CELEBRATION OF LIGHT

On Ash Wednesday we ended up in different churches for Mass; Bob at a crowded 6:30 AM Mass in the rectory chapel at Good Shepherd Parish, Charles at St. Joseph’s on Tulane, and John at St. Stephen’s Church at noon Masses.  So our Lent began.

During the week, Bob renovated the bookcase in our living room and the books now rest comfortably on sofas, chairs and tables awaiting a session of sorting and weeding out.  Bob and the remaining staff at Operation Helping Hands will soon be relocated to rented space in St. Gabriel’s Parish in Pontchartrain Park, more distant from us than the current location.  As part of the closing down, on Friday Bob drove a pick-up loaded with equipment to the manufacturer’s plant in Houston, Texas.  He did the 700 mile round trip in one day, leaving home at 4 AM and returning at 6:30 PM despite a back-up in Baton Rouge. 

On Saturday, Charles attended a morning workshop on caring for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.  The conference was at Our Lady of Wisdom Health Care Center on the West Bank.  Charles was particularly impressed with the expansive, purpose- built facility that was better than anything he had seen in Arizona or California.  He noted that the treatment of those physically handicapped as they age is much different than that needed for persons with dementia.   Dementia patients require a different approach and skill set from caregivers.  Charles commented on the building accommodations, signage with large print, monthly calendars and dedicated space for a variety of activities so that things are not scheduled depending on room availability but rather on patient needs.

Br. Charles with Joe and his wife.  Joe mans the kiosk on Tuesday

On Sunday, the Presentation Sisters honored volunteers like Charles who aid the guests at Lantern Light Ministries.  There was food and fellowship, a brief but moving reflection and a short video presentation.  John met Fr. Perry Henry, CM, the Province Leader of the Vincentians in the Midwest; they staff St. Joseph Parish on Tulane Avenue where Lantern Light is located.  Fr. Henry said he had just seen our Province Leader, Br. Hugh O’Neill, in Tucson at a meeting of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

This coming week, Charles and Bob will be back to their respective ministries while John will be in a different school/institution every day!  We are readying ourselves for a number of schools and individuals visiting us during March—one of whom we just heard about this week!  

Charles and Barry, Sr. Nancy and Sr. Pauline [Sisters of the Holy Faith]

 

The quote on the invitation to the “Celebration of Light” at Lantern Light Ministries stood out for us:

            “God is in the slums, 
                    in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house. . .

            God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. . .

            God is in the debris of wasted opportunities and lives,

            And God is with us if we are with them.”

                                                Bono

We spoke with the director at Lantern Light, Sr. Vera Butler, PBVM who told us that they must find a new insurer and it will triple their insurance.  The poor have few advocates who spend much of their time on direct service to their guests.  Our Volunteer Community tries to give what we can but it seems little in face of the needs.  However, we are hopeful, since we see how far the Sisters can make every donation and gift go! 

Right now, it is all about the money!  If you’d like to help a group that is making a real difference that we have seen and can testify to, send a check to: Lantern Light, Inc., 1803 Gravier Street, New Orleans, LA 70112-2229. 

Sr. Enid Storey, PBVM and Charles.  He's paying attention!

Our Founder, Blessed Edmund Ignatius Rice, was profoundly influenced by the Presentation Sisters; in fact he helped finance their work in Waterford while still in business, and later he adapted their rule of life and we were originally the Presentation Brothers!  He was not poetic like Bono; he simply wrote: “Give to the poor in handfuls.”

MARDI GRAS, "Bacchus Sunday" Part Two

The same day we had the brunch for Operation Helping Hands Alumnae/i we also hosted the traditional “Bacchus Open House.”  It moved here to the Blessed Pauline Center after St. Henry Parish was suppressed.  

Msgr. Engelbrecht, John, Fr. MichaelJoseph Nguyen and Fr. Doug Brougher

In THE JOY OF Y’AT CATHOLICISM, the author writes: “One of the biggest and most popular parades is the Krewe of Bacchus, named for the Roman god of wine.  The parade usually begins around 5 p.m. on the Sunday before Mardi Gras…Nearby is St. Henry’s Catholic Church, whose pastor, Monsignor Henry Engelbrecht, is a joyous y’at.  Father Henry invites friends and parishioners to his rectory for an all day party that starts at noon and goes until the last Bacchus float disappears into the night.”   

