1 Th e Hartford Catholic St. Martin De Porres House Worker St. Brigid House “I really only love God as much as I love the person I love the least.” -Dorothy Day T hey left behind only that which they thought useless. They took away everything except the Spirit, which they were incapable of seeing. From it life was reborn, a new path was opened up and the darkness became Light for me.

So I have experienced all of it from the scandal of the Cross to the joyous surprise of

Brian Kavanagh Mary Magdalene. Magdalene Sometimes weeping, sometimes singing. -Julia Esquivel desde el exilio Lent/Easter 2020 2 The Hartford Catholic Worker Established November 3, 1993 Volume 28 Number 1 The Hartford Catholic Worker is published quarterly by the St. Martin De Porres Catholic Worker community. We are a lay community of Catholics and like minded friends, living in the north end of Hartford, working and praying for an end to violence and poverty. We are a 501c3 tax exempt organization. We do not seek or accept state or federal funding. Our ability to house the homeless, feed the hungry, and work with the children depends on contributions from our readers. We can be reached at: 18 Clark St., Hartford CT 06120; (860) 724-7066, purplehousecw@gmail. com and www.hartfordcatholicworker.org We are: Brian Kavanagh, Baby Beth Donovan, Dwight Teal Jr., Sasean Sanders, Jacqueline, and Christopher Allen-Douçot. Why I Like the Green House A few weeks back we gave the Green also love the Green House because other. The reason I go to the Green House kids this writing prompt: “I like they provide us with healthy snacks House is because they teach children coming to the Green House because:” and they bring happiness... I also like what they need to know. For an exam- the people here and Baby [Beth] is a ple: life skills, kindness, sharing, and Brittani, age 16 sweet and nice person. Its wonderful how to control your temper the right I like the Green House because coming here and I wish I could get way. They help you with homework. they guide me to do my best in life the whole world to come here and the do fun activities like art projects, and they are my role models. They field trips, and even fun games to teach me not to give up and to fol- play... Also Hartford Catholic Worker low by dreams in life. I have so much is a unique program to go to, they fun in the Green House. We do have some things other programs sports, and arts and crafts, and how to don’t have. Another reason that me respect others. I met a lot of friends. and other kids go to the Green House They help me with my homework is because the staff can improve kids’ and how to shoot hoops. They teach social skills. they also provide chil- me how to be a leader and not to be a dren with snacks, love, kindness, and follower. I have a learning disability, respect. this program can give your but they treat me the same like oth- parents time to work and do what ers and I am happy there. I feel safe they have to do. The Green House is there... The Green House makes you like another home to me. they care think about college. On Earth Day we about me and respect me. This is why helped clean up the neighborhood... I love the Green House.W We also sewed shopping bags, we made pillows, and t-shirts, and tissue Haze, age 9 holders. When I make something I Brittani I have been to the Green House can give it to my family... I love being see how I enjoy and I made so many for abut 2 1/2 years. I like coming at the Green House! W friends and it feels like family here. I to the green House because thee is love going on the swings and playing. always a lot of activities. I like going Journee, age 10 In conclusion this is what I love about tot he Christmas Party because they What I love about the Green the Green House.W always have a lot of candy and drinks. House is how kind people are to me I also like playing outside in the snow. and how caring they are. Also, I feel Chanel, age 12 I also enjoy the Easter party because safe when I come to the Green House. All children need a safe place to we get to run around and find eggs. I love working with Dwight and do- be after school with caring, respon- We exercise a lot. I also like to play in ing art. And I like when I get help sible adults and engaging activities the Green House back yard. when I on my homework. I love the parties. that fit for children, family, and the first used the pogo stick I only hopped The best was the Halloween party community. One of the programs I’m 4 times, now I did 1,576. I am really but I know the Christmas party will talking about is the Hartford Catholic good at it. I love when UConn comes be great. When I first came I knew it Worker. this program is helping chil- because they always play basketball would be awesome and I remember dren and teaching children kindness, with me and play freeze tag together. W when I fell- Timothy helped me. I caring for each other, and loving each 3 Legal Prostitution and Sex Trafficking: One Tourist’s Account Terry T. Steele presented themselves to potential