My Old Kentucky Home...

It is so good to be home.

Needless to say we spent a lot of time in the car yesterday. We left New Orleans at 4:30 a.m. on the dot. We arrived home at 8:00 p.m. (maybe missing the dot by a minute or two). Spent about 1 ½ hours in Birmingham picking up our van from the garage, taking the rental back to the airport. You can do the math. On the way to the airport while I was driving our van the check engine light came on – O, Good Lord, really? A call to the garage assures us that it was okay to drive. All my instincts and background said – you’ve got to be kidding? Everything else looked okay so we hit the road hoping and praying for the best. Well, I guess the Good Lord was just kidding (what a sense of humor …).

We ate a fast food breakfast sandwich in Mississippi (I think), we had lunch at a rest area just as we arrived in Tennessee and we snacked our way through supper.

We arrived back in Covington safe and (somewhat) sound. Hats off to Sisters Ruth, Claire, Dolores and Amanda. It was a good week, a little too short but still good.

There are still a few reflections rattling around in my head. Perhaps they will find themselves in the blog in the next day or two – perhaps not.

It is good to be home!!

Quote of the day from one of the guest

If you ain't got faith - you ain't got shit !

Toast Anyone ?

Here’s to our last day at the Rebuild Center - to the staff, volunteers who give so much energy, understanding and love

Here’s to the guest who struggle to survive day by day, sometimes hour by hour to maintain their dignity, their humanness

Here’s to those who donate their time, energy, talent to make the place a warm and welcoming one

Here’s to those who shared their knowledge and experience with us, helping us to understand -to question just why places like the Center need to exist and what our response needs to be

Here’s to the Sisters of Notre Dame who allowed us to stay in their home while they were away, giving us a comfortable place to return to in order to become refreshed and renewed

Here’s to Dan and the workers of the Catholic Worker’s House who mirror for us gospel values everyday in every way – how many people do you know who would offer a retreat for the homeless

Here’s to the men in Winn Dixie, the ‘big wigs’ who we happen to run in to who went above and beyond the call of duty with their friendliness and helpfulness

Here’s to Sister Ruth and her ability to navigate the streets of New Orleans – no small feat my friends

Here’s to Sister Claire, usually mild mannered and soft spoken, who learned that if she lowered her voice she could project loud enough for the guest to hear her as she called their name for the use of the phones

Here’s to Sister Dolores who really likes Butter Snap Pretzels

Here’s to Amanda, our NDA senior, who shared her energy with us and kept us smiling. But, really Amanda, the ‘old’ jokes got a little old real fast

Here’s to team work, cooperation, good humor that allowed things to work so well

Here’s to a safe trip home, good weather and awake drivers

Here’s to our God who manifests herself in so many glorious ways and allows us to be a creative part in the eternal scheme of things. Yeah, God – nice work!

Here’s to the fact that I did not lift a glass after every toast – at least not yet

So, what did today bring....?

Honestly sometimes I'm so tired I can't remember - but...

I helped Brian and Horace in the showers today. Okay, I wasn’t in the shower with Brian and Horace but I help them by cleaning the shower after it was used and providing towels, soap, etc. for the guests. There are ten shower stalls all together or maybe they are saunas in disguise. Can’t imagine trying to dry off in the heat and humidity trapped in those small compartments.
Horace is a guest that seems to help out around the Center whenever he can. Today he was sitting writing for a while. Finally he handed me two papers and told me he wanted me to have them. They were two prayers that he wrote. One prayed that God would give all doctors and surgeons the knowledge they needed to heal the sick. Now most of you probably know what has been going on with Jerry and his arm but I didn’t tell Horace. I don’t know if he knew or how he knew or didn’t know at all but his prayer certainly hit the nail on the head for me. So much so that it’s kind of scary.

After lunch today we took a driving tour with Sister Enid as our tour guide. We drove over to the Lower Ninth Ward. This was the area where there was so much devastation and death due to a barge breaking loose and breaking through the levee. Interesting to see the effort to rebuild. We saw the houses financed by Brad Pitt and Ophra. Houses each painted in bright colors. The design of the houses was all the same but they were made home by the individual colors and landscaping. Bright, bold colors – I look at these homes and realize that we (whoever ‘we’ are) have missed out on a sense of freedom of expression. We’re not the ones who are free folks – at least not when it comes to expression of exuberance.

And then….the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down ……for quite a while. It began while we were still driving back to the center. It was raining so hard that we sat in the parking lot for about 15 minutes hoping it would ease up – no such luck. We finally got out of Sr. Enid’s van and into our rental. We did not manage to run between the rain drops. We headed towards the gate of the parking lot when we realized that the street we needed to turn on to was flooded. Cars were passing on it with water up over the wheels. It had to be getting in on the floor of the cars. So we waited a while longer finally venturing out hoping for the best.

Home to a night of leftovers. Needing to clean out the refrigerator. Thinking about the adventure coming to a close. Hoping for good weather on Saturday when our journey once again takes us home. (of course that will include a stop in Birmingham for a game of musical cars.)

