Ex-Marine's "American Sniper" Reflections

In the spirit of Pope John Paul II who wrote that "any and all pre-emptive [first strike] wars are immoral," in addition to his words that the Iraqi War was NOT legally nor morally justified, we reprint the article, "Former Marine on Chris Kyle, American Sniper, and Social Implications" posted on January 27, 2015 on Washington's Blog by Robert Barsocchini.

Ross Caputi, a former marine who participated in the US’s second siege of Fallujah, writes that the reason the American Sniper book and film have been so successful is that they “tell us exactly what we want to hear”: that US America is “benevolent” and “righteous”.  That, he says, is why the book and film are so popular; their popularity speaks volumes about US society, and signals more danger ahead for the rest of the world.

The killings for which Chris Kyle is idolized, Caputi notes, were perpetrated during his participation in the second US siege of Fallujah, which Caputi, from firsthand knowledge, calls an “atrocity”.

Specifically of the siege, Caputi notes:

“All military aged males were forced to stay within the city limits of Fallujah” [while women and children were warned to flee through the desert on foot]
“…an estimated 50,000 civilians were trapped in [Fallujah] during this month long siege without water” [since the US had cut off water and electricity to the city]
“…almost no effort was taken to make a distinction between civilian men and combatants. In fact, in many instances civilians and combatants were deliberately conflated.”
“The US did not treat military action [against Fallujah] as a last resort. The peace negotiations with the leadership in Fallujah were canceled by the US.”
“[The US] killed between 4,000 to 6,000 civilians, displaced 200,000, and may have created an epidemic of birth defects and cancers“
“[The siege was] conducted with indiscriminate tactics and weapons, like the use of reconnaissance-by-fire, white phosphorous, and the bombing of residential neighborhoods. The main hospital was also treated as a military target.”
In modest conformity with international law originally flowing from the Nuremberg tribunal, he says that neither he or Kyle should receive any “praise or recognition” for their actions against Iraq.

Further, he notes that Clint Eastwood, director of the American Sniper movie, made many changes to Kyle’s accounts of what happened.  For one, Kyle, in his autobiography, recounts shooting a woman who was taking the legal action of throwing a grenade at invading forces.  Eastwood changes this so that the woman gives the grenade to her child to throw at the invaders.  “Did Clint Eastwood think that this is a more representative portrayal of the Iraqi resistance?” Caputi asks. “It’s not.”  (Caputi gives Eastwood the benefit of our lack of knowledge of his thought process; he could have asked if Eastwood did this to try to dehumanize Iraqi mothers or Iraqis in general, or whip up US American xenophobic hatred of foreigners, a not-so-difficult feat which Eastwood accomplished with flying colors.  See The Guardian’s “American Sniper: Anti-Muslim Threats Skyrocket in Wake of Film’s Release“; many who see the film “emerge from theatres desperate to communicate a kind of murderous desire.”)

The US invasion of Iraq, Caputi concludes, was “the imposition of a political and economic project against the will of the majority of Iraqis. … We had no right to invade a sovereign nation, occupy it against the will of the majority of its citizens, and patrol their streets.”

Caputi “holds an MA in Linguistics and … is working on an MA in English Studies at Fitchburg State University.”

Also see Professor of International Affairs Sophia A. McClennan’s piece, where she says the American Sniper movie is “a terrifying glimpse” of a “mind-set that couples delusion with violence”.

The Way of the Lamb

   The Way of The Lamb

The Official Online Newsletter of The Lamb Catholic Worker in Columbus, Ohio                   Winter 2013-14  Issue 2

