C A T H O L I C HENNACY HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY Hennacy House illustration by Becky McIntyre House illustration by Becky Hennacy 632 BRITTANIA STREET A HISTORY KINGS BAY PLOWSHARES 7 UPDATE p.7 THEY WORKED ENDLESSLY TO TURN THE HOUSE INTO A HOME HENNACY HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY I often think about the expression “if walls could talk” and imagine what stories our 130+ year-old house would tell. Every person who resided on this patch of earth has left their mark, seeding a part of their vision, joys, and struggles into the bone marrow of this building. 632 BRITTANIA STREET A HISTORY By MATT HARPER declared their desire to get the death penalty abolished so that often think about the express- “the state may no longer swell the ion, “if walls could talk” and list of murders by becoming imagine what stories our 130+ itself a murderer.” It worked to I year-old house would tell. shift public opinion so that the Every person who resided on this “reformation of offenders,” not patch of earth has left their mark, revenge, might be the law’s guid- seeding a part of their vision, joys, ing principle. And, it extended and struggles into the bone marrow an invitation for all to join. Not of this building. only did these values come back From 1978 to today, the L.A. to life with our moving in almost Catholic Worker’s story has crossed 70 years later, but Rees also and crisscrossed those that trans- started a tradition of 632 Brittania pired before ours, mirroring so St. residents using a newspaper much of what came before. These as a tool of education, agitation, points of intersection create a and mobilization. through line that leads me to won- After his death in 1914, the der if others were getting this house Rees family decided “nobody wanted ready for us long before we arrived. to take care of the big house,” so, in Though the surface-level story In the newspaper 1918, they sold it. of this home and its owners would The next known owner was the make a great Christmas story, we article, the group Church of the Open Door, who ran are now into a year that has already the Mary Martha Home for Girls. given us both a miraculous flip of the declared their desire to On October 1,1942, this Christian Georgia Senate and a white suprema- get the death penalty group began their renovations to and cist, state-approved, police-protected expansion of the 50+ year-old house. terrorist attack on the capitol. And abolished so that “the Though these additions (and the we are only weeks into this new- three buildings added in 1947, 1950, year. So, let us hold the messiness state may no longer and 1958) made us too wide to be of imperfect answers to impossible seen as a classic Victorian house any- questions and tell a full story, as I swell the list of murders more, it built the infrastructure—and believe it is an act of love. set the tone—for creating a house of Samuel Rees had not been in Los by becoming itself a hospitality. Angeles for many years before he murderer.” It worked to As R. Celestia Churchill, who ran started work on one of the first homes the Home said, “Through the years constructed in what was then Brook- shift public opinion so we have cared for many women lyn Heights. Ascending the vocation- and girls from [General and White al hierarchy available only to (some) that the “reformation Memorial Hospitals]—girls who white immigrants--from bookkeeper are taking treatments and need to be to real estate mogul to Member of the of offenders,” not near, and those recovering from sick- Council for the 9th Ward—he bought revenge, might be the ness or an operation and who need a 17.5 acres of land for $350 and built home and care for a time...[as well a house (finished in either 1878 or law’s guiding principle. as] those working downtown or those 1889) that still gives its residents “a looking for work…” picturesque view of the basin, valleys, And, it extended an Although the Catholic Worker and mountains.” version of giving “safe Christian I have real skepticism as to who the invitation for all to surroundings” likely looks very dif- real beneficiaries would have been of join. Not only did these ferent from the Home’s, our early policies a City Councilperson would economic realities looked the same: have passed from 1891 onward. I values come back to leaving us unsure of whether settling also wonder the true cost of what Mr. one debt would leave the next bill Rees had to do (or be complicit in) life with our moving in impossible to be paid. The Mary to acquire so much money and land Martha House often found itself with so quickly. Knowing the repeating almost 70 years later, only loose change in their coffers—2 themes of L.A. politics and U.S. his- but Rees also started a cents, 73 cents. tory, the realities of race, class, and As Catherine and Jeff like to gender in our capitalist system do not tradition of 632 remind us, at the beginning, it was a make it hard to imagine. miracle that we would get what we And still, history remembers Brittania St. residents needed from month to month. And Samuel Rees as a person with strong though I am sure that is true, like the principles, who spoke truth to power, using a newspaper as a and stood on the side of the people. Mary Martha House, I also have to In April 1909, his name was added to tool of education, wonder what we had access to that the Los Angeles Herald’s list of prom- would have been all but unavailable inent Angelenos who had formed agitation, and to many others interested in pursuing the Prison Reform League to secure visions like ours. “humane treatment of prisoners.” mobilization. When the Mary Martha Home for In the newspaper article, the group Continued on page 2 OUR HOUSE IS NOT AN ISLAND. IT EXISTS IN THE CONTEXT OF THE HISTORY OF BROOKLYN, AND NOW BOYLE HEIGHTS CATHOLIC AGITATOR / 1 HENNACY HOUSE OF HOSPITALITY halting those access points to the farm less than two hectares (~5 acres) RESIST (SUPER) MARKET city. Despite being met with tear gas of land, do not want the same fate as and water cannons, the protestors American farmers. Especially con- have determind to stay until the three sidering India’s manufacturing sector FORCES bills are repealed. has not historically created jobs at the By MAGGIE MILLER by allowing for corporations to buy The majority of the protestors are rate farmers would be displaced. directly from farmers and allowing Sikh and from the regions of Punjab Our modern, industrial society efore we begin assembling stockpiling of grain. and Haryana. They arrived with overvalues efficiency. The gold stan- trays of beans, salad, and It is well documented that India’s rations to last six months or longer, dard of efficiency is so indoctrinated bread for the Skid Row farmers had been asking the govern- made possible because of a Sikh in us that we seldom even question Bcommunity, Matt Harper ment for reforms for decades due to tradition called langar. Langar is the its validity. I chuckle internally every reminds us to “remember all the flaws in the old system. But in a case provision of free, communal meals to time a new volunteer suggests a let- people who have grown and har- of selective hearing, the govern- any person regardless of caste, race, tuce chopping machine at the Hippie vested this food, who are often not ment ignored the pleas for increased or religion. It feels very akin to the Kitchen. But rather than pointing and treated with the dignity and respect farmer protections, and “gifted” hospitality and meals provided at the laughing, I gently explain, just as they deserve.” This intention never farmers with these bills instead. Hippie Kitchen. someone had to explain to me when fails to move me. I spend a comical Many economists, and even some Located in the countries’ grain belt, I had predictably suggested a lettuce amount of time pondering my next farmers, welcome the reforms as farmers from Punjab and Haryana chopper, that Catholic Workers hold meal and a comparatively minuscule a means to increase efficiency and do benefit the most from the govern- other values higher than efficiency. chunk contemplating the people who modernize the agricultural sector. ment intervention in the old system. Personalism and community, as ex- have labored in the fields to make However, there is consensus that the However, their concerns about their amples. The relationships and people it possible. With our complex food political power wielded was unjust livelihoods as small farmers in the around the chopping block are vastly system and giant agribusinesses in and unnecessary. From the start, the face of free-market agricultural poli- more important than the rate at which the United States, it is easy to feel legislation was drafted without any cies are legitimate. lettuce gets chopped. disconnected from farm workers. farmer consultation. Furthermore, In the United States, over the past Efficiency is not a ubiquitous solu- In contrast, Indian farmers, who the legislation was passed by an century, farmland has become in- tion, nor is it the enemy. I, too, love make up 55% of the country’s popu- illegal voice vote, while opposition creasingly concentrated in the hands the satisfying feeling of tweaking lation, are currently staging massive microphones were muted.