St. Francis: "Preach at all Times, Only Sometimes, Use Words"

        Monica,  Columbus, Ohio

       Beyond words was the experience last night with the homeless on Williams Rd., with the portable soup kitchen of Hope on High.  I went to be with my South side buddies, mainly the homeless who live in the woods close by, to simply sit and share lives at meal with each other.
       Aaron still struggles greatly with addiction, and all I did was listen to a litany, beautifully and eloquently spoken, of what has been taking place in the woods and his personal life through all this.  If he could only see how exquisite he is in the eyes of Jesus, which is what I prayed unceasingly while he was talking.  I have done this with him at least four or five times.  He said at the end, "Next time I see your smiling face, I am going to be clean and beginning a new relationship with my 17 year old daughter."
       Fred ("Santa") and Red, his girlfriend in a wheelchair from crushed bones in her feet (from a great height suicide attempt) were there. So glad to see them and get to catch up!  Scott came, whose girlfriend Harmony is in jail awaiting a sentencing for probation violation on March 1. He was just released the day before from two weeks in a facility for mental health (from missing her during her arrest).  I prayed with him, and ask all of you readers to please pray for Harmony.  She must call her probation officer every night at 6:15 to see if they should meet the next day.  Being homeless and having no cell phone makes this very difficult (and being surrounded by others who do not have cell phones -- and there are no payphones anymore!).
      Scott emphasized that the homeless are discriminated against every single day.  She was caught because she was breaking apart a very dangerous verbal fight between the friend and her boyfriend.  The neighbors called the police.  Pray for Harmony on March 1, please.
      "Baby," a huge man (tall and big), "fifteen years living as a homeless man," got so angry at the man I was eating and speaking with who was laughing at something separate that he pulled out a large wide knife and sat it on the table while he yelled at him some.  Scott stopped him, took his knife and put it in his coat, and almost started a real fight.  I stormed the heavens and they both took it outside the big tent and cleared it up.
      Viola was there and her boyfriend Tim! Tim broke his foot tripping on a cut-off small tree stump, and is on crutches (they were the ones living in the closet of a boarded up home).  I was able to bring four large trash bags of clothing from those who donated to the December parties we threw there.  Viola got new clothes, a coat, and a much needed blanket.  I gave them three propane cans to get them a few warm nights.  Such a sweet couple.  I gave propane to others as well, because it is still winter out there.
      Tyrell came and looks better than the last time I saw him, always smiling wide!  We sat and talked. Such a DOLL baby!! I get FAR more out of all this than they do!!  Michael did not show nor Tim Tom; and I was so sad. Tim is the one homeless even among them, without a tent, and Michael has serious spinal and other health issues. I hope they are okay, and I pray for them often.  Michael has the titanium rod along most of his spine, etc.
       Papa Bear came!!   He looks sooo different from December!  He's been very sick in the past couple of weeks.  He has lost so much weight and is weaker (in his seventies?).  Thanks to EDDIE BAUER for donating an additional 25-30 brand new winter coats!!!   All of them were taken and very well appreciated!  Papa Bear got the sassiest red and black ski jacket -- for UNDER his winter coat that was a jacket of jean material.  He said it felt much much better.
      Throughout the night I was able to take one to two groups "home" to the edge of the woods, at different openings, with all their new belongings.  My favorite trip was with Michelle, a woman I just met in her 50's whose been in these woods for a year with a 27 year old daughter, Mikaela.  We just sat at the edge of the woods and talked and talked about both our families. Words cannot describe the beauty of the conversation.  I always always pray in the Holy Spirit as I listen, and He always shows up.
     I feel God may be asking me to buy a house or two down there, with land, to possibly begin a little community of these homeless and "forgotten" people. It would be difficult for them to just be added to a middle class family, in a Christ Room that Dorothy Day promoted.  One reason is how different and even lonely they would feel apart from their friends and people who have shared their experiences.  They need community.
      They are SOOOO in need of everything though, and I want to REALLY help them, not simply say, "God bless, keep warm and well fed," as Jesus (or St. Paul?) warned in the Scriptures.  Not just to "preach" to them, or give them an experience of God then walk away, with such dire situations and circumstances.  I am speaking to myself as well.  I am guilty.
      Coming here once or twice a month and befriending them is just not enough for me at all.  Show me the way, Lord.  What do you want?
     Please pray for me!  And especially for all these people on the South side.  "We" - all 80-100 main BFF's in heaven and I - claim this South side area for Christ!  We bind and cast out anything of evil from all these woods (boy did Aaron have some stories), and all those whose mascot is the Marion-Franklin Red Devils, the school right by there that generations have gone to and heavily support!           Please God, help us claim this all back for you, especially any spirits of addictions, hopelessness, and atheism!  Come, Holy Spirit, come!!
         

