WELCOME YULE--Fourth Week of Advent

On Tuesday, the 13^th of December, the community was joined by last year’s volunteers, Molly Sherry and Allison Maraldo, for a belated celebration of Molly’s [by about 6 months] and John’s birthdays!  We went to the Irish House, a pub, New Orleans style—that means the Blue Bell vanilla ice cream is served with Bailey’s as the sauce.  [See accompanying photograph!]

Charles, Bob, Molly [note the ice cream], Allison [cheesecake], John [berry medley--ignore the meringue]

On Wednesday, Charles left for a visit to his family in Seattle; that evening Bob and John welcomed about 15 folks for Taize prayer.  At the gathering afterwards, one of the group, a lawyer and candidate for the Sisters of St. Joseph, spoke of her advocacy work with the people engaged in Occupy New Orleans.  She related how they welcomed the homeless to their midst, of their commitment to consensus and conversation, and of the broken promises made to them when they agreed to vacate a park they occupied.  Promised housing in shelters evaporated when needed in the evening, too late to find alternate accommodation.  

This echoed Charles’ recent experiences with the homeless at Lantern Light Ministries—they are feeding more than 200 people each day now—some only recently made homeless.  With the closure of Operation Helping Hands, [OHH], in January, the third largest rebuilding effort in the city ends. But since OHH dealt with the poor [in an extremely cost effective manner] it is attracting no publicity or protest.  It is laudable that there is so much generosity to charities; our newspaper has front page articles about  donations to poor families, and ‘giving trees’ in church call forth wonderful responses.  At the same time, the reasons for the widespread poverty, both financial and spiritual, elicit less comment or concern.  Hopelessness stalks many here; this past weekend a 23 month old girl died in crossfire and a nine year old boy was shot twice during a drive by.

At the end of the week, Café Reconcile bid farewell to Sr. Mary Lou Specha, PBVM at a reception that John attended, and on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Bob and John went to the “Celebration in the Oaks” at City Park, a wonderful event that evokes the Tivoli garden in Copenhagen—at least that is what they say!  It was a cool, clear evening, with floodlit fountains and lovely light displays throughout.

Our Christmas crib on the mantlepiece in the living room.

Following is a Christmas reflection from John Hammond, OSB, called: “Christmas Prayer” from WINTER’S COMING HOME, quoted in A CHRISTMAS SOURCE BOOK published by Liturgy Training Publications.  The Volunteer community sends it along with prayers and good wishes.

Child of Bethlehem—

house of bread;

Man of Jerusalem—

city of peace;

you have loved us

without limit or condition;

in our greatness and in our misery,

in our folly and in our virtue;

may your hand be always upon us

and may your heart be within us

so that we too

may become bread and peace

for one another.

WAITING in NOLA--The Third Week of Advent

Our Advent Wreath in the dining room

Our Advent Wreath was a movable icon this past week; it began in the dining room and then traveled downstairs for a gathering, then upstairs again.  On Wednesday, the 7^th of December it was the center of a brief prayer as we hosted dinner for the six Presentation Sisters from Lantern Light ministries where Br. Charles works, and Sr. Mary Lou from Café Reconcile.  Lantern Light provides a range of services to the homeless, often serving lunch for over 200 guests.  They also help homeless folks whose identification cards have been confiscated, and who need help navigating the bureaucracy that is meant to help them.  The center depends on volunteers from schools, parishes and city and private agencies who donate food and labor.  They are funded by donations that, especially now, are critical.  Charles has been able to direct many donations to them, besides working there.  One of the Sisters has been named a vocation director so has to leave, so we had a dinner and the Sisters were served for a change.  Of course at the end of dinner, they commandeered the kitchen and wash-up was brilliantly fast and organized!

The "Newcomers" gathering on December 10.  Note the traveling Advent Wreath, now downstairs!

While we continued with our own ministries at OHH, in the schools, and at Lantern Light, we also got ready for Saturday the 10^th when 25 “Newcomers” met at Constance Street.   We are a group largely comprised of religious who have come to New Orleans since Katrina and who control no institutions, but work on the “edge,” for those outside of our traditional ministries.  We are Sisters of St. Joseph, Charities of various forms, Ursulines, Holy Faith, Notre Dames, Religious of the Sacred Heart, Presentations, Cabrinis—and Edmund Rice Christian Brothers.  We minister in schools, in adult education programs, homeless services, and volunteer communities.  We meet every few months for prayer, a “check in” and fellowship.  The gatherings have been invaluable in expanding our horizons, and keeping us focused outwards. 

The congregations: CFC, SND, MSC, RSCJ, CSJ, SND, SND, CSJ, OSU

 At this last meeting some of us agreed to gather to discuss options for volunteer service now that Catholic Charities is closing down Operation Helping Hands.

