PEOPLE WITH A
PASSION FOR PEACE
Since 1995, the all-volunteer and interfaith peaceCENTER continues to be a significant community catalyst for peace in San Antonio, Texas. Compassion and Justice are our strong guiding lights. Contemplative Practices, Experiential Education, and Nonviolent Actions are our working expressions throughout the community at large.
285 Oblate Drive
San Antonio, Texas 78216
The peaceCENTER is a 501(c)((3)) non-profit
Homelessness: The 21st Century “Boogie Man”
This guest post is by Chris Plauche, the volunteer director of the San Antonio Catholic Worker House. It appeared originally in their May, 2015 newsletter.
The Catholic Worker House (CWH) is staying open not because we want to “master the art of civil disobedience” (San Antonio Express News, Sunday April 26th), but because we feel that we have no other choice but to stay open. On December 14, 2013, our then-Councilperson, Ivy Taylor, spoke at a neighborhood meeting and stated that the city attorney ruled that CWH was indeed protected by the Texas Restoration of the Freedom of Religion Act. So we felt justified in staying open ,but why do we NEED to stay open?
We are the only day center of hospitality other than the Prospects Courtyard at Haven For Hope, across town on the Westside. From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., we strive to provide a “homey” environment because CWH is the closest thing to home our guests have. They can sit in the garden, sip coffee or mint water, eat a meal, chat with friends, play chess or cards, watch a move, surf the internet, wash their clothes, and use the bathroom. It is a place where no one tells them to “move along,” “keep walking,” “go away,” “you are not welcomed here.”
These are phrases they hear many times per week. Why are those experiencing homeless not wanted in our neighborhood, or really in any neighborhood or any tourist area? Because of fear. As children, we are taught to be afraid of the mysterious entity known as the “boogie man.” We are not sure exactly who the boogieman is, we just know that we should fear him. It is a fear of the unknown.
“We fear things in proportion to our ignorance of them,” noted the 19th Century writer Christian Nestell Bovee. This fear is bigger than the issue of homelessness; the “unknown” can be the immigrant, the released prisoner, or the person who simply looks different.
A person who is homeless seems to be just one of the many new boogie men of current times. Laws that restrict the movement, sleeping, eating, and excreting of people who are homeless are creeping up in many cities across the nation, chiefly tourist cities. Why? Out of fear—fear of personal harm, theft, loss of tourist trade and profits, and fear of the unknown. Not unlike many neighbors across the USA, our neighbors state that they do not feel safe with the clients we draw into the neighborhood. They assume that most were criminals.
We are only maintaining the calendar at our Compassionate San Antonio site now.
2018 PEACE LAUREATES