homes, however, is not so clear. I almost didn’t click the submit clients. The “girls” were simply doing Almost all women in prostitu- button. As I was reviewing my order their jobs and deserved respect and tion experience violence; the dangers – one ticket for a tour of the infamous privacy. We were to glance briefly of working in the sex trade are well Red Light District—it occurred to me and walk on by. documented. Proponents of legal that purchasing that ticket would be We did what we were told. As we prostitution list safety concerns as one contributing to the sex tourism indus- moved deeper and deeper into the of their main priorities (i.e., bring the try. It didn’t feel right. But I had so district, the streets got narrower and work out into the open and give the many questions. And would I ever be narrower. We walked almost single women recourse for violence against in Amsterdam again? I clicked. file as we passed a trio of windows. them.) Detractors cite safety con- Work brought me to cerns as well (i.e., How can a Amsterdam. My desire to state sanction an “industry” learn more about sex traf- where murder is an occupa- ficking within the context tional hazard?). Janine Bene- of legal prostitution brought det, Director of The Centre me to the Red Light District. for Feminist Legal Studies Estimates of the number of at the University of British prostitutes working in the Columbia raises an interesting City vary. Writings on the point. By accepting a “harm subject suggest that anywhere reduction” approach (e.g., between 24,000 and 31,000 legalization and regulation), sex workers operate in the we are acknowledging “that Netherlands. for many women the act of The rain was steady, and prostitution itself causes grave the air was chilled. It was physical and psychological dark—even for a Novem- harm.” We don’t settle for a ber evening. As I walked to harm reduction strategy for the gathering spot, I could not even Young women who, at quick glance, situations like domestic violence or imagine who would take a tour like looked like Victoria’s Secret-models sexual harassment, which also cause this and on such an inhospitable appeared before us. Eventually, we great harm to women; we aim to night. “Who would be guiding us?”, emerged from the catacomb-like eliminate them. Is a harm reduction I also wondered. walkways and found ourselves at the strategy, then, acceptable for prostitu- I breathed a sigh of relief when entrance to the Blue Light District. tion? Or should there be a consensus our tour guide arrived. She looked Here, transgender women stood around eliminating this monetized to be almost 70. This was serious behind the doors, waiting like the violence against women? business; I was grateful for a mature others, for clients on that cold, dark On our way back to the original guide. night. meeting spot, I walked along side our I listened carefully as she de- In a soft tone that underscored guide and asked the main question I scribed the history of the Red Light her concern for the girls, our guide came to ask. “How many of the women District, an area that has been a hub explained how this legal system of working in prostitution here are victims of for sex workers since the 15th century. window-prostitution shifted the sex trafficking?” I braced myself for In addition to the brothels and adult power away from the buyers and to the answer. Any number greater than shops, we passed apartment build- the working women. It is the woman zero meant that not only did I very ings, restaurants, a nursery school, who decides whether or not to open likely just walk by a trafficking victim, and a church as we moved down the door. She can wave away a but I paid for the privilege: To walk the cobbled streets. Then our guide would-be client if she doesn’t like his away; To leave her behind; To not stopped and waited until we were all looks or manner. The woman negoti- acknowledge her suffering; Or her paying attention. “There will be no pic- ates the price for the service. “It is worth; Or her dignity. ture-taking,” she said. “And please don’t important”, our guide emphasized, “The local police estimate around 20%,” stare.” You see, we were about to walk “that the woman chooses the client and not she replied, her words a crushing past the famous windows – doors the other way around.” What happens blow. actually – where the working women in the brothels, sex clubs and private (Please see: Prostitution, p4) ing thrives. of 1,711 in 2012, and 742 in 4 Prostitution, cont. A 2012 study by the London 2018; the national rapporteur on Do the math. If between 24,000 School of Economics demonstrated trafficking estimates that the actual number and 31,000 women work each day in that countries with legal prostitution of victims in the Netherlands is around five the Netherlands and 20% are traf- had higher inflows of sex trafficking. times the reported figures.” ficking victims, that means over 4800 The authors explain the economic Another group meeting the de- women are being forced to perform theory that