"We need to bring beauty into the midst of ugliness.  It honors and glorifies God to see such beauty from the dung heaps of a slum."   - Dorothy Day
"We have a 'rule of life' that is easy to follow, provided we listen to the wise counsel of such people as St. Teresa [of Avila] and St. Francis [de Sales].  St. Teresa understood that weariness of the soul.  St. Francis tells us to be gentle with ourselves." - Dorothy Day
Happenings of the Lamb  
        We, at The Lamb Catholic Worker are in a stage of expectant waiting, at one with this advent season encloaked in dark, cold days and nights, yearnings, restlessness, hopefulness.  We seem to take two steps forward and one step back; yet, slowly, steadily fulfilling Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin's vision of a Catholic Worker community here in Columbus mainly for battered women and children of foreign descent.  Our vision has widened two-fold into both the inner-city houses of hospitality with city gardens for the poor, as well as a farm to help support these houses of hospitality (and to possibly provide hospitality to a family here and there who need greater concealment).  Peter, with his "French peasant farming roots," emphasized this agrarian aspect, as has Msgr. Marv Mottet, our spiritual and community director from Iowa, who is also from French farming roots (French parents who were farmers in Iowa).  The good Lord even honored that in Peter by bringing him to his heavenly home forever on the feast of St. Isidore, patron of farmers.  
       This grand vision of ours has gained only one small donation outside of each others' to begin; yet, we wait in eager anticipation for funds, more workers in the field, and support for this valuable service to our city and community! We have flung seeds far and wide, by the grace of God and the intercession of Mother Mary, putting our first fall hard copy newsletter or an announcement into the hands of over 12,000 church-going Catholics through parish bulletins in the Columbus area, and have contacted all of the Cleveland diocesan priests, and some in the Philadelphia diocese, to get them into theirs as well.  Besides carefully placing these seeds, we are patiently giving them time to rest, germinate, and take root. We are encouraged by Fr. McSorley's St. Francis song he constantly sang with his eukele in the D.C. Catholic Worker houses: 
"If you wish to live life freely,
take your time, go slowly.
Do few things but do them well,
simple joys are holy.
Day by day,
stone by stone,
build your secret slowly.
Day by day,
you'll grow too,
you'll know heaven's glory."
We do not worry about our effectiveness, about outcome, all those trappings of modern society that are deemed measures of success, but only doing the Will of the Father.  His will alone is our delight.  And so, 
"Those that sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.
Those who go forth weeping,
carrying sacks of seed,
Will return with cries of joy,
carrying their bundled sheaves."  (Psalm 126:5-6)
        Two more analogies of this waiting, wanting, advent stage of our community are the compost heap during winter, and the chrysalis.  We still trudge through the snow to the compost heap behind the garage - a giant pile of fall leaves, old weeds, fruit and vegetable fragments, eggshells, coffee grinds, pine needles, and the like, with a thick, snowy, icy roof over it.  We lift the top of a corner of the pile with a pitch fork, throw the new materials in, and put it back.  Some organic changes are happening, but we have them in place for enormous changes when the weather warms.  We cheerfully continue to work with it, knowing it will greatly enhance the soils in the gardens of fruits, vegetables and flowers.  Come Spring, all will explode with robust life - in full color and glory, reflecting the Creator and His wishes and Will. So, we await Spring's coming as we do our Savior's coming, and as we do the full birthing of this Catholic Worker.  The shortest day of the year, Dec. 21, will then begin to turn the tide toward more and more light, warmth, growth, and fulfillment of His designs.

       The other analogy within each one of us, is that of the chrysalis (or butterfly cocoon).  It appears dead - still, non-moving, dark inside.  Drastic changes are miraculously taking place though, in this full metamorphosis into a new creature.  Such a changing within can only occur by drawing in with the Creator, long spells of time in Eucharistic Adoration with our Lord and changer of hearts and souls. We are trying greatly to do this more and more, even in our busy schedules, with Christ as our role model.  Before beginning His public ministry, even He had to withdraw to the desert for 40 days to wrestle with His demons, to sort out all in His mind before the great leap.  For us, this silence with Him, paradoxically, creates more restlessness to hear His voice, the voice of our Beloved, to be a person after His own heart, like St. John of the Cross; and to let down our defenses and walls to allow Him to come to us and love us.
     Peter Maurin, was in this restless, prayerful state for more than 7 years, grasping the poetry welling up in his heart, getting down scribbles on paper of his "Easy Essays" that he knew would one day fully flower if he could find the right person.  This was all until he could not be contained in his chrysalis any longer - bursting forth to find that person to help begin all this.  He wandered from place to place as the ideas and spirituality germinated, talking to every person put into his path by the Holy Spirit.  He did not give up.  Finally, he met that special person in Dorothy Day.  Msgr. Mottet always said that if/when Dorothy Day is be canonized, Peter should be alongside her. She always said that Peter was the true founder of the Catholic Worker Movement.  This is coming, and we believe, our Catholic Worker houses of hospitality and farm are coming (16,000 hits online).  We wait in joyful hope.  
        We also await the humble, glorious coming of a fragile, vulnerable, helpless newborn once again, to save us.  Our community is in its infancy, and seeing that the Lord and Savior of the world began his earthly presence in so delicate and precarious a state gives us much hope!  Come Lord Jesus.  He speaks most tenderly to a waiting, expectant heart, and so, we encourage all of you to get to Eucharistic Adoration often this holy season.  Have that date with Jesus often.  We are too blessed to be stressed, and all other details truly do not matter as much.  Also, make 2014 be the year that you fully become a daily communicant, even if it means getting up very, very early (and with little sleep the night before). Seek out your Lover in the early morning.  Jesus constantly woke up before dawn to be one with the Father.  My role model is a mother at St. Catherine's who has rarely missed with many toddlers, young children, and babies in tow (and pregnant many of those times).  Yes, she has had to constantly deal with their antics throughout mass and up the communion line, but that never stopped her drive to be one with her Lover. It continues to be a fabulous role model for all of her children, also modeled so well by Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.  Whatever you desire for your adult children to do one day, do it yourself right now.  Your Father in heaven wants it for all his adult children who have access to churches.  He multiplies time, then, in your given day, helping you complete all that you should while eliminating the rest.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES!         PRAY FOR US AS WE DO FOR YOU!  Our model is very similar to a religious order - in our level of prayer commitment, of promises to poverty, chastity, obedience (to a Catholic Worker Rule), and to upholding the sacredness of all human life; and in our seeking to fully live together in community when we can get the properties.  Of course at the heart is hospitality to mostly Hispanic and Somali (yet others as well) battered women and children. It is distinct from a volunteer program in this manner - it is a commitment to community in regards to our time, talent, treasure, and being together. It is not to the level of the Franciscans, Jesuits, Dominicans, nor even the Jesuit Volunteer Corps or the Peace Corps, but we are stumbling along, hopefully according to the Will of the Father for this mission. Please, please pray for us!  Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, Mother Mary, and St. Joseph continue to intercede for us!  
"Be sure to draw on his strength, his gentleness, and his patience -- because you will need it.  And remember: not only are you called to be patient with people but also with the Shepherd, who takes no shortcuts.  He has a perfect plan, and he will accomplish it in his own time." (Word Among Us, Dec. 10, 2013).

