What’s the big deal with the Alamo? Walking through the “shrine” and museum on Thursday was interesting enough, but I found myself puzzled at the depth of feeling this small site seemed to arouse in the dominant Texas psyche. A handful of men died in a failed attempt to hold the old mission, and…? I [...]
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The Symbols We Use, the Stories We Tell
Symbols are powerful. Stories are powerful. When they are put together, they are formidable. Coming back to San Antonio has been special for me. Having spent much of my childhood here, this city embraces very special memories for me. Revisiting this city I love, however, has opened my eyes to the symbols and stories I [...]
“Who Are We?” Stories of Identity and Imagination in San Antonio
Yesterday, our group got its first glimpse at the lived reality of San Antonio—its beauty and ugliness, its limitless potential for new being wrapped up in the stale taste of racial, gendered, and socioeconomic injustice. Fr. Virgilio Elizondo, author of the foundational Mexican-American theological work, The Galilean Journey (1970), reminded us of the seemingly obvious, [...]
Where we’re going
So to give you a rough outline of our trip, take a look at the map. Through the 5th of January to the 14th, we’ll be traveling by van through the south of Texas, taking note of topography, geography and the communities that inhabit them. We’ll let you know, in our blogs, where we are [...]
The Galilean Journey Today- Meeting with Fr. Virgilio Elizondo
Fr. Virgilio Elizondo opened our day proclaiming that theology “is a critical faith reflection done by the people. Faith is not an abstraction.” It involves questions about a community of individuals concerning truth, goodness, and beauty; alternatively, it also approaches those items that are debilitating a community. In the first full day of our immersion, [...]
Borderland Bloggers
(from January 5 ) Over Christmas break in the mountains of North Carolina, waiting in the car for my mom to come out of the post office, a headline of a newspaper in one of those sidewalk newspaper boxes caught my eye: “Shogun Raid: 12 Deported.” If you know me, you know that “raid” and [...]
Same Sex Marriage–It’s Good For You…Who Knew?
In the 12 months following the 2003 legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, gay and bisexual men had a significant decrease in medical care visits, mental healthcare visits, and mental healthcare costs, compared with the 12 months before the law change. This amounted to a 13% reduction in healthcare visits and a 14% reduction in healthcare costs. These health effects were similar for partnered and single gay men.
Chaplaincy and the Movement to End Poverty
Below are two pieces by Poverty Initiative leaders discussing the different contexts in which they have served as chaplains and how this work is connected to the broader movement to end Poverty. The first is a reflection by Jennifer Wilder about her work with the Union protest chaplains who have been serving in Zuccotti (Liberty) [...]
Poverty Initiative Visits Harriet “Moses” Tubman’s Home and Final Resting Place in Auborn, NY
“Children, if you are tired, keep going; if you are scared, keep going; if you are hungry, keep going; if you want to taste freedom, keep going” – Harriet Ross Tubman On the south edge of Auburn, NY, at 180 South Street, there’s a plot of land with a small, two-story wood-frame farm house, a [...]
Traci West and Her Students From Drew Take the Poverty Initiative Wall Street Tour
Last week Professor Traci West (’94) brought over 35 students from her Christian Ethics course at Drew Theological School on the Poverty Initiative Wall Street tour. Below is Professor West’s reflection from the trip. “Does the economy serve human beings? Or, do human beings serve the economy?” John Wessel-McCoy asked our Christian Ethics class as we walked [...]