The Church, since it’s inception, has been at the forefront of helping those in need in societies around the world.  Providing food, shelter, handouts AND hands up with training for meaningful work; agricultural and water reclamation projects.  The list is long and the need, as evidenced from Calcutta to Compton, is endless.

And in its infancy, Church leaders had everyone put everything into a common pot and dispensed it as necessary to those who needed.  Now, we all know that Marxist socialism is a failed philosophy; even in early Anno Domini, the deacons got complaints about not taking care of the Hellenist widows.  We became too big to hail all the needs.

But that Albanian woman, St. Teresa made that Indian city famous because of her compassion not excuses.  And the wise among us know that excuses are like as err noses: most everyone has one!

 

In Orange County, 27 percent of children under age 6 live below California poverty line.

Just two miles away from Christ Cathedral, two kids and two adults died in their van in the same city.  Carbon monoxide poisoning trying to hide, because mom and dad, can scavengers by day, were afraid their kids would be taken away.  Homelessness, I hear, is not a crime like homeschooling; but 31 acres of faith in the middle of the OC and not one pop up tent or TuffShed to “shelter the homeless” on site.  I hear ‘shelter the homeless’ Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, like those two stone tablets are not popular these days on campuses named for the Savior.

Personally, I only have 11 kids, so i understand the realities of helping high concentrations of humanity, but I know that if a quarter of the OC have impoverished six year olds, we gotta do something now.  Here’s a solid suggestion:

Christ Cathedral was a Gift AND a bargain.  Time to give a little of it back to God

I was there on a November Thursday, when Bishop Brown and us Catholics spent $57 million, a bargain, for 31 acres of prime Orange County real estate.  A number of buildings on it, including a state of the art 10,600 window paned ‘glass house’.   Soon to be transformed into a grand cathedral.

Today, it is the center of religious life for a great diocese, international ministries and known as Christ Cathedral.

I’m sure we could carve less than an acre from that beautiful campus to do some direct help for the homeless; we’ve discovered the streets of San Francisco, LA, Oakland and other sanctuary cities can’t handle them very well…the street dwellers lack basic sanitation skills and discipline in these Democrat left leaning majority cities.

Locally, Judge Carter just helped empty out the Saint Anne Riverbed by moving many Kings and Queens of the Road ie transients to motels, before the skip loaders came through to remove 44 tons of trash, 2.5 tons of feces and other human waste, 15,000 needles among other things not consistent with flood control work.  But perfect for serving the needs of the truly “needy” and qualified wants of the truly “wanty”.  Adults need to step in when adults lack the ability to live in a civil land, like the truly mentally ill, temporary jobless or chronic adherence to the “streets lifestyle” away from the “normies”.

Can’t help sanctuary St Francis much: to reconnoiter San Fran, there are maps for where the tourists should NOT go, such as enclaves of used needles outside IT startups.  But the OC? We are blessed and we can do more and be a model for the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.  Good Christian service is infectious.  In a good way.

For example, on the CC campus, there’s a large grassy knoll just west of the Welcoming Center and south of the former Family Life center.

On it, a certain number of 10 x 10 foot popups could be anchored, orderly, of course, with cots and possibly privacy wrap around tarps from Harbor Freight.

Each would cost a mere $100 and make great temporary shelter for the needy who continue to come, like a modern Exodus, to the sunny clime and generous services of the OC.

As to feeding the brood, Bruno Serato has perfected the art of inexpensive pasta based meals; the Cathedral kitchen is adjacent to the grassy area and has proven able to feed 2000-3000, so he could train different kitchen krews (like Cursillo or Search retreat programs) to do bed & breakfast style feeding of the homeless.

This would combat the societal comment that if you feed them, they will come…to parks and other gathering spots.  Which is true! You can control the process at Christ Cathedral. The more ‘free’ without accountability one dispenses, the more show up for more of that “free”.  With 11 kids, I have worked for 50 years; not looking for a ‘participation ribbon’ or an Oscar (like the one planned parenthood was honored with).  Just the freedom to strive to work smarter, harder and longer.

This last determination to take care of oneself and family is in danger with the encroachment of leaky thinking, misconception of free market vs socialism, and bsic human nature to do as little as one has to, to get along.  Here’s where 1on1 mentors help.

After bed and breakfast, since it is a good character quality to work,  send them on their way to training programs or gainful work elsewhere in the county, in conjunction with Catholic Charities, CRS, city programs, jobs training, Dress4Success for the job interviews ministries, et al.  A rolling stone gathers no moss, it is said.  And OC has that rolling RV which could help.

Here’s where the nuns with their rulers are needed.  As they leave their popups, the participants could move their cots to a convenient location so the grass could be watered; of course, no littering would be a price of admittance, since homeless are humans in need, not animals.  Like good Boy Scouts, they would be responsible for policing their area, leaving the ‘campgrounds’ cleaner than when arrival occurred.

Another, second alternative structure is one i am familiar with and Judge Carter touted: TuffSheds.  Their standard size of 120 sf could be quantity purchased and erected (they include construction on aluminum platforms) for about $2200-$2500 per structure.

