“Known trespasser Not
allowed on campus”

I had planned to go to the Marquette University Library archives this afternoon to do some research on Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement. My thinking was that if I was in the library before the hour of prayer at 4pm I might not get arrested for trespassing as Marquette had threatened me last week with a letter at the prayer service. I had planned to go around 2pm to the library but decided to wait till the new Pope was announced. Pope Francis I is the first Jesuit to be pope and is from Argentina. On the way down to Marquette I heard a few good things about the new pope, especially about his solidarity with poor. Life was looking good.

At Marquette I parked my car in the lot behind Gesu Church, where I had planned to go to pray for the new Pope after the visit to the archives and hour of prayer to end the teaching of killing at Marquette, a Catholic Jesuit University.

As I walked toward the library on a nearly abandoned campus on spring break, I noticed a number of Marquette security police cars parked outside the library. I walked in the library right past the security who probably did not recognize me due to the trench coat, hat and glasses I was wearing, my Sherlock Holms disguise. I got to the turnstile and when my library card did not work I knew I was doomed. I went over to the library desk, were a whole bunch of people were gathered, to check on my card. As soon as I handed the clerk my library card the group broke up and one person walked out into the lobby to get security. Usually they take one look at my card and let me in. This time the lady stalled until the security came up behind me. They called me aside into the library lobby and told me if I did not leave the library they would call the police and have me arrested for trespassing since I had been banned for stepping on Marquette property. Since it was only about 2:30 and the Prayer Service in the library started at 4pm, I decided to leave and come back latter.

As I was walking to my car two Milwaukee police officers in the squad car stopped me on the sidewalk and said I was under arrest. I guess security had changed its mine and got me out of the library before calling police and having me arrested. I was taken to a local Marquette/Police substation and held for an hour before I was given a ticket for trespassing. While waiting I read some more about the new Pope on my I Phone and was impressed. The police officer asked me questions about where my car was parked, its color and make, making me afraid that my car would be towed away. He said no but that my car parked behind Gesu Church was also trespassing on Marquette property.

Finally at 4pm I was given a ticket for trespassing, released and walked back to the car. The prayer
service inside the lobby of the library was in process as I walked by. When I got to Gesu Church down the block I knew that it was private property, not owned by Marquette University, from the days I was on the staff of the Church. However, when I was saw a security police car outside of Gesu I thought I had better checked before I took the shortcut to the parking lot. The woman officer in the car said that Gesu was indeed private property but that the parking lot behind Gesu belonged to Marquette University. I told her my dilemma and said she could not give me authority to get my car but would check with her superior. After checking she said that I could walk behind the Church and get my car. Suddenly I remember about praying for the new Pope and went in the Church to pray. When I got to the car there was ticket on it that read “Known trespasser Not allowed on campus.” I guess what the police officer had said about my car being banned was true.

When I think about all the money and personnel spent on keeping me from praying with my friends, the Stations of the Cross, I wonder what is happening with our Catholic church. My friend Ann who has been living in pain for years had called me this morning saying how she had to call the police on her husband for abusing her last night, a husband she only tolerated because she needs 24/7 care. When he was not drunk he would take her to doctor appointments and run errands. I thought about the money that the Catholic Church had received from closing Catholic churches in the poorest and most segregated section of Milwaukee and our efforts to return the money, like in the Parable, Thy Kingdom Come…on Earth as it is in Heaven, to the poor and marginalized in the neighborhoods the Catholic church abandoned. Why was so much money and time expanded to deny me praying with friends when it could have helped Ann or a few people with no beds, refrigerators or stoves? Maybe the new Pope will answer that question or maybe not.

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