[Announce] Annual begging for donations to the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House

[Robert Waldrop]

Dear friends of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House,

Grace and peace from Oklahoma City to all our friends, wherever they may be.

This is my annual appeal for donations, and it's traditional for me to 
tell stories about our work when I make these appeals.  Over time, y'all 
have heard a lot of my stories, but one that I haven't talked about much 
is my own personal experience with homelessness.  Forty years ago this 
past summer, I ran away from home.  Overnight, via a $35 bus ride, I 
went from a comfortable existence, embedded in a dense network of 
extended family and friends, in a small rural southwestern Oklahoma 
town, to the life of an anonymous run-away teenager on the streets of 
Denver, Colorado. 

I had never been hungry by necessity in my life.  I knew nothing about 
how to be homeless. I didn't know about soup kitchens.  I didn't know 
anything about the dangers the streets presented, even in 1969, to 
teenagers on their own.  I thought the experience would be exciting, 
glamorous, but the reality was a nightmare.

One thing I was not prepared for was the loneliness.  It wasn't unusual 
to go a whole day without anyone saying anything to me.  After a few 
days, a person on the streets starts to look a bit scruffy, and thus 
they blend in with the urban scene, and urban residents are well 
practiced in not-seeing homeless people.  I remember one day going to 
the Catholic Cathedral on East Colfax, and asking the church secretary 
if there was any work I could do for some money.  She was kind to me, 
she treated me like a human person, she said they didn't have any work, 
but she would give me two dollars.  This seemed like a fortune, because 
in those days Big Macs were only 50 cents, and there was a MacDonalds on 
Colfax, not far away.  After I left, I went and found some bushes and 
cried, I was so lonely.  Then I bought my hamburger and fries and sat on 
the sidewalk and ate it and was glad to have it.  It seemed like filet 
mignon, although in those days I don't suppose I knew what a filet 
mignon was.

That was the beginning of my vocation as a Catholic Worker.

Over the last ten years, we have met a lot of people.  Some of them we 
remain in contact with, others come and go and we never see them again 
and I often wonder what has happened to them.  Who is alive, who is 
dead, who is in jail, and so on, there are a lot of possibilities.  I am 
grateful that we are still here, still doing what I hope God wants us to 
do, which can be summarized as "comforting the afflicted, and afflicting 
the comfortable."  Another summary of our vocation as a Catholic Worker 
House is the Works of Justice and Peace, which are repeated below, all 
150 words.

The Catholic Worker charism is about personalism, about being personally 
involved with people.  If you don't think that's scary, well, it is.  I 
am a human being, it would be nice to pretend that I have this cute halo 
which is never scuffed or dirty and always shines bright and keeps me in 
a good mood, but that isn't the case.  I have no halo, but I do have 
nice clay feet.  There is a lot of manual labor involved with this work, 
and at times I wish I didn't have to do any of it.  There are times when 
I knock on a door to deliver groceries, and I find myself thinking.. . 
"I hope this is easy, I just want to say hi, hand over the groceries, 
and go, I hope I don't see a problem I can't walk away from.  I hope 
they don't invite me in to talk." 

And often, it is a simple and easy delivery.  No glaring problems that I 
can see with a glance, no appeal for further help, no complications.  
But sometimes it's not simple and it's not easy, situations can get 
complicated faster than I can type the word.  It takes grace to stick 
with this under such circumstances.  I could never do this as a secular 
gig, without prayer (LOTS of prayer), this would have faded away long ago.

So if you've been praying for us, then it's partly YOUR FAULT (lol) that 
I am still here to write you ANOTHER email begging for money to help us 
keep on bumbling through into the future. 

November and December are high expense months for us.  The majority of 
our annual hosting fees for our collection of websites and discussion 
groups come due this month and in December, and we buy extra fresh 
produce like onions, carrots, apples, oranges, nuts etc to include with 
the holiday deliveries. 

Your holiday donation will help us continue to do our job. 

Checks or money orders can be made payable to Romero Catholic Worker 
House and mailed to 1524 NW 21, Oklahoma City, OK 73106.  Or you can 
donate via Paypal by going to www.paypal.com and sending money to 
jpeaceokc at yahoo.com , which is our OKC Catholic Worker paypal address.  
(Don't send routine email to jpeaceokc at yahoo.com, send that to 
bwaldrop at cox.net or robert at justpeace.org or music at epiphanyokc.com .)

Thanks to everyone for your prayers, and thanks also for your donations.


Robert Waldrop
Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City

Works of Justice and Peace

+Live simply and justly in solidarity with the poor and marginalized and 
be a good neighbor. Make no war on them, rather, be one with them in 
spirit, truth, and love.

+Hear the truth when it is spoken to you. Discern the signs of the times 
and speak truth -- to power, to the people, and to the Church.

+Make injustice visible -- witness, remember, teach, proclaim, tell. 
Light candles, do not curse the darkness.

+Protect the poor and powerless-- listen, learn, educate, organize, 
empower participation, and respect life from the moment of conception to 
the time of natural death.

+Work for reconciliation with truth, evangelism, catechesis, orthopraxis.

+Celebrate life, goodness, beauty, virtue, responsibility, and joy. 
Practice peace, non-violence, servant leadership, harmony, community, 
voluntary cooperation, and the proper stewardship of God's creation. 
Pray without ceasing.

+ Ensure fair distribution, subsidiarity, economic opportunity, justice, 
and food security for everyone everywhere.