Strategic Voting in Worcester At-Large Elections (508 #579)

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Mike tells Brendan about some analysis Greg Opperman and he have done about strategic voting in Worcester at-large elections.

Audio: Download the mp3 or see more formats.

Subscribe with iTunes | Subscribe with Google Play | Contact Info | Twitter feed | RSS
Continue reading “Strategic Voting in Worcester At-Large Elections (508 #579)”

Bobby Guthro, RIP

My dear friend Bobby Guthro died in the hospital Thursday after some months of illness. He inspired everyone he met with his sunny disposition, goofy sense of humor, and fortitude. He faced a lot of challenges but also got a lot done—of the people I’ve known, one of those who fulfilled his potential most fully. He was a Mustard Seed volunteer for 40 years—I volunteered almost 3,000 hours with him, only a drop in the bucket of his own contribution to the Seed and the city.


Continue reading “Bobby Guthro, RIP”

Worcester Preliminary Election Lawn Signs, 2023

For past years, see the lawn sign roundups for 2007, 2009 (also 2009 websites), 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019, and 2021.

There’s a preliminary election this week, different from a primary in that it’s just designed to winnow the not-at-large races down to two candidates. So not every Council or School Committee election needs a prelim.
Continue reading “Worcester Preliminary Election Lawn Signs, 2023”

A History of the First Catholic Worker Community in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1939-40

In June, 1939, the Catholic Worker began its seventh year of publication. In that issue, Dorothy Day joyfully announced that throughout the United States, there were twenty-two houses of hospitality, two farming communities and thirteen cells where the ideas of the Catholic Worker movement were discussed and practiced daily. One of these houses of hospitality, called the Matt Talbot house, was located in the downtown area of Worcester, Massachusetts. The purpose of this article is to explore the formation, development and termination of the Matt Talbot house and its community. How did this group of diverse and conscientious Catholics come together? How did they understand the Worker philosophy of personalism? What were the tensions and transformations within the community? In what ways did this experience affect their lives and visions? Continue reading “A History of the First Catholic Worker Community in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1939-40”

2022 Catholic Worker Gathering

Locations

  • Blessed Sacrament Church (551 Pleasant Street, Worcester, MA 01602) (Friday – Sunday)
  • Hogan Campus Center (College of the Holy Cross, 1 College St, Worcester, MA 01610) (Saturday)
  • The Mustard Seed (93 Piedmont Street, Worcester, MA 01609) (Sunday)

Friday, October 21

  • 2:30pm – 9:30pm: Registration at the Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church.
  • 4:30pm – 5:30pm: Talk at Rehm Library, College of the Holy Cross. Holy Cross alums speak about the Catholic Worker movement. Facilitated by David O’Brien, Holy Cross Professor Emeritus, and Frank Kartheiser, Holy Cross alumnus and co-founder of Worcester’s Mustard Seed.
  • 6:00pm: Dinner at the Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church.
  • 7:00pm – 9:00pm: Welcoming and presentation from the Mustard Seed community. The Phelan Center, Blessed Sacrament Church.

Saturday, October 22

  • Breakfast will be served at the various places people are staying.
  • Morning prayer at Blessed Sacrament Church.
  • 8:30am – noon: Registration. Hogan Center, College of the Holy Cross.
  • 9:00am – 11:30am: Welcome and morning plenary. Hogan Center. Morning plenary: “Works of Mercy, Pacifism and the Green Revolution: Reflections from Catholic Workers on the Movement’s Charisms.” Presenters include: Mike Boover, Matt Harper, Martha Hennessy, Joanne Kennedy, Theo Kayser, Rosalie Riegle, Claire Schaeffer-Duffy, and Brian Terrell.
  • 11:30am: Update on the canonization process for Dorothy Day, from the Dorothy Day Guild. Hogan Center.
  • Noon: Lunch at the Hogan Center for those who have signed up.
  • 1:30pm – 3:00pm: Workshops session 1, Hogan Center. Small group workshops.
  • 3:30pm – 5:00pm: Workshops session 2, Hogan Center. Small group workshops.
  • 5:30pm: Dinner at the Hogan Center.
  • 7:00pm: Talent show in the Hogan Center ballroom.
  • 9:00pm – 11pm: Dance party in the Hogan Center ballroom with DJ with Arnie Hamm.

Sunday, October 23

  • 9:00am: Breakfast at the Mustard Seed Catholic Worker soup kitchen.
  • 11:30am: Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church.

The 2022 Catholic Worker National Gathering is October 21 – 23 in Worcester, Massachusetts. A lot of it is happening around Holy Cross and also the Mustard Seed soup kitchen, in honor of the Seed’s 50th anniversary. It’s been 12 years since this last happened in Worcester.

Here’s the latest draft of the schedule. To register, click here.

Group photo from the 2008 Catholic Worker National Gathering by Bob Fitch.

Hillmaniacs (508 #377)


508 is a show about Worcester. This week, we discuss losing a judge and gaining a City Manager.


Audio: Download the mp3 or see more formats.

Subscribe with iTunes | Subscribe with Google Play | Contact Info | Twitter feed | RSS

Notes:
Timothy S. Hillman is a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts

A Tale of Three City Manager Searches

Accusations of Sexual Coercion at St. John’s Soup Kitchen in Worcester

Presumably lots more about this story in the coming weeks.

Crux:

The head of a Massachusetts parish soup kitchen was placed on administrative leave on March 11 after allegations were made to the diocese that for years he has coerced vulnerable women that use the soup kitchen’s services into sex.

The complaint was made against Billy Riley, who has been the food for the poor coordinator for St. John’s Catholic Church in the Diocese of Worcester since 2013.

[…]

Nicole Bell, the CEO of Living in Freedom Together – an organization in Worcester that supports women leaving prostitution and works to end the sex trade – made the March 11 complaint to the diocese’s victim assistance coordinator. Bell, who got out of prostitution herself eight years ago, detailed her experiences with Riley to Crux in February.

Bell said she first met Riley through the soup kitchen in 2011, at which time she was homeless. She alleges that he “took an interest in her” and offered to let her shower at his house.

“I did that because I’m experiencing homelessness. I have nothing,” Bell said. “And then that leads to some kind of exchange of sexual activity for his assistance and so eventually it felt like if I didn’t do what he was requesting of me that I wouldn’t be able to access the soup kitchen.”

[…]

Crux spoke with another woman in February – who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation from Riley – that had similar experiences with Riley from 2014 until August 2021 when she became sober.