Homeless People in the Woods Here in Columbus Who Need Our Help

By Monica    Columbus, Ohio

       I was able to take a hike yesterday all around a huge area where a teacher friend (here at my new school) said an entire colony of homeless people live.  Last week, on beginning to explore it by car, or find the general vicinity, I stumbled upon a security guard who told me a sad story.  He said that several establishments (businesses) were tired of these people begging for money or food, and using their facilities for their bathroom and decided to cut down much of a forest they were in behind his building.

This was not what I found, but very similar

       I cannot begin to fathom this, toward people that cannot get any lower than they are, or can they?  He motioned that they just moved farther back, but yesterday I found that they seemed to not be where he pointed. I did stumble upon a small community of between 8 and 10 people though, one seeming very very agreeable to a few of us coming back to bring hot soup, a bonfire, Christmas cookies, and many necessities that we can get our hands on for them.  I gave, without a split second of hesitation on their part, a sleeping bag and comforter that we had extra and several pairs of Dory's old soccer socks, which cover the calf.
       My nephew, Dominic Evans, who is in his second year with Christ in the City in Denver, told me that they always always need socks, gloves, underwear, and hand-warmers that they just throw into to bottom of their sleeping bags.  My Fourth Grade students came up with many other amazing ideas, like an outhouse, a firepit and wood, hair and beard trimmer kit and haircuts, water, books (that they can then use for the fire - HA), and many other things.

       I found that this camp relied on propane ("about $17.00 per month) to fuel their warmth.  This is a bitter snap right now and I hope to help them get more. I just can't imagine the bathing and bathroom part, brushing the teeth, getting any laundry done.  I badly want to buy a house nearby and start a day center minimally, like from 10:00-4:00 where they have companionship, warmth, a great large hot meal for lunch, cleaning opportunities like showering, shaving, and laundering, and just a warm welcome place to take a nap.
       I also want to get one with land -- there's a lot around there -- and farm or garden a lot there!  Hopefully even get some or many of them into a full time community with me there, 24/7, where they are family.  AI am dying to garden, farm, harvest, and can everything!  When I worked the Appalachian Project I asked a 94 year old woman what the Depression was like.  She said, "Why we didn't even know there was a Depression!  We had everything we needed right here!  We had a couple cows, chickens, our garden, canned things, drinking water from our pump, everything.
        That always stuck with me and I buy canning things at every turn.  A teacher friend who commuted from the country about an hour every day from the country caned everything for her family's whole winter in a huge garden.  How cool it that!  Msgr. Mottet loved to, and Tony Gallenstein, when he lived as one with the poor!
     Pray for guidance!  Beg the harvest Master for more workers in the field, as Jesus said to do, please.  Dorothy and Peter, please pray for me!  St. Peter Claver, St. Martin de Porres and Martin de Porres, St. Anthony of Padua and St. Vincent de Paul, please pray for me!!  St. Francis of Assissi and St. Pio too!  And especially, Mary St. Joseph, who embraces the homeless whole-heartedly! Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Bishops Speak Out on Trump's Policies Against Immigrants and Refugees

                          By Monica     LCW  Columbus, Ohio

         We want the world to know, since views come from so many countries, that our Ohio Catholic Bishops, in one voice, raised concern for the policies put into place by President Trump against immigrants and refugees.   We are soo proud of our Roman Catholic bishops right here in little old Ohio, USA!  We are thankful to God too, who looks out for the widow and the orphan, the stranger, and the least.  Jesus repeatedly spoke out and warned all about protecting the most vulnerable and lowliest who have no rights and no one to speak for them.  The actual statement of our Ohio bishops cut and pasted from their website is below my comments.
       We are a nation of immigrants too!  Our very ancestors were in this position and our lives would be very different now, most likely much worse, if they had not been welcome.  Many of us are descended from immigrants who more often than not came freely for a better life and were at least allowed entry - with the exception of our Native American citizens who were here first, and our African Americans brought here and forced, against their will, into slavery.
       One would think that we would have a deep appreciation and gratitude instead of condemnation and mistreatment, ripping families apart after they have already worked painstakingly to make a new life here like our ancestors, contributing greatly to society.