The homeless could be retrained regarding basic sanitary procedures; make them feel a part of the greater community again, what many on the river and the road, call the “normies.”  But, it’s the “normies” which can help them IF THEY desire to be helped.

Good news: the TuffSheds are semi-permanent but portable, in that they can be forklifted to other places when we end or reduce the ObamaVille homeless crises.

They could be set up on the asphalt in small TuffLove Tuffshed groupings; equipped with solar for a night light.  Bedtime would be 10pm so that everyone could start the next day off fresh looking for work, get training, or off to work.

And the TuffSheds could provide reasonable though austere accommodation for mothers and children, or small families and apportioned appropriately.

As a real estate professional, i am aware there are state laws on the books since Jan 2017 calling for local planning departments to fast track approvals for housing alternatives; housing crises and the homeless are real in California and the Church could be the shining beacon on the hill to get other churches and cities to do what they can.

The difficulty with homelessness, is the cloning: word gets out and more flock to get here. Also, our culture no longer ‘shames’  But, when you hold people accountable, you protect their dignity like the ancient “They’ll know we are Christian” song of yesterday, and honor their pride as a precious child of God.  Children learn to thrive on mentored discipline; the homeless can be retrained as well.

I’d recommend grandmothers be in charge, who have heard every excuse in the book; there are various categories of homeless that must be serviced, from the truly needy, the lazy, the “I love the streets”, the employable, the unemployable and the mentally ill.  This would be up to the committee on the campus to draw up guidelines.

A third type of structure are those 10x 20 or 10×40 foot storage containers.  Once emptied, they don’t go back to China but are sold off.  Another alternative to consider.

Good news: we have the architects already on site; they could make this an extraordinary witness and life experience (in their own words) for both the well to do and poor.  

Architects share their vision and experience on the transformation of Christ Cathedral, claiming it has been “ …an extraordinary life experience.”  Is there room for the least and the lost on a small part of the 31 acres?

We could call it the Orange Country Catholic Homeless Relief Services or OCCHRS; we have Catholic Charities, administered by an excellent Orange mayor Tita Smith and other entities.  There are many people who could be mentors and womentors out there to line up with each homeless hobo, transient or lifestyle choice; the mentally ill could be treated locally (UCI is a block away and the megaMedical St Joseph is a mile away in Orange.

Unless someone is held accountable, the easiest route is taken.   Sorry to my leftist friends, but wealth and profit are NOT evil

Is there precedence?  Yes, in the middle ages, magnificent Cathedrals rose in Europe and became the local hub and often provided shelter for the needy.  Holydays were synonymous with Holidays; people celebrated together.

Today, too many of these magnificent edifices are now museums or wedding chapels, but Christ Cathedral has a decision to make:  do we want to preach Christian service?  Or engage in it.

The biggest drawback?  Mr. Not In My BackYard (NIMBY).

It is easier to put a check in the mail to some far off relief service.  And Mr. NIMBY shouts: “homeless people are dirty, messy, leave trash around, poop where they shouldn’t, tinkle on fireplugs more than dogs, complain, smell.”

Sounds like any of my eleven kids after birth.

Mr. NIMBY continues: “but we’d have to look at them whenever we darken our new multimillion$ facelifted cathedral.  They’s be, like, right by us?”

One might ask: “Ever hear of Jesus asking us to feed, clothe and water the needy?  Something like ‘when you do it for the least of My brothers and sisters, you do it for Me?”   Ministry and opportunity can be messy but life affirming, with eternal rewards.  Jesus, our Mentor, got his hands dirty; so should we do the same?

Of course, we still need to help the world.  It is INCUMBENT that we help locally while feeding globally. Put our feet where our mouths are.

If our faith-filled rich donors and intelligenciated Catholics are offended by the unwashed, we could solve both problems.  Erect 12 foot barriers so that the unwashed homeless aren’t forced to look at the showered and adorned washed.  Though of course, we have the kitchens, bathroom facilities and showers nearby to accomplish.

The biggest problem with how to handle the homeless, is we must hold them accountable for being humans.  They need to follow rules and abide by common sense edicts; after all, hobos and non hobos alike have to live up to certain precepts.  Some love chaos; look no further than the Harveywood Fwy snowflakes on 11-9-16 for proof.

Sadly, this is just one first step to turning the homeless into individuals, and considering them more than throwaways and property.

If only we could do the same to turn our children into humans, who are allowed to come into the world and not be hacked up into bit parts, as if they were on Cecile Richards’ Oscar winning red carpet.

60 million dead Americans and 2 billion wideworlders later, we still have a bit to go to relabel human babies as…human.  St Teresa spoke often about this problem.  But if you cater to helplessness at THEIR level, ie believe they are always going to be 2 year olds that poop, tinkle and need 40 more years of free food, you will never fix the problem.  Yes, society’s devolution to making hobohood socially acceptable as a ‘lifestyle’ helps no one.  Time for the Church to step up and leave the climate change fraud to the prostiticians.

