The real~ hope, then, is not in something we think we can do, but in Leo Tolstoy, Mahatma Gandhi, PetE'r stand alone and powerless before what Maurin, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, St. Paul called the powers and principali God who is-ma~ something good out of it in some way we cannot Thomas Merton. and •finally Franz ties o! this world. My special purpose · see. H we can do hi8 ~ we will be helping in thi8 proceee. But we J a ~e rstatter . for the journey to St. Radegund was will not neceuarily know all .about it beforehand.. •• Somehow, most of these. persons and to thank God for the gift of J agerstat Enough of this • • • it is at least a gesture • • • I will keep you in my the ideas associated with them had ter's life and the spetjal graces which I escaped mention during my twelve received from his act of ultimate love. prayen. years of education., nine of which t ook l also wanted to offer a prayer for peace _ A.U tlae best, in Clarid, place in Catholic schools. Of course, these in a wor ld permanently scatted by the TOM new and provocative ideas. discovered wounds of war, !hunger, economic op •Printed with permlulon of James For, st. This letter will appear !n a collection ol e-ya cm in the context of my brother's resistance. pression and the madness of the spirai Kerton to be publlahed next sprtng by Paul.lat Preu. affected my mind like a fire set to a ing arms race. THE C.ATHOL·IC WORKER December, 1977 Held him up there, like a newborn By no means repenting his situation, t into sections, cast them overboard in babe, eye to eye. Who was this cast he began: "Good day, sir." Oh he was storms, or crucify them to trees. away? A prophet? -cool. Here we were only half in this Anyway you learn patience. Take When that suspicion dawned, I almost world, .a small chip on the back of a life as it comes, step by step. Granted The. ~ pulled in my lifesaving equipment and large one, b<>th caught in a tidal wave, .for a moment God signaled to me that let him go down. Trod water ,there only and he wished me a good day, sir! morning; follow such and such a ship, half believing my eyes. ---! thank yo~ for your service this they're making gull fodder out of my How'd I know who he wff.s? I didn't day. You have saved me from a watery chosen,· and I want it stopped. Granted Whale's for certain. But in our line- of work, he set the compass and synchronized the end. (Which, minus the cliche, was the and given our age on earth, the chan'Ces naked truth.) clocks. (Granted on the other ·hand, he were overwhelming. We're always being ---Blameless as I I w.is also set the barometer plungjng.) rm called on to save their chestnuts. The am, tossed overboard "by heathen sailors. willing to waive .the argument because Tale bestiary of providence-whales, por the moment ~ a pressing one; viz, I've They kno.w no better, as you are aware, poises, ravens, lions, jackasses even. being worshippers of false gods. got .the Vo:x: Dei hang~g on to me as Prophets loud as thunder pn .the saving (Couldn',t resist rolling out his big guns rthough I'm the everlasting arms. Now By Daniel Berr_igan, S.J. word, shor.t as sticks on consequences. on me, perched a half-inch from the what do I do? No, they rush forward, despite the anger, abyss as he was, itotally dependent on Obviously, he'~ in no state to make I have a man in.aide me_ badmouthin~ death even. Onward me for the salva·tion of his limbs. Im a suggestion wor.th listening to; and like the univerae Christian soldiers! That's their disease, prove me he would!) hearken as I may, I hear no divine iit's -called glory. . voice twitching a,t my ear lobe, telling It all seemed like the most natural ---You may be sure you have w-0n thing in the world. To begin with! a Well, there I was, this morsel . of me the next move. misery on the end of my flipper, blink a great 'blessing by your saving action, So whalt is to be d-0ne? day of utmost beauty. I was steammg he blared. along on my own, a cloudless blue sky, ing back at me like the day of his birth. There's not a moment to be lost. He's the sea trackless and shimmering; an Storm blowing doomsday, rising and ---You have preserved a serv.mt got a look in his eyes like a poster Qn impressive argument for, so to speak, falling in unison, a mad madrigal. A of the true God, who rewards and the providence of God. prophet, I knew it. It could only be. punishes according to our service and his good pleasure. Blah blah. A funda Then, with shocking suddenness and They all look-how to put it?-like the half-drowned cat that just swallow mentalist to the end. Drowned he mighlt no prior consultation, a storm overhead. 