AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE

Looking west on Constance Street towards St. Henry's Church

Charles left for Seattle on Wednesday, the 19^th about the same time as our neighbor, Glenn,  from across Constance Street, placed two large planters on either side of our front gate.  He had already done a lot to beautify the area and complement the “Confederate jasmine” planted by Caitlyn, Kyle and Vincent in 2009.  It has grown over the wall so when seen from across the street there is a mass of green with white flowers instead of a gray wall.  When thanked for their generosity, our neighbors’ reply is: “Well, it’s what we look at!”

 

Note the planters--thank you, neighbors!

On Thursday Br. Arthur Williams, who teaches Math at Guadalupe Regional Middle School in Brownsville, Texas came by.  He and David Concannon are our community in Brownsville at Guadalupe, a scholarship school which teaches immigrant children from extremely modest means.  It is a two day journey here; Arthur is an intrepid traveler and a welcome guest.  Arthur and Br. John enjoyed the second floor porch where there is often a breeze even on hot, humid days.  Travis and Br. John furnished the porch with donations from benefactors; we can use the porch now that it has been rebuilt.  It is popular with the younger set also; they seem to use it much later in the evening when their elders have retired for the night.

Matt had a visitor for the weekend; Isaac was a fellow student at Catholic University of America and now is working in DC.  While they toured on Saturday, Br. Bob continued with the porch reconstruction.

Br. Bob assures us when finished it'll be good for 60 years.

 Since John Petrullo leaves us on Saturday, June 29^th, the question often posed is: “What have you yet to see?”  So last Saturday, Br. John and Travis went with John to eat at Landry’s, a seafood place looking out on Lake Pontchartrain [John does not eat any seafood and had a burger; Travis and Br. John split appetizers like lemonade fried shrimp, crab crawfish beignets, and a small square baked spoonbread {?}—they were spectacular.] 

The water was up to the third step on Saturday

Then they sat on the stepped concrete floodwall that edges the brackish estuary that is Lake Pontchartrain.  There was a light breeze and, thankfully, it was a bit overcast; there were folks fishing, some recreational watercraft and no crowds. Lakeshore Drive has been reengineered since Hurricane Katrina and provides parking, scenic views, picnic spots and a nice breeze off the water.  It is a lovely spot to while away some time on a pleasant afternoon.

Matt Beben took his guest to the airport early Monday morning; Travis went to work with John Petrullo at Lantern Light.  Travis wanted to familiarize himself with this possibility for ministry next year. 

 

On the volunteer front, Br. Bob mentioned there may be a third volunteer next year from Iona College!  Evidently she has been involved in a program in Russia but will be getting her paperwork in soon. So we may have three from Iona; Travis and two young ladies. 

FOR REFLECTION  

The tended lawn and image of the Blessed Mother means a great deal to many of our visitors who knew this place years ago, or have just discovered it.

COMMUNITY TRANSITION AND RUSSIAN BOARS

Honey Island Swamp  [Matt Beben Photographer]

The long hot and humid summer has begun.  The volunteers are the most exposed to the incredible heat and humidity.  John Petrullo spends his day, from 8 AM until 3 PM working at Lantern Light with homeless guests.  He is mostly outside or in the open kitchen; the heat is enervating.  On June 14^th a number of us were there when Sr. Vera announced that John would be ending his service there at the end of the month.  It was good to be there for John, and to experience what he endures these days.  The announcement was made early because Br. Charles leaves on Wednesday, the 19^th for a Jubilee vacation in the Pacific Northwest and other areas for a few weeks and will be gone when John leaves us at the end of June to take some time before his next adventure.  While at Lantern Light he has participated with guests on art and writing projects, created and served snacks and meals, chaired meetings of staff and interacted with the wide variety of staff and guests that make the place unique.