      It is neglectful for me not to have spoken out before now, not only from

my strong social justice roots of being a Roman Catholic (with our amazing social justice papal encyclicals, teachings from our U.S. Catholic Bishops, pastoral letters, etc), of being a staunch Catholic Worker which stands for Christ's peace always and justice for the poor, but mainly there is no excuse because I have seen firsthand the terror in my families of mainly Hispanic and Muslim descent that make up the majority of my ESL students (I am an English as a Second Language teacher in a public school).

      I have Muslim students and families who feel the hate and mistrust, even though they have done nothing wrong and never will.  They often asked me in my school year questions like, "Why does President Trump hate us?" or "What else will he do to us?" and "Is it going to get worse?" I had no answer to give.
      My Hispanic families in general are the most scared ones because people have already been rounded up to be sent back, even after having worked hard here for years.  They are terrified every day and their whole family cries a lot and try to make plans in various scenarios.  My little Third Grader Pedro said his family is moving back to Mexico even though there is not enough work right now.
     In the case of the "Chaldean Catholics" that are being rounded up and sent back to Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries, their very lives are at stake, in addition to Syrian Muslims and others.  My father remembers seeing on the news huge ships and yachts from Germany with Jewish people lining the edges, coming into New York harbor or another U.S. port with hands clasped begging and pleading to be allowed entry, only to be turned around and sent back to their deaths.  Hitler was known to say, "You say we are being hard but you don't want the Jewish rats either."
      I tried to calm my students fears, but what assurances could I give?  I am silently appalled at the lack of basic humanity in our newer laws and actions against immigrants -- and even refugees -- the whole dark mentality.  One would wonder of a change of heart would take place if the lawmakers themselves were thrust into this situation, since they lack the empathy to imagine it.
     It reminds me of how Hitler, little by little over a period of time, imposed difficult and bigoted  burdens, heavy to carry, upon Jewish people for years before finally rounding up this ethnic group for horrific purposes.  At the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.  I was horrified with the MANY laws and prejudices that were acceptable to the German people against the Jewish population, incrementally worsening all the time.  First, they were not allowed to travel (sounds familiar), then ride or own bikes, then be out past a certain time in the evening, then they could not live where they wanted but were rounded up into "ghettos," etc, etc.  As their rights were infringed upon more and more, very few stepped up to fight these laws on their behalf.
     While I believe that President Trump would never agree to create work/death camps, given his verbal defense of our unborn citizens and abortion-mill laws changing one day -- which is important from our president -- he needs to end the terrible laws against refugees and immigrants, as well as slurs against entire populations of Americans.
       If you look up Boston and New York City news headlines and history in the 1800's and early 1900's you view quite an outcry against Roman Catholic Irish, Polish, and German immigrants taking over their cities, taking all their jobs, bringing their Catholic religion, being a menace to society with their heavy drinking and brawling, etc, etc,.. Obviously most of those European immigrants more often than not as a whole did not exude these negative stereotypes, but there were enough of those few to always get into the headlines, creating prejudice and bigotry in weaker minds and souls, as in Hitler's Germany.
     Instead of the "melting pot" image of how all should melt into typically a white-male European bent and language, I think the more exquisite analogy of the United States is the Salad Bowl image of many cultures, maintaining their distinct heritages, customs, dialect, ideas, strengths, etc, and creating a huge conglomerate (salad), better than its individual parts separate.  Beautiful in the eyes of the maker of us all, who created all in His own image and likeness, yet distinctly unique from each other, and all of whom are sacred, no matter who nor from what country.

