Category: South Bend Catholic Worker

Yesterday afternoon, after helping a friend with computer troubles, I stopped by the old, now-empty Catholic Worker house on South Bend’s West Washington Street to do some yard work.

I threw my backpack against the side of the house and started cutting weeds. When I was ready to leave, I saw that my backpack was gone.

My friend helped me run around looking for it, and finally we found it down the alley, with the contents strewn about. My planner and library books were there, but my camera, iPod, and CD case had been stolen.

The iPod, with “Deus Caritas Est” printed on the side, was filled with Jesuit meditations from Pray-As-You-Go.

Among the stolen discs were data CDs with Brenna Cussen’s photos and PowerPoint presentation about her Darfur work, and a DVD with the first part of the documentary “The Power of Nightmares,” which traces the parallel histories of neo-conservatism and radical Islam.

So I figure that ten years from now, I’ll be listening to some international policy scholar from Harvard speaking, and he’ll say, “Well, the way I first got interested in politics was, I stole this guy’s backpack . . . .”
Continue reading “Thoughts on theft”

I’m at the South Bend Catholic Worker.

The community here occupies a rectory and two houses. There are a handful of guests (homeless and otherwise) and one or two Catholic Workers in each building.

The South Bend Tribune happens to have interviewed a couple of the Catholic Workers for an article in today’s paper about Deus Caritas Est:

There is a difference, [Mike Baxter] says, between “bourgeois do-goodiness” and truly seeking to “love thy neighbor.” When striving toward the latter, “you end up wanting and having to rearrange your life.”

Among other news I can share, seeing as it’s blogged elsewhere, Ms. Brenna Cussen is back from giving some talks at the Ekklesia Project, where her presentation was one of the “highlights.”

Mike Baxter and Brenna Cussen. South Bend Tribune photo/Su Anderson.

The South Bend Common Council has denied a zoning change to the Catholic Worker community there. WNDU-TV:

“We are looking forward to finding another house that’s properly zoned and continuing our work,” said [Margie] Pfeil. “We are hopeful that we can get a good price on our house and invest our money elsewhere.”
[…]
Starting Tuesday the Catholic Workers plan to move their five guests and three staff members south two streets to a house that the diocese gave to the organization years ago.

South Bend Tribune:

A last-minute effort to prolong the Catholic Worker house issue failed in a 5-4 vote. This was followed by an emotional 7-2 vote to deny the group’s overall rezoning petition.
[…]
There are no plans to pursue a lawsuit against the city, [Mike] Griffin said.

“Many have said we have a good case,” Griffin said. “But it’s also a Christian tradition at times to simply shake the dust from your sandals and move on.”

Update: The South Bend Catholic Worker has a good chance of winning its zoning battle. The article cited below says that they “lost” yesterday’s zoning vote because it was a tie vote. But all this really means is that it will go to another vote at the next Common Council meeting, when the missing councilor will be there and break the tie.

When I was in SB a couple weeks ago, the feeling was that few people in power were willing to support the CW. So this tie vote represents powerful momentum. One hopes that they can work something out with those neighbors who oppose the zoning change, and get a 9-0 council vote on the compromise solution.

Here’s the story, via WNDU-TV:

A public hearing was held on whether to re-zone a Catholic group home and took nearly four hours Monday night. Ultimately, it was defeated due to a tie vote.

A tie vote is much better than people were expecting.
Continue reading “South Bend Catholic Worker DOESN’T lose zoning vote”