Part of our gathering this last time was an invitation to reflect on what we are grateful for in our lives.  This sharing of story was personal and moving and an eloquent homily on faithfulness and hope—very appropriate to Advent.  As Jean Danielou wrote, in THE ADVENT OF SALVATION:  “We live always during Advent.  We are always waiting for the messiah to come.  The messiah has come, but is not yet fully manifest.  The messiah is not fully manifest in each of our souls, not fully manifest in humankind as a whole: that is to say, that just as Christ was born according to the flesh in Bethlehem of Judah, so must he be born according to the spirit in each of our souls.”

Christmas in our kitchen, heart of the home:  A gift from a teacher at St. Philip Neri School in the Bronx!

 After our prayer and sharing, we invited our fellow “Newcomers” upstairs to have a meal [after all, they brought the food—we set up chairs] and we put them to work!  Our custom is to set up our tree and invite visitors to decorate it. 

We have another Taize prayer gathering on December 14th; more ornaments are ready!

 It was wonderful to have the visitors put the hooks onto the Christmas decorations and then have lively discussions about the balance of colors and ornaments.  It preserved the harmony of this local community at least.

As I write this we have most of our Christmas ornaments up and today, December 13, celebrated the Feast of St. Lucy which recalled happy memories for me of five years at St. Lucy School in East Harlem and eight years in the Brothers community there. 

          Sudden as sweet

          Come the expected feet.

          All joy is young and new all art,

          And he, too, whom we have by heart. 

                                    [Alice Meynell] 

ADVENT IN A CITY OF CONTRASTS

It will be 75 degrees today, and is sunny now, though rain is forecast later.  The Saints play Detroit at the Super Dome and folks are hopeful of another win.  Roses bloom in our yard  around the statue of the Blessed Mother erected in memory of a pastor 100 years ago.  Roses in December are but one contrast.  This is a city of sharp contrasts.

This Sunday, December 04, 2011 the Times Picayune had an article, [with lots of pictures] by Nell Nolan on debutantes!  There are still debutantes and it is serious business.  MAKING THEIR CURTSIES, on the front page of the Living Section, chronicled the event in detail:

“As the members processed, they did so to different favorite songs as played by the Jimmy Maxwell Orchestra. Each one carried a round bouquet of anna roses, pink majolica spray roses, and pink wax flowers. Their fathers had boutonnieres of single white akito roses.

Almost immediately after the presentation, the ballroom became a dance floor. In the flanking rooms, tables had been set up for the families of the debutantes and their guests. Compliments were duly accorded to the parents of the presentees on the grace and loveliness of their daughters by the formally clad assembly.” 

On the same day, the front page of the Metro Section had an article: MAN SHOT DEAD IN 9^TH WARD IDENTIFIED.  In an article on the editorial page on November 27, Jarvis DeBerry had noted:

The murder rate in New Orleans is 10 times the national rate, and it's been that way for years. So we measure quite poorly against everybody else.  . . . But that's not all. New Orleans also measures poorly against itself. Leave aside 1999, the best year of Richard Pennington's Police Department, when our much larger city recorded 158 homicides; we're measuring poorly against the New Orleans of 2010. There were 175 homicides in New Orleans last year, and this year we had 175 before Thanksgiving.  

WDSU News on December 4 noted:

 

The murder rate in New Orleans sits at 183 for 2011 -- already more cases than last year's total of 175.

This calls to mind a quote of John Heagle in A CONTEMPORARY MEDITATION ON HOPE: "In an age which offers a variety of escapes from the human condition, Christians are more than ever a sign of contradiction.  They continue to believe that the search for God must begin with the acceptance of the human.  They believe this because it is in the stable of humanity that God has come in search of us.”

"The Long Loneliness" Fritz Eichenberg

Here at 4219 Constance we had a good first week of Advent.  John visited schools: the Academy of the Sacred Heart in New Orleans, St. Charles Catholic in LaPlace, Pope John Paul II in Slidell and Holy Cross in New Orleans as part of his coaching work with the Center for School Leadership, Charles was at Lantern Light [with more than 200 guests seeking lunch at times] and Bob at Operation Helping Hands. 

 

Br. Bob and Sr. Renee Rose at the reception after Taize prayer.

On Wednesday evening, we had thirty or so guests for Taize prayer and a reception followed.  

On Thursday, John was at Smilie’s Restaurant in Harahan for the annual Parkinson’s Holiday Dinner.  The group includes people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers—usually spouses.  They meet every other month to exchange information and to hear speakers on topics related to the disease.  This being New Orleans, they have to have a party, too!  Sr. Mary Daniel, OP who facilitated the Brothers living arrangements in the autumn of 2007 for the months before they could move into 4219, introduced John to the meetings since she also has Parkinson’s.

