Julio Cesar jumped from a train in Odom, Texas, but slipped and fell
under the wheels, losing a leg. He doesn't remember a thing, but woke
up in the county hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas. The hospital social
worker who called us remembered that he had sent us guests when he
worked in Victoria, Texas--again a person in an accident who came to us
through the Salvadoran consulate.

The social worker knew that Julio could not receive help from local
agencies. He was homeless because he did not have proof of legality.
This proof is hard to come by. Seveal years ago we received an older
man who had been in this country over forty years, but could not garner
proofs to get aid. Homeless, then, he came to Casa Juan Diego for
several years.

Hospital social workers just love Casa Juan Diego because we accept
these homeless, sick, injured or battered people. Ben Taub social
workers like Mary Helen Pritchard and Marlene Polka have become a part of Casa Juan Diego and are generous supporters. They have sent many guests to Casa Juan Diego who were homeless upon discharge.

Out of state or out of country family members who are visiting their
sick or dying at the Medical Center come to Casa Juan Diego. The other
side of the coin--if there was no Ben Taub, Houston would become a
Bangladesh with need for a Mother Teresa.

Hospitals, like Ben Taub, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Hermann (Freddy, shot in the back in the Sept.-Oct. issue came from there), Memorial, St.
Joseph's and hospitals in the surrounding counties have sent us
literally hundreds of people who were homeless upon discharge. No one would accept them.

The problem is not just that these people are homeless. The bigger
problem is the scarcity of shelter space for anybody in Houston.
Agencies would much rather do counseling and education than provide
hospitality, because when you house people, you have the thankless task
of trying to start all over with people who have limited resources. You
cannot close the door at 5:00 p.m. and be unavailable. The longer
people live with you, the greater challenge you have to be able to
empower them.

Back to Julio. We picked him up at the Greyhound Station, which is our
second home, and took him to meet Miguel, who lost both legs to a train
in Houston.

Both were depressed upon arriving at Casa Juan Diego, but as their legs
healed, they began to think about prostheses (artificial limbs). Both
have appointments in several months to arrange new legs. It will be
very expensive for us, but we have made a promise to them that we must
keep. In the meantime they are going to English classes at St. Ambrose
parish.

Being Thrown in Street

We have received calls from churches and agencies telling us stories
about people being evicted from government housing.

One was a family of blind people, another a mother and her six children.
Could we help? Some of the members of the families were born here or
had papers, but others didn't. Those families would be homeless. We
guessed that maybe the children could live in the government apartments,
but not their mother.

We cringed as we thought of the many families we know who have some
children born here and some not. Where will they go?

Mail-order Brides

It is not uncommon for various Latin American consulates to send us
women who have come to the United States as mail-order brides of U. S.
citizens looking for a "good woman."

After the marriage does not work out some of these women end up on the
street, homeless.

Worse yet are those citizens who go to Mexico and Central America to
look for and romance young Latin women whom they marry even in church and bring to the United States only to abuse them something fierce and threaten deportation.

What a Team

Some of our guests can't hear or speak or see. Others have to be their
eyes, their ears and their words.

Many people who come to Casa Juan Diego have their legs, their hands,
their eyes, their ears and they can speak (Spanish), but they have no
family, no friends, no identification, no sisters, no brothers and no
place in the inn.

But they have us. And they have you. What a team! Christmas peace be
with you.

M.L.Z., L.Y.Z.

Houston Catholic Worker, Vol. XV, No. 8, December 1995.