      It's a good thing that compassionate Catholics - nuns (sisters), priests, laypeople - took some of those that were the young "hooligans" under their wings to help shape them into who they became, with great care and compassion.  Most immigrants though have been responsible, reliable, hard-working, law-abiding citizens building our nation stronger and more just with each generation.  May we ask our immigrant ancestors from the past to please pray for us, pray for our nation, and especially, pray for our immigrant, refugee, and other "stranger" populations who always held a special place within the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
     Below is the Ohio Bishops' Statement on Immigration, April 4th, 2017, at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Catholic Conference of Ohio.  It was sent to President Trump and to Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown, and to all Ohio members of the U.S. House.  This is taken from the Catholic Conference of Ohio website.
     Bravo to our Catholic paper here and its editors of  The Catholic Times, for printing it prominently in the beginning of the paper!
     Come to Carey, Ohio on the VIGIL (Aug. 14th) of the feast of the Assumption of our Blessed Mother to spiritually support the Chaldean Catholics living in great fear.  Twenty-five to thirty buslines, multiple campers, etc, etc take over the entire city of Carey!  So beautiful!!  You will never have heard such singing and such gusto in the songs in love of Mary as you will when the Chaldean Catholics are there.  It may not be for long though, if our lawmakers have their way.
    

News & Press - Catholic Conference of Ohio

Ohio Bishops Issue Letter of Concern regarding Changes to Immigration and Migration

Call for comprehensive reform, support for children and intact families, enforcement efforts that focus on threats to public safety, and maintaining programs for refugees

• Posted: Apr. 4, 2017
• Categories: Legislative Action Alerts, Immigration Reform, News

CATHOLIC CONFERENCE OF OHIO
Letter Encouraging Legislative Support for Immigrants and Refugees
Catholic Bishops of Ohio
April 2017
Welcoming refugees and immigrants is a significant aspect of our American heritage and a fundamental character of Ohio faith communities, including the Catholic Church. Ohio is blessed to have many refugees and immigrants in our parishes, schools and ministries. The Catholic Church in our state operates numerous programs that directly sponsor and support these newcomers.
As we listen to our pastors, principals, program directors, and more importantly, to the refugees and immigrants served by our Church’s ministries, we know of many good people who are deeply concerned for their personal safety and fearful about separation from their families. These are ongoing concerns, but recent changes in federal policy have heightened such fears.
At both the state and national levels, our Church has long spoken out in favor of policies that ensure safety and compassionate treatment for immigrant and refugee persons and families in need. We continue to call upon Congress to address our broken immigration system through a comprehensive reform that improves security and creates more legal and transparent paths to immigration.  As for enforcement, we do not advocate for the breaking of laws.  Yet, we do urge for a more humane enforcement of these laws in a way that distinguishes between actual criminals and otherwise law-abiding, undocumented immigrant family members.  We believe immigration officials should prioritize removal to those who are real threats to public safety. Likewise, most local law enforcement agencies we encounter are highly concerned about increasing trust between police and immigrant communities.  Their work for public safety relies on trust between immigrants and local police and sheriff departments.  We oppose efforts to pressure our state and local law enforcement to proactively enforce immigration regulations, unless public safety is truly at risk.
Ohio does not benefit from separating good families and traumatizing children in our schools who each day live in fear of finding that their mothers or fathers are no longer at home to greet them. In these instances, justice should be sought, but the punishment should be commensurate with serving the good of the family unit, which is the fundamental cell of all society. In January 2017, the chairman of our United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Migration, Bishop Joe S. Vasquez, echoed our concerns over policy shifts created by recent presidential executive orders that increase the detention and family separation of many immigrants. He wrote:

"The announced increase in immigrant detention space and immigration enforcement activities is alarming. It will tear families apart and spark fear and panic in communities. While we respect the right of our federal government to control our borders and ensure security for all Americans, we do not believe that a large-scale escalation of immigrant detention and intensive increased use of enforcement in immigrant communities is the way to achieve those goals. Instead, we remain firm in our commitment to comprehensive, compassionate, and common-sense reform."

