r e f l e c t . . . k c o l i v e b r a n c h

By Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

In his final book, The Civilization of Christianity, the biblical scholar, Rev. John L. McKenzie, in order to illuminate the meaning of the temptation that offers to Jesus violent governmental political power, creates a dialogue in the desert between Jesus, called by his Hebrew name, Yeshu, and Satan called by his nickname, Old Nick. It reads in part as follows:
Nick: Yeshu, I have plans for mankind so big you could not understand them, smart as I think you are…[But] it takes time; it takes work and it takes good people; that is why I am here. I want you.

Yeshu: You do not want a simple village carpenter from Nazareth. Whoever came from Nazareth that amounted to anything? If you want a smart Jew, you will find plenty of them in Alexandria or even a few in Jerusalem.

Nick: Do not worry; I can give you anything you need except talent, and you have that from Adonai. Think of it, Yeshu; it is the biggest thing a man can get into, he can do more for more people, and it will last longer than anything else you could do. Yeshu, a man like you ought to think big; I can make it possible for you to do big… You will commit a sin by letting God-given talent rot in this rat hole of Palestine.

Yeshu: And I suppose it will also give me a chance to enrich myself and make the world a better place for me to live in?

Nick: I make opportunities, and it is for you to realize them. People who work for me have to work very hard, and many of them find that success is pleasure enough…

Yeshu: The late king Herod—did he work for you?

Nick: Not one of my outstanding employees—but yes, he did…But I expect far more from you than I got from Herod; he had a bit of a heavy hand—no finesse, shall we say? Augustus (there, Yeshu, was a man of whom I am proud) said that it was better to be Herod’s sow than his son.

Yeshu: Did Herod’s son and grandson work for you too?

Nick: Please do not mention those swine; I got rid of them. I demand a certain level of competence in my employees.

Yeshu: Suppose I did not want to do the kind of work for you which Herod and Augustus did—and I suppose Tiberius, the present Caesar, works for you too?

Nick: He either works for me or he is not Caesar.

Emmanuel Charles McCarthy is a priest of the Eastern Rite (Byzantine) of the Catholic Church. He was formerly a lawyer, university educator and founder and original director of The Program for the Study and Practice of Nonviolent Conflict Resolution at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a co-founder of Pax Christi-USA. For over forty years he has directed educational programs and conducted spiritual retreats throughout the world on the issue of the relationship of faith and violence. For more information, go here.

By Mary Patterson

My 5-year-old nephew ran and climbed its wheels, shimmying up to the top seat. It seemed only natural to play on the massive tank in Seneca’s City Park. The turrets are a stone’s throw from the swings, the sandbox and the slides. Many Kansas parks have tanks placed in their  playgrounds right beside the toddler swings. The justaposition of killing machine with children’s equipment creates a powerful image linking games with war. War as a game is an ever expanding industry and myth.

In December 2007 the Arizona National Guard used X Box games as a recruiting tool, when 225 young people came to play war games against each other on massive screens. Actual weapons used in Iraq were outfitted with lasers to give a real war experience. Two recruits were signed up that day, papers signed a stone’s throw from the X Boxes.

New war games can be found at the US Army’s official war game site www.americasarmy.com. These online games provide a “real war” experience for possible recruits. They are rated T (Teen) for blood and violence and are one click away from the US Army site, which contains illustrious testimonies of US soldiers describing the financial benefits of signing up. There are currently over 9 million players registered to play America’s Army.

The National Guard’s official game is PRISM, this can be found at www.prismthegame.com/game.htm
“The game focuses on the unconventional application of new and emerging weapons and technologies in the war against terrorism” and  “blurs the lines between commercial entertainment and America’s secret struggle against terrorism.”  Images of cool weapons and explosions can be seen in the gallery. The Navy also has an official game, http://nte.navy.com/index.jsp, called Strike and Retrieve.

We have come a long way since the tin soldiers that Winston Churchill spread through his room as a boy. He would spend hours lining up enemy lines in elaborate military formations. And despite seeing the death and despair of the World War I trenches, he could never quite shake the thrill of war from his psyche. “War is a game that is played with a smile. If you can’t smile, grin. If you can’t grin, keep out of the way until you can.”

