The Pilgrimage Continues...
"EMBARRASSED BY THE ARTICLE IN THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE?" AND OTHER
QUESTIONS
by Mark and Louise Zwick
It happened this way.
Sue David, Catholic Worker, left us a note saying Lori Rodriguez of
the Houston Chronicle was coming in the morning to talk about Barbara
Jordan's new recommendations on getting control of our borders.
We knew Barbara's recommendations and while we were uncomfortable
with them, we were still reeling from the devastating articles of
Proposition 187 in California.
We, Louise and Mark, talked about how to respond to Lori's questions.
It was an article in the Atlanta Catholic Worker paper by Muphy Davis,
a Presbyterian minister, which inspired us.
An old-time, pipe-smoking Presbyterian minister, according to Ms.
Davis, was asked about what will happen to people who don't heed the
"recommendations" found in Chapter 25, verses 3l and the following
in
St. Matthew's Gospel.
In Matthew 25, Jesus says to those on his right, "Come ye blessed
of
my Father, into the Kingdom. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I
was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me...."
Afraid to Publish
We are afraid to publish what Jesus said to those on his left after
telling them that "I was hungry, thirsty, homeless and you did not
help
me."
It is not the Good News.
The old-time, pipe-smoking Presbyterian minister slowly took a few
puffs on his pipe, padded down the tobacco and said, "I guess they
go to
hell."
We felt that if liberal Presbyterians could say this, surely we
could.
And so we said, on page one, after an introduction by Lori Rodriguez,
that said we were always burning down:
"We are opposed to immigration because it is very destructive to
families. But we are not opposed to the immigrant. We have to take care
of them. We have to love them.
That is Catholic teaching. People who reject immigrants are committing
sins, and are going to go to hell."
There were some interesting responses to the Chronicle article and an
outpouring of sympathy for the immigrant.
Other Questions
Q. Where do you find fruits and vegetables to distribute each week
for the many hungry Houstonians?
A. The Houston Food Bank gives them free. We purchase beans and
rice from the Food Bank.
Q. Do you give hospitality to those who aren't Catholic?
A. Many of our guests are not Catholic. In fact, some really
despise Catholics and the Church.
Q. Why do you house people who despise Catholics?
A. We respond according to need, not creed.
Q. Do you give hospitality to people from Mexico, or only Central
America?
A. The majority of the people in our houses are from Mexico or of
Mexican descent.
Q. How many people have you housed for a few hours or even a few
years, do you think?
A. Well over 25,000.
Q. Rocky Vaccaro says that people turn up their noses at his Casa
Juan Diego donation jar, saying, "Mark and Louise bring illegals into
this country." How many people, legal or illegal, have you brought
to
Houston?
A. None.
Q. To the U.S.A.?
A. None.
Q. What word do you use for "wetback" or "illegal?"
A. Undocumented or just "people."
Q. Don't you worry about diseases, odors and contagion?
A. No. The people of Casa Juan Diego are much cleaner than the
average citizen and worry much more about diseases and their health.
That's why our doctors are such a boon to us.
Q. Why are there so many immigrants? Do they all come to the U.S.?
A. No, there is an enormous migration between countries within, for
example, Latin America, and Africa. The "new global economy" has
made life so hard for people that they desperately travel to other countries
looking for work so their families can live.
Some estimate that the current world migrations are the largest since
the fourth century A.D. Percentage-wise, very few come to the United
States.
Q. The social justice people talk a lot about changing social
structures that hurt people and not just doing band aid work, like
feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and housing the homeless.
A. We feel that it is better to go to the poor, work with the poor,
if we are going to know about unjust systems that cause poverty.
The best-informed people on welfare systems, medical and educational
systems, will be those who work with the poor. The works of mercy lead us
to insights and solutions sooner than meetings, organizations, networking,
speakers, meetings, talks, mailings, information and referral, meetings.
FAXes, e-mail and other types of communications often result only in words
and more words. However, they have been effective in the Third World where
regular mail is unreliable--and where people working with the poor can send
instant communications to supportive people in the U.S. or other wealthier
countries who may communicate with government officials and other policy
makers. We feel the need for a wedding between the works of mercy and changing
unjust social systems that cause poverty. Our Latin neighbors to the South
have given us a first-class education in unjust structures.
Q. Do people say thanks when they leave Casa Juan Diego?
A. No, we say thanks to them for allowing us to live the Gospel for
a moment.
Q. What do former guests say when they see you at the grocery store
or the post office?