In Ohio, our Church’s refugee resettlement network includes diocesan offices in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Dayton. In 2016, we resettled over 1000 refugees. Catholic parishes and diocesan offices also work in collaboration with other refugee resettlement programs in Ohio. These programs have safely and compassionately resettled refugees from all over the world, including a small number from Syria. Measuring by the immense outpouring of support from parishioners and others in our communities towards these refugees, we believe most Ohioans who know migrants and refugees welcome newcomers with open arms and wish to see Americans offer acts of mercy. The refugee program is one of the most vetted processes for entry into the United States.  We do not oppose efforts to improve on the system, should there be a need.  However, the temporary shutdown of all refugee admissions, and the more than 60 percent reduction in the number of refugees who can be resettled, create a chilling effect on our ability to maintain programs and ongoing assistance.  Refugees who have languished in camps for years will continue to find no relief, and a sudden temporary halt for our own agencies will likely result in significant downsizing of resources and staff.
We encourage your support for the following:
1.  A comprehensive reform of our immigration laws, not just enforcement-only measures, but a reform that provides more paths for legal entry and a rational and clear cut separation of duties among federal and local law enforcement officials which does not compromise the community character of local law enforcement;
2.  The BRIDGE Act: S.128/H.R. 496. (This Act will protect the dignity of DACA-eligible youth by ensuring that these individuals, who were brought to the United States as children and are contributing so much to our nation, can continue to live their lives free of the anxiety that they could be deported at any time.);
3.  Efforts to persuade the administration to reestablish enforcement priorities, so that they focus more on true criminals and threats to public safety;
4.  Maintaining the U.S. Refugee Resettlement Program with adequate funding while further improving the vetting process.
As Pope Francis said, "To migrate is the expression of that inherent desire for the happiness proper to every human being, a happiness that is to be sought and pursued. For us Christians, all human life is an itinerant journey towards our heavenly homeland" (February 2017 Address to Participants in the International Forum on Migration and Peace).
Thank you for this consideration.
The Catholic Bishops of Ohio
Most Rev. Dennis M. Schnurr
Archdiocese of Cincinnati
Chairman, Board of Directors, Catholic Conference of Ohio
Most Rev. Joseph R. Binzer
Auxiliary Bishop of Cincinnati

Most Rev. Frederick F. Campbell
Bishop of Columbus

Most Rev. William Skurla
Apostolic Administrator of Byzantine Eparchy of Parma

Most Rev. Jeffrey M. Monforton
Bishop of Steubenville

Most Rev. Daniel E. Thomas
Bishop of Toledo & Apostolic Administrator Diocese of Cleveland

Most Rev. George V. Murry S.J.
Bishop of Youngstown

Most Rev. J. Michael Botean
Bishop of Romanian Catholic Eparchy of Canton

Most Rev. Bohdan J. Danylo
Bishop of St. Josaphat Ukrainian Eparchy, Parma
Letter Catholic Bishops of Ohio (PDF)

    

Archbishop Oscar Romero, Official Church Martyr, Presente!

          By Monica Siemer, Mayo Clinic Gift of Life Transplant House, Rochester, MN
         In the spirit of Archbishop Oscar Romero, especially in light of Pope Francis' recent declaration of his actual martyrdom and the status of an official Church martyr,  I reprint a section of the LCW newsletter covering our family experience, of mostly my father, peace activist Tom Siemer, and myself at the Center for Peace Studies at Georgetown University (with Rev. Richard McSorley, S.J.) of either Romero or El Salvador in an era of grave genocide against the Salvadorean people.  This is our testimony.  New information and pictures are added.  Gracias Pope Francis!

          My father actually had a conversation with Archbishop Oscar Romero less than a year before he was assassinated. We were at a synod, Celam III, of all latin American bishops and cardinals of the world in Pueblo, Mexico, outside of Mexico City. I believe it was January, 1979, when I was 16 yrs old (and I was there but standing away from him). We were appealing to Pope John Paul II and the hierarchy of the Church for Catholics to be told to have no part in weapons of mass destruction (nuclear weapons and their making, handling, potential use, etc), purposely designed to solely be used against entire populations of innocent civilians, or entire cities.  Archbishop Romero thought my father was from the press (with his "Press" badge) and begged and begged him to go back and tell the president (Carter at the time, who gave $5 million per year in "military aid") to stop funding the government with military money, which was being used against the people. 

       He explained that the money went into armaments and training of the soldiers in the military and in the juntas of the oligarchy who were terrorizing the campesinos, killing and mutilating many of them. 

        My father called over both Roy Larson, of the Chicago Sun and Ken Briggs of the New York Times to talk with Archbishop Romero.  Ken told my father later that Romero would not live long by talking like that, and my father replied, "They would never kill an archbishop!"  Our government not only did not listen, but when President Ronald Reagan became president, shortly after, he quintupled the military funding to El Salvador, giving a huge green light to those committing atrocities.  Archbishop Oscar Romero was martyred within a year. The U.N. reports that over 75,000 people, many poor women and children, were killed over the course of the next decade or so in El Salvador.   

In front of the Celam III Synod, Pueblo, Mexico, 
outside Mexico City, 1979, with a group of 
protesting mothers of the "Disappeared" in El 
Salvador.  I am at the right and my mother, 
Dorothy Siemer, at the far right in red pants.