Fr. MichaelJoseph, Joe Failla [our computer tech support], and Br. John

This year we again set up the big room downstairs, supplied plates and cups, iced tea, lemonade, ice and condiments.  Visitors brought jambalaya, shrimp fettuccine, hot dogs and chili, snacks and desserts.  Folks came and went all afternoon and into the evening since several Krewes set off on Napoleon just two short blocks away. 

Glen Davis, Caroline LaRocca Davis, Colleen and Anthony LaRocca

It is a wonderful opportunity to meet lots of people and return the hospitality the Volunteer community has been shown.  Colleen LaRocca organized and coordinated the logistics.

Jimmy and Sarah Keith and son--in Uptown, Mardi Gras is a family affair

"Bouef Gras" is a signature float in the final parade: "Rex"

NOLA's latest sensation: "The 610 Stompers: Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Moves"

MARDI GRAS 2012-- "Bacchus Sunday" Part One

Decorations courtesy of our neighbors!

On “Bacchus Sunday” the Pastor of St. Henry Parish traditionally had an Open House at the rectory for all and sundry.  It was a notable event, and is written up in a volume called “THE JOY OF Y’AT CATHOLICISM” a humorous reflection on aspects of Catholic culture in New Orleans.  We have continued that custom by hosting an Open House downstairs at the Volunteer Community residence since the suppression of the parish a few years ago.  It is an all day affair, since there are a number of parades: 11 AM-Okeanos, Noon-Toth and 5:15 PM- Bacchus.  This year, because of inclement weather on Saturday, two other parades also rolled in Uptown, beginning at 10 AM.

This year we added another event at the house and hosted a brunch upstairs for folks who worked with “Operation Helping Hands” to celebrate the wonderful community of volunteers who were such a wonderful example of service and commitment to those most in need.

Bob and Emily Stieber prepared blueberry pancakes and ‘Bellinis’  [a mimosa with a shot of peach schnapps for the uninitiated] while David and Sarah Harms supplied the often costumed guests with pulled pork sandwiches.  The gathering enabled the OHH crowd to swap stories and get their costumes ready.  Yes there are costumes for the parade viewers as well as the riders on the floats.  Remember, this is New Orleans.  Did we mention face painting?  [It turns out the Emily not only flips a mean pancake, evidently she also does hair and make-up.]

When pictures of the Open House appear, I will do a Part Two.  Following are pictures of the brunch.  The title of the collection is:  "They are as happy as if they are normal." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Emily is applying the face paint for Molly--pancake flipping is done.

 

I LOVE NEW ORLEANS

Leah Chase

“I LOVE NEW ORLEANS.”  So wrote Leah Chase, 90, in the February 12 issue of our newspaper, the TIMES PICAYUNE.  She is well-known African-American restaurateur; an elegant role model and spokesperson for the city and people of New Orleans.  And we recent immigrants have to agree, especially during the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras.

We are within two blocks of the beginning of 20 of the Mardi Gras parades that began on February 10^th this year; there are 63 parades if you count those in neighboring cities and towns.

Last Friday, OSHUN kicked off at 6:00 PM, on Saturday, PONTCHARTRAIN set off at 2:00 PM, followed by SPARTA, then PYGMALION at 6:00 PM and 6:45 PM respectively.  On Sunday, CARROLLTON and KING ARTHUR marched at Noon and 1:45 PM.  It meant that for our return from Mass in East New Orleans we diverted to Tchoupitoulas Street, which was clogged with floats going to KING ARTHUR, so we drove side streets to avoid traffic. 

   

The great thing about living on Constance Street between Milan and General Pershing is that  on  Saturday afternoon, while doing yard work, one saw all the young families hurrying to get a good spot on the route;  the horses and riders and motorcycle groups go right by the house and you can hear the bands from the yard!  And Bob brings beads back!

The week began with one of us dealing with a sadder aspect of life.  On Monday and Tuesday John was on a jury in Orleans Parish Criminal Court that was involved in a murder trial.  He came away with profound respect for the presiding judge, Franz L. Zibilich, his fellow jurors, the attentive and helpful court officers, the process and the lawyers.  He was deeply moved by the tragic circumstances of the crime and the tragic lives of the participants who testified and whose lives were exposed during the trial.   This was John’s third of the seven days one is required to serve jury duty, every other year.