demand for and supply of mand for prostitutes are young refu- sex acts against their will. As one prostitutes increase when prostitution gees. In Germany, where prostitution De Wallen bookshop owner said in is legal because the cost (i.e., risk) of is legal, there is a rise in prostitution a BBC story, “They are essentially raped participation decreases. They set out among young asylum seekers from every day.” to determine if the increased demand countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, According to Polaris, the operators is filled by local, legal prostitutes or Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. These refu- of the National Human Trafficking if trafficking victims from outside of gees are typically between 16 to 25 Hotline in the US, “Human traffick- the area are brought in to meet the years old and often arrive alone. Ac- ing is the business of stealing freedom for demand. Their research, using data cording to Diana Hennigis, a German profit. It is a multi-billion-dollar refugee aid worker, “How criminal industry that denies prone these young refugees are to freedom to 24.9 million people entering the sex trade relies on a around the world.” And sex variety of factors such as asylum trafficking is the“ crime of status and level of education. using force, fraud or coercion to Drug addiction or homelessness induce another individual to sell can also play a role.” sex.” It is important to note According to Am- that whenever a minor is sterdam’s mayor, Femke involved in commercial sex, Halsema, “the surge in women it is sex trafficking. There from poorer Eastern European is no such thing as child countries, such as Romania and prostitute. Bulgaria, as well as other less I tossed and turned economically developed regions that night struggling to like Latin America and Africa, process the events of the increases the risk of exploitation. day. Are the women in the You can question their free will, windows really in charge because there is a huge need for because they can choose them to feed families elsewhere.” their clients? Do they have Taking into account the a “right” to do this work? factors that drive people Would things be worse for into legal prostitution, them if prostitution were can their actions truly be illegal here? Would there considered voluntary? Is be more sex trafficking? legalizing prostitution the Would there be less? What best we, as a society, can do about the objectification for vulnerable people? of women and the danger Just last Fall, a bill to it poses to all women? Do decriminalize prostitution others know better than the in Washington, D.C. was women who work in the windows? Is from over 150 countries, shows that stalled by activists who tes- it arrogant to judge their choice? A the increase in demand is not met by tified that sex trafficking and sexual thousand questions collided in my an increase in supply of legal prosti- exploitation increase exponentially brain until I slipped off to a troubled tutes. Instead, the increased demand when the sex trade is normalized. In sleep. is overwhelmingly met with trafficked a statement on that failed legislative I set out to learn about the inter- people. effort, Polaris wrote, “It is problematic section of legal prostitution and sex According to Time, “National and deeply alarming that this bill proposes trafficking when I signed up for the figures show a striking increase in Dutch to move DC towards the laws and market tour. I learned that night that within authorities’ counts of the number of victims conditions that pimps, traffickers, and sex the brutal world of prostitution— in the Netherlands since the legalization buyers prefer. The notion that we can pass even legal prostitution—sex traffick- of brothels, from 228 in 1998, to a peak (Please see: Prostitution, p6) 5 Want to Fight Human Trafficking? Address Youth Poverty Laura T. Murphy Ph.D. are doing little to provide potential, we learned is that regardless of sex, (This essay originally appeared in the current, and former victims of traf- gender, race, religion, or nationality, Fall 2019 issue of JustSouth Quarterly, ficking what they need—a route out homeless youth were extremely vul- a publication of the Jesuit Social Research of poverty. nerable to trafficking precisely because Institute at Loyola University New Orleans. Researchers with Loyola Univer- they were homeless. Dr. Murphy is Professor of Human Rights sity New Orleans’ Modern Slavery Youth reported that their fear and Contemporary Slavery, Helena Kennedy Research Project interviewed over of sleeping on the streets left them Centre for International Justice, Sheffield 640 homeless youth in Covenant vulnerable to sex and labor traffickers Hallam University) House shelters around the United and to survival sex. Eighty-four per- In this time of increasing partisan- States and Canada, including Ft. cent of youth who reported engaging ship and discord in the United Lauderdale, St. Louis, and our own in the sex trade without a third-party States, there is one