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The Joseph House Newsletter
 
Soliciting donations from our Newsletter is our primary means of raising funds for the poor. Read it to learn more about the people we help, our volunteers, the Little Sisters, issues of justice that affect the poor, and the spiritual values that motivate our work.

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Recent Newsletters:   March 2008    February 2008    January 2008

March 2008

Dear Friends of Joseph House:

When something is old and worn out, the temptation exists to scrap it rather than fix it. This seems to be an easy solution, and often it's the only solution since many things are made to be disposable. So we reach for another heavy duty trash bag that can stretch without ripping and throw the item away (even though we don't really know where "away" is).

Catherine Doherty, the founder of Madonna House, rallied against this "throw away" mentality. As the motto for her community, which is a lay apostolate based in Canada, she chose, "To Restore All Things In Christ." She placed the idea of "restoration" as the underlying principle of Madonna House, even making it the name of the apostolate's newspaper. She required that everything be cared for gently, down to the smallest, most mundane object of everyday life.

Accordingly, the maintenance men of Madonna House were given a very important job. Catherine once wrote of them:

To "maintain" means to keep whole, to keep intact, to prolong life and usefulness. It also means to repair, to make whole again that which was broken, damaged, dented, or misused. It also means sometimes to change ugliness into beauty. It means to restore something that seems useless, something that could be put to use again by loving care.

Yes, to "maintain, repair, and make whole again" is the business of a maintenance department, especially in Madonna House.

And, we might add, it's also the business of the Joseph House Workshop.

As Catherine Doherty well understood, the greatest work of restoration involves our humanity. People get tossed on the junk heap, too, and it's easy to walk on by and not even see them. Some individuals are written off because they are deemed useless, unimportant, or deserving of their circumstances. Among those acquainted with being judged in a negative way are homeless men. The Workshop reaches out to this particular group with comprehensive assistance.

Most of the men who enter the Workshop have been through years of homelessness, years of addiction, years of incarceration. Walking with them on the road to health and wholeness can be a long journey. Day by day, however, new lives are taking shape.

One Workshop resident, Erik, recently gained visitation rights to see his infant son after being estranged from the child's mother. The judge recognized that Erik is developing the capacity to be a responsible parent. Another resident, Jon, works at a fast food restaurant. His ideas to improve the kitchen's efficiency earned him a promotion to Assistant Manager.

Our residents follow a winding path that may go up and down, but their achievements are real and significant. Work needs to be done on the inside of a person's life before changes are visible on the outside. At the Workshop, we give men like Erik and Jon the support they need for this growth to occur.

The Workshop is currently filled to capacity; all ten beds are occupied. Sr. Christina Tucciarone, the Director of the Workshop, has a report on what happens during a typical day:

During Phase 1 of the program, the residents' day starts at 6:30 in the morning. They have an hour to get themselves ready and to eat breakfast. Phase 1 last for 8-12 weeks.

Their first class begins at 7:30 in the morning. At the moment, I am reviewing with them the book, Battlefield of the Mind, by Joyce Meyer. This book is about overcoming negative thoughts using the guidance of Scripture.

By 9:00 a.m., the residents begin their life-skills classes. The class schedule varies depending on the day of the week. They have classes in rebuilding healthy relationships, citizenship, goal implementation, decision making skills, addiction and recovery, conflict resolution, rediscovery of God, renewal of self, developing positive emotions, rebuilding confidence and self esteem, cooking, expression of feelings, anger management, coping with fear, money management, banking terms, job readiness, and how to complete job applications. Volunteer experts come in to lead the classes.

Classes go until 4:30 or 5:00 p.m.; that's when the men start cooking dinner. Those who are in Phase II of the program, who are working, start returning home at this point for our evening meal -- which we share together every night. Studies have shown that an evening meal together builds healthy relation-ships. We have found that this is the most important part of our day. It's when we share what has gone wrong and what has gone right. Usually we laugh, but sometimes it's just a time to be peaceful.

After cleaning up from dinner, we rush off to a 12-step recovery group -- since we all need recovery of some kind or another! Afterwards, we return home and the men have a little bit of down time before lights out.

During Phase II, the residents who have children can have them visit on Sundays. Phase II residents can also go out on their own during the day to visit friends or family, or to just have a free day.

Once in a while, some of the men who have passed through the Joseph House Workshop come back and have dinner with us. What a blessing that is for all of us! They let us know where they are working and how they are doing, and we laugh over the hard times they had in their early days. They are a great example to the men in the house and we welcome them back whenever they have time to stop in.

We are very proud of the Workshop and very grateful for the many people who work hard to ensure it delivers a high level of service.
 

 
Thank you for remembering us with your continued support. Your generosity keeps the Workshop in operation and allows us to assist people at the Crisis Center, where the need is always great. There is much to do, but the Lord provides.

