Work highlights (about 11 minutes) on Youtube.

Volunteers, including some of your favorite teens, talk about the work they did (about 5 minutes) on Youtube.

Denise gathered the volunteers in a circle before the work of the day began.

“May 1 marks the 79th anniversary of Dorothy Day’s great achievement: a movement whose vision of activist faith couldn’t be farther from the moralizing of the religious right that has seemed to define Christianity’s incursion on politics since the 1980s. The Catholic Worker, which Day founded with Peter Maurin, a French immigrant, was — and remains — a philosophy, a social initiative, a way of life. Its understanding of personal responsibility maintains not that we all must rely on ourselves, but rather that we are all beholden to better the lives of the less fortunate. On May 1, 1933, during the height of the Great Depression, Day took to Union Square handing out the first copies of her newspaper, also called The Catholic Worker, which delivered the message of compassion and justice at the cost of one penny; the price has never gone up.”

A few seeds planted on a Saturday: gardening, adult interacation, preparation, digging, playing, weeding.

]]> http://hartfordcatholicworker.org/2012/04/20/saturday-play/feed/ 0 http://hartfordcatholicworker.org/2012/04/14/homefront-work-has-begun/ http://hartfordcatholicworker.org/2012/04/14/homefront-work-has-begun/#comments Sat, 14 Apr 2012 12:16:37 +0000 Matt Friedrichs http://hartfordcatholicworker.org/?p=910 A much bigger group will descend on May 5, but some skilled workers have been preparing the way with carpentry repairs at the Green House.

Ron Jacques and Steve La Flamme  of  Ron Jacques Building and Development worked on the back porch of the Green House, moving a doorway and steps and working on the interior steps to bring them up to code.

Four Season Painters worked on front porch, replacing the deck and support wood underneath that had rotted. Special thanks to Kevin Greer, owner Four Season Painters, Tony Mientek, Hector Alayon and Mike Wrobel.

We can’t thank these volunteers enough for improving high traffic areas of the house.

The start of a new mural board.

Courant video

Courant recap

In this chapter Chris Doucot summarizes some of his observations of the suffering of Iraqi civilians, especially children. Doucot has witnessed the horrors of war first hand, having traveled to Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, and Darfur as a Christian peace activist. He quotes Howard Zinn who said, “Every war is a war against children.” Doucot shares what he learned from children who have been gravely injured in U.S. missile attacks, as well as the parents of these children. He reminds us that “In a democracy, we bear responsibility for the actions of our government.”

“WAR TRAUMA IN VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES: Diagnosis and Management of PTSD, TBI and Comorbidities of Combat Trauma – From Pharmacotherapy to a 12-Step Self-Help Program for Combat Veterans” edited by Jamshid A. Marvasti will be available in April, according to the publisher. Limited information available here.