Matt Beben is a supervisor for All Saints, a non-profit doing rebuilding projects while Travis Wain works with Helping Hands, also rebuilding.  This last week Travis spent time working on a roof, or laying flooring—Matt evidently did some of that, too.  Travis and a small crew are trying to help an aged, wheelchair bound Vet who was without bathroom facilities or air—and who yearned for some form of companionship among the volunteers trying to make some repairs to his home.  

On Wednesday evening the 12th, Br. John went with Sr. Claire Regan, SC, a New York Sister of Charity to a Memorial Service for Joseph Massenburg.  An 18 year old Americorps volunteer from Chicago, he had just started work with a group called Green Light when he was shot one evening by an unknown assailant while walking on the street.  The service, at Rising Star Missionary Baptist Church, was attended by about 200 people.  The Church volunteered its space and filled the pews, along with some Americorps workers, and folks who came to show solidarity with the family.  Joe was an only child, his parents both ministers.  His Dad spoke movingly, with passion and eloquence, and asked the congregation to keep hope and faith alive so evil did not win.  The singing was prayerful and stirring.  The preachers who spoke were passionate and deeply Christian.  The young life lost to violence was offered in service and love—and the Church service, members of the congregation, and Joe’s own family reflected service and love—and gave hope.  

On Thursday morning, June 13^th, Br. John was at Café Reconcile for a meeting of about 15 people from various Faith communities: Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and Methodist who were invited to reflect with board members of Café Reconcile about fostering the faith based foundations of the program.  First, however, participants joined the current students in a Morning Prayer service that bore eloquent testimony to the faith life already in the hearts of the young people.  Br. John represented the memory of Br. Joe Fragala who ministered there for three years.  Br. Joe’s picture is given a place of honor overlooking the kitchen area, and his memory is often invoked when the staff talks about what makes Café Reconcile special.

Our time as a community of six is coming to an end.  After Br. Charles leaves for his vacation, we will not be together again.  John Petrullo leaves the Volunteer program on June 29^th so we are four.  Bob leaves on his holiday late in July but before Charles returns—you get the point.

His work and personal commitments mean we do not see much of Matt these days, but at our last community meeting, Matt Beben took on the task of arranging one last community outing.  Matt came by on Saturday, the 15^th and led our expedition to the Pearl River Swamp Tour.  It was WONDERFUL. 

John P's forearm, Travis's legs, Charles, John with his hat on backwards and Captain Garret

 We met at 8:45 AM and drove east on I-10 to Slidell, LA after crossing the lower reaches of Lake Pontchartrain to the West Pearl River.  Our flat bottomed boat seated the six of us and a family of 5; we were captained by Captain Garret, a youthful 28 year old former Coast Guardsman, now captain of boats servicing the oil industry in the Gulf.  His heart is in the bayous and swamps—his work for the oil companies is three weeks on and three off so he can spend time giving the tours.  He was excellent.  Originally from Buras in the far south of Louisiana he now lives in Madisonville; he said he appreciated the Cajun culture but could not claim it; his parents were immigrants from Croatia.  Nevertheless, his tour was educational, exciting, beautiful and enjoyable.  We got up close to alligators and very close to Russian boars [wild pigs—with tusks] gone native in the swamps.  

Large wild pig, tusks and all, on side of boat.  Him just hungry.

In Honey Island Swamp we saw magnificent blue herons, and moss draped cypress trees.  It was a warm day; Captain Garrett kept checking on how we were doing and occasionally he revved up the outboard motors and we sped along enjoying what he called ‘Cajun air-conditioning.’  The 90 minute tour went quickly but gave one an appreciation for the beauties of the habitat, the threats to it, and the spirit of those who love it.

 

"Cynthia" unimpressed by proffered hot dawg

We came back to Magazine Street for lunch at “Dat Dog” which is a culinary marvel that raises hot dogs to a different plane of existence—with accompaniments to match—and it is minutes away from our home.  After swamps and hot dogs, some returned for naps, some moved on for more socializing elsewhere.  