Our hope is in the Resurrection. We pray that you and your loved ones enjoy a blessed Easter!

Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary
 

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February 2008

Dear Friends of Joseph House:

Several years ago, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling, our founder, helped to formulate the mission of Joseph House in one sentence:

To promote social justice and help stabilize family life through direct assistance to the poor, whatever their needs may be.

Sister always understood the link between family life and justice in the world. By supporting families, the building blocks of society, we make society more just, more humane, and more livable. Consequently, we increase the fruit of justice, which is peace.

In his message given on the first of January for the World Day of Peace, Pope Benedict XVI expounded on this theme:

In a healthy family life we experience some of the fundamental elements of peace: justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness, or old age, mutual help in the necessities of life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them. For this reason, the family is the first and indispensable teacher of peace.

Pope Benedict also spoke about the danger of letting forces undermine the institution of the family. Families have rights that a just society needs to safeguard:

The family needs to have a home, employment and a just recognition of the domestic activity of parents, the possibility of schooling for children, and basic health care for all. When society and public policy are not committed to assisting the family in these areas, they deprive themselves of an essential resource in the service of peace.

We live in a powerful and wealthy nation that is beset by problems of violence. The causes are many, as are the proposed solutions. On New Year's Day, the Pope reminded us that when the rights of families are threatened, when families must struggle to obtain their essential material needs, then the very foundations of peace in the world are threatened as well.

At the Joseph House, we work very hard to help families receive the things they need to live with some measure of security. After all, how can a person who is hungry think of anything else but a plate of food? What child can be raised in an atmosphere of chaos and uncertainty? The direct assistance we provide helps people prosper as human beings. It gives them a boost to reach the fullness of their God-given potential.

As Pope Benedict remarked in his message, "We do not live alongside one another purely by chance; all of us are progressing along a common path as men and women, and thus as brothers and sisters." We all have one origin and one destiny; there are no exceptions. This "transcendent foundation" of society makes us more than just fellow occupants who share space on the earth; it makes us one great family.

Bringing this understanding to our ministry at the Joseph House Crisis Center makes all the difference. Since we could never ignore a cry for help from a parent or sibling, we cannot close our ears to the cries of the poor. Our ministry also challenges us to love the poor beyond sentimentality. We love with resolve and patience, and we love individuals and not simply categories of people.
 

 
This is put into practice in a special way in our Hospitality Room for the Homeless. Our sisters and volunteers who work there get to know the men and women who come five days a week seeking shelter from the streets. The workload can be demanding; on some days up to 50 people may walk through the door.

Here are some thoughts from Sr. Shirley Sicard, who works in the Hospitality Room:

What seems to impact the homeless the most is lack of permanence. This is why the Hospitality Room is so important. It is here that lives begin to get turned around.

Shelter from the cold, a warm shower, clean clothes, and a couple of hot meals -- and these men and women who are homeless begin to feel human again. By "human" we mean "validated," worth something more than the label society puts on them.

From this starting point of care and love we begin to see real changes take place in our people. The men and women start to feel good about themselves -- something they have not experienced in a long time, if ever.

Mary and her son lived out of her station wagon all last winter. Now she is happily married and has a nice place to call home.

Sharon lived in the woods; no job, no real life, and her self confidence was nil. She was ashamed because she had no teeth. Today, she is working full-time and looks so good with new dentures.

Phil is a veteran who suffered brain damage from a war injury. He got involved with alcohol and drugs and was going nowhere. Today, he receives full benefits from the government, is clean and sober, and has a decent place to live. He looks wonderful, and the government even provided him with speech therapy.

Peter lived in the middle of a carved-out shrub, laying on cardboard in his own filth. Many times we had to call 911 since he would collapse and seem close to death. Today, it is difficult to recognize him, the transformation is so great. Living out on the street is a thing of the past for him.

Some of the men enter the Joseph House Workshop program. This is a big "step up" for them in their recovery process. We are so proud of them.

May we always proclaim the power of God at work in His people.

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Christmas Recap: During the week before Christmas, 664 families received food from our Pantry at the Crisis Center. This amounted to 1,286 bags of groceries. We gave out toys to 963 children. Since each child received two toys (one big and one small), almost 2,000 toys were distributed. By the end of the week, our elves were tired!

These numbers represent a 10% increase from the previous year. The need doesn't end with the holidays; on one particular day in January over a dozen new families signed up to receive food. The demand is great in all areas: Food Pantry, Dining Room, Hospitality Room, and Financial Assistance for emergencies. You, our faithful friends and supporters, are our only source of funding. Thank you for all of your help!

