Outreach is unique. I have done social work in an office where clients come into my space. I have also done home visits usually in clients homes. In some ways doing outreach is like doing home visits, because we see people where they live, only it feels very different because they live in public places such as on the street, in the park, or by the river wall. The other reality is that I see my clients or they see me when I am not going about official Unity business. For example if I go for a walk, or show visitors around there is always the possibility of encountering a client. I could be crossing the street to go to church in the morning and while I am literally in the middle of the street, that is standing on the neutral ground, clients may spontaneously call from the side walk yelling over the passing traffic to provide me with an update on their housing situation.
Neutral Ground
I think I have mentioned the neutral ground in at least one previous entry. It is what people in New Orleans call the grassy median. The term neutral ground is used frequently because, here most main well traveled roads have them. They are often fairly wide and many contain beautiful trees. A Philadelphia example would be the median on Route One (Roosevelt Boulevard), expect that these roads are not quite as busy, wide or as major as "the Boulevard." A Rhode Island example that comes to my mind is by Scabrough Beach on Ocean Road in Narragansett, except there are no trees on that median; its width and the turn arounds are similar to those of New Orleans' Neutral Grounds. They are an important aspect of New Orleans culture because, it is where people gather to watch parades.
Here is a poem I wrote a couple of months ago abut the need for metaphoric Neutral Grounds.
Every road should have a neutral ground,
adorned with growing grass or leafy trees.
If hectic traffic has to be,
if concrete and asphalt are modern necessity,
At least the center shall be a still, softer space,
a slower pace,
of gradual greening and growing,
in between life's high speed lanes,
a silence existing amidst sound.
Every road should have a neutral ground.
adorned with growing grass or leafy trees.
If hectic traffic has to be,
if concrete and asphalt are modern necessity,
At least the center shall be a still, softer space,
a slower pace,
of gradual greening and growing,
in between life's high speed lanes,
a silence existing amidst sound.
Every road should have a neutral ground.
Religious Formation Conference
Yesterday I attended an RFC (Religious Formation) workshop here in New Orleans. It was held in a conference room at Our Lady of Wisdom, which is a lovely nursing home that 16 religious communities in the New Orleans area created together for their aging members who need care as well as for lay people. The conference was designed to teach us to reflect on our experiences , to view them using social and ecological analysis, which means asking the hard questions about why things are as they are in terms of economic, cultural, political, social, and ecological realities. The next step is to do a theological reflection viewing the reality in light of faith traditions (considering scripture, catholic social teaching, our charisms, etc.) Such reflection is meant to be transformative, leading us to change and action. Whatever action we choose as a response of course begins the cyclical process all over again. I also came to realize that whether it was consciously considered, it was this process that led my community to ask me to go to New Orleans.
Since we are in Post-Katrina New Orleans, we reflected on the impact of Hurricane Katrina. During the workshop, when doing the social analysis we specifically considered the reality of poverty, environmental issues, and violence. At first I thought I might have little to contribute since, unlike most participants I had not been in this city prior to Katrina and had not experience the trauma of the storm and its immediate aftermath. Their stories and perspectives were invaluable for me to hear. Because I have direct contact daily in my ministry to the homeless I actually felt I was able to contribute well to the discussion about poverty and people asked my perspective. Discussion inevitably lead to the need for both direct service to meet people's basic needs, ways to empower people to meet their own needs, and the need for policy change at all levels of government to create a more just world where all people's basic needs are adequately met and that allow the earth to thrive.
During the lunch break all "newer members", defined as those in formation and those under the age of 50, were encouraged to sit together. We had a wonderful discussion, which I found insightful. It was helpful to realize that many of us as new members (even though we are in different communities with different charisms and ministerial focuses) have similar struggles, questions, desires and concerns for ourselves, our congregations and the future of the church and world.
It was intersting to attend this workshop in a different "region." Next week the RFC workshop will be take place in Philadelphia. I am curious as to what you will use as the focus of the praxis for social analysis and theological reflection. Those of you who attend, please let me know. Please send greetings to all my "Insearch" friends who will likely attend.