Salvadorean mothers of the "disappeared," those
whose bodies were never found.  I am on far
right, with literature for the Pope, cardinals,
 bishops, and press against weapons of mass
 destruction (nuclear)

Mothers of the "disappeared" (sons, husbands, 
brothers, etc) desperate for help from the Church

My father, Tom Siemer, and I in Mexico City 
outside Pueblo, Mexico, 1979

         A year or so later, I worked at the Center for Peace Studies at Georgetown University with Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J.  At that time another Georgetown professor, Dr. Jean Kirkepatrick, who was a campaign advisor to President Reagan then cabinet member, blamed the murders (Dec. 2, 1980) of the three religious sisters and an American lay worker on themselves for even being there with the poor: Jean Donovan, Sr. Maura Clarke, Sr. Ita Ford, and Sr. Dorothy Kazel.  Kirkpatrick believed that, according to Noam Chomsky, "traditional authoritarian governments are less repressive than revolutionary autocracies," and so her views were put into use "most clearly in Central America, by supporting the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, and the military juntas in Guatemala and El Salvador, all of which perpetrated massive human rights violations while countering a perceived communist threat." (Chomsky, Turning the Tide, 1985).  She was not too thrilled when the United Nations Security Council came down on the United States and she talked of withdrawing much of the monetary support to the U.N., as well as for the United States to withdraw completely. This would have been quite an example of genuine virtue, Christian values, and peace to the world.

Sr. Dorothy Kazel, Presente!

Sr. Maura Clark, Presente!

Sr. Ita Ford, Presente!

Lay Worker Jean Donovan, Presente!

       I witnessed firsthand large graphic close-up glossy photos being sent to the Center for Peace Studies at Georgetown University (that I helped Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J. run in the 80's) from El Salvador.  Neutral brave witnesses and groups were trying hard to provide evidence of  the atrocities and sent these pictures to several places as documentation, including to ours.  Prior to the Reagan Administration, the bodies of the dead at the hands of the military and juntas had one form of killing done to them (besides the women always having been raped).  As Fr. McSorley always said, "When you choose the lesser of two evils, you soon forget you chose evil in the first place."  There is always a third choice.

       When Ronald Reagan became president, and particularly after the stepped-up "anti-communist counterinsurgency training," or terrorist/guerilla warfare training ("terrorist" in the true sense of the word) at Ft. Benning, Georgia of "Latin American personnel" from El Salvador at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (formerly called, the SOA), now called Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), things drastically changed.  To describe,  murdered victims appeared with three or four types of torture performed, acid in the eyes being one of the favorites. This spilled over to Honduras. Guatemala, and Nicaragua as well, sadly. 

        Many Americans turned a blind eye to all of this because of the fear whipped up by those who would even sell their soul to the devil against the "Communist scare."  One cannot say that President Reagan and others did not know because we at the Center for Peace Studies and the St. Francis Catholic Worker protested numerous times at the White House, the State Department, and the Pentagon, which made it in the Wasthington Post. My favorite sign I made and carried at the time of the martyrdom of the sisters read, "U.S. Guns Kill U.S. Nuns." It fell on deaf ears for nearly a decade though, even with the hierarchy of the Church, sadly.  Many brave priests, sisters, and religious stepped up for peace though, in the spirit of Dorothy Day, Archbishop Oscar Romero, St. Francis of Assisi, and of Christ, the Prince of Peace.  Thankfully Pope Francis is balancing the scales of God's justice in deeming a martyr, Archbishop Oscar Romero, living out the call of a martyr in a very dark era in El Salvador's history and in that of the United States.  Gracias Pope Francis!

       Most of the refugees at our Catholic Worker in D.C. witnessed much of this firsthand, and yes, it was the country's military doing much of it. Huge Carlos witnessed a savage group murder from a corn field, and when he tried to run, they caught a visual of him and hunted him down.  He and his wife Maria (pregnant) got their six other children to another part of the country and ran to the U.S. where they were the first Salvadoreans to be granted political asylum.  Their baby Leonardo was baptized with my first son, Shamus, at our Catholic Worker, St. Francis Catholic Worker, in Washington, D.C. (now the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker), in a Catholic worker soup pot.  It had been the former mother house of the Trinitarian order, and they had a fully functioning chapel in the basement.