On Sunday night, Br. Charles welcomed an old friend from Vallejo days, Br. Pat Sopher, a Holy Cross Brother now working for their congregation leadership in Rome;  here for a conference.  John Petrullo made delicious chicken francaise which Travis, Br. Bob and Br. John also enjoyed.  

Matt joined us Monday night for our last dinner out as community.  We went to Dante’s Kitchen—not a reference to the poet but to the street it is on.  The unique menu is a treat—a rare one because of the prices [more New York than New Orleans] but well worth it.

On Tuesday, the 18^th Matt was back and Br. John cooked for the community—corn casserole was on the menu by request of our Platinum Jubilarian.  Br. Bob, Director of Volunteers, led us in an exercise of affirmation after dinner since it was our last time together as a community.  The activity is called a “Strength Bombardment.”  We took silent time [at least some of us] to reflect on the strengths of our fellow community members and when we regrouped shared what we had written.  It was quite interesting—pretty consistent while also reflecting the personality of the speaker as much as the one spoken of.  We concluded with an Our Father—then Charles was off to pack and Br. Bob got technological advice from Travis.  Matt overnighted with us but was off at 6:10 AM for All Saints.  Br. Charles took off for his extended visit to Seattle on Wednesday morning at 10:30 AM with strict orders to come back! 

Would you enter a swamp boat with this crew?

For Reflection:

LOUISIANA SWAMP POEM by Sheryl St. Germain

–for the Atchafalaya, for Greg Guirard

1

Your swamp’s not my swamp, he says, by which
he means a New Orleans swamp’s not the same
as a Cajun’s, that the way I sometimes use swamp
as metaphor for all that’s family-dark is not
what he sees when he looks into the waters
he calls home, water the color of tree trunks and sky,
of sun and clouds, moonlight and earth
and mud, of moss and flower, of crawfish and snake,
of frog and beaver and alligator, still waters
so radiant with stillness it almost doesn’t surprise
when osprey or heron or egret spread wing
and rise up out of it, like the swamp itself
has gathered into a body and lifted to sky for a time.
Cypress trees dressed in moss flare up like beacons
of god, lit with a wildness some will ever know.

He’s kind when he says it,
but I can see he doesn’t think much of a people
who don’t seem to care for their swamps, a people
who drink themselves to oblivion, who hang beads
on trees and stick pins in voodoo dolls, and that is why
he says my swamp’s not his.

Blog 06.17.13

MOLLY SHERRY CHECKS IN

Hi Brother Bob, Brother John, and Brother Charles,

Been thinking of you all and the community a lot lately. It's been a while!
I hope to be down in the next few months. I very much miss New Orleans and
the people in it. Not a day goes by that I don't think of someone or
something from those two years of my life that has undoubtedly touched me
in a way I could have never foreseen.  But life here on the East coast is
going well! As I believe you've heard, Catherine and I are now roommates in
a small but beautiful apartment in the Cambridge area along with a third
roommate who also attended St. Anselm. We're having a wonderful time and
I've really taken to Cambridge. We're in a beautiful spot not too far from
Harvard with lots of restaurants, bars, parks, etc. The community here I've
found to be quite lovely as well. Cambridge is great spot with people that
care deeply about education, the future of children, healthy living, the
environment, etc. A truly wonderful forum for someone who has also taken to
caring, and advocating, for topics of the like. We live across the street
from a community garden that is flourishing and there is hardly a moment
where there is not at least a handful of people tending away to their
particular plots. Summer here has been mild so far and particularly rainy.
I heard that New Orleans is in for a possibly "active" hurricane season. My
prayers are for a "mildly active" one of course.

As for me, I'm currently working at a retail store called Anthropologie.
It's a nice intermittent job as I get settled into living in Boston. I
intend on resuming a job search in the coming months. But for now, I'm
enjoying my work with this company. The people that work there are lovely
and it is different than your average retail company because a great deal
of their focus is on home products and visual aesthetics-- so they have
a whole team that focuses on merchandising, painting, constructing,
recreating fun displays for the store-- I've even put my
construction skills to good use. I'm having fun there and have really taken
to the team of people that work there. Life is good!! I've started to
become active with the Notre Dame Mission Volunteer AmeriCorps alumni group
in Boston as well which is neat because its a great way to connect with
fellow AmeriCorps alum (and network). They set up weekend service strips
and things of that nature.

