Fall 2010

THE WAR AT HOME

By Steve Jacobs
Our largest neighbor is Columbia College. Our guests enjoy watching their soccer team compete directly across the
street from our house. But before Memorial Day they announced a military sky diving team would land on the field during a
ceremony to honor a $100,000 donation for services to returning war vets. A stage and bleachers went up right across the street
and standing on the city sidewalk with signs would make us a silent but powerful backdrop to their ceremony with the sidewalk
higher than the stage platform. Don't get me wrong; I'm not opposed to educating vets; especially if they learn how politicians
manipulate them to kill other people they've never met and occupy their countries.
Memorial Day events have almost entirely been turned over to military ceremonies despite the fact that many more
civilians than combatants have died in every war since WWI. You only need to watch the Wikileaks video of US pilots hovering
over Baghdad to learn how easy it is for soldiers to dehumanize and kill civilians. At one point US pilots are (continued on p. 2)

Members of the St. Francis Community (standing on top of the CW van) and other members of the Columbia peace community
from left, Mark Haim, Ruth Schaeffer and Jeff Stack) stand vigil with Catholic Workers outside during a ceremony at Columbia
College announcing a donation of $100,000 for services and scholarships for war veterans.
 (cont. from p. 1) heard laughing at the casualties and when
someone mentions that kids are among the casualties - one
says, "That's what you get for bringing your family to a battle
zone". Please see for yourself at www.Wikileaks.org
After a short Navy career caring for combat
casualties, I rejected violence as a way to solve problems
and embraced the non-violence of Jesus. I am no longer
loyal to nationalism. For as St. Cyprian said, "Murder,
considered a crime when people commit it singly, is
transformed into a virtue when done en masse". My
understanding of Christianity evolved to believe as Stanley
Hauerwas explained: "Since Christians are a people who
worship a person who died at the hands of the state,
Christianity's relationship to the state is at the heart of what
Catholic ethics is about. . . Christians are not allowed to give
their ultimate loyalties to the state."
At first, the police wouldn't let us use the public
sidewalk; a violation of our constitutional rights to freely
assemble and address grievances. So, I parked our van on
the street next to the sidewalk and Robby Jones and I stood
on top which made us more visible to the crowd below. We
agreed that we'd be silent and not disrupt their ceremony but
by wearing orange jump suits and bags over our heads like
Iraqi prisoners tortured at Abu Graib we were a silent
reminder of the brutality of war. Some of our signs said, "We
love you, but we hate the war" and another said, "Save a
soldier's life - bring them home" and "Who Would Jesus
Bomb?"
Eventually, they reluctantly agreed to let us
peaceably assemble. Several activists picketed next to us.
We know our actions are controversial but we are supporters
of a conflicting narrative about where our security lies. Does
it come from military power or establishing relationships with
those we'd otherwise call enemies? Jesus taught the later.
And it was soldiers very much like our own, who were just
following orders when they killed Him. Good soldiers don't
look for political justifications. They just carry out orders and
let someone else grapple with the moral decision about
killing, but by then it's too late. Soldiers do not expect
understanding when they return. They crave forgiveness for
violating their own and societies moral code of treating
others the way you want to be treated. Many will be haunted
by guilt and end up homeless like so many vets who've
stayed at St. Francis House.
I could have ignored the warriors dropped from the
sky over my home onto the field next door or sent off a
withering letter to the editor, but as Donna Mulhearn (Pine
Gap 4 Ploughshares activist) explained: "If writing a letter to
the editor is a reasonable response to images of children
ripped apart, to the smell of human flesh, to the mourning
cries of mothers in the marketplace, then we have all failed".
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To ignore the brutality and crushing humiliation of people our
soldiers tortured or casually obliterated by remote control
drones, makes us silently complicit in war crimes committed
in our name.
And because military service is such a sacred cow,
it takes love, courage and wisdom to put a competing
narrative next to the military one. Ammon Hennacy, the
legendary Catholic Worker activist said; "Love without
courage and wisdom is sentimentality as with the ordinary
church member. Courage without love and wisdom is
foolhardiness, as with the ordinary soldier. Wisdom without
love and courage is cowardice, as with the ordinary
intellectual. The one who has love, courage & wisdom is one
in a million, who moves the world, as with Jesus, Buddha &
Gandhi.”
Activating a Conscience
By Robby Jones
“Speaking truth to power” was something I never
heard of growing up. My parents weren’t hippies, my friends
weren’t activists, and my general understanding of the
government was that of a big brother—not even in the
Orwellian sense—more just a relationship of distant, yet
comforting, protection. In high school history class, we
studied and admired Susan B. Anthony, Ghandi, and Martin
Luther King Jr. for such courage and dedication at personal
cost. But all that suffrage and civil rights stuff seemed ages
ago, and I couldn’t have imagined the need for civil
disobedience in a modern day context.
Fast forward five or six years. I’m about to climb on
top of our soup kitchen van in an orange Guantanamo Bay
jumpsuit, pillow case covering my head, and holding a sign
saying “Stop the Killing”—across the field, a military