Do Not Click on "Posts (atom)" or "Older Posts" as Subtitles; Tell Others

THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER - Please tell new people to by-pass the "feeds" called "Older Posts" and "Posts (atom)" that are choices before getting on this website.  AFTER getting into the site, and scrolling down articles, THEN push "Older Blogs" to see the 35+ articles. Explain to others to simply type the subject, " The Lamb Catholic Worker," then choose the subject-looking or title-looking, "The Lamb Catholic Worker," again.  Please, especially if you are clergy or from a religious order, pray for us, and help spread the word about this critical mission mainly for battered women and children of foreign descent here in Columbus. We cannot do it without your prayers and support.   Thanks.

Saved By Beauty, A Spiritual Journey With Dorothy Day

     THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - This vibrant and vivid picture book (2012, World Library Publications) is written and illustrated by artist, Michael O'Neill McGrath and covers the life of Dorothy Day in a manner that even adults would greatly enjoy.  It truly emits a saving effect through its own beauty, in addition to the exquisite beauty and witness of Dorothy Day's life.  Her life was indeed like that of a Dominican, Franciscan, Carmelite, Peace Corps or Jesuit Volunteer Corps workers, seminary teacher or student, and convent teacher or student.  Who knows?  Perhaps there will someday be a Catholic Worker order!
       Thanks to Austin Schaefer, OSU campus minister, for this author-signed gift to the Lamb Catholic Worker! Below is a glimpse of the pictures. The many quotes from Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and the saints are just as amazing as the pictures.

     Our site has reached 15,000 viewers worldwide!  Thank you, Father, and thank you Dorothy Day for your intercessory prayers!  Keep interceding for Hana's continued miraculous healing from metastasized breast cancer into the brain, liver, and spine.  We so desire for you to be acknowledged as a saint by the Catholic Church and thus, your work with and devotion to the most vulnerable poor, acknowledged and honored.

Pray With Us The Chaplet Of The Heavenly Father For Nine Days

  

 THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - Please, we encourage all of you supporters to pray this fairly new chaplet for The Lamb Catholic Worker, for its people and its mission. This novena is to begin today and end on October 18th, the feast of St. Luke. Our special intention is for God's Will to be done, nothing more and nothing less.  We ask that He take the next bold and loving step for the Lamb Catholic Worker, according to His Will. It begins with the sign of the Cross, then the Apostle's Creed, three Hail Mary's and a Glory Be.  The ten "Hail Mary" beads are: Father, everything is possible for You!  Thank You Father!  After each decade is the "Hail Holy Queen" with five Glory Be's for the five wounds of Jesus.  There are other prayers but this is the basic structure.  Monica prayed it with Msgr. Mottet in his hospital room the night before his pacemaker surgery very recently.  He loves this chaplet from Croatia!  Thanks so much.

      To order a pamphlet from the publisher call: (416) 748-8559.  We want to wish a heartfelt thank you to Pope Benedict Emeritus for his assured prayers for us!    This Lamb CW site has reached, by the grace of God, over 13,000 viewers.