'be, or near it, from his 'Chattering teeth Well, I reflected swallowing hard, what, ed the half-dead canary. Not exactly Sleep Jonah, in living, -better off than dead. He sat to his blue toe nails. But his tongue? afoter •all, is a storm to me? It merely Limber to the end. heightens the joy and variety o!f the there hanging on, a steady look, a mouse Did I call it a conversation? People like course-like running through a great in a cat's cradle. He knew all along I'd a motion that is be hanging a'bout, just waiting for the him don't hold conversations, they rent forest instead of a mowed field. Blow aud1toriums, even the open sea and its ing and spinning, _sending up clouds of sublime privilege of plucking him fre>m tempests are not safe from their great steam, I plow along, in wonderment at the sea; that salvation look unme1ting, no motion, in a lungs. What could I do, but blink in the harsh grandeui· <>f the -primary wea unto himself, !beyond circumstance. ther. Waves thait ·break and form again, momentary cliffs; I leap off one, carried ~irection that along on the tip of another, the watet s in perpetual ecstasy, forming, dissolving, is no direction taking shape, breaking up. So caught up 'in life, the waters like ecst~tic dancers, moment by mQrnent tossmg aside, assuming their guises. a picket line; WH!ALE STEAKS FOR Then, like a thunderclap, ahead of JESUS! (Did you know, by the way, me, trouble. we have bigger brains rthan they d-0?) A ship wallowing and limping along, I can all but read his next thought; no half its yards sheared away. grea1t feat, he gives it away, sitting What a scupperful of fools, I snorted, there, countin·g off on his fingers the out on such a day. They have all the proofs for the existence of God most earth for their own, what more do they apt to win a water-logged pachyderm want'? to the one true way. But for all my annoyance, cursed with I had enough. Pursed my lips a bit, my great heart, I kept drawing near, .leaning in his direction, as though alongside or in her wake; though it was rendered thoughtful by his wisdom, hard work, indeed, keeping that tor about to share a confidence out of ear· tured mote in view through so monstrous shot of the almighty. a vortex. And took him in like a smelt. Swal In regard to them, I know only one lowed. He went down easy .. . law; when things are bad, there's worse JONAH, ARE YOU DOW.N 'I'HERE? to come. As though a ship in distress He heard me all right. We're among weren't enough to contend with, 'there's the few mammals who can reverse their the sailors. With them, you never know voice box. This unique gift of inward what's going to happen, once folly takes rumination is granted for just such oc over. I've seen them scuttle a perfectly casions, when we've suddenly had to sound shi-p and leap into the void in swallow a prophet for his own good. sieves one tenth the size of the decks JONAH-ARE YOU ...? ' they jump from. They pray to their gods, 'Robert Hodgell Oh I knew he was there. You see, you see them shivering and yelling on I saw it in his eyes. When they disbelief and take my medicine like the we 'Can also reverse our eyesight in deck, on their kn~s no less-and you tossed him into the drenched air like a good beast I am? order to check on inward operations, know it; anything can happen. I've corpse in its canvas-he didn't care· a A pause in his confabulations, while so to speak. seen them dance around in a frenzy, then whit! That's what his look said, louder he gathered breath from the winds. I Oh, he wasn't fooling me with his, break off, break away, leap overboard, than words. He didn't care; there might interjeoted, the first sensible remark of - sHence. I could see him crouching in a deck, then air, sea, never loosening their be nothing between him and salty obliv the exchange. corner of my guest suite, in a low grip on one ane>ther. ion, or there might be a whale's right ---And what would you suggest we mood I judged. I couldn't see his face Now I was closer. They were praying arm to pluck him out of ithe sea. do now? The question was not for him too well, he being too miffed even to all right. The marathon was on. ! _pulled' Why should he care? There was al .a1t all; . i1t was addressed to the only light •the candle I had thoughtfully prc nearer. ways an option. Savior whale, killer sea, sensible being in sight-myself. vided on a shelf. (Along, I might add, Kneeling in a circle on a deck, a poor that wasn't all there was. I shouldn't What was I to do? Land him safe on with basic survival foods, central heat water-soaked bundle in their midst: they get overbearing. What greater privilege some distant shore, a polyp Qn a -plat ing, soft wall to wall membrane; even, were attending to it with the ominous for a mere whale anyway, than to save ter? But we were howhere near a if he required .sleep, a folded lap rug. devotion ithat always precedes some the Lord's anointed? shore; in the full rage of the sea, God These perquisites snatched from a ship horrible move, something r~ligious . Of course, we're supposed to be at had iet go of him, midway, so to sp ~ al : , wreck some years before, never ingested Three of them picked him up, unresist their 'beck, snatching them from ruin. between unwelcome sky and bott<>mless or eliminated in view of just such a ing (he was probably religious, too). By such a neat arrangement they w:pe wave. Jonah could poim his prophetic contingency.) . · The others stood there in the fury of out at a stroke the heroism, the cooi finger where his fancy pleased: north, !ngraHtude, in face. of all this fore wind, the storm coming at them hori headedpess, the near miraculous benign south, west, go here, run there, it was thought, these Class A accomodations? zontal, demons tossing brimstone in their ity of our vocation. And in the process, all equidistant; he was nowhere. We - You get used to it. faces. Arms raised, ifaces a concentrated canonize rtheir own vagaries. Behold, the wouldn't make it; or more properly, he JONAH .. . ! horror, they stumbled toward the rail Lord's handpicked 'Can go no wrong! wouldn't. Not soaked and frozen in the -He's humilia!ted, he's confused. No ing of that foundering scow, imprecat This one wasn'•t exactly jaunty, though. extremities and half gone with hunge: w-0nder he's withdrawn. Imagine, a ing, the u nresisting bundle dragged After all, he'd had a shakeup, his future as he was. whale for weathervane, world mother. along. A burial at sea, they were bury was uncertain. But he was confident! Now with such serious issues at hand, lifeboat-providence! All his choices are ing him alive! Neck deep in innocence. He hadn't lived I didn't like his preaching, finding it, gone. The planet's given him- up; he's Oh, I know their ilk, they and their fong enough to realize what a trip-ham among other deficiencies, redundant, overb<>ard. No one wants him, no one gods. Why should they give a sou about mer life is, beating you out -0f one badly composed and untimely. But that gives a damn. one another? Their religion forbids it. shape, info another. · doesn't mean, let me add, tthat I'm theo I'm in charge. That comes down hard They threw him over, to hell and His first adventure; he was like with him to the second floor. There, at In the •back of the church, where the scription beginning with the words, the top of the stairs, stood a small elderly choir lof.t is located, are two small "'Dhank God for men like Jagerstatter. Pilgrimage woman who was introduced to me as stained glass windows donated to the He knew in his heart that all men are Mrs. Jagerstatter, Franz' widow. Evi church as a memorial to Jagerstatter. brothers." dently, Mr. Hofbauer had gone upstairs One of these windows hears the Latin After introducing me to the priest for Peace and without my knowledge informed words, "Mary, Queen · of peace, Pray her of my presence. She _greeted me who had said Mass, Mrs. Jagerstatter, for Us.'' her daughters and grandchlldren, ex warmly with a gentle handshake. Af.ter an intensely devotional liturgy, (Continued from page 3) It had not occurred to me .that I pressed their gratitude for my visit and valley. the .families gathered outside in the we said goodbye to one another. I pro would have the opportunity to ·meet cemetery to pray at the graves. The On ithe wall of the church, just abt>ve Mrs. Jagerstatter but I had brought a mised them that as a future teacher I Ja·gerstatter family gathered at Franz's - would always have my students read the grave, hung a large, wooden crudfix, letter in German to leave for her, ex grave. As I walked over to the grave, weathered by time and almost entirely plaining the reasons for my visit, my of her husband's story with the hope Mrs. Jagerstatter greeted me and intro that they would be inspired by his engulfed by the verdant ivy that climbs admiration for her husband's courage, duced me to her daughters Rosalie and the walls. Red rose bushes stood on each and the moral strength her husband's example to live a moral and religious Marie. In his prison letters to his wife, hfe dedicated to building a more just side of the grave, while delicate white witne:;os gave to many Catholic conscien Franz always wrote a message to the edelweiss ff.lowers bl<>orned on the grrass tious objectors in the United States. society through the Ohristian means of children, counseling them to pray love and nonviolence. covered mound of earth. Inscribed on Now I reached into my shirt pocket and regularly and help their mother with the headstone which rested 1below the gave Mrs. Jagerstatter the letter. She