appreciation ceremony just beginning. It was a long
program, complete with paratroopers jumping out of planes
and landing on the main stage. But with my pillowcase
obscuring any view to distract me, I had a lot of time to
ponder things—like “How on earth did I get here?” for
instance. It was an out of body experience, standing on that
van, realizing for the very first time: I have become the worst
enemy of my former self.
Let me back up for a minute and explain a little. I
grew up in a small and painfully polite town, timid but
thoughtful, inquisitive yet afraid of questioning. The military
actively recruited in our school cafeteria, setting up tables
with flashy videos and stickers, romantic brochures about
seeing the world. Naturally, I fell for it. I wanted to rappel
down walls and disarm bombs and everything else they
showed in those videos that presumably never actually
happens. The World Trade Center buildings had fallen my
freshman year, and I was filled with anger and indignation
(cont on p. 3)
(cont. from p. 2)
and a patriotic sense of duty. I understood that something
bad had happened to America but wasn’t mature enough to
separate in my mind a radical sect from an entire people
group. The recruiters, sensing this vulnerability, marked me
in their own figurative crosshairs, calling weekly and asking
me to come meet them in their office to discuss my
opportunities in the army. The last time they called, my
mom beat me to the phone—she told them that no son of
hers was going into the army and suggested they never call
back again. I may very well owe my conscience, even my
life, to her. And standing on that van, holding my sign, I
realized the soldier on the stage, receiving an award for his
military service—could have very well been me.
Recognizing how easy it is to become entrapped in this
cycle of violence, I found myself compelled to speak out
more.
Steve and I went to the annual Columbia Military Air
Show a few weeks later. As people milled around and
admired these weapons of mass destruction, I stood next to
them holding signs reminding that such machines kill
women, children, and citizen non-combatants. Yes, I was
raining on their parade (and trust me, people did not hide
their feelings about my being there) but this was a show
glorifying planes that were raining bombs on distant villages.
Those two days at the air show, I had some of the most
terrible things said to me. But recalling my own parallel past,
instead of hurt or anger, I just felt sorry that these people,
grown adults, were incapable of cross-cultural empathy.
What truly struck me those two days was the peace I felt in
the presence of such vocal opposition. Here I was, stepping
on toes right and left, offending people, getting cussed,
booed, even physically threatened—but knowing I was
exactly where I was supposed to be. I had finally come to
understand what it meant to be powerless, but not
submissive. I finally understood the need for direct action, for
civil disobedience, for questioning. This truth, after all, has
to be spoken not just to power, but also the powerless.
That’s you and me and everyone we know—and while
matters of war may always remain in the hands of the elite
and corrupt, we have a choice to be complacent and
patriotically passive, or to resist through peaceful and
deliberate action.
This realization led to my arrest last month. And when I
read that last sentence, I chuckle a bit. The idea that people
like me are dangerous enough to society that we oughta be
locked away—c’mon, that’s kind of funny. Surrounding the
bulldozers at the upcoming nuclear weapons plant in Kansas
City, we halted construction and refused to leave upon
police orders, citing not only the United Nations Non-
3
Proliferation Treaty, but also the seditious call of Jesus to
love our enemies instead of nuking them.
The sad and disturbing reality is that we live in a nation
where you can still end up in jail for doing the right thing.
Our government is not only protecting, but actively funding a
facility for weapons that, if used, will kill men, women, and
children indiscriminately from enemy combatants. Through
such inexcusable misallocation of funds, the sick, denied
healthcare, grow sicker and the poor, denied social
programs, grow poorer. I refuse to calibrate my moral
compass with that of a government which uses violence to
solve its problems, imprisonment to silence opposition.
Robby, center, displays a banner at the nuclear weapons
plant protest.
And so we choose to take up the side of the poor instead of
the rich, the oppressed instead of the oppressor, the
powerless instead of the powerful. Using this more
subversive moral compass instead, I’m convinced we might
be led closer to the heart of God.
But very few people enjoy questioning their own moral-
ethical standards, myself included, because doing so often
illuminates that uncomfortable tension between the way we
live and the way we oughta live—between what is easy and
what is right. “What will people think?” we ask ourselves,
concerned with losing friends, losing future job opportunities,
losing respect. And yet, the words of Jesus resound with
even stronger significance. That he who wants to be first
must become last. That he who loses his life will find it. That
we must love our enemies. I suspect this radical change of
heart might only come when we stop asking ourselves what
we have to lose, and start asking what others around us,
around the world, have to lose instead.
.
ST FRANCIS HOUSE OPENS NEW ADDITION TO
RAVE REVIEWS
The day we have all been waiting for is finally here:
the St. Francis House addition is open and doing the
business of hospitality. We practically drag everyone who
comes to the house through the addition and if the reviews
are right: we did it and it looks good. We have added two
bedrooms for guests, bedrooms for two more Catholic
Workers, a pantry, a full bath on the main floor and an
additional half bath upstairs.