Three Star Marine General James Mattis said in February 2005, “Actually, it’s a lot of fun to fight. You know, it’s a hell of a hoot. It’s fun to shoot some people. I’ll be right up front with you, I like brawling.” This General led the 1st Marine Division during the initial invasion of both Afghanistan and Iraq and he led the first attack on Fallujah in April 2004. He went on further to explain his thoughts on Muslim men and his reasoning for why it is so fun to fight them.

Lovers of peace, how can we compete with an online game that lures 9 million Americans to “play” war?
How do we counteract grown men who say it is fun to kill?  Should we create our own game, “Warriors of Peace,” where players are required to negotiate treaties and peace accords, the more ratified treaties, the more points given?  I am not sure signing critical sheets of paper and saving thousands of lives is as entrancing as the “newest technology in weapons.”

When we were little children the event that normally ended freeze tag, or football was when someone got hurt. This is the reality of war as well, someone always gets hurt in war and it is this reality that deflates the perceived thrill of the conflict.  29,000 injured US soldiers coming home paralyzed, traumatized, missing limbs.  Four thousand not coming home at all. Greater than 100,000 Iraqi men, women and children killed. War is not a game, it is a horror. It is ruins, mourning, screaming children, paralysis, loss of dignity, loss of family, nightmares, nightsweats, fear of thunder, fear of sirens, mothers giving valium to their children, the sound of soldiers pounding on doors, funerals, so many funerals.

There are American parents who will not allow their children to know that Iraqi children have died in the war. They tell me that “they would not understand.” As long as we do not explain to children what those bombs on CNN are doing, the myth of  “war as a game” will continue to the next generation. As long as we are not allowed to view coffins, or count the civilian casualties, the “thrill” of war will again crescendo into a patriotic swell.

My Mother grew up in France during World War II, living through bombings and German fly-bys. Whenever she hears someone pontificating on the wonders of war, the patriotic aspect of the conflict, she gently says to herself, “They don’t know. They simply just do not know what war is.” As lovers of peace we must break the power of war myths that cloud our country and speak the truth, no matter how unpopular it makes us, or how many times we are viewed as spoilers of the fun.  Until the last thrill of war is drained from our collective psyche, we will continue to tolerate death as a political option.

NOTE: Last month, a Jackson County jury found a motorist not guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the deaths of Larry Gaunt, 59, and Sierra Gaunt, 14, who were hit by a the driver’s truck while biking near Longview Lake. For more information about the case, go here.

The jury’s decision left many cyclists angry and distraught for what was a perceived injustice. One of those cyclists wrote to fellow cyclist Ed Chasteen, one of the city’s most notable peace activists.

“Ed, while I believe that there is way too much hate in the world and I do my best not to add anymore, the truly personal nature of the Gaunt’s case and the seemingly obvious fault on the drivers behalf leaves me stunned with a verdict such as this. I know that [the accused] has probably suffered plenty and is probably a good person. But I’m left feeling angry and yes a little hateful toward the jury members and court system. I guess this too will pass but in the mean time my thoughts turn toward you and I wonder if you could help me understand how to turn the other cheek.”

Ed’s Response

I was angry and sad at the verdict. How the jury could render a not guilty verdict baffles me. I feel less safe out on my bike now. I ask myself what I should do. The one thing I cannot do is quit riding. Another thing I cannot do is let myself become bitter and hateful. One of my dear friends, Bronia Roslowowski, survived the Holocaust. She was beaten and starved and almost killed. All in her family were killed. For years I have taken my students to visit her. We always ask, “Bronia, do you hate anyone?” “No.” She says. “Not even Nazis?” We ask. “No.” She says. “Why not?” We ask. “Hate kills you first,” she says.

Victor Frankl survived the Holocaust and felt guilty. Why had he survived when his friends and family had not? Out of his struggle to understand this, he wrote a book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl was a psychiatrist. Because of his experiences in the Holocaust, he contends that the purpose of life is to make it have meaning. Meaning is not out there somewhere waiting to be discovered. Meaning comes from within us. We live in an unjust and capricious world over which we have little control. The only control we have is how we respond. The world that lies behind our eyes, beneath our skull, above our chin and between our ears is really the only world there is. How we let the outside world inside and what we make of that raw material determines what kind of life we lead and how others respond to us.