My only request is three.

Let’s build the wall, to help Mexico become an adult country again; after 30 million human resource applicants sent northward, the moms and younger children (dads and older sons gone) have been actively recruited by local bangers and the cartels for far too long.  This never seems to be mentioned in the Democrat voter adder projects, who excel in killing off future voters in the womb and want replacements from below the Rio Grande.  Nor Mr Bracamontes and his friends, who said he wished he could have killed a few more F%$% cops.  Great guy to invite to the quinceanera celebration.  Trust me on this: Mexico is NOT exporting its best to their northern trading partner all the time.

Don’t know about you but I’m tired of 13 MS-13 boys stabbing some poor Virginia shlub 50 times, billions in opioids, heroin, pot etc as well as cop killers crossing the border.

We large family dads tend to want our kids to be able to survive criminal aliens, like Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez who killed a perfectly good 31 year old citizen daughter on his 6th return to the USA.

And please spare me that socialist signage on Lady Liberty; America is the most generous country on earth but if we let more of these sleeper jihadists in with dirty nukes and bioterror tools, there won’t be much of California, let alone the other 49 states to be overrun by the world, with.

#2, lets learn science again.  This Algorean heresy is out of control.  God takes the maligned controlled substance, mixes it with water and sunlight and He FEEDS the WORLD.  He calls it photosynthesis.  We puny humans call CO2 ‘pollution’, because the leftists tell us so… despite the fact man made carbon dioxide is 12 molecules per ONE MILLION other air molecules.  12/1,000,000.  Everyone, other than the environmental justice faith committees, know this is a fraud perpetrated to foster Marxist productive control policies.  In fact, it naturally occurs at 1 CO2 molecule per 2500 air ones, with NO average global temp increase for decades, five times as many polar bears, no islands disappearing and the Antarctic gross ice mass increasing each year to year when measured in the same season of winter OR summer.  Apples for apples.  Also, we need to help the homeless by preparing for the coming Maunder Minimum, in which solar activity will drop as we move into the 2020s.  Ask any solar physicist like Dr Valentina.

BTW, unequal Wealth and profit are NOT evil.  Someone working 80 hours a week to build a business, feed his family deserves unequal wealth, while the gamer working 2 hours a week living in grandma’s basement complains about the Man, corporations and unfair distribution of other people’s money.  Wealth helps families help the Church renovate Cathedrals; it also helps those in need survive.  What Mr. and Mrs. Gates do with their billions is their dilemma; not yours or mine, though i do wish the billionaires, like Zuckerbergs’ for example, didn’t fund evil so blatantly.  Mark and Priscilla’s  $966 million donation to the most evil empire in human history, planned parenthood

Maybe you have, but I have never gotten a job from a poor person but happy to help feed the truly needy after my children are fed, clothed and sheltered.  I agree that we are in this together and need each other.  But, when the plane loses pressure, you put the oxygen mask on yourself before you attach the hanging masks on your children.  Same with life.

The billions wasted on grant guzzling climate change ambassadors’ cocktail gatherings is evil; it is better spent on direct means to increase agricultural progress, water reclamation and other ways of helping 3rd worlders: not baying at the sun, the ultimate source of heat and light for the earth.  We insult God saying He can’t control His own weather.

And, #3, end the use of assault knives penetrating the uterine border walls of mothers for baby organs.  Parts sold separately, of course.  satan has had its run for a long enough time.  We could convert that planned parenthoodlum property on Tustin @ 22fwy to a homeless processing center.

With soooo many offices and ministries on campus, somehow we should be able to squeeze in a little direct help.

 

Comments, N-E-1?

Do we have room for the needy in a small portion of the 31 acre gift, provided to a religious entity, not an Orange college, via BK court at the urging of those two converted Catholics now in heaven, Mr and Mrs Schuller?

Or is that Mr NIMBY’s last word.

An acre is 43,560 sq feet; imagine if one measly acre of the beautiful Christ Cathedral is temp home to 400 or ?; that’s 430 sf of the world per needy (not the wanties; they need to get back to work) person.

Depends on how big is your vision for the Church of the OC.  And how big is our heart.

Like the lady said, “The world is full of good people. If you can’t find one, be one”.  But, what does she know?  Calcutta still has at least one poor person.  But Christ Cathedral has the opportunity NOT to do it like LA with tent cities on every street corner; we can limit it to an acre, with proper sanitation facilities nearby, to get the homeless back INTO the civilization, instead of them being a separate country within a country.  Of course, we need to weed out the wanties and nourish the needy; for that you need a seasoned mom or nun with a ruler and stern challenge to the new normies: “I like living on the street!  Every thing is free and I don’t gotta do nuttin’ but be me”.

The Obamaville in the Outfield is temporarily emptied; the motel living will be up soon.  I’m sure the state of insanity would give the OC Diocese some of the 250 million dollars allocated for the unsheltered needy, if asked.

But what do I know?  I only have 11 kids to raise in a 3 bedroom home.

 

Len