Vote for Joe

Met with Bill Merriman, who is a deacon at St. Patrick’s Church on the near west side of Cleveland. He has been a lynchpin in helping refugees transition into Cleveland. The most recent arrivals to the city’s near west side have been families from violence racked Liberia. The Migrant Refugee Office here, working in tandem with a number of non-profit agencies, helps connect the new arrivals with such social services as: Medicaid, food stamps, language classes… Bill also said he, and a number of other regular citizens, have rallied as well, helping the Liberians (Somalians, Rwandans…) with shelter, furniture, food, tutoring… although they’re having a hard time getting any of them to become Cleveland Indian fans. (No mystery there, given the team’s last couple seasons.) Bill said helping the refugees is the essence of what the Gospel calls for: “…to welcome strangers.” (There are 13 million refugees worldwide. For more on this subject, see: Refugees International.)

Our family joined a group of some 50 Catholic Workers (and others) today on a damp, cold, two and a half hour Good Friday “Way of the Cross” walk through downtown Clevleland. The Stations of the Cross were matched against modern day issues, using significant downtown buildings as back drops. For instance, in front of the Justice Building a one act play was staged showing Jesus not defending Himself against Pilate. This was then correlated to how the poor often have little defense in the legal system… Of the Station about ‘Jesus meeting the women’ on the road to His crucifixion, the speaker said there were millions of displaced women ( and children) in the country of Columbia. On a recent trip to Columbia, she said she learned Civil War there claims thousands of lives every year, wtih, for instance, husbands being killed, farm animals being slaughtered, and women and children being displaced “…because someone (with more power) wanted the land”… Another speaker noted the gospel does not intend for us to look the other way when it comes to this type of atrocity. Rather, the gospel is intended to unsettle us, to touch the “real sin of society.” That is, the grave sin of omission if we do choose to look the other way while violence racks Columbia (the Sudan, the Congo…) Then there is the “sin of selfishness,” as most Americans live quite comfortably, while many in the Third World live on one meager meal a day (or are starving to death altogether). What’s more, there is the “sin” of gluttony as our use of fossil fuels in America (excessive driving, heating, air-conditioning…) creates tremendous environmental devastation, read: acid rain, global warming, vanishing species… As an end to the walk today, in front of the Soldiers & Sailors Monument on Cleveland’s Public Square, pictures of Iraquis killed in the current war were placed on the steps in front of the statues of American soldiers and sailors. It was a “monument” to the countless others in this war — that we never hear about in the (American) media, said Chris Knestrick. These deaths were correlated to the Station about Jesus dying and being taken from the cross… I have to say this was, by far, the most moving (and relevant) “Way of the Cross” I’ve ever attended.

I learned of a rather fascinating building in downtown Cleveland today. The five-story office complex is being billed as a “green building” and is being used as a model. There are solar panels and raised bed gardens on the roof. Energy saving motion sensor lights are used in the hallways. Parking lot runoff, sometimes tainted with car oil an anti-freeze, is filtered through a green space as opposed to just emptying directly into a storm sewer. The interior walls are painted with a non-toxic, vegetable paint base — with just a faint smell of broccoli.

We’re back in Ohio to start the next phase of the campaign, and our lives in general. And as we’ve often asked many Americans to consider, we will soon be moving from Bluffton, Ohio to the heart of the inner city in Cleveland, Ohio to help with outreach there — inbetween future campaign tours. With “white flight,” and urban sprawl in general, many have been abandoned, and trapped, in abject poverty loops in the inner cities of America. As a result, children grow up dodging needles, bullets, drugs and hunger — with few to really help them. Note: Some 15 years ago (before all the traveling), I was involved with some outreach to the poor through St. Malachi’s Church. So I know the ropes, a bit.

Picked up a copy of the Valdosta (GA) University “The Spectator” student newspaper. Part of the masthead reads: “Less than the cost of Ramen Noodles… but you can’t eat it.” Obviously written by a “poor college student” whose regular fare is Ramen Noodles, and the like.