Late in the afternoon, I returned to the household and farm chores. Now the Gasthaus and prepared .for my de crucifix was the name of Franz Jager explained, through a young woman who they are mothers themselves with fam statter, followed 'by his birth and death translated for me, that she didn't have parture. A youn-g woman there offered ilies and farms of their own to' care for. me a ride to the bus station in Tarsdorf dates and below that a quote from her glasses with her and would have Also present were two of Mrs. Jager Scripture which, .translated, reads, "For to read the letter at home. She thanked along with a brown bag of fruit and statter's grandchildren whom she in vegetables. . Before I .left the· village, I anyone who wants to save his life will ·me, adding that she hoped to see me troduced with grandmotherly pride. The lose it; out anyone who loses his life after Mass on the following day. walked down the hill to the church and two little ones, around the age of five offered a lfinal prayer for peace in .the for my sake will find it." Mass in the Village or six, extended their little hands to greet Tired from the walk to the village, Morning arrived the next day with world. As I stood next to Jagerstatter's me. Mrs. Jagerstatter explained to them grave, I looked over the vast and color I walked up the road to the He>fbauer the shrill sound of a rooster calling in that I had come all the way from the Gasthaus, an interesting combination of the sun. Before long the church bell ful Salzach valley. The setting sun broke United States to visit the grave of their . through a space in the thick, grey restaurant, hotel and barn for the cows. rang throughout the village, announcing grand!father. With the introductions and Just inside the door, I was gre·eted by the Eucharistic celebration. In the clouds and cast golden rays of light greetings finished, the family ·and I across the landscape. the curious face of Mr. Hofbauer. In next fifteen minutes, families dressed in knelt to pray. halting Germa.Q I tried to explain the their best suits and dresses streamed 'Dhomas Merton once wrote that "the reason for my visit and my intention to into the church and filled the ancient A MissiQn of Protest and Prophecy real question raised by the Jagerstatter stay overnight. He nodded his head and wooden pews. This was . the church Mrs. Jagerstatter then pointed to a story is not merely that.of the individual took me into the restaurant. A few which Franz once served as the parish bronze plaque which huQ.g on the <:hurch Catholic's rirht to conscientious objec minutes later I was served a delicious sexton. He would have been pleased wall located' to the left of the crucifix. tion but the question of the Church's meal of soup and bratwurst. with the condition of the church and This plaque, she explained, was donated own mission of protest and prophecy After 'I finished eating, Mr. Hofbauer the beautiful white baskets of flowers by an American from Missoula, Mon in the rravest spiritual crisis man has 1 took my arm and asked me to come which stood on each side of the altar. tana. The plaque consists of a long in- ever known." THE CATHOLIC · WORKER December, 1977 Tivoli: A Farm With a View Our Lady of the Wayside By DEANE MARY MOWRER tion. Pray .for us and -our dear Earth. (Continued from pap 1) watched Collette bend over a piece oI The return of the white-thioated I was glad to learn that Fr. Lyle cloth and with a safety pin dislodge a Young, who stopped by the farm for a Osteogenisis Imperfecta which me:ms sparrow is an antiphon ()f Advent. Tit that her bones are ·brittle and easily thread. It was a job that unsiteady mice, chickadees, nu.thatches feed amic brief visit recently, had received a gift trembling fingers could do. ' to install a solar energy uhit in his broken. She has had ample time in the ably before my window. A blue jay years that she has spent in a wheel Maureen's eyes twinkled as she told plummets down, shrieking all away, new conference and reitreat center me that "we are not out for production, at Farish Acres near Peekskill. One chair to observe the method that the gobbling sunflower seeds-then, .as sud doctors and nurses use to take ca.re of we try to do the best job we can." -- perfect day last June, Fr. Siebenand, a denly, springs into flight, rogue and the mentally retarded and physically Todd Gauchat is the legally adopted btilly, but beautiful as a flying flower. young priest visiting us from Mississippi, son of Bill and Dorothy Gauchat. Todd drove me and Jerry, a friend from First handicapped children who are the guests Somewhere near, goldfinches in winter of -Our Lady of The Wayside. is 23- years of age and has been con dress twitter sweetly Off a