thing that controller (colloquially called people on the left and right seem a “pimp”) did so because of to agree on, and that is the need economic need. Securing hous- to reduce human trafficking. The ing was a primary concern for crime of trafficking is commit- the vast majority of the youth we ted when someone compels a interviewed. Sixty-eight percent person to work through force, of the youth who had either been fraud, or coercion, or when trafficked or engaged in survival someone engages a minor in a sex or commercial sex had done commercial sex act. Both sex so while homeless. Nineteen per- and labor trafficking happen in cent of all youth interviewed had every single state in the union, engaged in survival sex solely so and it happens in a wide swath of that they could access housing industries—not only in the illicit or food. This problem is even sex and drug trades, but also in starker among those who were agriculture, door-to-door sales, not sheltered. The incidence construction, restaurants, and of trafficking among drop-in even teaching. youth—sometimes called “street As attention to this issue youth”—was high relative to the increases, so does the desire to sheltered cohort: 24 percent were find a way to address it. Many trafficked for sex, 13 percent for states have significantly increased labor. penalties imposed on convicted We asked the young people traffickers in the hopes that it Keep your coins. I want change. who had been trafficked what would deter future predators. could have been done to prevent Legislators in the state of Utah, where hometown of New Orleans. We them from being trafficked and what the use of firing squad was legalized in found that, of the homeless youth we young people with similar experiences 2015, have gone so far as to attempt to interviewed, nearly 1 in 5 had been need in order to escape their traffick- make the death penalty available as a trafficked either for sex or some other ers. The young people we talked to punishment for child sex traffickers. form of labor. Many people in those were surprised that we asked them While there is no doubt that traf- communities were surprised to learn their opinions at all. Indeed, few ficking in any form is a heinous crime, that 8 percent of the youth we inter- people had ever asked them for their we cannot punish our way out of the viewed had been trafficked for labor own thoughts on what they needed fact that people are made vulner- in the drug trade, factories, domestic or what programs might work to help able to forced labor because they are service, or agriculture. Because we other youth who had been trafficked. impoverished, lack a social support tend to think of trafficking simply in As far as we know, few if any of the network, and are cut off from the terms of young women forced into legislators deciding the fates of traf- services they need to access well-being the sex trade, it was also notable that ficked people and their exploiters have and independence. While activists and we found that 11% of the young men interacted extensively with survivors legislators focus on intensely penal- we interviewed had been trafficked of trafficking to learn what we as a izing those caught for trafficking, they for sex in their lifetimes as well. What (Please see: Trafficking, p7) We, the undersigned survivors of prostitu- discomfort with treating the 6 Prostitution, cont. tion and sex trafficking, have experienced sex workers as a tourist attrac- years of abuse, violence, objectification, tion. They are people, after all. this bill and still effectively combat sex traf- and dehumanization in the sex trade. We Yes, they are. People who de- ficking in DC misunderstands the nature know first-hand the devastating harm and serve safe options and full potential. of trafficking and what it takes to stop it.” long-term trauma that happens as a result of People from whom we should not They go on to explain, “Pimping is often being exploited in an industry predicated on walk away indistinguishable from sex trafficking, and racial, gender, and income inequality. or leave both will be harder to stop if pimping is no To be clear, we support decriminalizing behind. longer a crime. The volume of sex buying will people sold in prostitution, as we care deeply On a increase in DC when buyers no longer fear about their safety and well-being... But cold, rainy arrest, which will attract more traffickers due [fully] decriminalizing the sex trade... means November to the more lucrative market where demand allowing pimps, sex buyers, and brothel own- night or far outpaces supply. Pimps, traffickers, and ers to operate with impunity. Sex trafficking any other sex buyers will celebrate if this bill becomes (including that of children) and organized night of law. That should be a warning to all of us crime increases when pimping and sex buying the year. W about who really stands to gain the most by are legalized.” the effects of this bill – yet again, those with After I returned home, I read that more privilege, wealth, and