Carpet Ron and Red Dog laid porcelain tile throughout the
addition.

With two new rooms for Catholic Workers to live in,

Here’s the exterior of the new addition, as viewed from
Wilkes Blvd in early spring.
Robby and Jake will not have to fight over who has to sleep
in the “rain bed.”
Our two new guest rooms will allow us to house up to 12
guests on the second floor in less crowded conditions than
experienced by the six who squeezed into one bedroom
before. Add that to our couches and other special spots
and we have increased our “hospitality capacity” by up to six
homeless men per night.

Thanks to the generous bequest by Fr. Vince

Linnebur, Bill and Linda Spollen and so many others who
contributed time, treasure and talent, we can occupy our
entire house. We especially want to thank Russ Unger and
the EBEW workers, Hulett Heating and Air Conditioning,
Melvin’s Plumbing, Ford Restaurant Supply, Greg Schrock
and the electrical workers union, Carpet Ron and Red Dog
and many others for their labor on this project.
Long time volunteer and friend of St. Francis
House, Kim Dillon, gushed with enthusiasm when asked
about the renovations. She said, “I'm excited that the
addition will allow the community to serve more guests.”
Part time community member, Steve Barrett,
One of our new guest rooms.
currently working in Guatemala, had an even more
enthusiastic response, but because it was “pure Stevie” we
can’t print it here. Adding another full bath is a great asset at shower
Maureen Doyle, former live-in Catholic Worker and time, and provides needed back up in case of, well, a back
part of our extended community, enthused about the up in one of the older models.
property but added, "Thank God it’s done at last.” We all The new half bath also comes in handy. We are so
pretty much feel the same way. excited to have this addition open and ready for hospitality
that we just had to share these pictures with you.