Maiden who Street, to visit Fr. Lyle. I loved· the · fined all his life to a wheel chair. He is secluded, woody, mountainy area, with Our Lady of The Wayside in Avon, is matchless. .BEHOLD THE HAND Ohio is a unique home ifor 37 :hildren a br.ight studious young man who is MAID OF THE •WRD. Tell us, Yea.ts, its old..:fashioned house, with fireplaces studyin·g at Lorain Community College. and chapel, the walk up the hillside to that was founded by Bill and Dorot!'iy what rough beast slouches n<>w toward Gauchat, long-time veterans- of .the Ca He has a face that lights up with smiles Bethlehem? What formless multitudes- the beautiful outdoor a1tar, the old tha1 come in wiaves over his lace. Todd stone walls, the pond, the myriad of tholic Worker Movement, to take rare hungry, oppressed, debased-ravage the of what society calls handicappej cn;ld is able to communicate with people by technologic dark, seeking the Son of singing birds, including to my delight, means of a talking board, which con a veery. In the illternoon we had tea ren. These are the battered children, Justice? DROP DOWN DEW, YE HEA the mongoloids, the hydrocephalics, the tains all the letters of the alphabet. Todd on the terrare- among the flowers, and has ambitions of becoming a wr.iter anti VENS FROM ABOVE. LET EARTH listenea to Fr. Lyle's easy, witty con spasti'c children. Dorothy Gauchat has BUD FORTH A SAVI OUR. written a:bout the founding of the home two of his stories have already been versation, which sometimes reminds me puplished by newspapers. It takes Todd These late autumnal days, before the of the talk of a cleric in an English in a book called All God's Children, advent df winter, are filled with a hours to laboriously type out a page of novel of a somewhat earlier vintage thdn with a foreward by Dorothy Day and copy. flurry of preparator y activity. A char our more cynical present. Fr. Lyle is published by Hawthorn Press. Be sure aderistic sound is that of ithe saw, both to ask for a copy at yo11r local bookshop There is hope that Todd will be atile the founder of a halfway house for ex power and manual, as those who live in or library or send $6.95 ifor a <:opy to to function more normally. Todd has pt iSoners, which is located in East Har heai'd of a doctor in Minnesota who the 'Old mansion and cabins prepare lem and continuing to do ·good work. Dorothy Gauchat. Mention the Catholic fuel for wood-burning stoves. Others are Worker and Dorothy will send you an has perfected a brain pace-maker which Some of these ex-prisoners come for if succe.ssful, will enabl~ him :to ga~ busy insulating, putting up storm doors weekends to Parish Acres. Most of those autographed copy. and plastic storm windows, ' I am writing ·this article in the little better control of his speecll and the use who come for conferences and retreats of his hands. But the implant operation Anather job undertaken by some of are from East Harlem. Fr. Lyle has a office at the Home, where Grace, the the mell' is that of repairing our long secretary, has placed a typewriter at will cost $28,000. An impossible sum for small community working with him to man, but not for God. Perhaps some of driveway, which is filled with the kind make and keep this place self-support my disposal. I always feel it a· privil~ge of potholes and .gulleys certain to hasten to come and sp~d a week with the our readers will be inspired to write ing. Surely God is pleased when such TQdd and enclose a few dollars for his the demise of any automobile. This road good works prosper. children. One would get the irttpressi:m has been repaired frequen.tly, but, since that a hospital of this sort would be a operation. we can never afiford more permanent Here at the farm, we, too, have re joyless, unhappy place. But .the children I .asked Eric Gauchat, who is repair work, seldom outlasts the first ceived some money to spend on environ are happy and their faces are transpar taking over the responsibilities of big downpour. This time the earth for mental improvement. Thanks to the ent with joy. It is the happiness of in being an administrator, what the greatest repairing was taken from the •banks and Sisters of Loretto, we have received a nocence. There is a real peace and joy needs for Our Lady of The Wayside are hill alongside the road. Great cavelike small gift to begin ;the installation c;f ' and one feels the presence of God. It is now and what our readers can do to apertures were left in the side of the waterless, compost toilets, which n:>t evident in the fa-ces of the dedicated staff help. Eric told me that the greatest need hill, and the roots of many trees along only save water but also produce com and volunteers who help staff the place. at the moment is for