Merton on God's Mercy and Love Infused Through Us

THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus -  Yesterday, September 14, was the feast of the Triumph of the Cross, also known as the Exaltation of the Cross (of Jesus Christ).  This and Good Friday epitomize the depths of God's love and mercy towards us in not only the gift of His Son to a highly sinful world, but the immensity of the suffering that He and His Son experienced on the torturous Cross and all that led up to it.  This sacrificial love and mercy are what we "do" or bring to the world as well, exemplified in this Brother Louis (Thomas Merton) quote from his book, The Seven Story Mountain, as quoted in Advent and Christmas with Thomas Merton (Liguori Publications, 2002)

"IN THE MIDST OF HIS LOVE AND MERCY"
     "It is only the infinite mercy and love of God that has prevented us from tearing ourselves to pieces and destroying His entire creation long ago ... On the contrary, consider how in spite of centuries of sin and greed and lust and cruelty and hatred and avarice and oppression and injustice, spawned and bred by the free wills of men, the human race can still recover, each time, and can still produce men and women who overcome evil with good, hatred with love, greed with charity, lust and cruelty with sanctity.  How could all this be possible without the merciful love of God, pouring out His grace upon us? ..."
      This is similar to a response from a bishop when asked how the Catholic Church could possibly be genuine given the long history of very sinful men, from Catherine de Hueck's husband, Eddie Doherty's book about her, Tumbleweed (1988, Madonna House Publications).  The bishop replied:  "...If we on the inside have not been able to wreck the Church in two thousand years, it must be of divine origin.  We on the inside have done more to harm the Church than all of the enemies outside of the walls ... And we haven't made a dent in its structure.  We haven't dimmed the luster of a single truth.  We have not lessened in any way its power to save the world." (188)  Matthew 16:19 - "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

[Added reflections on retreat in Iowa, the night prayers from the Hours include the following, on this theme of Thomas Merton]:
 "Christ died for our sins to make of us an offering to God.
 ... He died to this world of sin and rose in the power of the Spirit,
 to make of us an offering to God.
 ... Christ, our frail humanity is prone to fall
   -strengthen us through your help.
If left to itself, our nature is inclined to sin
   -let your love always restore it to grace ...
God our Father,
you brought salvation to all mankind
through the suffering of Christ, your Son.
May your people strive to offer themselves
to you as a living sacrifice and be filled with
the abundance of your love." pp. 323-324 Shorter Prayers of the Hours

     I will include several more Merton quotes from this advent prayer book:

Mother of the Holy Eucharist, the King of Glory

 "SERVANT OF OUR LADY"
     "Since the diaconate our Lady has taken possession of my heart.  Maybe, after all, she is the big grace of the diaconate.  She was given to me with the book of the Gospels which, like her, gives Christ to the world.  I wonder what I have been doing all my life not resting in her heart which is the heart of all simplicity.  All life, outside of her perfect union with God, is too complicated.
      "Lady, I am your deacon, your own special and personal deacon.  What made me want to laugh in the middle of the Gospel this morning was the fact that you were doing the singing and I was just resting and sailing along." (Sign of Jonas in the Advent ... Book)
       By declaring at the foot of the cross, "Woman, behold thy son," to Mary in regard to John, and therefore to all ordained men, Jesus has given Mary many "Christ" sons, those called to be Christ to the world, to bring His flesh and blood into the world in order to feed and sustain us all.

"A WOMAN CLOTHED IN LIGHT"
["A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars." (Rev. 12:1)]

     "The genuine significance of Catholic devotion to Mary is to be seen in the light of the Incarnation itself.  The Church cannot separate the Son and the Mother.  Because the Church conceives of the Incarnation as God 's descent into flesh and into time, and His great gift of Himself to His creatures, she also believes that the one who was closest to Him in this great mystery was the one who participated most perfectly in the gift ..."Mary, who was empty of all egotism, free of all sin, was as pure as the glass of a very clean window that has no other function than to admit the light if the sun.  If we rejoice in that light, we implicitly praise the cleanness of the window.  And of course it may be argued that in such a case, we might forget the window altogether.  This is true.  And yet the Son of God, in emptying Himself to His majestic power, having become a child, abandoned Himself in complete dependence to the loving care of a human Mother, in a certain sense draws our attention once again to her.  The Light has wished to remind us of the window, because He is grateful to her and because He has an infinitely tender and personal love for her." ( New Seeds of Contemplation in the Advent ... Book)

"MARY! THE 'ROYAL WAY'"
      "God willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary play a central part in the Mystery of the Incarnation and of our Redemption.  He willed that the salvation of the world should depend on her consent.  Mary is the "royal way" by which the King of Glory descended into the world in order to restore fallen mankind to its destined place in heaven... If we leave her out of the Sacrament of Advent we shall never fully penetrate its mystery, since we need to go forth to meet our Savior on the same road by which He came to us. " (Seasons of Celebration in the Advent ... Book).  The Catholic Worker art work of Mother Mary below is by Fritz Eichenberg.
 