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 Dorothy Day said, “It is easier to have faith that
God will support each House of Hospitality and supply our
needs in the way of food and money to pay bills, than it is to
keep a strong, hearty, living faith in each individual around
us - to see Christ in him.”
We see the face of Christ in all who walk through
our door, and now, thanks to the generosity of so many, we
have even more doors through which Christ may walk.
Rejoice with us. You’re welcome anytime.
New full bath on the main floor is accessible to people who
cannot climb the stairs to go to the upstairs or basement
bathrooms.
We all love the spiffy new pantry with our own commercial
refrigerator.
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Meeting Jake
By Jake Garanzini
It wasn’t long after I started volunteering at St.
Francis last winter that I wanted to participate in a more
substantial way and by becoming a community member I
feel that I am able to commit myself more fully to helping our
guests.
In many of the classes I have recently taken and in
the news, social and global problems are identified and
discussed but not resolved. Rarely are possible steps to
solving a problem even discussed. But by living and
volunteering at St. Francis I feel that I am helping to move
many important issues in the direction I feel that they should.
One of the things high on this list is simply a
concern for others and along with this a willingness to
sacrifice a little to help someone else without expecting
something in return. I feel that I am able to do this at least a
few times a week here at St. Francis.
In addition to living and volunteering at St. Francis
as a community member I am an undergraduate history
student at Mizzou. If all goes well I will graduate in two years
and I plan on staying at St. Francis at least until then.
In Memoriam
Please pray for those friends and supporters who have died,
including Emma Tribble, mother of Andy and Mary Tribble,
Reba Lewis, and Sister Mary Jane Fladung, OSB, formerly
of Our Lady of Peace Monastery .
Can You Give us a Van, Man (or Ma’am)?
The history of transportation can be read in the
vehicles we own in trust. We have two early ‘90’s vintage
vehicles, a sedan, nicknamed “the Rattler”, and a van, both
of which seem to be constantly in need of mechanical
attention. If you would like to donate a gently used, more
fuel efficient vehicle that would enable us to retire one of
these and spend less on car repair and fuel, please call
Steve at 875-4913, Ruth at 443-1927, or Missy at 239-3960.
Connected, Committed Catholic Workers,
Now Online
Can’t get enough Harvest of Justice? Wanna revisit
those old stories, but you’ve recycled the old issues? Just
curious about some other stuff we do at the St. Francis
Catholic Worker? You can check us out on the web at
http://columbiacatholicworker.blogspot.com.
Even more amazing: you can follow St. Francis House on
Facebook. But don’t tell the Luddites.
(You can also read Ruth’s social justice blog at
http://workplaythink.blogspot.com.)
 Next Steps
By Ruth O’Neill
As we celebrate completing the addition to St.
Francis House, I realize that my connection to this Catholic
Worker community is 10 years old. Things have changed so
much. The other night, Fr. Mike Quinn came down from
Hannibal to visit us. Fr. Mike was one of the original trustees
when the community acquired St. Francis House, and we
have treasured his friendship and spiritual guidance over the
years. As we gathered to hear Fr. Mike say Mass in the
living room on a Thursday night, I looked around and saw
old friends and new coming together in a statement of faith.
Ten years ago, my connection to the St. Francis
Catholic Worker was tenuous. I had been to the house a
couple times. I spent time with a guest in the final stages of
Alzheimer’s. Ray came to the community after wrecking his
motorcycle, when hospital staffers realized that he needed
something and someone to take care of him. He had lived the
life of a cowboy, wandering the country, and losing contact
with his family. When I met Ray, he had developed the habit
of wandering off and getting lost, so the community set up a 24
hour “Ray watch” to keep an eye on him.
Ray and I went for walks, or drives, or just sat on
the front porch. Ray would point out all the cute little dogs
that passed by. I needed his help on this dog watch
because most of the dogs were visible only to him, in the
street, in the school yard, even up in the clouds. But every
dog he saw brought him joy. When Ray died, I attended my
first St. Francis House funeral.
Hanging out with Ray led to hanging out with
William and the rest of the St. Francis gang, and soon I was
volunteering by “taking the house” a couple nights a month.
That was during a time of transition; Steve Jacobs was in jail
for his witness at the SOA and other community members
decided to leave the community, so they needed some extra
hands. One thing led to another, and one day I realized I
was not just volunteering at the Catholic Worker house, I
actually was a Catholic Worker. No one was more surprised
than I was.
That was then, this is now, or so the book title
goes. We’ve been through many transitions since then.
Community members have come and gone. So many
guests have passed through our homes. Some return to the
street, unable or unwilling to live within our loosely structured
boundaries. Others move on and we lose touch with them.
Some are still here, the threads that hold together the fabric
of our history.
Occasionally we get a donation of cash, food or
clothing from someone who stayed with us back when they
were going through a hard time and now they want to give
back. These folks are part of our extended community and
we treasure their friendship. Some of the craftspeople who
have worked on our house used to be our guests. Often
they turn out to have valuable skills. Sometimes former
guests will turn up just when we need their particular skills,
and we are happy to provide an opportunity for them to give
us something tangible. We remain thankful for their desire to
be a part of our work. Of course, we receive so much by
their presence in our lives, that these gestures are merely
bonus blessings.
Missy and Steve Jacobs hold the early memories
for us. They know the stories of the beginning. They knew
and loved Lois Bryant and the old wanderers who knew how
to deal with donations of live chickens or dress out a deer.
They keep us close to our roots as we travel through the
years. Dahne and Jerry provide the face of hospitality every
day. Rachael shows us the importance of raising the next
generation. Steve Barrett reminds us that we need to
recognize and resist our own power and privilege.
Like many Catholic Worker communities, we
welcome fresh faces. This year, were blessed with the
addition of Robby and Jake to our community. Now that they
have moved in to St. Francis House, they are eagerly taking
part in the work of day to day hospitality, and growing in
matters of faith and resistance. We will rely on their
presence and energy as we expand our overnight hospitality
ministry and we are happy to report we have not yet sent
them running for the hills.
What are our next steps? Hopefully whatever steps
we take will be in answer to God’s call to faithfulness in the
Gospel: the Gospel of justice, hospitality and peace that
brought us all to the Catholic Worker in the first place.