Saturday the kitchen sink got a new faucet due to Bob’s skills, and John put Christmas lights on the balcony.  Charles got to a simulcast of an opera—a baroque Handel work: “Rodelinda”.  The preview read: “And you thought your family was dysfunctional!”  

This week we have a dinner here Wednesday for the Presentation Sisters who Charles ministers with and on Saturday we will host the “Newcomers” group of religious who gather every few months—we are all folks who came here after Katrina.  These gatherings help us “network” as we continue to research opportunities for volunteers to give service.

The front gate to the Blessed Pauline Center with a plaque commemorating the 100 years of the Sisters  of Christian Charity at this site.  Blessed Pauline von Mallinckrodt, their founder, stayed here twice.

 During this week we will celebrate St. Nicholas on the 6^th, the Immaculate Conception on December 8^th and the memory of Thomas Merton on December 10^th.   The homilist at Merton’s funeral noted: “When a monk enters a monastery, what is asked of him is ‘Are you truly seeking God?’  The question isn’t ‘Have you found God?’  The question is: ‘Is he seeking God?’  …It’s not philosophical—it’s existential. …Contemplation isn’t satisfaction—it’s search.”  God bless you on your search this Advent! 

THANKSGIVING IN NOLA 2011

We celebrated Thanksgiving after a flurry of travel in November.  Charles was in the Jacksonville, Florida area November 9 to 15 to visit family and attend a Christian Brother province meeting.  Brothers from Canada and the United States represented their communities at the meeting to discuss current issues and reflect on ways to deepen community life.  Charles’ reflection and commentary gave us a good sense of what happened and food for thought.

 

Bob was in Philadelphia from the 14^th to the 18^th at a gathering of the Catholic Volunteer Network.  He reconnected with people he met when participating in college visits in the past, and got new ideas for recruitment for the future.  

John was at Guadalupe Regional Middle School in Brownsville, Texas from the 21^st to 23^rd, facilitating a faculty retreat on Tuesday.  The theme was: “Making Jesus Real;” reflecting on the Second Coming in our own daily lives, in the life of school communities, and the importance of an awareness of that and attention to it.  While there, Matt Wilsey, an ACE volunteer [from Phonecia, NY]  in his second year at GRMS, invited John, Br. Tony Quinn, and Br. Arthur Williams to dinner at the ACE volunteers house where they were joined by another ACE volunteer and her fiancée as well as two Marist Brothers.  It was a wonderful experience of hospitality and good fellowship that the ACE volunteers initiated.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Day with Mass at St. Gabriel the Archangel Church in Pontchartrain Park and in the afternoon went to dinner at the Presentation Sisters home in the Lakeview area of New Orleans, just west of City Park.  Sisters from the Congregation of St. Joseph, Holy Faith and Notre Dame [Toledo, Ohio] communities as well as Dominicans and Presentations from different federations outnumbered the Brothers ten-to-one!  Everyone brought something—we contributed wine and our unfailing charm.  The food was wonderful, the hospitality warm and the conversation far-reaching and meaningful.  We told our stories, but also renewed our network of relationships, so important for most of us who came here since Hurricane Katrina and still strive to help the recovery. 

Sr. Mary Lou Specha, PBVM

We recently learned that Sr. Mary Lou Specha, PBVM, the Executive Director of Café Reconcile, where Br. Joe worked for three years, has decided to resign her post this coming summer.  Our relationship to Café Reconcile has been a constant since we came here, and we will work with Sr. Mary Lou to continue that important connection to this unique and prophetic work.

This coming week we return to our regular ministries—John is visiting schools this week including the Academy of the Sacred Heart on St. Charles Avenue, [Cokie Roberts is an alumna], St. Charles Catholic in Lacombe, Pope John Paul II in Slidell, and Holy Cross in Lakeview in New Orleans.  These visits are related to the Discovery Walks program sponsored by the School Leadership Center here in New Orleans.  Charles will be at Lantern Light Ministries and Bob at Operation Helping Hands, [OHH].  OHH continues to downsize and just last week another staff member left.  Catholic Charities, the host agency, is continuing other cutbacks, releasing a dozen employees recently.  However, we are making contacts with Presbyterian and Lutheran community groups, as well as the Community Center of St. Bernard which is a well-organized and wide ranging program.  We hear that Vancouver College has made a contact with Camp Restore, a fine Lutheran sponsored program that Iona College worked with last year.

On Wednesday, we again host a Taize prayer service at 7:30 PM.  We were delighted with almost 40 participants last time and have hopes!