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Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Oakland Catholic Worker House

This is my second month in Oakland. The ministry opportunities for this city are numerous, so much so that it can get overwhelming. The harvest is ripe in this ministry field.

One ministry opportunity we were fortunate to connect with is the Oakland Catholic Worker House. They offer hot meals to anyone who knocks on their doors, and shelter to many Latin American Immigrants.

After coming one afternoon to OCW during a prayer walk in East Oakland, we promised that we would return some other day to volunteer. We met many of the volunteers, including Lee (if you're reading this, am I spelling your name right?) who was staying there for the summer.

So we came back this past week the day before Lee was leaving (great timing!). We helped with the cleaning and attending the doorbell, which normally signaled that someone is looking for a meal.

I was amazed by the amount of meals served at that place, and how one volunteer was expected to carry out the whole operation by herself.

After the kitchen was closed and the cleaning was done, Lee and I talked for a while about our lives and ministry. She is a theologian student and hopes to finish her Master degree soon. I told her about the ministry with Comunidad San Dimas and she seemed really interested in it.

"Well, maybe you can come next year as a summer intern to try it out" I told her. She said she would think about it.

Before saying good bye, knowing that I will probably not see her again, at least not anytime soon, I told her, "See you next year!". "Ha!" she responded while laughing. "I hope you are not a prophet".

We will see.