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 What I Did On Summer Vacation
By Steve Jacobs
I was arrested three times this summer at three
nuclear weapons production sites. Some of our more
legalistic readers might say I was on a crime spree. But
there's a difference between what is right and what is legal
and the Catholic bishops seem to back me up; that building
more nuclear weapons is immoral.
June 18th I blocked the entrance to the Kansas City
nuclear weapons plant. July 5th I blocked the entrance to
the Oak Ridge Nuclear Weapons plant, and on August 16th,
14 of us blocked bulldozers and stopped construction of the
new K.C. nuclear weapons plant.
Despite Obama's agreement with the Russians to
cut our nuke stockpiles, we are building more while the
country goes broke. On September 8th, 8 folks were
arrested again at the K.C. construction site where politicians
were bussed in for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate
all the new jobs building weapons of mass destruction. A few
days before, Bishop Robert Finn of the K.C./St. Joseph
diocese issued a statement, warning city leaders of "a grave
moral danger" in building the new nuclear weapons plant.
Steve(3rd from left) and Robby (center) were among 14
Catholic Workers arrested in August at the site of the future
nuclear weapons plant in Kansas City.
"The accumulation of weapons of mass destruction
- which this nuclear plant proposes to construct - constitutes
a grave moral danger. Nuclear weapons are by their very
nature weapons of mass destruction: their force and impact
cannot be contained, and their use affects combatants and
non-combatants alike. The Catechism of the Catholic
Church states, "Every act of war directed to the
indiscriminate destruction of whole cities or vast areas with
their inhabitants is a crime against God and humanity, which
merits firm and unequivocal condemnation. A danger of
modern warfare is that it provides the opportunity to those
7
who possess modern scientific weapons - especially atomic,
biological, or chemical weapons - to use them". Since the
use of such weapons is morally questionable, it follows that
the production of such weapons is also morally
questionable."
Terry Dunn, the CEO of Dunn Construction Group,
who serves on several diocesan development councils and
gives to Catholic charities was asked about the Bishop’s
statement. He told the reporter that, while the Bishop's
statement may reflect the bishop's vision and hope for the
future, it does not reflect current reality. "With dozens of
countries who are armed with nuclear weapons, including
rogue nations...we believe this [plant] is an appropriate
deterrent to allow us to hopefully live in peace". Essentially,
he dismissed church teachings as irrelevant and impractical.
When we blocked Mr. Dunn's construction workers he came
to us and asked us to stop impeding his work. I said to him,
"You've probably made some good buildings in your career
that you can be proud of and that have benefited others and
nurtured life, but if you end up building this weapons plant
you'll be helping to unleash weapons of mass destruction
that can destroy God's creation and innocent life and your
own soul." He ignored that comment.
Mr. Dunn's statements are probably held by a
majority of US Catholics who have been far more
successfully indoctrinated by the 'high priests' at the
Pentagon than by our own Catholic bishops and priests, who
rarely make a peep to contradict the generals and politicians
who drive the military/industrial complex. Most of our
bishops and clergy cower like church mice before the altar of
'national security'. That's why Bishop Finn's statement is so
rare and needs to be held up and explained from the pulpits
of every US church. If the majority of US Catholics feel
church teachings are irrelevant, it is because of the grave
failure of our clergy to teach the non-violent message of
Jesus, which is a moral ethic inconsistent with weapons that
kill far more innocent that combatants and poison even more
for years after they are used. Psalm 33 reminds us; "Rulers
are not saved by their armies. Nor can they find hope in their
weapons. Despite their power, they cannot bring peace."
House Needs
Coffee, sugar, tea bags, flour, fresh/canned fruits and
vegetables, towels, pillows, toothbrushes, toothpaste, men’s
underwear (sizes S-M-L-XL), men’s socks, gloves, razors,
deodorant, hand lotion, cough drops, combs, bandages,
travel sized soaps and shampoos, cleaning supplies, cash
donations and, as always, your prayers.
 Hamburg Germany Catholic Workers Visit St. Francis House
By Steve Jacobs

Our German Catholic Worker cousins from Hamburg came to visit us for a couple weeks this July. Birke Kleinwachter and
her son Jonas (14) and daughter Lea (7) live at the Bread and Roses Catholic Worker community and work with undocumented
immigrants.
They were delightful and helped
us organize our kitchen and pantry. We
showed them around Columbia and
visited Starkenburg and Hermann, MO
too. They got to see Hannibal and Kansas
City, St. Louis and Brian and Betsy Terrell
at Strangers and Guests CW in Maloy,
Iowa.
It was delightful having kids in
the house again. They got along great
with our homeless guests. We introduced
them to our work and several evenings
watching the Simpsons on TV. We hope
they send more of our European CW
cousins to visit.

From left, Birke, Jonas and Lea explore

Midwestern life in the U.S.A.

St. Francis Catholic Worker

1001 Rangeline
Columbia, MO 65201