On Tuesday, John and Charles left the house at 5 AM for Charles to catch a 7 AM flight to Newark for a meeting of the Province wellness committee. 

Neal Bourgeois, Laura, Russ Greco and Joey Gaines at Bob's Jubilee

On Thursday, Bob bid farewell to Russ Greco, Miss Kathy and four long-term volunteers as Operation Helping Hands continued to close down. 

John was at Holy Cross High School until Noon that Thursday for a Discovery Walk; he then met Bob at OHH’s location on Paris Avenue and they went to Café Reconcile for lunch.

 

Ryan Dalton working with a new arrival on the staff at Cafe Reconcile

Bob and John had an opportunity to see the renovations going on at Café Reconcile, to meet Chef Joe, Linda Collins, the Case Manager who oversees placement of students in restaurants for field experience, Ryan Dalton, the Floor Trainer who was close to Br. Joe Fragala, and David Edmond, the Director of Development.  We also got to see Cara McMenamin, a Jesuit volunteer there, who recently had dinner with the Brothers community.

On Friday evening the parades began with OSHUN.  Saturday was a cool, bright day, and John planted two ‘Carolina Jessamine’ vines to compliment the two planted several years ago by Caitlyn and Kyle.  When the new ones come in, they will balance the other two on the front wall.  It was also time to prune the crape myrtles, cut back the plumbago, and lantana and begin shaping the roses.  In New Orleans, there is more work cutting things back than there is planting.  We have finally had rain, so now we must prune, prune, and prune some more.

The Mardi Gras celebrations that we have experienced are an interesting reflection on the social progress of the city.  In an article in Sunday’s TIMES PICAYUNE, Bruce Nolan wrote about the progress in society reflected by the current make-up of Mardi Gras ‘krewes.”  More racial and class diversity and inclusiveness are the result of societal changes, new generations of more inclusive people and economic necessity.  Nolan wrote:  “ Twenty years after much of New Orleans convulsed in bitter public debate over whether its beloved Mardi Gras was racist, elitist and exclusionary, new realities illuminate this year’s parading season: Today, hungry krewes unconcerned about race solicit membership on the Internet, offering downloadable applications and helpful credit-card authorizations.

Grass-roots walking organizations ranging from the ‘610 Stompers’ to ‘‘tit Rex’ and the ‘Redbeans krewe’ have sprung up since Hurricane Katrina, allowing residents of all income levels to be full participants in Carnival without the costs associated with belonging to a major krewe.

And on Saturday, George Lafargue Jr., the son of an African-American produce vendor, will reign over Endymion, one of the most spectacular parades on the Carnival calendar.

At one level, it might seem the memorable 1992 debate over racial discrimination in Carnival sparked a revolution in New Orleans’ signature cultural treasure.

But krewe captains and historians say the moves toward openness that have overtaken Carnival in the last two decades have been largely organic.

They say they are driven by krewes’ economic needs and the arrival of a more progressive generation of Carnival participants, assisted by an awareness born out of the historic debates of 1991 and 1992.”

"Leah Chase cutting squash" in the National Portrait Gallery

 In the same edition, there was a letter to the editor by the aforementioned Leah Chase, whose restaurant, Dooky Chase, holds a special place in the culinary world and whose portrait has been chosen to hang in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.  Reflecting on art, life and NOLA, in a letter to the editors she wrote, in part:  “I love New Orleans. I love its openness and the diversity of its people who seemed to have in common with me a joy of just being alive. I love the intermingling of different races and ethnicities of people, the different languages (seldom the King's English) Creoles, Cajuns and others speak, and the fact that rich and poor do not separate themselves, that much, one from another. From my daily readings of The Times-Picayune, you seem throughout your history to like those things, too. However, both you and I are well aware of negative cultural influences that life in New Orleans does have on children. You work hard to portray that objectively and inspire us all to change and improve as I say, "by investing in the artistic excellence of people and in the education of neighborhood kids.''
Like you, I am determined to shelter children from all that is negative, yet to prepare them to deal with the real world and to develop in them a strong commitment to community, family and quality. The measure of our successes is not whether any of us (your editors, staff writers, workers and me) achieve fame or wealth in life, but whether we truly understand what it means to love and be part of one united family, one community striving to get better.”

Well said and true to our experience of New Orleans and its people.