Mary, Ark of the Covenant, Word

JOIN POPE FRANCIS IN FASTING AGAINST WAR AND VIOLENCE IN SYRIA

     Pope Francis is following Pope John Paul II's lead in speaking boldly against going to war with Syria, in addition to his strong condemnation of weapons of mass destruction.  Here is an excerpt from the Washington Post "On Faith" section:

"His [Pope Francis] admonishment against resorting to arms as a solution recalled the repeated emotional implorations a decade ago by the late Pope John Paul II in a vain attempt to persuade the U.S. administration then led by President George W. Bush not to invade Iraq...
Usually soft-spoken, [Pope] Francis raised his voice as he declared, 'War brings on war!  Violence brings on violence!'"  He then declared a fast for peace.  May we Catholics and others join him for the sake of Syria, for the sake of peace, and for the sake of the Prince of Peace who declared to "Put away the sword.  Those who live by the sword will die by the sword." 

Our Lady, Jesus' Mother, please pray for the people of Syria and for your Son's followers to be undeniable witnesses to His way in the world, all of us be true Franciscans, followers of St. Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis who are solely instruments of Peace, of the Prince of Peace.

Happenings of The Lamb

Happenings of the Lamb

Inaugural Online Newsletter
Fall 2013

"You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you."  Isaiah 26:31

We, at The Lamb Catholic Worker plan to put out a seasonal online and snail-mail newsletter (four times a year) with inspirations, happenings, updates, and needs of our budding community.  It will be "organic," so to speak, and may evolve or change over time.  We'll trust in the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate heart of Mary, St. Joseph, Guardian of Truth and purity itself,  Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin.  We are also upheld in prayer through many of you Sick and Suffering Co-Catholic Workers offering up, powerfully, the pain and suffering of your illnesses and other crosses for us, in addition to Pope Benedict Emeritus' prayers (as he has assured us with a letter and picture sent [that we framed!]).
WE ARE PRAYING FOR OUR HOUSES, please pray for this too!  We long for a home for the poor here in the tradition of the Catholic Worker. One of us has prayed several years for this particular set of large abandoned houses to renovate modestly and call our Catholic Worker home. Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, we need a miracle!  With that in mind, here are comforting words from God through sacred Scripture today:
INSPIRATIONS
"God, in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor." (Psalm 68:6-7) - the Psalm refrain!

"The father of orphans and defender of widows
is God in His holy dwelling.
God gives a home to the forsaken;
He leads forth prisoners to prosperity.
A bountiful rain you showered down, O God,
upon your inheritance....
in your goodness, O God, you provided it for the needy. "
(Psalm 68: 4-5, 6-7, 10-11)

In the same spirit was the moral of the Gospel today from Luke: (14:1,7-14) "When you hold a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they invite you back and you have repayment.  Rather, ... invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be for their inability to repay you.  You will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."

 “The greatest challenge of the day is: how to bring about a revolution of the heart, a revolution which has to start with each one of us. When we begin to take the lowest place, to wash the feet of others, to love our brothers with that burning love, that passion, which led to the Cross, then we can truly say, ‘Now I have begun.’” 

— Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement

HAPPENINGS
PRAY FOR SYRIA!  We must mention that first.
What exactly is our community doing while in this holding pattern waiting for our first monetary donation, or our first house of hospitality for mainly foreign-speaking homelss women and children?
First, we are building community and commitment.
To describe, we are setting aside more and more prior commitments (even good ones), to make time to be together in prayer, common meals, and extra time for particlar tasks to get this off the ground.  We are committing to living a pure and prayerful life, one embracing Lady Poverty, to ready ourselves for when we can move into a CW house.  Some already live together at The Lamb Catholic Worker Volunteer Corps House here.
We are building a base of Apostolic work commitment to the poor now:
--We are baking cookies for 175-180 men and women and serving them at the Open Shelter
-- We are committing to time sorting and giving away clothes, as well as distributing food at the Bishop Griffin center at Christ the King parish
-- We are assisting a family of 10 in trying to live a normal life by giving them food and diapers once a month, taking the children to mass, bringing them to the Lamb Volunteer Corps House for brunch or dinner, and taking them places (Ohio State Fair, swimming, etc.)
-- We are assisting a group of very low income boys every night with a snack after school, tutoring, sharing lives, sharing their poverty
-- We are committing to a Catholic presence at least once a month at the E. Broad St. Founders abortion facility. We pray the Rosary for these women, men, unborn babies, other children on their families and their situations, in addition to some sidewalk counseling.
--We have committed to Sunday CCD to the population at Christ the King Church
--We have gone to Appalachia with the Appalachian Project for 11 days this summer to build a house for a poor family of 11, to split and pile a winter's worth of wood for a widow and her 3  children, etc., etc.
--We are looking toward seasonal Clarification of Thought - gatherings for ourselves and the wider community on topics of social justice, with a presenter and discussion
UPDATES
We strongly desire to do a LOT more though, especially direct hospitality for and with the homeless in a Catholic Worker community. Our greatest update is that our EIN, or Tax I.D. number - 46-2489540 for our nonprofit corporation, is finished and ready to be utilized!  We have four stellar priests on our board as well: Msgr. Marv Mottet of Davenport, Iowa and Columbus priests, Fr. Denis Kigozi, Fr. David Schalk, and Fr. Justin Reis.  We cannot begin in a larger more authentic manner without you though.  All of you 9,800+ people from around the world who have viewed our online site- please remember us on your prayer list and on your charitable donation list, if possible.  We need a large amount to purchase the abandoned city block (basically) that we feel the Holy Spirit has in mind for this. While we have received the volunteer corps house, two dressers, two beds, and a set of single mattresses, our hands are tied right now until we get funding (although there are other avenues we are pursuing). Please, please pray for us.  Pray only that God's Will be done, nothing more and nothing less. Without God, we cannot succeed, but with God, we cannot fail, as Fr. Schalk said in his homily today.
Community status update: Elizabeth McFadden, Steubenville recent graduate and Master's of Social Work student at Ohio State, recently joined and moved in; and Andy Pasternack temporarily went on to Columbia University for a year for grad school.  We all have no doubt that he will be back though, especially when this gets up and running.