Molly with Matt Beben and Travis Wain this Advent--baking cookies at midnight?

 I can't believe almost another year has gone by since I was last living
with the community. Nick Albares, who I'm sure you have all met, sent a
really beautiful e-mail last week to the New Orleans community about his
time spent there. Not sure if you've heard but he and his wife Marguerite
are moving to DC because he is starting graduate school at Georgetown. In
the e-mail he included a quote that really struck me and immediately I knew
I had to make sure to share it with you. It is from the book, "Compassion"
by Henri Nouwen et al.

"It is important to keep ourselves from thinking about community only in
terms of living together in one house, or sharing meals and prayers, or
doing projects together.  These might well be true expressions of
community, but community is a much deeper reality.  Physical nearness  or
distance is secondary.  The primary quality of a community is a deep sense
of being gathered by God (Love, Spirit, Goodness, Peace, Justice)."

I thought this depicted wonderfully how the bond of communities past and
present that have come together under your roof transcends beyond the
actual time spent there and connects us in a way that goes far beyond the
actual living and praying and working together. In a way, it's like there
is a whole other level of just what is meant when we describe our choice to
join intentional community living.



Hope all is well!! And please tell the guys I say hi!!



All my best,

Molly

JUNE 9, 2013 BIENVILLE'S DILEMMA

On Thursday, June 6^th BIENVILLE’S DILEMMA author, Dr. Richard Campanella, spoke on the historical geography of New Orleans before a gathering of 40 or so Americorps volunteers in the Blessed Pauline Room here at 4219 Constance.  The Notre Dame Sisters Americorps volunteers work in schools, community organizations and some in construction for poor homeowners.  

Dr. Richard Campanella

Travis Wain, one of our Americorps volunteers and Brothers Charles, Bob and John attended this informative and fascinating presentation.  Dr. Campanella, a geographer at Tulane University [but a native of Brooklyn, NY] is a lively, articulate presenter who had wonderful slides to accompany the talk and accepted questions at the end of his lecture which sped by because of the gifts of the speaker and the importance of the topic.

He reflected with us how geography determined the sighting of the city, and how engineering attempts to control the flow of the Mississippi have shaped a new set of concerns.  His traced how draining the land for the development of housing areas altered the geography and water table.  The facts presented, and his cogent responses to questions dispelled myths and raised awareness and interest in the future debates about securing the city. 

On Saturday, June 8^th, Travis, John Petrullo and Br. John explored some of the terrain that Dr. Campanella spoke about, taking US 90 which is atop what is called the Esplanade Ridge and was the main road from New Orleans to Mississippi before the construction of Interstate 10.  The road takes one through New Orleans East passing Venetian Isles, Michoud [a former NASA facility], St. Nicholas of Myra Church, [destroyed during Katrina—being rebuilt by Fr. MichaelJoseph Nguyen before his sudden death], though Lake Catherine and communities where the homes rise on stilts 25 feet high.  In Mississippi, we drove the coast road which hugs the Gulf beaches as it passes through Pass Christian, Gulfport, and Biloxi before arriving at Ocean Springs, MS a lovely small town that reminded Travis of Cold Spring, NY.  After grilled Reuben and crab cake sandwiches and a quick ride through town the three returned via I-10 which shortens travel time by 30 minutes.  Mississippi beaches are much closer than Louisiana’s Gulf coast, and at one time there was regular train service from New Orleans.  Virtually all these homes were demolished by the wall of water that scoured the coast during Katrina, but the casinos and hotels are back as are the cities, port facilities, beaches and an increasing number of homes.  Informed by Dr. Campanella’s presentation, Travis, John and Br. John had the opportunity to gain an appreciation for the physical environment which helps define and explain some of the history and culture of the area.

