Fifteen strangers are gathered for supper. We share from a common table where everyone has offered a little dish. Around the country, thousands of others are doing the same thing. These multi-hued, boundary-crossing gatherings are happening thanks to a call…
In the midst of a changing neighborhood, finding what’s important — people
On Saturday, little Bobby walked down to the corner store. He had no money. But he did have his bookbag and, even at just 9 years old, some practice at getting his hunger sated without the aid of money. On…
The stench of imperial religion
Not long ago, we lost a volunteer at QC Family Tree right in the middle of her orientation. She showed many levels of discomfort with her position with us, much of it because she was being asked to confront the…
Want to be a good mission partner? 5 things to consider
At QC Family Tree, we regularly get the question from congregations, “How can we be good partners for your mission?” The question often, but not always, comes to us from the same social locations that my wife and I, the…
There is nothing too good for the poor
A wealthy woman once gave Dorothy Day a diamond ring as a gift to help support the work of the Catholic Worker. According to some other workers, she slipped it into her pocket for a little while. A short time…
Requiem for the ‘cut’: Finding connections in a gentrifying neighborhood
Tony disappears behind the abandoned house at the curve, and he doesn’t reappear for a while. Another fellow follows him a couple minutes later, and also stays gone. In fact, he never reappears. Must be trouble, one assumes, given all…
In America today, who gets to use possessive pronouns?
The crowds trudged through the rain from the main square in order to block the street in front of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department headquarters. “Whose streets? Our streets!” they shouted, in defiance of the long history of Charlotte. Here, streets and…
Love, resistance, and the trouble ahead
She looked like hell when I answered the door. The sun was not yet fully up and a lady was knocking already. This day was not to be one for the normal rules of politeness. All the rules had been…
Where to go from here: Re-imagining Charlotte
A few weeks ago, I saw the renderings of a new development headed to the edge of a gentrifying neighborhood in Charlotte, N.C. The space looked nice, like the kind of spot many Charlotteans would be excited to walk or…
Standing as loving accomplices on a front porch surrounded by police
It is a Friday night not long after I have moved to Enderly Park, which is located on Jesus’ side of the tracks. Our living room is filled with teens. We are playing cards, not because we like cards that…
At a loss for words
Lament is truthful speech that names the fact that some of us are losing our sons and some of us are losing our souls and none of us can be whole until we change.
The gift that is missing in our talk about affordable housing
In my city, Charlotte, N.C., we have reached a general consensus concerning housing and affordability: we all agree that there is not nearly enough of affordable housing, and we would all like for someone else to do something about it.
Being irresponsible in a world which doesn’t understand being responsible
“Because I’m irresponsibly mad …” — Sammy Cahn Some friends are reporting recently that they have been “adulting.” Emblematic of this is one woman’s recent decision to purchase tires rather than more shoes. These are the sorts of decisions that…
Daniel Berrigan and the seeds of peace
Six weeks ago I planted a whole bed of collard green seeds and not a single one came up. For a Southern boy, this is the sort of thing that raises existential questions. I’m not interested in the why, which…