It was in the 80’s again today, but for this summer it was hot.

This morning I attended an event at St. Ben’s Church to support the statewide 11 X 15 campaign for prison reform. Since in my perspective works of mercy take precedent over works of resistance, when it came time to march, I stayed behind to make phone calls to people in need to arrange a home visit my wife, Pat or friend Brian and myself. Home visits are at the heart of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Sitting down with people in need we talk with them on a personal visit and ask how we might serve them. These days, with poverty in Milwaukee at an all time high it is usually by providing them with basics, beds, refrigerator, stove or some furniture. Since our conference has such a large back log of calls for home visits I took a 15 home visits and had 2 others left from last month. While others marched for justice I was able to make the 17 phone calls for home visits and by the end of the day have made 16 home visit appointments. These personal home visit arrangements for a day make me feel blessed that we can be of service to God’s blessed persons. I was hot.

Thinking about the 5 million dollars investment an elite group in St. Vincent de Paul is making for a thrift store in the suburbs, where it is not needed, rather than North Central Milwaukee where it is needed, for a much lesser cost, made me angry. I have written much about the Mission of St. Vincent de Paul and the more I make home visits and see how this ‘elite’ group spends money belonging to the poor the angrier I get. However, I am trying to channel my anger into direct nonviolent action with the poor confronting the elite about spending so much money on persons in suburbs and neglecting the those in need. With just one million of the five million they are proposing to spend within the year we could establish the and provide beds and appliances to all those in need.

The elite of the Society and the Catholic Church hierarchy have decided by word, action or silence to side with those who want to invest the poor’s money in the suburbs. In my mind this is immoral or, in the old days of the Catholic Church, would have been called a mortal sin.

People with money have the power and people with power have the money. Except in this case, the money does not belong to those in power but to the poor. We need to take back our money and invest our money back in the community of those in need. With God’s blessing we will succeed, maybe not in the future but in the Kingdom of God on Earth.

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