A REFLECTION ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PLACE

“In belonging to a landscape, one feels a rightness, at-homeness, a knitting of self and world.  This condition of clarity and focus, this being fully present, is akin to what the Buddhists call mindfulness, what Christian contemplatives refer to as recollection, what Quakers call centering down.  I am suspicious of any philosophy that would separate this-worldly from other-worldly commitment.  There is only one world, and we participate in it here and now, in our flesh and place.”  Scott Russell Sanders. STAYING PUT, quoted in SPIRITUAL LITERACY

JUNE 1: HURRICANE SEASON BEGINS

The beginning of hurricane season, June 1, coincided with the tragic stories of tornados in the Midwest.  With hurricanes there is forewarning; the local media has emphasized the importance of advance preparation, including evacuation plans.  The billion dollar effort to strengthen the levee system ensures that storm surge can still go over the levees, but the levees have been strengthened so they will not give way.  There is then a need to be ready to respond to a mandatory evacuation if so instructed.  While we live in an area that does not flood we did lose power for several days after Isaac last September and the heat was awful.  The height of hurricane season is the beginning of September; the season lasts until November.

On May 30^th John attended a professional development day for coaches and schools participating in the Discovery Walk Program sponsored by the School Leadership Center.  Approximately 62 schools voluntarily participate in the program aimed at supporting leadership for school academic improvement.  There are 15 high schools involved; John coaches four of them.  The program has experienced great growth over the last few years.

On Friday, the 31^st, John Petrullo flew to Florida for the weekend.  Matt Beben was away much of the weekend; it fell to Travis Wain to go with Br. John and purchase a new washing machine for the guest wing.  With Travis in charge, the washing machine [he got such a deal—almost half price at Sears] came home in the back of the van and Travis wrestled it onto the first floor.  On Sunday, Travis drafted Matt for a brief time and they moved the washer up to the second floor and eventually into the guest wing.  Whew!

Monday night, Travis drafted Matt to get the old washing machine downstairs and [having lost Matt to one of his many phone conferences] Travis and Br. John got the new machine into the laundry room where Travis hooked it up.  Wow!  It is a new type—using much less soap and water.  It has no agitator, but seems to do a great job.  A few new rules are in order—Travis went over them slowly with Br. John so the latter would understand—including soap in first, because the top locks when you begin it.  The machine weighs [!] the clothes and knows how much water to use.  And the energy cost is modest.  Are we a lucky community, or what?

Because of his travel over the weekend, John Petrullo switched cooking duty with Br. Charles and cooked on Monday night.  Dessert was Betty Crocker’s “Mississippi Mud Pie.”  While there is no nutritional or socially redeeming value to this dessert it was a moment of jubilation to ALL the ‘chocaholics’ at the table.  [Br. John had used some overripe bananas to make banana bread on Sunday and acknowledges that as good as the banana bread was, there is no comparison.  None.  Betty, you go girl!]

Over the weekend Br. Bob continued his work on the railings for the ramp and porch on the side of the house.  It is hot work, but is coming along.  Bob is using a special gloss paint that is supposed to last 60 years.  He is talking about coming back to check on it.  That is a quote.

It was in the high 80’s and very humid today, June 4th.  John Petrullo at Lantern Light, Matt at United Saints and Travis Wain with Helping Hands work most of the time in the heat.  Br. Charles has AC in the office, but is out and about a good part of the time.  One really appreciates air conditioning and at present virtually the entire house at 4219 Constance is air conditioned and thus usable year round.

A Reflection from the poet,Mary Oliver, as the Brothers prepare for Province and Congregation Chapter Meetings looking to the future.

Song of the Builders

On a summer morning

I sat down

on a hillside

to think about God -

a worthy pastime.

Near me, I saw

a single cricket;

it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.

How great was its energy,

how humble its effort.

Let us hope

it will always be like this,

each of us going on

in our inexplicable ways

building the universe.

from Why I Wake Early (2004)