Our Needs
Four sought-after houses and large lot in between for city gardening (current value approx. $180,000.00)
Two or three sets of bunkbeds and their mattresses for our volunteer corps house

SOME GIVE BY GOING; SOME GO BY GIVING.
Your greatest gifts are your prayers and fasting for us!

Build the Kingdom Here: Store Treasures in Heaven

     THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - Our dearly, dearly loved Fr. David Schalk gave a moving homily today at Christ the King Church mentioning "The Lumber Song."  The Gospel today is about not storing up treasures for yourself - even though this is what we all tend to do these days here in America (Luke 12:13-21).  It was the parable of the rich man who could never be satisfied with the wealth he had and so, wanted to build better and bigger barns to store even greater wealth.  He then planned to sit back, and take selfish pleasure in his accomplishments by resting, eating, drinking, and "being merry." This parable was introduced by the first reading today: "... seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Seek what is above, not of what is on earth" (Colossians 3:1-5). 
          Fr. Schalk told the story of a similar man who died and went to heaven.  He was taken to where he would spend his eternity, passing beautiful mansions along the way.  Finally, they stopped at a small shack, which was where he would be for eternity.  He asked, "But why?  How could they be so different?"  St. Peter said, "Every good deed, selfless act, gift to the poor, giving of time to build the Kingdom on Earth - these all were their lumber for their houses.  Looks like this is all you have."
       It reminds also of the Gospel: "Do not store up riches on this earth that moths and rust can destroy, but store up treasures in heaven..." and "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  How much more Catholic Worker can you possibly get!  Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin are celebrating in heaven this homily and this song!

The Lumber Song lyrics (by "Eli")
Said a friend to a friend one day,
Was a man who passed away
St. Peter met him at the gate
Pete said: "Walk with me if you will
I'll take you to the house you built"
Man said: "I can't wait!"
Passed a mansion made of stone
But with each new house he's shown
They get smaller by degrees
Stopped in front of a two room shack
Pete said hope you're happy with that
Man said: "How can this be?"
Pete said:
Chorus:
That's all the lumber--that's all the lumber
that's all the lumber you sent
Looks like the builder--man he's got your number
That's all the lumber you sent 
(intro)
Man didn't know what to say
poor guy was blown away
Said: "you mean this is what I deserve?"
Pete said: "I'm afraid it's so
It's too late but now you know
Shoulda done better work"
Said: You mean not lie and cheat
and helpin' old ladies across the street?
Pete says: Well, that's a start
Remember that man back in that great big house?
He found out early what it's all about
Built that place with his heart--as for you (chorus)
Bridge:
What if that man was me
And I failed that miserably
You're showin' me things I don't wanna see
(intro)
St. Peter if you can
Send me back to earth again
Is that somethin' you can do?
Pete said: It ain't up to me
If it was I'd like to see
How you plan to improve
Said: I'd love God and fellow man
Take a wife and make a stand
Be the givinest guy I can be
And when I get back to this neighborhood
There'd be a big gigantic pile of wood
And I'd say: What's this I see?--You'd tell me (chorus2x)

Love of Dorothy Day, Friend of the Forgotten

 THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus --
"This blindness of love; this folly of love - 
This seeing Christ in others,
everywhere
And not seeing the ugly,
The obvious,
The dirty, the sinful - 
This means we do not see the faults
Of others,
Only our own.
We see only Christ in them.
We have eyes only for our Beloved,
Ears for His voice.