power.” tours of the Red Light District were While studies and statistics help being banned in 2020. This decision to paint a picture, it is the voices of was part of an effort to scale back the survivors that call out to us most tourism in De Wallen - especially profoundly. In a letter to presidential visits from misbehaving tourists who candidates, 250 survivors of sex traf- ignore the rules. Plus, the crush of ficking made a plea to stand against “budget tourists” (those who look decriminalizing the sex trade: but do not pay) is bad for business. “Dear Presidential Candidates, It seems, too, that there is a growing Faith and Justice Summit on Human Trafficking A movement has emerged in Connecticut that is addressing human trafficking at every level, and many Christian leaders and organizations have stepped into strategic roles. In this one-day event, join together with other learners, leaders and organizations to learn about the critical role you and your church can have in pre- venting human trafficking and helping our trafficked brothers and sisters find freedom and restoration. The event will include how to address labor trafficking and the demand side of labor and sex trafficking. Lunch will be provided! Saturday March 14th, 2020 The Pastoral Center of the Archdiocese of Hartford 476 Bloomfield Avenue Bloomfield, CT 06002 Saturday, March 14th, 2020, 9:30 am-3:30 pm $30 per participant (group rates also available) Featured Speakers Peter Buck, of the Interfaith Program at Equal Exchange, will speak on the use of forced child labor and human trafficking in the cacao (chocolate) industry in West Africa, and the alternative to buying “slave choco- late.” Lisa Lungren, Outreach Coordinator for Immigration and Anti-Trafficking, will discuss the forces of demand that enable labor trafficking to flourish, as well as the most common industries where this particular manifestation of modern-day slavery plays out. Tomas Perez, President and Founder of the Epik Project, will discuss his insights and achievements in disrupting the online sex-trafficking business by bringing men into the fight against this exploitation. In addition, a panel discussion will be held concerning how faith communities are working together with state and nonprofit organizations in CT.Annmarie Boulay, The Underground CT, Founder and President, and Yvette Young, Connecticut’s Human Anti-trafficking Response Team will be presenting. Office for Catholic Social Justice Ministry - Archdiocese of Hartford 467 Bloomfield Ave, Bloomfield, CT 06002, (860) 242-5573, [email protected] lack of job 7 Trafficking, cont. opportuni- ties con- society should prioritize in our efforts verged with to address this problem. a lack of When asked what exploited and computer trafficked youth need, not one respon- literacy and dent in our study said they needed to job skills see their traffickers punished—and and a lack certainly none of them mentioned of afford- increasing sentencing. While certainly able hous- justice is critical to some survivors’ ing to lead recovery processes, the sort of preven- to vulner- tion through punishment plan that ability. legislators focus on was not at the What front of the minds of the survivors did young with whom we spoke. trafficked Instead, what young adult survi- people vors of human trafficking told us was need to that they needed jobs and a living avoid and wage. The majority of those who were escape trafficked were seeking work oppor- traffick- tunities when they were approached ers? They by their traffickers. In fact, 91 percent needed jobs of the youth we interviewed had been and job approached by someone offering skills. They them a job opportunity that sounded sought (or turned out to be) too good to be training true. Some of the young people were on how to resilient against such offers. But too identify a many others were so desperate for a safe job reasonable wage or a place to stay that and ad- they were willing to take the risk of ditional job accepting a job, even when the offer skills train- seemed suspicious, dangerous, or even ing pro- illegal. Others felt forced to turn to grams to trading sex because they could not help them find legitimate work. avoid labor Indeed, the vast majority of the traffickers, youth we interviewed indicated that and food. They needed a support sex traffickers, and other exploitative system that could help them identify they encountered people who took labor situations. They needed a liv- advantage of them when they were fraudulent offers and places to stay ing wage, so that when they did find when they ran into trouble.W searching for work and housing. A work, they were able to afford rent Good Friday Stations of the Cross for Peace W Please join us on Good Friday, April 10 in praying the Stations of the Cross at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton. We will gather at 10:00 at the corner of Rte 12 and Crystal Lake Rd. W Please join Brian every Friday from 11:30- 12:30 to vigil for peace outside the Federal Building, 450 Main St. Hartford.

