Hospitality, resistance, the Catholic Worker

On Monday and Tuesday, we visited the Guiseppe Conlon Catholic Worker House in Harringay, North London, and the Catholic Worker Farm in an old farmhouse on the outskirts of London.  Both the House and the Farm take in guests - the House offers shelter, food and community to about 17 men who are refused asylum seekers - men from all over the world.

Guiseppe Conlon House is at the back of an old church in a Turkish neighborhood, almost invisible from the street.  Father Martin Newell welcomed us, told us a bit of the Catholic Worker history, talked about the grounding of their work in Catholic Social Teaching, and led us in a Eucharistic celebration.  As a community, they are "ecumenical, pacifist, communitarian and anarchist in the spirit of gentle personalism."  They fed us with the same generosity and community spirit that they offer to their guests - and at least we did help with the cleaning up: Father Terry Moran, CSJP-A on the left and Katrina Alton, CSJP Candidate and soon-to-be novice on the right, with one of the core community members.  Katrina has been part of the Catholic Worker community and has participated in some of their acts of resistance, including a protest at the Ministry of Defense headquarters for which she was arrested (see the posting of September 5, 2012)

At the farm, we met with Scott Albrecht, who shared with us some of the ways his history has led him and his family to choose life as Catholic Workers.  The farmhouse and a couple of acres are leased from the farmer who raises cattle on the farm; the Catholic Worker community has a grand vegetable garden, with plenty of kale, zucchini, chard, beans, tomatoes and potatoes for the community dinners.  Their guests are women and children, again women who are not easily able to get asylum. We were wonderfully fed on lamb stew, tomato soup, and green salad, and we returned home - in sunshine at last - full of admiration for the work of these Catholic Workers, work without salary and with many worries about having money to pay the rent and the light bill, work shared joyfully with friends and guests.

In the top photo above, Scott in front of the fireplace in the 14th century farmhouse; below, the vegetable garden.

Feliz Año Nuevo

Andrea and Judith and I have spent the morning wandering happily through the streets and markets of Antigua Guatemala, delighting in the cool weather and getting ready to join the crowd in wishing everyone a Feliz Año Nuevo. And now I'm sitting somewhat less happily in the beautiful courtyard of the Hotel Aurora, where we're staying, trying to figure out how to upload a photo of the courtyard into the post via the iPad. It's right here in front of me, and I can't get to it. Grrr! Ah well - this may have to wait until I'm back in El Salvador, but just let me tell you: this is a beautiful city - full of tourists, catering to us, and in that sense a bit artificial like all good tourist cities, but a place full of history, color, delights. I'm posting this mostly to say that as we celebrate the New Year with the Antigüeños I will be praying for the peace that we long for in 2012, peace in our hearts and in our world. May we be blessed with the desire to work for peace.

And here's the photo at last:

Music, full moon, night in Suchitoto

Tonight began wonderfully with a light supper at our favorite restaurant, la Villa Balanza, followed by a moving and beautiful cello concert by Götz Teutsch (here's a recent photo), part of the annual International Festival of Art and Culture in Suchitoto. In addition to the concert - two Bach Suites for solo cello sandwiching briefer and wilder contemporary music by Dieter Acker and Bernd Alois Zimmerman - we enjoyed a wine reception hosted by the German Embassy.

A magical evening, and the beauty of it continued as Margaret Jane and I walked home under the full moon, stopping at a local hall to pray with Tina, a woman who's one of the leaders of our local church, at the vigil for her mother, who died at 92.

But when we got home the disco next door started up, and the contrast between the beauty of the cello and the angry, relentless rhythms our neighbor fancies was hard to bear. It's still going on, but I'm listening to music I like better on my iPod, remembering the earlier magic of the night, and staying peaceful.

In the midst of danger

In looking through the photos taken during our missions this year I came across this amazing image, a photograph by Mitch Costin of a dove nesting in razor wire.

Razor wire is used all over San Salvador to keep out thieves, and perhaps the dove chose that spot because she would be protected from raptors. There she sits, making a nest in the midst of danger, in the midst of wires that say "keep away," that say "mine, not yours." In the midst of all this danger she is creating new life.

An image of peace creating justice.

Lemonade

Thunder in the night.
The lemon tree rains lemons.
I drink lemonade.

On retreat

This 4th of July, Independence Day, I begin a week of retreat at home. I'm taking the computer and other electronic toys to the Centro Arte para la Paz, unplugging the TV, and settling in for a time of quiet and contemplation. I'm planning on practicing my dependence on God and my interdependence with all creation. I hope to witness creation in the patio, like this glorious butterfly who landed on our ficus one morning after a heavy rain, and stayed there a long time to dry out and get photographed. I hope to witness the presence of the Holy Spirit.

If I blog this week, it will probably be with photographs as a witness of the holiness of creation. I will be mindful of you, my friends, my family, my CSJP community in the prayers of this week. ¡Que Dios nos bendiga con paz y justicia! May God bless us with peace and justice.

Peace Day

On Wednesday I led, for the first time, one of our Peace Days for Women - a monthly gathering that has been taking place at St. Mary-on-the-Lake since the 1980s. It was a great group of women - some I know, most I didn't at the beginning. The topic was "Friends and Strangers," and since this was St. Patrick's Day, I began by focusing on his history of being kidnapped and enslaved - and then choosing to return to the place of his captivity, to befriend those enemy strangers.

The part of the day I enjoyed most, probably because it was mostly wordless, was an exercise adapted from Joanna Macy and Molly Young Brown's Coming Back to Life - it involved walking through a big room, first fast and frantically with little attention to others. Gradually the group is asked to slow down, begin to notice the others in the room, and then to take someone by the hand. The movement continues through a number of handclasps with different people. We all noticed our sense of connection with each other growing strongly, our pace slowing, our peacefulness increasing. It struck me that there are many ways I can continue this exercise in my daily life, walking slowly and deliberately when I'm feeling a bit frantic, paying attention to who and what is surrounding me.

I'm a bit sad, though, that I didn't have Sister Susan Francois' meditation on friendship in front of me when I led the Peace Day. This is a beautiful reflection by the other blogging CSJP Susan, and I recommend it to you. I'm a bit sad, too, in preparing to return to El Salvador when there are still so many friends I haven't had time to visit with. That's definitely the shadow side of living 3000 miles away and in another country