Okay, the computer just started doing something goofy so I’m hoping this posts correctly – if not, good luck! Otherwise - Good Night!

It was a slow day ?

Not many people at the Rebuild Center today. No one could give a reason for it. Just wasn’t a crowd. The showers and the phones and the laundry were busy but not totally overwhelmed all day.

We did have a 3 piece band come in and play for a couple of hours – great blues. We did have one person pass out and need an ambulance. We did serve a little over 100 lunches. We did sit and listen to the director for over an hour as he told us of the beginnings and development and vision of the Center. We did come home tired and beat once again and a little overwhelmed at the people who crosses our paths.

This evening we fixed a couple of pans of lasagna, some carrots, bread and desserts and headed to another part of town to visit a Catholic Worker House. One of the start up guys use to work at the Center as a Jesuit Volunteer and he has stopped by on Monday to do a prayer service with the people at the center who might be interested. We talked for a little while and then invited ourselves for supper.

There were 13 of us around the table – 14 if you count 6 month old Micah, who parents are part of the team there. A very simple house with a very big idea behind it – hospitality to the homeless.

There were about 2-3 guest living there. There were a couple of men from the neighborhood who just dropped in for supper. Everyone was very welcoming. Everyone felt at home. We listened to stories of what it was like to live through Katrina, to be evacuated, to be brought back to start over – no job, no home, not much hope. We saw how these people supported one another. We saw grass root efforts at work. We saw young people responding to the needs of others in the spirit of Dorothy Day. Young people full of hope, vision, energy and youthful dedication. We saw the hope of our future.

In the words of Dorothy Day: "The final word is love."

Feed the Hungry, Clothe the naked...

,…… give showers to the hot, stinky people. Wait, I don’t remember reading that last one anywhere. But that is what we did yesterday and today at the Rebuild Center. Well, okay, we didn’t give them showers but we made it possible for them to take showers – 103 of them. (I learnt that your do not want to stand downwind from a person using spray deodorant.) Others of us made it possible for people to make phone call anywhere in the US. We helped serve lunch, Folded towels, Handed out razors and combs, Sweated like little pigs in 100+ temps. (Do pigs really sweat? – I don’t remember that from my life on the farm – was that just last year?)

But all is well!

I can say that because I’m not homeless, or living on the streets or suffering from mental illness. It is interesting to cross paths with people who are. Makes you appreciate what you have. Makes you wonder why you have, and they have not. Makes you wonder how they cope with their situations and if you could do the same. Makes you wonder about their stories and how they got to where they are. Makes you wonder if the government couldn’t do more to help out such people. Makes you wonder about the young adult volunteers who show up every day to serve these people. Makes you wonder about the adults who show up year after year to serve these people. Makes you wonder about hurricanes and natural disasters that put people in this situation or drive them over the edge. Just makes you wonder….

Ah, Sunday....

I wish I could say I slept well Saturday night but the mind would not slow down and being in a strange place made for a restless night.
But Sunday morning came as usual and we headed off to church at St. Leo and St. Raymond Parish, just about 1/4-1/2 mile away from where we are staying. We had gone there last year so I entered in anticipation. The minister of hospitality greeted us with a kiss. The parish is comprised mostly of black folk. The priest is also black. The choir was the youth choir. There was a visiting priest there to preach on behalf of a mission. This priest happened to be the one who was in on the ground floor of the establishing of the Rebuild Center where we would be working for the rest of the week.
The next two hours were filled with a hand clapin’, foot stompin’, body swayin’ music and Amens and Alleluias. The pastor was alive with the spirit as was every man, woman and child present. Such freedom of verbal and physical expression is a wonder to behold.
The music was fantastic. Us white folk who get antsy after 2 verses of a song have a lot to learn. The songs lasted up to 5-10 minutes. The keyboardist was totally into his work/praise. (I could see brother-in-law Len sitting there being just as passionate about the music – I wanted to hear more.) The teenagers were totally into their song/praise. The people would stand in praise. Get the feeling that there was a lot of praising going on? Right On !
One particular man stood through almost every song turned toward the choir with hands raised cheering them on. Turns out this guy is a MBA coach who was visiting his home parish and getting ready to conduct a basketball camp this coming week. You could see him cheering on his team like he was cheering on the choir. (I’ll try to remember to look up is name if I can get on to the internet.)
The celebrant also had no problem departing from the structure of the liturgy to inject his enthusiasm. He speaks with his words, his hands, his whole body.

There was a woman there who was celebrating her 88 birthday. Before the final blessing everyone sang Happy Birthday to her. I have never heard that version of Happy Birthday – it lasted 5 minutes.
If you’re ever in New Orleans consider going to St. Raymond and St. Leo the Great Parish for liturgy.
This parish really knows how to celebrate!!
As we were leaving I noticed a rug at the door. As you enter the church it reads; ‘Enter to Pray’ When you leave; ‘Leave to Serve’
Once again it was good to be there – witnessing the people giving a new meaning to the word Celebrate.
“Let the People of God say – Amen !!”