If someone walks into a church and destroys the altar and statues, etc., it is called a sacrilege. A sacrilege is the desecration of what is consid- ered holy. But for the Christian, the ultimate place of the holy is the human person. We are the “temples of the Holy Spirit.” Therefore, every act of violence toward a human being is an act of desecration of the temple of God in this world. War for the Christian is always sacrilege. There is no such absurdity as a Christian ethic of justified sacrilege. -Fr. George Zabelka, penitent for blessing the “Little Boy” nuclear bomb that killed 146,000 people. 8 Why I Like the Green House Tylesha, age 7 I love going to the Green House because I can do my homework and be a helper. I say what I am thankful for and say the rules to the Green House in circle. I can have a fun day. I have lots of friends and I make new friends and they keep us safe when we are crossing the street... We get to do Halloween parties, Christmas parties, Thanksgiving. We love each other as a ginormous family. I love everyone in the Green House. W

Tylesha (right) and her “ginormous family” (above). Jamaria, age 12 the woods and I ate pizza. And I like to come to you because it is they also gave us Christmas pres- very easy to meet new and friendly ents. And we had a snowball fight people. Everyone is helpful and sup- and we got to play with our friends portive, which I am grateful for. I and cousins (ed note: spelled “cou- also like to come here to play with my sants” :) and brothers and sisters. friends on the playground or go to the Then after all the cleaned up and art room to do new activities on dif- we dust all the tables and picked ferent days. Another reason why I love up the trash on the ground . Also, the Green House is that they are gener- when we were done they gave us ous with giving away food and clothes. hot chocolate with whipped cream they also help with school supplies. and marshmallows and cookies. good bye to everybody and went home. We When it’s getting close to holidays, like And then we packed up and said had pleasant dreams all night long! W Christmas and Easter, we celebrate together. Also, I like the summer camp because there are many things you can do like going fishing, getting ice- alternate names for black boys cream, playing man-hunt, going to the movie theater, going swimming, and 1. smoke above the burning bush 12. what once passed for kindling playing volleyball. thanks for giving 2. archnemesis of summer night 13. fireworks at dawn me the opportunity to have fun. W 3. first son of soil 14. brilliant, shadow hued coral 4. coal awaiting spark & wind 15. (I thought to leave this blank Passion, age 8 5. guilty until proven dead but who am I to name us nothing?) What I like about the Green House 6. oil heavy starlight 16. prayer who learned to bite & sprint is playing outside on the playground 7. monster until proven ghost 17. a mother’s joy & clutched breath and swinging, and playing in the play 8. gone room. Also, going upstairs and doing 9. phoenix who forgets to un-ash art. Also, upstairs we play on the com- 10. going, going, gone Danez Smith puter. One day I was at the Christmas 11. gods of shovels & black veils party and it was fun. I was going into She has worked so hard and taken every single (and already are) from the effects of immoral 9 Notes, cont. opportunity for learning and training she could budgets based on profits for the politicians. A was made of when she spent an hour helping find. Her courage and spirit are an inspiration congressional study has shown that since 9-11 one of our most challenged littles read a short to all of us at HCW. this nations spends nine thousand dollars a book so she could check off the 20 minutes her In these days of politicians who propagate second on wars. From the vantage point of the homework worksheet required. She repeatedly hate, racism, and fear mongering we at the apartheid of the North End we know a military helped our friend refocus despite the distrac- Worker plant a different kind of seed. The work budget like that is why Hartford has under- tions of bacteria growing science projects and we do is small scale, but we are growing the funded schools and a low literacy rate. It’s why quesadillas for snack. beloved community. We are empowering each an addict has to wait 6 moths in jail for a treat- Maria Karas, my niece that has pretty much other with hope, joy and laughter. We are stand- ment bed in a facility. Its why jail is where we grown up at the Worker, has put our mentally ill. It keeps also been doing an internship our doorbell ringing with for her senior project as a people desperate for help with nutrition student at UConn. security deposits, electric bills, I have to laugh because her college loans, and prescription cooking project started out meds. We must choose: God resembling the Mama chick or mammon. Choosing God "who will help me cook my means caring for the Body of bread" story form Aesop's Christ- God’s people. Faith in fables. There were not many God means a life of putting takers to help cook the