dedicated volun the thank were left sadly exposed. I post in a saife, usable form. We hope Susan -comes up to me with a winning teers, nurses, nurse's aides, handicraft remembered the minor landslide from to get this project underway soon. smile lighting,up her fl!ce. "Hi Stanley," teachers and people who would be _will- - this hill last spring which spread debris I:t is good, too, that Miriam Carroll she greets me. I feel proud that she hc;s ing to dedicate a year or more of their across the road, and .thought we might has returned to us, for she is an ardent not forgotten me. I remember Susan live~ to helping "All God's Children." well have a worse landslide. Certainly friend of the environment and always from a previous visit to the Home some ·~But those who come," Dorothy we can expect serious erosion. As for does what she can to bring more clean seventeen years ago when she was a Gauchat stressed, "must realize that the trees with exposed roots, I hope liness, order, and •beauty into our house. baby lying in ·a crib, and during the they have to make a serious commit they will nat come down in some win Most of us, I think, really appreciate years I have had the happiness of S<'e ment. They will be dealing with ·handi ter storm and bring down our power Miriam's efforts. Ultimately Dostoyevsky ing her develop into a mature, young capped children and it will be a great lines, as happened last winter when we is surely right.--"The world will be girl. Susan has .a happy disposition ao1d responsibility. They will have to work were without lights and heat for almost saved by beauty." is always smiling and loves to dance. hard. We could not take any volunteers a week. Such repairing, it seems to me, Miriam has also' resumed reading to Susan is suffering from Down's Syn who would not be able to make that is robbing Peter ,to pay Paul. Too often me. At present we are enjoying Simone drome. Right now Susan tells me she dedication." the poor, lacking the money to do better, Petrement's remarkable and somewhat has moved to The Croft to be with the And may I make the further sug resort to such destructive measures. exhaustive biography of that extra adult memb€!rs of the Community. gestion that readers who would like to Tbe Sacred Earth . ordinary and brilliant woman, Simone The Croft is a home that Dorothy support this good work send a contri I try to tell myself that if we had Weil. Reading -good books is a good way Gauchat has founded to take care of bution to Our Lady of The Wayside, had the money to buy a couple of loads to keep off the torpor of winter. the children when they reach adult 38125 Colorado Ave., Avon, Ohio 44011. of gravel for our road, our trees and Jack Adam's _contribution to our en hood. It is a beautiful home situated on hill mighi not have been treated so vironmont is well expressed by his ten acres of farm land. The residents rudely. I know, however, there is more repair work and maintenance about the help plant and harvest vegetables fer STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP. MANAGEMENT AND ClllCULATION than poverty involved. From the be house. He has also fixed up a little the baible and the freezer. Susan tells (Jlequind by 39 U.S.C. 3685) ginning, •too many Americans have felt workshop in our basement so that me, with pride in her voice, that she I. Tide of 1111blication : THE CATHOLIC WOlllt that all that matters is the immediate Ralph, who is an ex~llent carpenter, and Collette bake some 40 loaves of ER. Pub11catlon No. 85'7140. problem and need, that rt.hey must Iorge -could repair our many broken chairs. bread a week to sell. It is one of the a. Date of tllln1r: September 28, tm. 3. Frequency of iuuc: 9 rimes a year ( monrhly tt· ahead, cutting, tearing, sla~hing, with According to all reports, Ralph is doing means by which they hope to become cept bt·monthly .l.uues Mar.• Apr., Jul,y.Aq. and out regard .to consequence and wasie. first class work. self-supporting. Oct.·Nov.) Annual SubKrlptlon prlee 211 cents. 4. Location of known office of publication: 36 That sense of the sacredness of the We miss Kathleen and Terri, who East ht Srrttt. New York, N .Y. 10003. earth and nature, which dominates the left us this !fall. J a'Ck and Mal, who Cottare Industry 5. Location of the bndquanrrs or senersl b1Uines1 office of rh" publis""n: S.-. whole approach to life of ' American heve inherited their share of ;the driv- "We are trying to introduce skills and 6. Nam.,s and addresses of publisher, rdiror. and Indians, has been notably absent from ing, complain but continue to make es- crafts that will enable the young handi mana,Ring ediror: Publisher: Dororhy 0.