Keeping you always in our prayers,
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary

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January 2008

Dear Friends of Joseph House:

Men and women of the Middle Ages made a virtue of something that seems unfamiliar today.

It's the concept of being extravagant in making visible sublime ideas that are invisible. Our forebears referred to this virtue by its Latin name, magnificentia. It helped to inspire one of the lasting achievements of their age: the great cathedrals of Europe.

These poems in stone, built long before heavy machinery and computer-aided design, immediately draw the eyes upward to the heavens. Perhaps you've been fortunate enough to stand in the nave of Notre Dame or admire the sunlit colors streaming through the stained glass windows of Chartes. The builders of these masterpieces were extraordinarily gifted; their creations give glory to God, and, at the same time, bear witness to the grandeur of the human spirit.

Now, compared to a cathedral, the Joseph House Crisis Center is a very humble, very down-to-earth kind of place. That doesn't mean we can't be extravagant in making God's love visible; we simply have to do it in different ways. We might, for example, stay up late fixing sausage gravy and baking dozens of biscuits, the components of a favorite hot breakfast among the homeless who come to our Hospitality Room. No flying buttresses here, but we can at least cook!

No matter our circumstances, we must aim high in the pursuit of what is good and true. Little things mean a lot, and they typically add up to something greater. For someone who has nothing, a hot meal on a cold day is a taste of paradise. But we can't stop there, we can't settle for doing "just enough." At the Joseph House, we constantly challenge ourselves to offer the poor the best possible help we can provide.

During 2007, we responded to approximately 1,780 requests for Financial Assistance at the Joseph House Crisis Center. With the help of our dedicated volunteers, we listened to stories of struggle and hardship, of sickness, accidents, and disabilities, of unemployment and low wages, of injustice, abandonment, fear, prison, homelessness, anger, and addiction. We also heard voices speak with credibility about faith, perseverance, and hope.

There are common themes in the situations we hear: the high cost of housing is putting the squeeze on everyone. . . . mothers are raising their children by themselves, fathers are not assuming the financial and moral obligations of parenthood. . . . more grandmothers are becoming the primary caregivers of their grandchildren. . . . men are released from prison with no support system. . . . working even two minimum-wage jobs does not pay enough to cover the rent, food, and utilities for a family. . . . day care and health care are luxuries . . . drug and alcohol addiction can devastate lives like nothing else. . . .

Behind the stories and issues are people -- individuals -- each one unique and dealing with a crisis in a particular way. Responding to the person, and working together with the person to find a solution to the immediate need, is our top priority.

The bills people present to us keep getting higher and higher. As part of our procedure of verifying information, we usually contact the Department of Social Services and other agencies to see what resources are available. Helping a person in crisis often takes a group effort.

Addressing the underlying causes of poverty is always a concern for us. It is the main reason for the Joseph House Workshop, our residential program for homeless men. We'll give you an update on the Workshop soon. In the meantime, please meet a few recent visitors to the Crisis Center:

Madeleine, 41, receives $623 per month in Disability and then pays $600 toward her rent. She is on the waiting list for subsidized housing. Madeleine has had several operations to replace the joints in her hips, knees, and ankles. She also has a seizure disorder. The gas heat was off in her apartment; a $250 deposit was needed to get it back on. Although Madeleine's church paid $100 toward the bill, the $150 balance was still far beyond her reach.

Ingrid, 70, lives alone on a fixed income. She has limited use of her arms following a vicious attack by two Rottweilers. She needs to wear special therapeutic gloves which cost $108. She did not have the money to buy them.

Evan, 49, is unemployed and on the verge of losing everything, including his house. His problems stem from alcoholism. He used to spend $100 each week drinking. Evan contacted a rehab facility in another state and was accepted for treatment. He did not have the $59 needed for the bus ticket.

Gwen, 33, can no longer work as a certified medical technician because she injured her back in a car accident. She now works at a fast-food restaurant for minimum wage. Gwen is trying to get approved for subsidized housing. She is falling behind in all of her bills, especially the rent. She and her two daughters were in danger of being evicted from their apartment.

Jillian, 41, needed to quit her job in order to care for her seriously ill mother. She is separated from her husband and has two sons. Her mother's Social Security provides some income, and Jillian is able to do odd jobs here and there. The rent was overtaking them, however, and they received an eviction notice.

We were able to assist Jillian and the others because of your generosity. Thank you for opening your heart to those in need. We depend on your support to keep going. Thank you once again!

God never holds back His goodness, and neither should we. Consider the depth and breadth of the universe, the profusion of life on earth, the grace given to both saint and sinner alike. God alone is the definition of extravagance.

We ask Him every day to keep you in His care. May 2008 bring many special blessings to you and your loved ones.

We wish a very Happy New Year to one and all!
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary

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