food... our energy into our brothers BUT everyone wanted to eat and sisters, not locking them it! As the weeks went on the in cages and building bombs carrot cookies and rice and to kill them. I leave you a sec- beans lured the helpers into ond with a quote from Walter the activity!! Bruggemann. Dwight and I are slowly “The truth is that fright- polyurethaning the new ened people will never turn murals our teens have been the world, because they use working on. Everyone loves too much energy on protec- to see their art making the tion of self. It is the vocation of backyard more beautiful! We the baptized, the known and are also in the midst of creat- named and unafraid, to make ing paintings for an art show the world whole: The unafraid at the graduation party! There are open to the neighbor, may be a few available for sale! while the frightened are Sasean has begun to meet defending themselves from with a crew of young adults the neighbor. The unafraid that are hosting teen night. are generous in the com- A wonderful mentoring / munity, while the frightened, support opportunity for our in their anxiety, must keep older kids. and store and accumulate, We are grateful for all the to make themselves safe. folks who gave support to our The unafraid commit acts of guest “H.” (especially Mallory compassion and mercy, while from UConn law school and the frightened do not notice Chris Patee). H has been able Maria and Samiah making healthy snacks after school. those in need. The unafraid to win her asylum case and are committed to justice for earn an almost impossible to get Green Card, ing together and practicing resurrection in the the weak and the poor, while the frightened see and find work. She will be moving into her own face of grinding poverty in a nation that has them only as threats. The unafraid pray in the space soon. We are putting together some things abandoned the poor and marginalized. We are morning, care through the day, and rejoice at for her and hoping someone might have a small calling out to our brothers and sisters to work night in thanks and praise, while the frightened table, pans, and 2 chairs to share. We will help for an economy that is not based on maximized are endlessly restless and dissatisfied. So dear profits but mutual care, as Christ called his first people, each of you: Do not fear! I have called her with a bed, bedding, and some dishware. W H is a wonderful living example of what lies disciples to do. We are trying to connect with you by name; you are mine!” we are told about refugees and immigrants. each other to save those who will suffer most 18 Clark St. 10 Hartford, CT 06120 (860) 724-7066

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Notes From De Porres House Jackie Allen-Douçot they LOVE to paint. Last week one of the girls I am writing this as Lent quickly approach- told me that she tried to tell a few kids in their es. I seem to feel the heaviness of the world as building about the Green House but none of I listen to the swirl of the news. Racism and them would believe her! I asked her what she anti -Semitism are on the rise. It is hard not to had told them. She said "I told them they could feel like the earth is being crucified when one come to a house that you walk in the door and watches the footage of fires ravaging Australia or everyone says hello to you. Then they give you hears news of the assassinations of indigenous fruit and snacks and go to a room filled with people who are struggling to save their land books and toys!! Upstairs you can paint and do from corporate pillagers. I have been finding art every day!!” She looked sad and said "but comfort in the Lenten reflections of Walter they could not believe it." I smiled for days. Brueggemann. Here is a wonderful quote... January was a tough month because our “I imagine Lent for you and for me as a great college volunteers had not yet returned. We also departure from the greedy, anxious anti neigh- lost about 10 of the kids in our program to the borliness of our economy, a great departure from CRT program across the street. It is tough to our exclusionary politics that fears the other, a compete with the sugar snacks and unlimited great departure from self-indulgent consumer- computer time they allow. Not to be outdone, we ism that devours creation. And then an arrival started a weekly rewards program that involves in a new neighborhood, because it is a gift to be movies and ice cream for participation. We are simple, it is a gift to be free; it is a gift to come starting a poetry/rap contest on March 1st. It will down where we ought to be.” be exciting to see what they write and perform. Here at the Worker I try to find those mo- I wish Ammon was here to do spoken word with ments of grace that keep my heart in that blessed space. Easter is about them! building that new neighborhood! One of my favorite things to do is art We have a new intern from U of H joining us until May. She let us with the kids. We have two new little girls that are 5 and 8 years old and know right away what she (Please see: Notes, p9)