                               - Dorothy Day,
                                Duty of Delight, p. 80

Order My Day According to Your Will - Day Starter Prayers

THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - After years of searching and compiling several morning prayers into one daily routine, this whole list is a tried and true day starter set.  St. Theresa de Lisieux said that if you say your words painfully slowly, and mean each word, you are most rapidly put into the presence of God.  The first is from Jesus Himself.

Note: The words in brackets are additions or explanations of these mostly traditional prayers.

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed [HOLY] be thy name [above all the earth].  Thy kingdom come, thy will [alone] be done on earth aaaaas it is in heaven [actions here identical to ours in heaven;His will of consistent and great love between people is for all times, everywhere, on earth, in heaven, etc]. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one [the literal translation].  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever, amen.
 
[Mostly from Angel Gabriel:] Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you.  Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.  Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death, amen. 

O Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, [thoughts, actions], and sufferings of this day [especially my sinfulness], in union with the holy Sacrifice of Mass throughout the world.  I offer them for all the intentions of your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, the reparation for sin, [prayers of my relatives and friends, and anything else that your Sacred Heart desires]. I offer them for [our bishops and all Apostles of prayer, particularly our Holy Father, Pope Francis - and all their intentions.]

ORDER MY DAY, LORD, ACCORDING TO YOUR WILL. When I go off Your path, put me back on it.  When I will not go back on, make the path come to me [Isaiah 6: 12-16].  When I will not put my feet down on that path through selfishness, stubborness, or pride, and mess everything up, pick up the pieces and still put them together according to your will.  Jesus, I trust in You.

Take Lord, receive, all my liberty, my memory, my intellect, and my entire will, all that I have and possess.  You have given all to me.  To you, Lord, I return it all. All is yours. Give me only your love and your grace and that is enough for me.
                                     [St. Ignatius of Loyola]

Our Community's Birthday! "We Have Done So Much With So Little For So Long, We Are Now Qualified To Do Anything With Nothing" - Blessed Mother Teresa

 THE LAMB CATHOLIC WORKER, Columbus - This labor of love, the Lamb Catholic Worker, could never be better described than with this Blessed Mother Teresa quote!  There have been years of tears and perseverance in this service to our Lord and Savior.  We have yet to receive our first donation, besides Monica's house for the Lamb Catholic Worker Volunteer Corps House, which she gladly gives to move this mission forward.  Really, this endeavor is eight years in the making if you use the starting point of when it came to Monica in June 2005 at a six-day silent retreat.  She and others believe that it was from the Holy Spirit - to open a three-house Catholic Worker community for battered women and children of foreign descent: Casa Guadalupe, Casa Romero, and Bakhita House.  Later the idea of a fourth house- Loaves and Fishes House - was added for food collection, processing, storage, gardening equipment, and space for meetings and hopefully exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Finally, a fifth house idea has come along - The Lamb Catholic Worker Volunteer Corps House - in the model of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps houses, where volunteers can live apart in community while serving at the houses of hospitality by day.  For now this means fundraising and renovation once the properties are obtained for these volunteer community members. We are now at the brink of beginning!

        The property was found immediately after that silent retreat and is currently still abandoned and ready to be transformed.  Monica was in the process of raising the last few of her five children these past eight years, and, while she did constantly put the word out, she could not actively pursue it as she would have liked, especially working towards it alone.  For the past two years though, she has stepped up the soliciting and flinging the seeds of it far and wide, with an explanation of this mission  in the December 10th issue of the Catholic Times (2010). She brought Msgr. Marv Mottet in town in July, 2011, (so holy Blessed Mother Teresa came to visit him in Iowa) of whom Monica had lived in community with in a D.C. Catholic Worker.  Msgr. Mottet educated for three days anyone interested in the Catholic Worker way and this mission for a battered women and children Catholic Worker community here in Columbus.  A priest, deacon, several seminarians and others came. It has been the talk of eastside Catholics since, and especially because in January of 2012, she began the website/blog of The Lamb Catholic Worker, while soliciting members more fervently. She has printed and given out many of the articles to eastside priests and others. With her last child just graduating from high school, and with more time on her hands, this newly formed community is hopefully on the brink of beginning this endeavor!
        In the spirit of Dorothy Day and Blessed Mother Teresa (from the quote) she has somehow been able to do this past stepped-up ten months of on-line solicitation without a working computer! Thank the good Lord for public library computers, which have been very beneficial. She is also grateful for walking this technological path of the poor, in all its frustrations.
       We do not have the start-up funds, the four sought-after abandoned houses and numerous lots between and around them for city farming, nor anything else material. So, we basically have no place, no funds, no other resources (beds, furniture,..), and no hospitality thus far.  What we do have though is each other - a budding community, and a vision of what we feel God has in mind for this Catholic Worker and this city, a multi-house Catholic Worker community mainly for battered women and children of foreign descent. Best of all, we have four stellar priests on our Lamb Catholic Worker nonprofit corporation board: Msgr. Marv Mottet of Davenport, Iowa, spiritually directing it from afar; Fr. Justin Reis, retiring this year from St. Peter's Church here in Columbus, as well as from his full-time Diocesan priest position; Fr. Denis Kigosi from Uganda, pastor of the very multi-cultural St. Thomas the Apostle parish and a long time priest of the Columbus diocese, and Fr. David Schalk, pastor of Christ the King Church, a large mostly Hispanic one. Bravo to all of them!  May God bless and protect them.  Dorothy Day always stressed so eloquently: "Don't worry about being effective.  Just concentrate on being faithful to the Truth," and these wonderful priests are our role models in their committment to the Truth and to the Catholic faith.

