BACK YARD

BACK YARD
Watercolor Painting of my back yard in Northern California

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

CATHOLIC CATHEDRAL DRENCHES HOMELESS WITH WATER

Jesus feeding the 5,000


"I was a stranger and you did not invite me in; naked and you 
did not clothe me; sick, and in prison and you did not visit me.  
Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see 
you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in 
prison, and did not take care of You?'  Then He will answer them, 
'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the 
least of these, you did not do it to me."...Matthew 25:43-44


Saint Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, California, installed an (illegal) waterworks system specifically designed to discourage the homeless from sleeping in the sheltered alcoves outside the 4 doors of the Cathedral.  All night, it drenches the homeless where they sleep, in 30 to 60 minute intervals.  This Catholic Cathedral is the home church of the Archbishop of San Francisco.  It was installed about a year ago.

A more detailed story about this situation can be found at this link:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/03/18/homeless-saint-marys-cathedral-archdiocese-san-francisco-intentionally-drenched-water-sleeping/

The contact information for the Cathedral in question is:

The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption
1111 Gough Street
San Francisco, CA 94109
Telephone:  415-567-2020

Now that this egregious scheme has been discovered by the media, the Archdiocese has issued a statement that the matter will be addressed immediately.  This is all very well and good, but the fact that it was ever conceived is a startling comment on the American psyche.   When a Catholic institution does something like this, it is shocking.  It highlights how far we have strayed from the commandments of Jesus.

Some excuses were made by the people involved, who made the point that those at the Cathedral tried to help the homeless by directing them elsewhere, but is that really helping?

Since becoming Catholic, I have often made the observation that Catholics will sometimes help the poor, but shrink from actually having to sit next to them in the pews.  "The poor" always seem to be "out there" somewhere, a strange and foreign mass of people who are set apart from the Christian community.

I make a point of dressing nicely for church, mostly because I believe my Lord deserves at LEAST as much respect as I would give to a job interviewer, but also it is my method of camoflage.  Once people learn that I am not middle class, as I appear, but am actually pretty poor and without family resources, it is common to be shunned.  There are glorious exceptions to this general trend.  I have several Catholic friends who treat me as an equal, help me a great deal when the month lasts longer than the money, and who are, frankly, saints.

However, my general observation is that, the more comfortable the parishioner, the less likely they are to respond to my offers of friendship.  I am not equal in their eyes.  There is something "wrong" with me because I have needs that are not met without some help.  It is a jarring experience for a formerly middle class lady who has become disabled later in life.  I know I haven't changed much, but the treatment I receive sure is different.

This problem is less pronounced in New Mexico, which is very poor, than in California where the disparity of income gap is huge.  I used to live in California, and I am familiar with the stratification of society that is primarily based on economic status.  People with resources tend to believe that they are somehow better than anyone who is beneath them in personal wealth.  Catholics with resources, for the most part, also seem to believe this.  They may donate to charity, but they don't see a problem with dousing a needy human being with water to prevent him from sleeping near their church.

Clearly, this problem is not a Catholic problem, but a firmly ingrained cultural issue.  We are a class conscious society in which money is the deciding factor as to whether or not one is deserving of respect.

Picture this:  You go to your neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar.  You stand by the door, with an empty measuring cup in hand, needing some help, and your neighbor opens the door and throws a bucket of water on you.  Would you call the police?  Your neighbor might be charged with assault.  Anyone knows that it is unreasonable to throw a bucket of water on a neighbor who comes to your door.  Why would anyone think it is alright to douse the homeless with water?  It isn't even logical.  The thinking is that your next-door neighbor is in the same socio-economic class as yourself, so of course you can't throw a bucket of water on them, because the rules of social conduct are different within the same class.

Our Catholic conscience has given way to cultural norms that are so ingrained that we do not realize that we are behaving in a way that runs completely counter to our supposed religious beliefs.

What is the solution?  We need to dig deeper into the faith that we profess, become more committed to the radical love of Christ, and start following his commandments, otherwise, we can't claim to love him.  Where our cultural or political orientations diverge from our faith, we need to cling to the faith, even if it is inconvenient and even if we are punished by the culture for doing so.  It is part of our job description.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose Parnell

UPDATE:  The Diocese was ordered by the city to remove the illegally installed waterworks, which they did.  They are no longer dousing the homeless with water.  The troubling issue is: why did they ever think it was alright to begin with?


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