Gandhi is one of my life models. In his book, My Experiments with Truth, he says, “In so far as possible, I try to agree with my adversaries.” As I read the morning paper about the not guilty verdict, I thought of Gandhi and found myself trying to imagine how those jurors could find the driver who killed two people not guilty. These were 12 ordinary people, struggling to do what was right as they understood the law. They must have been conflicted and confused. But our system of justice demanded that they make a decision. How will that decision impact the rest of their lives? They will be questioned by friends and family, the curious and the angry. I feel sympathy for them. And I wonder what I would have decided had I heard what they heard inside that courtroom.

I feel sympathy for the family of those who were killed. I can understand their anger. What meaning can be made out of two senseless deaths, I do not know. How long it will take I do not know. As I’m writing these words, my mind turns to Nelson Mandela. For 27 years he was a political prisoner in South Africa. When he was finally released, he was elected President of South Africa. He then selected some of those who had imprisoned him to help him govern the country. Long Road To Freedom is the title of Mandela’s book. No one thought Mandela could forgive his jailers and give them a place in his government. But because he did, he avoided civil war and brought to himself a moral authority greater than any living person in our world.

All of us who love biking and want to be taken seriously and treated fairly have a long road ahead as we try to help our fellow citizens understand us and accept us as equals on the road and in a court of law. Knowing Bronia, Frankl, Mandela and Gandhi help me find my way. Perhaps they might help you. I hope so.

Only when terrible things happen to us and around us do we have opportunity to discover what kinds of persons we truly are. Now is such a time. Who will we be? What meaning can we make? Will we draw people to us and our cause by the way we respond?

The Clean Energy Initiative requires Missouri investor-owned electric utilities (Aquila and KCP&L among them) to get 15%of their electricity from renewable sources by 2020. Twenty-five other states have adopted this policy. This policy would not raise rates, but in the long run would shield consumers from spikes in energy prices. But just to be sure, the Clean Energy Initiative includes a 1% rate increase cap.

170,000 signatures have already been gathered in Missouri and it will be on the ballot in November. But more signatures are always welcome as are Organization and Business supporters.

NOTE: See www.MissouriCleanEnergy.org for all the information

By Ann Suellentrop

Did you know that Kansas City has a Nuclear Weapons Plant?

The Kansas City Plant is located in the Bannister Federal Complex

near Holmes and Bannister Road and is run by Honeywell

under NNSA, the National Nuclear Security Administration.

It makes over 85% of the non-nuclear components of nuclear weapons,

averages over 5000 shipments a month of nuclear weapons parts

and is having its busiest workload in 20 years even in this post-Cold War era!

Did you know there are plans to use taxpayer’s money to help build a new KC Nuclear Weapons Plant?

NNSA now proposes to have the federal General Services Administration (GSA) build it a new half-billion dollar Kansas City Plant.  Construction is to be funded by private financing, and the GSA would lease the plant from the private developer, with NNSA subleasing it from GSA.

Last month GSA successfully sought a property tax abatement from the Planned Industrial Expansion Authority board of the city of KCMO to generate infrastructure funding.

This despite the fact that Congress is now vigorously debating the nature of the future nuclear weapons complex and how far it should be consolidated!

Did you know that the current KC Plant

is highly contaminated?

NNSA has asked Congress for a combined total of $3.7 million for FYs 2007 and 2008, which doesn’t even meet the 100s of millions needed for a full cleanup of all the PCBs and chemicals.  This suggests that NNSA will avoid full cleanup at the old plant,

even as it seeks to build a new half-billion dollar weapons plant!

Given the lack of need for increased nuclear weapons work,

and the need to lead the world in global nuclear disarmament by solid example,

the U.S. should CLEAN UP, NOT BUILD UP, ITS NUCLEAR WEAPONS COMPLEX!

NOTE: The KCMO City Plan Commission will take up GSA’s request for a $40 million dollar local incentive package starting Sept. 2. To express your opinion, e-mail: planning@kcmo.org

By Brad Grabs

“So, are you OK with death and resurrection?” asked Fr. Ed. I looked down at the table between us. I took a drink of my iced tea. Then, I glanced up at him. “Well, I love the idea of resurrection. It’s the death thing that I have a hard time with.”

Months ago, I shared lunch with my friend, Fr. Ed Hays, as I explained to him my plans to move on from Shalom Catholic Worker House, a homeless shelter for men, after 10 years of living and working there as a volunteer. Though I felt fairly certain that I was being called to leave, I still dreaded the thought of leaving behind my life in the community that had been my home for most of my adult life.