-,; Editor: Doroth,- Day; Ma~ing rditor: :l.obrn Ellsberg. all us. We have indeed so wasted and pil sential trips. Kathleen's cousin, Patricia, capped adults to become sel{-supporting. of 36 l!asr ht Streer. New York, N .Y. 10003. laged ,the resources of this earth, that is here, studying goatology with Billy We do not believe in making work for 7. Owner: Dorothy Dar. 36 East ht Sflftl, Ne• we can hardly hope to survive much Baker, and helping Jack and Bob with them." Dorothy told me. "We are trying York, N .Y. 10003, 8. Known bondholders, morr11agtts, and otbtt 9"· longer as a species unless we make the tedious job of shopping. Joan holds to develop a small home industry \Vhich curiry holden ownio11 or holding 1 prrcent or more of some drastic changes in our approach to things together. Alan, Dominic, Don,· will give them a sense of importance rouJ amount of bonds, morrpge. or other securities: None. earth and nature. Our political and Billy, Bob Kendrick, Bob Bellows, Roy, and a chance to earn some money. We 9. For complcrion by nonprofit ~niu.tiODs au religious leaders, our men and women Bryan and Joan do-most of the cooking. know that they will never be able to thorized ro mail at special rottS: Not appltcahle. 10. Exttnr and narutt of cittularion (Pim ~ it .of enterprise and business must try to Alice Lawrence is able to help out in make their way in the world, but the attratt no. of conies each issix during_ preceduag 12 build a new economy on sound conserva the chapel again. Dorothy Day, how- Croft will be their home for as long ..months; ~nthtsded figure 1s acmal no. ol cOllia ol single issue published ottttst ro filinc datt. l : A. Total tion principles, recycling our multitu ever, is still not a'ble to visit us. We as th~~ live." . . no. ol copies printed: llS.800 - _ _ _ _.. ______.,. _ ___ 4 --~ -~- .... . ) l>ecemlter, l 977 THE CATHOLIC WORKER is the recognition that there is not only a clear Gospel perspective on property Having/ a Baby PROPERTY ario P0Y.ER1Y and pf>verty but a Gospel imperatilre. (Continued from page 8) (Continued from pagf! 5) pitality to dispossessed people, who were This imperative is actuated 1by how we bound to them by no ties of blood or view our neighbor; if we see a person, she grows up, which future will relieve immigrants. The poverty of the members tribe: "Clasp the afflicted man as H )le whether homeless or diseased, disfigured her of the necessity for learning read of the religious -congregation was an were gold. Take the sufferer to your or humiliated, enemy or friend, near or faraway, as having taken upon him or ing, writing and arithmetic. ordered one. They had bi;,ought with arms as if be were your own health. Do herself 'lthe very person of the Savior," Her long. upper lip, which resemble3 them flour and ' other basic foods and not despise men in their abjecti~n; do that of an Irish policeman, may inter every day they would prepar~ a sparse not think of them as no account. Reflect then we can accept for· our own lives the fere with her beauty, but. with such but life-sustainfog meal. For the immi on what they are, and you will under simplicity of Christian l>Overty and we posy hands as she has already, nothing grants, their enforced poverty was ac stand their dignity. They have taken up ·:::an make our property available for the will interfere with her grace. tually disordered misery. All survived on themselves the very person of the works of mercy. the long sea journey, but the priests, Savior." Just now I must say she is a lazy even in the new land, continued to hold - The early Christians, then, did not Suggested re~ . on - alternative little hog, mouthing around my nice full up their concept of poverty as an ideal, economics and visious of society: breast and too lazy to tug for food. strip themselves of everything, nor for poverty is having what one needs to SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL by E. F. Schu What do you want, little bird? That it live a human life. merely earn sufficient for their immed should run into your mouth, I suppose. iate needs. They gathered surplus pos macher. Economies as if people mat If poverty is what one needs to live a sessions in order to be able to accept the tered. (Harper Torchbooks, N.Y.) But no, you must work for your pro truly human life, then the same scale of vender already. stranger who appeared at their door and THE POLITICS OF THE GOSPEL by She is only four days old but already to make it possible to send :funds a"Cross Jean-Marie Paupert, with forword by she has the bad habit of feeling bright seas and borders to hungry people they Daniel Berrigan. For an evangelical and desirous of play at four o'clock in would never see. Their simple spring politics. (Holt, Reinehart & Winston, the morning. Pretending that I am a board of action was