It Didn't Take Long!

On November 18, 2008, the day after the City Council passed the final reading of ordinances allowing for the licensing and regulation of temporary overnight homeless shelters in Park Ridge, we told PRU readers that "we sure hope none of us is given a reason to have to talk about PADS or the PRMA for a long while."

Only a month later, mere days from the New Year before the champagne had even been popped and poured, the Park Ridge Ministerial Association managed to piss-off our Bluebird of New Year happiness.

In several emails received from faithful readers, we were informed of the following:

HOMELESS PEOPLE MAY NOT SLEEP IN PARK RIDGE, BUT WE CAN STILL OFFER TO FEED THEM: The Park Ridge Ministerial Association is sponsoring Sunday Night Suppers. Starting January 18, 2009 all who are hungry or homeless are welcome!! Every Sunday Night doors open at 5:45 p.m. and the meal is served at 6:00 p.m., St. Paul of the Cross Roman Catholic Church, in the Morello Parish Life Center, 320 South Washington in Park Ridge. For more information call 847/692-6767.

This gem of an announcement was made not in the St. Paul of the Cross bulletin, or school take home, or church. No. Making such an announcement in any SPC-related venue would have made too much sense. But as we all know, Fr. Carl Morelleon doesn't like to let his own parishioners know what's taking place in their parish before done deals are announced some place else. No. Can't have that. Must not tell SPC parishioners anything first. Let the latest goings on at SPC be announced at a City Council meeting or, most recently, in St. Luke's Parish Notes. Clearly you all see the brilliance of this method of operating.

We also have been hearing that the PRMA is planning to invite all of the guests from the weekly Sunday Night Suppers to pray all evening (and into the morning) in the sanctuary of one of the PRMA member churches. In effect, they will be holding a lock in at this unnamed church so that the folks attending the supper won’t be out in the cold once the supper concludes. Because if there's anything hungry, homeless people need it's to be awake all night, praying -- unless our PRU readers aren't buying that bullshit either.

If the plan is to lock in the homeless and call the thing an all night prayer session, vigil, revival, or come-to-Jesus meeting, but then look the other way as the homeless fall asleep for the night, we've got news for the PRMA and any other interested party -- that is a temporary overnight homeless shelter, and we expect the City Council to enforce the licensing regulations they just passed.

The PRU Crew are also wondering, if the homeless are invited to a soup kitchen set up in the SPC gym, will those soup kitchen suppers be legal under the recently discussed, changed, and passed environmental health codes? In the minutes of the Special City Council Environmental Health Workshop(.pdf) held last April, it is noted that "the floor was opened for a question/answer session. Various questions were raised about church and community organizations holding bake sales and Pot Luck suppers, etc. Events that are planned which include the serving of food are said to be permitted, as long as the event is not open to the public at large." (emphasis added)

B.O.H.I.C.A.

Don't Live In The Dark!

Have a great weekend!


Addendum --

Check out the Pub-dogs today!

All you people opposed to opening a PADS shelter in a school or densly residential neighborhood, and daring to question the wisdom of your parish pastors? You know, all you people who've been called "unchristian?" Fr. Carl Morello has corrected that! You're not unchristian! You're "racists" and "economic bigots!"

Addendum 2 --

For our unhappy reader -- you are 100% right. Thanks, we very much appreciate your insistence.

Agreeable Friends And A Good Idea!

-- George Eliot, Scenes of Clerical Life

Agreeable Friends!

We thought we would return the favor to the Chicago Archdiocese and go read what is offered on their web site.

If you've clicked on the link above, you are now aware that the church has reacted to much of the negative fall-out they experienced after the priest-child sex abuse scandal by forming the new Office for the Protection of Children and Youth. We applaud their efforts; it's the least they can do.

Notably, the web page above also includes a link to the Chicago Archdiocese's Children Matter Network, which bills itself as "a partnership created to promote and protect the dignity of children."

Included in a discussion for choosing a summer program for kids, the Children Matter Network of the Archdiocese of Chicago offers the following suggestions --

before selecting your child’s summer program or activity:

Verify that the facility is licensed by the State of Illinois. Ask the Director to see the facility’s license and check the expiration date to ensure it is current;

Observe all areas of the facility to ensure that there are no safety or health hazards;

Ask the Director detailed questions regarding the screening of staff. These questions could include;

Ask to review their hiring application. Ask questions about the application if any areas are unfamiliar or critical information is not requested on the application.

Ask if they run a criminal background check on all employees prior to hiring? Is it an online background check or FBI digital fingerprinting?

Do they conduct a Child Abuse and Neglect Tracking Systems (CANTS) check with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on all employees prior to hiring?

Ask if they request professional references and do they contact these references prior to hiring an applicant?

What type of experience must staff members have to work for this particular program?

What type of certifications must staff members have to work for this particular program?