       Who else is a part of our community and what kind of people?  First, we have Jotham, former seminarian, current youth minister, ardent gardener, and student at Ohio Dominican University double majoring in Philosophy and Public Relations/Marketing; Tony, Doctoral student at OSU in Economics leaving this week for study in Tanzania for the summer who also has served for over a year with an inner-city live-in project of huge city gardens on the west side; Paige, in Tanzania for most of the summer with a family to learn the culture; Beth, Forestry student at OSU and current volunteer for the summer at a camp for inner-city behavioral and attention-deficit children and teens; Andy, former CFR seminarian, soon to be Master's Nutrition student and hopefully, an eventual medical school student; Jonathan and Kate, all-around wonderful people, and their three girls: Rosie, Carolina, and Genevieve; and Monica, former Catholic Worker (although it never leaves your blood) and ESL teacher in a public school system, recently joining a school six blocks from the prospective sight!  There are others as well who heavily support us like Josh, Abbie, Dory and others, to which we thank profusely.
       We have formed ourselves into community on May 1, the eightieth anniversary of the Catholic Worker Movement and the feast of St. Joseph the Worker, patron of the Catholic Worker, after having met for months (some every two weeks) in discernment. This was quite a holy day and night, mostly from the graces of St. Joseph's feast day and the Catholic Worker anniversary. 

 

      While all of us went to mass separately that day first, it then proceeded with the blessing of the St. Joseph cords by Fr. Denis, as well as the blessing of the house.  Then we had the dinner that we always do first, then the praise and worship in a semi-prayer meeting structure (at pretty high decibels!), the sharing of any news and updates of the progress, and the brainstorming of where to go or what to do next (hopefully led by the Holy Spirit!)  We made time to make our St. Joseph cord pledges and prayers, which are a modified version of the St. Joseph confraternity. We chose three strands representing the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, braided together and three knots representing Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, for their overseeing.  We also made our Catholic Worker time committments (from 3 mos., to a year, to a lifetime) to the Catholic Worker Rule and Living Out the Lamb Catholic Worker Mission. Pray for us as we commit ourselves to the St. Joseph cords for purity in mind, body, soul, and speech surrounded by a bombardment of the opposite in society.  It is quite a battle out there! We have committed to meeting about every two weeks until this gets off the ground, when possible with our commitments.  We crowned Mary with a flower band made by the Boydens, on this first day of the month honoring Mary.  Please intercede for us, Mary,  before your Son!

          We ask also that you please pray, fast, and offer up sacrifices for us (especially aches and pains), and for the women and children enslaved in the cycle of violence here. Dorothy Day, friend of the friendless, please pray for them and for us!  Dorothy Day once said and lived the following: "We have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes from community." Also, stemming from the summary of the law, the prophets, the commandments, and all in our sacred scriptures is the Catholic Worker way of life: "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength .. and love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12: 29-30). The Catholic Worker life is the life lived by the early Church of the Book of Acts and all of the epistles: "[We are] always carrying about in the body, the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body." (2 Cor. 4:10-11, June 14th reading).

         You do not have to go overseas to be a missionary! Here in Columbus we have the second highest Somali refugee population in all of the United States, and an even more huge and expanding Hispanic immigrant population, in addition to many other cultures of whom I have had to study in my recent two-year role of district-wide ESL Department coach. The need is very great indeed for supporting the battered and abused among these (and other) populations, but we "trust in the slow work of the Lord," as Teillhard de Chardin emphasized. Come Holy Spirit!  Fill us with the fire of your love!

       A final note is that we have a new Catholic Worker garden, Isidore's Garden, that Jotham planted behind the Lamb Catholic Worker Volunteer Corps House.  We will keep you posted!  We have been composting for the first time and it is ADDICTIVE!  Tony is the expert at this, as well as Jot with the gardening.  It is great practice for our huge city gardens coming. 

       Here are some final images on the walls of the Lamb Catholic Worker Volunteer Corps House (on Brookside Dr.)  to inspire you!