Thank you!
As usual, I am behind on thank you notes. Many have sent me letters, feast day cards, small gifts, even valentines. Thank you also for donations especially from the provinciate staff around Mardi Gras it will surely be used to help those who are living in poverty here in New Orleans. Please know that I am truly grateful and appreciative and some day I truly do intend to catch up on thank you notes and more officially acknowledged your kindness.
Someone asked me yesterday if I feel supported, as sometimes in religious communities people who are working at a distance from their congregation and or those doing something different than most of the congregation, do not always necessarily feel well supported. I did not hesitate to say that I feel very supported. I am grateful that I experience support from my entire province (including lay associates, health systems and prov. staff, current and former lay volunteers and of course especially the sisters) from many other people (family, friends) as well as from the sisters I am currently living with. If you are interested enough to read this, than I feel that you are supporting me and I thank you!
During this season of lent, may you experience greening and growth at your center, the neutral ground of you life.
Yesterday I attended an RFC (Religious Formation) workshop here in New Orleans. It was held in a conference room at Our Lady of Wisdom, which is a lovely nursing home that 16 religious communities in the New Orleans area created together for their aging members who need care as well as for lay people. The conference was designed to teach us to reflect on our experiences , to view them using social and ecological analysis, which means asking the hard questions about why things are as they are in terms of economic, cultural, political, social, and ecological realities. The next step is to do a theological reflection viewing the reality in light of faith traditions (considering scripture, catholic social teaching, our charisms, etc.) Such reflection is meant to be transformative, leading us to change and action. Whatever action we choose as a response of course begins the cyclical process all over again. I also came to realize that whether it was consciously considered, it was this process that led my community to ask me to go to New Orleans.
Since we are in Post-Katrina New Orleans, we reflected on the impact of Hurricane Katrina. During the workshop, when doing the social analysis we specifically considered the reality of poverty, environmental issues, and violence. At first I thought I might have little to contribute since, unlike most participants I had not been in this city prior to Katrina and had not experience the trauma of the storm and its immediate aftermath. Their stories and perspectives were invaluable for me to hear. Because I have direct contact daily in my ministry to the homeless I actually felt I was able to contribute well to the discussion about poverty and people asked my perspective. Discussion inevitably lead to the need for both direct service to meet people's basic needs, ways to empower people to meet their own needs, and the need for policy change at all levels of government to create a more just world where all people's basic needs are adequately met and that allow the earth to thrive.
During the lunch break all "newer members", defined as those in formation and those under the age of 50, were encouraged to sit together. We had a wonderful discussion, which I found insightful. It was helpful to realize that many of us as new members (even though we are in different communities with different charisms and ministerial focuses) have similar struggles, questions, desires and concerns for ourselves, our congregations and the future of the church and world.
It was intersting to attend this workshop in a different "region." Next week the RFC workshop will be take place in Philadelphia. I am curious as to what you will use as the focus of the praxis for social analysis and theological reflection. Those of you who attend, please let me know. Please send greetings to all my "Insearch" friends who will likely attend.
Thank you!
As usual, I am behind on thank you notes. Many have sent me letters, feast day cards, small gifts, even valentines. Thank you also for donations especially from the provinciate staff around Mardi Gras it will surely be used to help those who are living in poverty here in New Orleans. Please know that I am truly grateful and appreciative and some day I truly do intend to catch up on thank you notes and more officially acknowledged your kindness.
Someone asked me yesterday if I feel supported, as sometimes in religious communities people who are working at a distance from their congregation and or those doing something different than most of the congregation, do not always necessarily feel well supported. I did not hesitate to say that I feel very supported. I am grateful that I experience support from my entire province (including lay associates, health systems and prov. staff, current and former lay volunteers and of course especially the sisters) from many other people (family, friends) as well as from the sisters I am currently living with. If you are interested enough to read this, than I feel that you are supporting me and I thank you!
During this season of lent, may you experience greening and growth at your center, the neutral ground of you life.
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