My decision to leave Shalom House was affirmed by Miro, our young volunteer from Germany. Knowing that I was struggling with my decision, Miro made this observation: “Shalom House is a place where people go for help to become a better person. Maybe Shalom House has helped you all that it can.” The more I reflected on his words, the more I recognized the wisdom in this statement.

During the past 10 years, I have grown and changed in ways I would never have imagined. I have been shaped and formed by extraordinary experiences and countless good people. Shalom House has truly helped me to become a better person, and has taught me invaluable lessons.

Struggling to be patient and charitable to Alvin, a homeless man who is bitter and abrasive, has taught me a bit about unconditional love, and how truly difficult it can be.

Sitting through the horrific murder trial of a former guest, whom I consider my friend, has taught me a lot about the complexity of each human being.

Assisting an undocumented guest in court to sue a crooked slumlord has taught me a lot about vulnerability, and about greed.

Watching our teenage neighbor wither and die in our street after being shot by the police has taught me a lot about power and control. Seeing what his family went through afterwards taught me about the lack of it.

Seeing the cruel rejection faced by a guest who told his mother that he had AIDS taught me how incredibly blessed I am to have been born to compassionate and loving parents.

Treating cuts and bruises of undocumented immigrants who just jumped off of the freight train after a harrowing journey across the border has taught me how devastating some laws are, and how real their consequences.

Standing on street corners in protest against injustices of many kinds has taught me that there is value in resistance, even if it has little apparent effect.

Accepting monthly donations of $10 from a poor widow who wants to participate in our ministry has taught me a lot about providence and generosity.

And living in community with people of all ethnicities, backgrounds, abilities and disabilities, ages, strengths and weaknesses, has taught me much about the beauty and wonder of our Creator.

Clearly, living at Shalom House has taught me a great deal and made me a better person. Moving on from Shalom House after 10 years truly felt like a death in many ways. It was not easy and not without pain and regrets. But as Fr. Ed Hays reminded me at lunch that day last spring, if one wants to experience resurrection, one must endure death.

I have been gone from Shalom House for over a month now, and the feeling of death is still present. Even so, I am slowly seeing evidence of resurrection in my new life. I live in a house near Shalom and continue directing a neighborhood learning program for inner city kids and operating a small tree care business. Every day, I see new opportunities to apply the lessons that I have learned over the past 10 years to other areas of my life. And I see resurrection slowly emerging in unexpected ways in my life after Shalom.

~

Shalom Catholic Worker House continues its 26 year old ministry of providing breakfast, dinner, and a safe place to sleep and call home to 20 homeless men in Kansas City, Kansas. The current live-in community of volunteers, Dawn Willenborg, Pedro Olvera, Miro Heyink, Rusty Bailey, and summer intern Matt Lynch continues the day-to-day operation of the house. More volunteers, especially live-in volunteer staff, are needed. With human resources stretched thin, Catholic Charities of KCK has offered to hire someone to assist with house operations and case management. It is everyone’s wish that Shalom House, which is the only men’s homeless shelter in Wyandotte and Johnson Counties, could continue to be run by volunteers. But it appears that keeping Shalom House operating to its full capacity will necessitate a change in operating structure, perhaps with a hired staff.

To Brad: What an inspiration you are to us and to many others. We love you.

Kris and Lynn Cheatum

~

I’ve always appreciated the sacred hospitality that Brad has fostered at Shalom House. As a social worker at Wyandot Center, I have used Shalom House as a shelter for some of those with whom I have worked. Since some struggle with addiction, it was good to know that Brad was there to welcome them into a culture of sobriety and serenity with clear boundaries. Plus, I simply marvel at the faithfulness it would take to live and work there for 10 years!

Charles Carney

~

Brad,

You have allowed me to truly witness what selfless service looks like. You have been a great example to my children and my family as a servant leader in our community. I thank you for providing so much leadership and support to the men of the Shalom House and I pray that my children will have a great desire to carry on what they have learned from you and your giving heart.

May God bless all that you do,
Case Dorman
President
Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue

~

I came to know Brad some years ago as the Regional Hospitaller for the Order of Malta and we began offering our members the opportunity to participate in the meal service at Shalom House.