We now anticipate the upcoming parades; all 17 of them  There are one on Wednesday evening, the three on both Thursday and Friday evenings, the two next Saturday and the four on next Sunday.  And there are two each on Monday and Tuesday before the Lenten season begins with Ash Wednesday. 

AFFAIRS ARE NOW SOUL SIZE

One learns a lot in New Orleans.  We try to participate in everything, even if it involves a $100 raffle ticket.  So begins our tale.Charles and John began the week on Sunday, January 29 at a ‘reverse raffle’ at St. Gabriel Church in Pontchartrain Park in New Orleans East.  It was a process of elimination, with those $100 tickets, to raise money to retire the parish debt.  We were eliminated before the big money rounds but early on won a small signed watercolor of a very pink rose! And we had nice company for lunch and got back home in time for a walk or a nap!

Charles was at Lantern Light on Monday through Wednesday and Bob spent the week at Operation Helping Hands.  At Lantern Light, the number of meals provided is well over 200 a day; there are an estimated 6,700 homeless on our streets.

Wednesday was John’s first day of jury duty in Orleans Parish Criminal District Court; he was not called for a case. [He has six more days to go and must report on a selection of Mondays and Wednesdays.] That evening, the Brothers hosted a dinner for members of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps.  

That's Molly to the left of Charles as you face the picture.  That's root beer in the glass!

The group included Ana Roca, Anne Kolar, Lauren Totah, Cara Mc Menamin and Kate Whelan.  Molly Sherry and Allison Maraldo joined us to host the evening and we learned how the Jesuit volunteers function; they met us!  They all interviewed for their positions and now work at a variety of ministries, including Lantern Light where Charles works, Café Reconcile, Success Preparatory School, and Hope House.

On Thursday, John was at Pope John Paul HS in Slidell for a Discovery Walk and on Friday attended meetings at the School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans at the University of New Orleans--Lakeside Campus.  Friday was the last day for seven volunteers at Operation Helping Hands who finished up their houses and now move on to other programs, or are returning home.  It was a difficult day.  Bob continues at OHH as the financial work slowly draws to a close.

Front row:  Msgr. Henry Engelbrecht and Msgr. L. Earl Gauthreaux with the Brothers and Fr. MichaelJoseph in the background

Friday evening, the Brothers were with Fr. MichaelJoseph Nguyen at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in New Orleans East for a shrimp dinner honoring Msgr. Henry Engelbrecht on his 70^th birthday.  He was the Pastor who welcomed the Brothers to St. Henry’s Parish and was a boon companion until the suppression of the parish two years ago.  Colleen LaRocca cooked, decorated and coordinated the wonderful volunteers.

Catherine Drennan with Br. Joe at Cafe Reconcile in 2010

Bob and John have been invited to submit contributions to a book of reflections by volunteers on the New Orleans volunteer experience. Catherine Drennan, a volunteer here during 2009-10, and Bethany Billman are compiling it.  It will enable a unique group to share their perspective in a format that can speak to their generation.  The community here and our volunteers are not alone in reflecting on where we are and where we are going.

Our religious community, the Edmund Rice Christian Brothers, is looking to the future.  Our Congregation Leader, Br. Philip Pinto sent us a letter on the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in which he said: “At the heart of the whole enterprise is the relationship with the Mystery we call God.  We dare to enter the Mystery and so to become hope for the world.  This Mystery is our source, our energy, and our passion.”  Philip ended with a selection from a favorite play of mine: A SLEEP OF PRISONERS.  Christopher Fry, in a letter about the play to a mentor, Robert Gittings, said: “And I think we realized then, as we certainly now believe, that progress is the growth of vision: the increased perception of what makes for life and what makes for death.”   Below are the lines Br. Philip Pinto quoted.

Dark and cold we may be, but this

Is no winter now. The frozen misery

Of centuries breaks, cracks, begins to move;

The thunder is the thunder of the floes,

The thaw, the flood, the upstart Spring.

Thank God our time is now when wrong

Comes up to face us everywhere,

Never to leave us till we take

The longest stride of soul we ever took.

Affairs are now soul size.

The enterprise

Is exploration into God.

Where are you making for? It takes

So many thousand years to wake,

But will you wake for pity's sake!

 

-- Christopher Fry, A SLEEP OF PRISONERS

 May we strive in everything to perceive, and choose, "what makes for life".