A. They give a big smile or may say, "Do you remember me? You gave
me a sewing machine 10 years ago to help me get started." We don't
remember exactly, but like the idea--like giving them a fishing pole instead
of fish.
Q. How can you run a place without paying anyone? Won't people say,
"I'm volunteering, I don't need to do this..."
A. Our volunteers are not volunteers in the popular sense. They are
totally dedicated people who work day and night every day and would not
work for any amount of money. Once they have the vision, it's easy.
They have a day off a week.
Q. If you don't pay people, how can you be sure you will have
professional work done?
A. Our volunteer Catholic Workers, whether they be physicians, ditch
diggers, lawyers, plumbers, with degrees or no degrees or no schooling
at all, do professional work, i.e., treat the poor with the greatest respect.
We avoid the bric-a-brac of professionalism: fancy offices, secretaries,
receptionists, separation from the people and the 9 to 5 syndrome.
Q. Do you try to take care of all the people in need in Houston?
A. No, we do not exist to duplicate other services. If any agency
can meet a need, we recommend the use of its services. For example, we
have a large center for battered women and many transitional services
for them, but we in no way want to compete with the Women's Center or
replace them. Our work is with those who can't be served elsewhere--that
is, with people who are so desperate no one will help them.
Q. Where did all those sacred pictures come from that hang in your
place?
A. Local artists interested in the poor--or they come with the used
clothing and furniture.
Q. Aren't you worried that some of your people may be illegal?
A. When someone comes to your door all black and blue or with their
toes coming through their shoes and feet like melons, it's a little late
to worry. Besides, we know what happens to those who say, No! (See
opening paragraphs)
Q. With the demise of communism, is it better for people?
A. It is better for those Catholic who work with the poor and
attempt to apply Catholic social teaching. They are not seen as
communists!
Q. Do you care about women's issues, the rights of women?
A. Yes, especially for poor women and Third World women, where they
are exploited in the maquiladoras--the factories of U.S. or transnational
companies seeking cheap labor.
Q. Do you feel a little un-American working for nothing?
A. "People in our position really have to die to ourselves and our
wealth to gain the spirituality of the poor and oppressed... I am trying
now more and more to deal with the social sin of the first world."
Jean Donovan, killed in El Salvador
Q. Since the wars in Central America are over, is there a decrease in
violence and subsequently in immigration?
A. In August the Archbishop's Human Rights Office in Guatemala reported
a 68% increase in violations over the first six months of the year as compared
to 1993. The office listed 166 extrajudicial executions, 348 assassinations,
129 attempted assassinations, and 30 forced disappearances from January
through July. In 1993, during that same period, the office reported 70 extrajudicial
executions and 229
assassinations.
- from Central America Report October 1994
Q. Why do you complain so much about the World Bank and the
International Monetary Fund?
A. The works of mercy have brought us close to the problems of poor
Latin Americans and their bishops and this gives us insight into the
policies of these institutions and the effect of these policies on the
poor.
We are not necessarily completely opposed to market economies, but
oppose the fact that most markets are increasingly dominated by large,
highly unaccountable global firms that, left to the devices of
unregulated markets, play workers, communities and even nations off
against one another to obtain the cheapest conditions--and we mean
deadly cheap--in which to produce their wares. Living wages are not
paid.
Free market economies invariably concentrate economic power in the
hands of a few wealthy exporters, landlords and natural resource
exploiters. As a result, this privatized development path ends up being
profoundly undemocratic. The World Bank and the IMF support these
undemocratic practices. The unbridled capitalism as we know it in Latin
America today has been condemned by all the Popes since Leo XIII (1893).
Q. Don't you think that the poor third world should stop having
babies and using all the world's resources?
A. The vast majority of the world's resources are used by the people
of the United States. Cutting down forests and using other resources is
always more for the benefit of the first world than the third. Married
couples have fewer children when their lives improve economically.
Q. Wasn't it awful what the Pope did at Cairo?
A. We don't take our evaluation of the Pope from Planned Parenthood.
Q. Are you liberal or conservative?
A. No.
Q. What are you?
A. We are Catholic Workers.
Q. To do all that work at Casa Juan Diego you must pray a lot.
A. No! The great work is prayer! (One of our CW volunteers tells us
this.)
Q. What kind of people do you admire?
A. People in love with Jesus, who aren't ambitious for fame for
themselves or for their own group and put their energy and money where
their mouth is--or something like that.
Pray for us.
Houston Catholic Worker, Vol. XIV, No. 9, December 1994.
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