Brad’s dedication and working with Mary K Meyer was an inspiration to all of us. With his background from the University of Notre Dame, which many of our people also have, and his dedication to servicing the poor and the homeless lends an outstanding example of service and what life is all about.

I expect to continue supporting Shalom House and Brad in any way that we possibly can.

John T. Massman
Regional Hospitaller
Order of Malta, Federal Association

~

We met Brad years ago at Shalom House when our kids were little. I was touched by his quiet, gentle yet STRONG spirit. Over the years as our kids grew I could see he and Mary Kay’s relationship grow.

Their love and mutual respect for one another shined forth. They shared a love for social justice and worked hard to make a positive difference. There relationship was BEAUTIFUL.

After Brad started the after school program his face would light up when he was asked about it.

We also were present after his return in his work for peace in Columbia. He was sharing about his experience and he had just found out that some of the people he had lived and worked with were brutally killed. I was amazed at how God was holding him and his strength to share and continue to work tirelessly. I feel blessed to know Brad and I am thrilled our kids have had the honor of such a wonderful role model. We love you Brad!

David and Terri Goddard and Family

~

You were an honors student from Notre Dame and could have done anything with your life. You have dedicated your life to community service and charity. I greatly admire your decision to take this route. Your life experiences are much richer than those of us who have pursued the life of focusing on material goals. Keep up the great work!

Fondly,
Tony and Barbara Abbate

~

In the 1990’s I can remember Mary K telling me about this young high school teacher at Rockhurst, for whom teaching about justice was increasingly not enough; how he connected with Shalom and finally
discerned giving up his work, his income, and moving in. A young man, putting security aside, and entering ministry, full time at SHALOM.

Of course, Brad didn’t stop there, but also developed the learning club at old Blessed Sacrament School, worked with immigrants….etc. etc! Many wonderful volunteers come, work hard, and move on from Shalom, always changed. Brad stayed 10 years, sharing his quiet, patient strength, organization, energy and deep spiritual reservoir.

I was never more touched than while observing Brad’s accompaniment of Mary K during her final illness. He fully supported Mary K’s wishes to wind up her life in her style…staying as busy as she was able to
be to the end. Brad patiently allowed Mary K’s letting go process and her beautiful death. Now, a year and four months later, it’s time for this still young man to refocus. I’m so glad for Brad, and I am so glad for everyone whose lives he will continue to touch, including my own!

Warmly,
Gigi Gruenke

~

STEPS/STUFEN

As every blossom fades
and all youth sinks
into old age,
so every life’s design,
each flower of wisdom,
every good attains its prime
and cannot last forever.
In life, each call the heart
must be prepared courageously
without a hint of grief,
submit itself to other new ties.
A magic dwells in each beginning,
protecting us
tells us how to live.

High purposed we must traverse
realm on realm,
cleaving to none as to a home,
the world of spirit
wishes not to fetter us
but raise us higher,
step by step.
Scarce in some safe
accustomed sphere of life
have we establish a house,
then we grow lax;
only he who is ready
to journey forth
can throw old habits off.
Maybe death’s hour too
will send us out new-born
towards undreamed-lands,
maybe life’s call to us
will never find an end.
Courage my heart,
take leave and fare thee well

Liebe Grube,
Angela

~

I lived with Brad for 4 months in Shalom House and I first met him in my hometown Hamburg in Germany.

Brad could make people do chores like mopping the floor or cleaning the bathroom by just asking them. He would ask you so nicely that you can’t say no and you just do it. You can’t resist his kindness.

When he’s in the room people treat each other nicer and show their best manners.

He is a very good friend and Catholic Worker and whatever he does or says is always with the best intentions. I wish all my friends were more like him.

The fact that the Learning Club was his idea and that he’s so dedicated to it says a lot about who he is and how much compassion he’s got.

He helped so many kids in our neighborhood to have goals, visions and work hard to acheive them.

Miro Heyink

~

I met Brad the first time I served dinner at Shalom House about 8 or 9 years back. My first and third grade son and daughter were also helping and I watched as Brad interacted with the young and old, male and female, Spanish speaking and those not able to speak– he served all with the utmost kindness and patience. I tried to figure out his age at that time and decided he was somewhere between 25 and 45! He looked young but carried that air of an “old soul in a young body.”

