Mission trip meets the need

July 24, 2008 06:27 am

— A century ago, Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood was beautiful, full of industrious German-Americans, three-story brick houses and block after block of narrow Victorian storefronts.
Now, much of it is a slum. At any hour of the day or night, Over-the-Rhine can show you homeless men, prostitutes, drug addicts, drunks and plenty of opportunities to get yourself robbed, shot or beaten.
I just got home from a week-long mission trip to inner-city Cincinnati and Covington, Ky., right across the Ohio River. It was an adventure for me and the other 16 members of the Kokomo, Ind., church group I signed on with.
We made sandwiches in a soup kitchen, distributed free lunches, handed out more than 800 frozen pizzas and helped get a rehabbed house ready for a low-income buyer. We weren’t in any danger, but it felt strange, sometimes, to talk with people who had absolutely nothing but the clothes and blankets stuffed into the plastic bags they had slung over their shoulders.
Last summer, I spent a week on an Osage Indian reservation in Oklahoma, painting houses, visiting with old folks, playing with little kids. The Cincinnati trip was better, because the needs seemed so much greater.
Short-term mission trips are offered by the Franciscans for the Poor, an affiliate of the Franciscan Sisters of the Poor, Catholic nuns who have been serving Cincinnati since 1858. It was inspiring to meet some of the sisters, who had spent their entire lives doing what we did.
We stayed in a former convent, where we cooked and ate together. We went to morning Mass before heading out to our work assignments. To better focus on why we were there, our group — which consisted of six adults and 11 high-school kids — went without air-conditioning, television, cell phones, iPods and the Internet.
At the Rose Garden Mission in Covington, Ky., four Franciscan nuns provided free pregnancy tests, used clothing, disposable diapers and other things to young, impoverished women. They had served pregnant girls as young as 13, and a 12-year-old with venereal disease. Typically, they also feed between 300 and 600 families daily.
"We never judge. The poor are no different than us," Sister Seraphina Marie said. "It could be me if the circumstances were different."
One guy had just been released from prison. One woman in her early 30s had 10 children. Many had jobs, but didn’t earn enough to pay the bills.
"I love the sisters," said Betty Dodd, one of the clients. "They’re great people."
Cathy Graham, director of a food pantry on the north side of Cincinnati, said she’s seeing people come in who have never asked for help before in their lives.
"It’s hard on them," she said. "They’re embarrassed and unsure. Some can’t care for their family."
The worst of the hard-luck cases were seen at the Canticle Cafe, right in the middle of Over-the-Rhine. The homeless shelters shove everybody out each morning, so the homeless guys come to the "cafe" for free coffee and day-old donuts.
Some are illiterate, some have mental problems. Others are drug addicts, or alcoholics. Some work a little, while others never do. Most were quiet, but one man never stopped talking.
"The attitude is that all you have to do is go out and get a job," said Brother Mike Murphy, a Catholic missionary who helps run the place. "Those people don’t understand the homeless."
Some of the high school kids in my group were brought to tears at a daycare center filled with the children of unwed mothers. The kids have no men in their lives, so they craved male attention. One little 3-year-old, named Taven, really struck a chord with 14-year-old Marcus Salazar.
"Taven came up, gave me a hug, and said, ‘I want to be your son!’" Marcus recalled. " ... I just gave him a hug back."
‘It was an inspiring week," he said. "Everyone should do this. I look at stuff in a little different way now."
"It was an eye-opener in some ways," said his friend, Robby Dixon, 17. "You think of poverty in Africa, but these are regular people, U.S. citizens, who are just down on their luck. They’re you, your friends, your family. Jesus could be one of them."
Danville native Kevin Cullen is a former Commercial-News reporter. Reach him at irishhiker@aol.com.

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