The Six Jesuit Professor Martyrs of 1989, University of El Salvador, Their Housekeeper and her Daughter,  Presente! :

• Ignacio Ellacuría, S.J.
• Ignacio Martín-Baró, S.J.
• Segundo Montes, S.J.
• Juan Ramón Moreno, S.J.
• Joaquín López y López, S.J.
• Amando López, S.J.
• Elba Ramos (the cook and housekeeper)
• Celina Ramos (16 years old, daughter of Elba Ramos)

     Fr. Richard McSorley, S.J. said that over 200 Jesuits in the highest of Ivy League-type schools put in their resumes to take the place of these martyred university professors in El Salvador. 

My father, Tom Siemer, and Dom Helder Camara

         Pope Francis has preached so passionately about not being part of two great evils in the world today:  "the culture of indifference and the culture of distraction."  May we set aside our computers and cell phones for much more time spent in prayer and meditation.  They say, "Satan doesn't make you bad, he makes you busy." May all of us intervene on behalf of  wartorn areas and peoples of the world, in our prayers and in moral responses, pleasing to the Lord.   
       A final note is from the bulletin here at St. John the Evangelist Church across the street from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where I am currently.  I am still here trying to recuperate from the live liver surgery (I gave 59% of my liver to my nephew, Nick Evans in end stages liver disease) and emergency second one 4 days later for a ruptured cecum (leads into the colon) and weeks of infections.  I am at the Mayo's Gift of Life Transplant House.  Please see the Lamb Catholic Worker article, "Purify the Catholic Worker, Jesus, to be the Diamond of It's Founders," to see the main reason why I did this transplant besides trying to help save Nick.  The day before surgery Abby Evans and I went to a daily mass at St. John's and the following was written by their pastor, Fr. Jerry Mahon, about Archbishop Oscar Romero (in their June 7, bulletin we had found):
      "The recent Beatification of Archbishop Oscar Romero is a call for me to live with courage and speak the truth as I discover the presence of Christ. This martyr was speaking the truth and confronting the violence of the government towards the poor, but not with a sword, but a heart of conviction with the One he loved and proclaimed Jesus Christ. The certainty of his walk, path was founded in a profound belief that Christ was present in the reality of the poor and even though he had been warned to stop speaking, he lived as so many Christians do today, with a clear desire to be faithful, and was assassinated while celebrating the Eucharist. As we have heard over the centuries, the blood of the martyrs is the seed of faith for the world and this witness of his life is a sign of being alive with certainty in Christ. There was no room for being a cynic even though there was good reason, but a fullness of life in the Spirit is full of freedom for Another."
       If you wish to follow Nick and I's progress you can go to caringbridge.org under the "search site," "monica siemer."  We try to update it from time to time.  Here is a gift to all of you who have been praying so hard for Nick and I.  Please keep the prayers coming as we are still dealing with challenges and surprises.  Here is a long praise and worship song to edify your soul:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcnfT4arZtI
      If the link does not work, please go to YouTube and put in "I Surrender by Hillsong 2012 concert version" that is about 10 minutes long, with 43 million hits.  It has saved me here through the worst of this ordeal, as we listened and prayed it almost daily while in the hospital.  Enjoy!

      Our Lady, Queen of Peace, pray for us and for people of all kinds!  Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and Archbishop Oscar Romero, please pray for us!   

Pray for Monica and Nick's Surgeries June 9

     Monica is going to give close to 60% of her liver to her nephew Nick in end stages liver disease.  They will both have surgeries this Tuesday,  June 9, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.  Please pray God's Will be done for them both, nothing more and nothing less!  Monica is offering it up mainly for the start of The Lamb Catholic Worker, for the canonization of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, and for the Catholic Worker Movement, in addition to other intentions.
     You can follow progress on caringbridge.org under the "site" "monica siemer."  You don't have to sign up, log in, or pay any money, unlike how it appears.  We are praying Pope francis' favorite, " Our Lady Undoer of Knots" novena.  We especially need the prayers after!  The liver parts missing will grow back in both of us if all goes well.  As will the half bile ducts in both of us from mine.  This process is only 15 years old but there is a 100% survivor rate at this Mayo for the donor.
      Also, see the Lamb Catholic Worker article, "Purify the Catholic Worker, Jesus, to be the Diamond of Its Founders," concerning the main reason I did this surgery, besides trying to help save Nick.  Please pray!

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.