Over the years my heart has been moved by his “gentle strength” and my conscience has been tugged by the manner in which he lives his faith—it calls me to accountability, and gives me cause to slow down and listen to what God will ask for me to do for the least of all people.

I believe that one of Brad’s greatest gifts is that he is an active listener. Whether a kid is telling a detailed, LONG story about their afternoon escapades or an adult is sharing the struggles of simply trying to live, Brad listens with his whole person. One definition of humility is “knowing the truth about yourself, about others and about the world”. The world will continue to be blessed by this humble man and I thank God that our paths crossed.

Stephanie Pino-Dressman

~

For quite a few years I would stop to visit staff and guests at Shalom House. It was always an interesting and wonderful experience, especially at suppertime and the relaxing times before and after the meal. It was neat listening to Brad give announcements in Spanish and was a blessing watching him interact with the men - many of whom were Hispanic. And Brad was a wonderful friend and support to Mary Kay. Running a homeless shelter for 25 folks is not the easiest job in KC.

In peace,
Tom Haebig
West Bend, Wi.

The peace and justice community in Kansas City has been hard-hit by the recent loss of two dear friends. We wanted to take just a few moments to honor their memory.

Roy Melching, who lived and worked at Shalom Catholic Worker House for 20 years, died July 1 in his Kansas City, Kan. apartment. He was 65.

Roy’s stated job at Shalom was master of all trades and he certainly earned the title. From the plumbing to roofing, the garden and lawn, Roy made sure that a rickety old building continued to shelter 25 homeless men and a handful of live-in volunteers. But his real work at Shalom was to engage those who walked through the doors. Be it volunteers from all walks of life or the homeless men who arrived for all variety of reasons, Roy was quick to explain the ropes and make quick friends.

He had a deep understanding of what brought a man to Shalom House. Roy, himself, came to Shalom in need of a home that could help him kick an alcohol and drug addiction. It was not easy and more than once he had to leave Shalom to face the demons, only to return and start anew. Eventually, Roy won the day. He lived the last several years of his life alone and sober. He is an inspiration, and a missed member of a large family.

~

Maureen (Moe) Tuman, one of the founders of the Topics to Go forum, died in Omaha on June 25. She was 59.

Here is a portion of her obituary in the Kansas City Star: “Her Italian-Irish humor and lively story telling were just two facets of a remarkable person whose life was built on the bedrock of her Catholic faith and a deep, abiding concern for the friends, relatives and strangers who crossed her path. She was, in a very real sense, a servant of God’s children, a widely read, brilliant woman who listened to others, performed any task no matter how menial or grand, and never sought the limelight for herself. She baked pies for a food pantry, helped the elderly whom she encountered, volunteered for Community LINC and helped care for the babies of women who were returning to school to earn high school equivalency diplomas. A more than 30-year member of St. Francis Xavier Church, Moe was a lector, a Eucharistic minister and a past president of the parish council. For years, she helped coordinate the Soup & Spirituality lecture series there during Lent. She also played the piano for various weddings and funerals over the years, including a wedding just three weeks before her death. A strong advocate for peace and justice, she attended peace rallies in The Plaza area of Kansas City virtually every Sunday afternoon for years. A strong supporter of expanded roles for women in the Catholic Church, she was a member of the Topics to Go, a speakers bureau for progressive Catholics.”

Perhaps her most impressive trait to a casual observer was her generosity of spirit. She did not convey her deeply held beliefs in tones that contradicted her intentions. She was kind, gentle and magnanimous.

They will both be deeply missed.

By Rev. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy

Twenty-eight years ago I read an article in “Sojourners” by John Stoner. It was entitled “Take the Message to Jerusalem.” For eight years before I read it I lived by what its thesis is and have tried to so direct my energies since.

It has been the continuous refrain of the Church of Rome since the days of the WW II Holocaust that the Church did not fail in its responsibilities toward the Jews of Europe or do anything wrong, only individual Christians failed in their responsibilities and did wrong. Such a stance is, of course, infuriating to Jews and non-Jews alike.

The reason the Roman Church makes such a claim and the reason that so many are repulsed by it is the result of an equivocalness that Church leadership presents to the world, intentionally or unintentionally, in the employment of the word “Church.”