Notwithstanding the ironic recommendation of government oversight for any given program, the PRU Crew is willing to bet that if anyone from the Chicago Archdiocese Children Matter Network were asked if parents should ask these questions only in relation to issues of program employees and sexual predation on children, they would answer "No! Ask these questions of any program and facility where you send your children, to ensure you are sending them into a healthy and safe environment!"

So, all you SPC parents daring to ask questions and demand answers about the PADS program your pastor, Fr. Morello, and his fellow members of the PRMA wish to conduct in the school gym your children use...? Tell them the Archdiocese of Chicago suggested you do so.

A Good Idea!

We received the following "Alternate Suggestion to PADS" in an email. The PRU Crew thinks this is a very good idea!

1. We DO NOT INVOLVE the PADS people at all. Their screening is not satisfactory and their program has been dangerous in other towns. Their system only offers one night of undignified help and invites in homeless from other towns. PADS will increase the homeless population in Park Ridge. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

2. The Park Ridge Police Department would locate and identify the PARK RIDGE HOMELESS (which likely number 6-10 individuals). The PARK RIDGE HOMELESS are then fingerprinted to ensure that none of these
individuals are a danger to us or our children.

3. Every church in PRMA would shelter one homeless person per night. This idea eliminates a large group assembling around a church before and after they are sheltered.

4. The homeless would be sheltered in the rectory or another location in the church, but not in an area used by children.

5. Volunteers (and there are many) would be scheduled to come to each location, actually meet the homeless person, and bring a warm meal. Many volunteers and their families may want to spend time with the guest, have dinner with them, and engage them in meaningful conversation. (Rather than just "supervise" them as PADS volunteers do.) This would be a great way to teach children about how to care for others.

6. An additional volunteer can take the persons clothing home to be washed and returned fresh and clean (something else that is lacking in the current plan.)

7. With this system, the homeless can also spend time with one of our priests and discuss our faith (something that is actually prohibited by PADS policy)

8. Unlike the PADS idea, the homeless would not be forced to share a bathroom with 10-20 other homeless people, or wait in line for a toilet.

9. A comfortable fold out bed can be purchased for the guest to sleep on, in a dignified location, rather than on a hard mat or cot on the floor of a gym.

10. The guest could have access to a shower, a television set, and caring people. The PADS system would require the homeless to wash themselves in a sink in the boys bathroom.

11. In the morning, the guest would have breakfast and leave - showered, wearing clean clothes, and feeling that they just spent time with good Christian people who truly care about them. Their experience would be far more meaningful and dignified than any PADS shelter could offer.

12. Finally, as the guest leaves, he would be told which church to go to that night. That would ensure that only one person shows up at each location. It also ensures that we take care of the Park Ridge homeless, and not people from Chicago and other suburbs.

Additionally, this program addresses the issue 7 days a week. PADS only addresses it for one day. This program spreads the homeless out at numerous churches, rather than a large number at one location.

The exact originator of the idea is unknown to us, but we offer our PRUdos just the same.

Another PRU Twofer!

Narcissus, by Michelangelo Caravaggio, ca. 1598


From the Park Ridge Herald-Advocate:

Clarification

July 7, 2008

The Rev. Carl Morello, pastor of St. Paul of the Cross Catholic Church, said this week that, while he left Park Ridge's July 1 Procedures and Regulations Committee meeting, he did not "storm out" as originally reported.

"I did choose to leave the meeting, after being verbally abused," Morello said, adding that he stayed for more than 30 minutes of public testimony on whether or not a proposed PADS shelter should be required to apply for a special use permit in Park Ridge. His church's parish life center is the second religious location in Park Ridge to have been proposed to host a weekly shelter in the colder months.

Morello said he also was mischaracterized as appearing not to care. "I do care. I have been and am meeting with my parishioners. I'm listening to them." A parish meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. tonight at St. Paul of the Cross's Holy Family Chapel, 320 S. Washington.


From Wikipedia:

Entitlement

Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights, or by agreement through law. It also refers, in a more casual sense to someone's belief that he/she is deserving of some particular reward or benefit. It is often used as a negative term in popular parlance (i.e. a 'sense of entitlement'). The legal term, however, carries no value judgment: it simply denotes a right granted. In clinical psychology and psychiatry, an unrealistic, exaggerated, or rigidly held sense of entitlement may be considered a symptom of Narcissistic Personality Disorder.

Morelleon?

St. Paul's to extend mission with PADS
Herald-Advocate 6/12/08

"Morello said most of the feedback he has received from St. Paul parishioners and parents has been supportive. There have also been opponents, he said, adding, "I will listen to them, but they won't alter my decision to go forward with this."



A dictator is as a dictator does, despite the slick offering of "a continuing spirit of partnership and cooperation" from the PRMA's report in today's newspaper.