In brief, in Catholic thought the Church qua Church is sinless (holy), while the individual person is the sinner. The Church here meaning the ontological reality Church. However, there is an incarnational, economic, political, sociological, legal, bureaucratic, humanly structured system that is also Church and this entity is far from free of wrongdoing. The ontological reality Church is sinless, holy, but its incarnational manifestation is not. It does wrong and fails like any other institution and is open to exactly the same critique as any other humanly-operated institution, namely, “See here, you are not doing what you were created to do,” or “You have not done what you were supposed to have done. Correct yourself.”

Between 1933 and 1945 the Church, the incarnational Church was one of the few institutions that in the world that had the resources to prevent the Holocaust. It employed them quite sparingly, as it is doing today in relation to the five-year-and-running mass murder of the people of Iraq brought about intentionally by the United States and Britain.

The incarnational, institutional Church with its great wealth, communications potential, and organization abilities, to say nothing of the superabundance of Divine life and grace within it, could be the single most effective force in the world for good, if it would simply repent and convert and become what it is—holy. Holy here being defined by the words, deeds, life, death and resurrection of the Holy “made flesh,” Jesus.

The absolute validity of the Sermon on the Mount and the nonviolent love of friends and enemies taught therein, as well as, the absolute validity of the Cross and the nonviolent love of friends and enemies lived thereon is not derived from reason in the first instance. It is derived from the supreme spiritual authority of the One who spoke the words, the One who lived these words unto death on a cross, who is the One who brought the universe into existence, namely, the Word (Logos) of God incarnate, Jesus.

Now, it is people who say they believe—have faith—that Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh, who compose the membership of the variou Churches. It is institutional leaders, who say they have such a faith, who are the people in charge of these Churches. It is primarily, and maybe exclusively, that the request—even demand—can be made that they live, individually and collectively by what they say is the truth they believe in—Jesus Christ as their Lord, God, and Savior, as their Way, Truth and Light.

It is unrealistic, Utopian, to believe that people in any significant numbers will follow Jesus’ teachings without faith in Jesus as Lord. It is contrary to Jesus’ teaching to force people by coercion, threat, etc., to follow His teachings as a substitute for or a shortcut around converting to faith in Him, e.g., by making laws and forcing by threat of governmental violence, e.g., jailing, fines, property confiscation, death, etc., those who do not believe in Him as Lord to live according to His truth rather than their own. “If Christ has not risen our faith is in vain,” says St. Paul. Said another way, “If a person or a group did not believe Christ is risen or the truth that His resurrection proclaims, it would be irrational to follow Him. In vain would anyone follow Him. The Sermon on the Mount and the Cross, which is its ultimate expression, would be “folly and a scandal,” would be absurd.

Therefore it makes no sense to ask or demand that the Central Committee of the Communist Party, or Halliburton, or the Democratic and Republican Parties, or any military, or the New York Times and Washington Times, or Boeing, or Blackwater or the CIA or any government, or members of any other religion to follow the teachings of Jesus on what is good and what is evil or anything else. Such institutions do not exit to follow Jesus, “to Baptize and to teach them to obey all that I have commanded you.” They have other purposes, ways and means, which those who enter into them accept as their own.

But the Church also has its purpose for existence, which those who enter it accept as their own. That purpose is to bring people to genuine holiness by bring people to faith in Jesus Christ, The Holy One incarnate, Baptizing them and “teaching them to obey all that I (Jesus) have commanded you.” The Church also has ways and means given to it by Jesus to accomplish its purpose, namely, to assist people in becoming what they are, Holy; to assist the Church in becoming incarnationally what it is ontologically, Holy. And, these ways and means are not the ways and means of Halliburton, the Pentagon, corporate mass media, the WTO and what so many of the Churches have adopted as their modus operandi to prosper and survive incarnationally.

The Church is never more political, never more effective politically, than when it whole heart, whole soul , whole mind and whole strength commits itself unreservedly to the explicit mission Jesus created it for and commissioned it to do—bring the holiness with which it has been endowed incarnationally into time and space so that all people may become what God through His Word created them to be—Eternally Holy—by Way of imitation of and participation in the Life and Spirit of the Holy One “made flesh.”

Emmanuel Charles McCarthy is a priest of the Eastern Rite (Byzantine) of the Catholic Church. He was formerly a lawyer, university educator and founder and original director of The Program for the Study and Practice of Nonviolent Conflict Resolution at the University of Notre Dame. He is also a co-founder of Pax Christi-USA. For over forty years he has directed educational programs and conducted spiritual retreats throughout the world on the issue of the relationship of faith and violence. For more information, go here.

NOTE:  This article comes from the latest newsletter Urban Grown by the Kansas City Center for Urban Agriculture. To learn more about KCCUA go here.

By Kurt Rietema

So why did we begin a community garden on the property of Pathway Community Church in southern Johnson County?  Well, maybe it’s because there’s a longing inside each of us that we can’t quite put a finger on.  Maybe it’s because we sense that while we’re becoming more and more connected with a global world, we’re becoming more and more disconnected with the most elemental relationships that humans have participated in for centuries.  Maybe it’s because we have enough people we communicate with everyday through thousands of digital matrices of zeroes and ones, yet we hardly know our next-door neighbors.  Maybe it’s because I eat enough hard, pinkish-green fruits from California that can only be named a “tomato” by genetic standards.  I long for the deep, sultry flavor and color of a tomato that was born a stone’s throw from my house and shares the same dirt that I clean from under my fingernails.  It’s a longing for something that is really real.   Real people, real relationships, real tomatoes, real dirt.  In the land of a thousand franchised ethnic restaurants that offer highly sanitized, processed approximations of an authentic chile relleno, there are more than a few of us who crave something that hasn’t undergone sixteen focus groups before it ever makes it to our table.

At Pathway Community Church, that’s the journey that we’re on – a journey for life as it was always meant to be.  We believe that Jesus was all about saving us from our destructive, fragmenting, isolating tendencies and restoring the world back to the way God had intended it.  By opening up our property for an organic community garden we saw an opportunity to make our sometimes plastic-wrapped, isolated neighborhood a little bit more how God intended it.  It’s a place where neighbors can come together shoulder to shoulder, plunge their hands into the soil, curse at weeds and share real-life stories like human beings have done for thousands of years while making the world a little bit greener, a little more beautiful, a little more flavorful, and a little more human.  It seems to us that creating a community garden is somehow in-step with what God is doing in this world and that it’s almost as if we get to participate in this restoration project, this dream of a new world, these longings for what is really real.

I met with KCCUA’s Daniel Dermitzel sometime in January and told him about our dreams of a community garden and future plans for a farmer’s market.  He gave us some thoughts and ideas and unleashed us to make them happen.  I got a few soil samples taken, sketched up a plan for the garden, and made a simple sign announcing a new community garden.  A farmer in our church plowed and prepared our soil and then Kurt Lutz, the husband/father of a couple of our gardeners retilled the land again before planting.  It wasn’t long before the thirty-two plots were snatched up by neighbors in the surrounding subdivisions and a waiting list sprouted up before we even had a chance to get any seeds in the ground.  On April 5, a group of excited, wannabe (myself included) organic gardeners showed up to start tending our 10’ x 20’ plots.  We talked about some of our ideas together and a number of people felt like they probably couldn’t manage an entire plot on their own with their busy schedules so we devised a new kind of suburban sharecropping by sharing duties and the harvest.  Most of us use a common “library” of tools that we use and plan to install lockers so everyone can have some of their own on site.  We’ve formed a Yahoo group to swap ideas and concerns through e-mail threads and have plans to create a farm stand by the roadside to sell some of our extra produce to the surrounding neighborhood.

That’s the first chapter in the story of our community garden.  I’m sure that the succeeding chapters won’t be as rosy as this one.  But for now, we’re content living out our once-upon-a-time beginning in suburbia, blissfully unaware of the grotesque monsters of Mexican bean beetles, squash bugs and striped cucumber beetles lurking around the corner.  Nevertheless, we’ll always be longing for the happily-ever-after of a restored world.

Kurt Rietema is the Pastor of Missional Life at Pathway Community Church on 159th Street in Olathe, KS.  The church started about four years ago and has some 100 members.  Rietema’s interest in urban farming began when he was an undergraduate student in Landscape Architecture at Iowa State University.  Rietema and his wife spent five years in Mexico with Youthfront of Kansas City doing community development work before recently transitioning back to the United States.  Pathway Community Church is one of several Kansas City churches currently exploring food production as a way to build healthy communities. To learn more about Pathway’s urban agriculture project, contact Kurt Rietema at kurt@followthepath.org.