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Betrayal of a Friend by a Kiss

Monday, Nov. 2, 2015

“Only a Friend can betray a friend” (From song “Why” by Michael Card)

Dear Friend,

Yesterday, a group of us were picketing the St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) meeting; you came by for a brief conversation. The purpose of our picket was to ask the Milwaukee SVDP Society to stop investing money, four million and counting, into a thrift store serving the suburbs; and, instead to invest it, as the mission of the Society commands, in direct service to people in need. You told me the same I had heard from other leaders of Milwaukee SVDP: that our picketing and leafleting was ‘hurting the poor’. The SVDP party line coming from you was a betrayal of our friendship and your claim to be a friend of the poor.

The small group of people, except me, were all people of low income as were the majority of people in our other picketing and leafleting activity before the Grand Opening of the thrift store in Greenfield, some months back. To ‘blame the poor for hurting the poor” is sadly common these days for white folks. Did you ever consider that it is you and the other mostly white and suburban leaders of SVDP, despite any good intentions, who are hurting the poor by spending “money belonging to the poor” (according to the rules and manual of the Society) on the Greenfield store serving the suburbs.

In fact, I understand that the Greenfield store created to produce money for the poor ran a deficit of $488,000 dollars in its first eight months of operation, not counting the millions of loans to purchase and renovate the property. As anyone with market sense knows, the opening of a retail store is the best time for sales. If the Greenfield store lost $488,000 (according to the Board) in its first eight months, how much more ‘money belonging to the poor’ will be the lost in the next twelve months of the new budget year.

Also, you stated that this suburban store, where it is not needed rather than in an area where it is needed (North Central Milwaukee), was discussed for years at many meetings of members before an offer for the store was made and accepted. This simply is not true. Members, as was I, first heard about the offer to purchase the store when an article in the business section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel was reported in the SVDP National E-newsletter. I immediately wrote a letter of concern to all 54 presidents of SVDP Council; but, not knowing the addresses of members, I delivered these letters to the central office and they were never distributed. At a subsequent meeting of presidents, which most of us did not know about, a bare majority 28 of 54 presidents approved loans of 3.2 million dollars for the purchase and renovation of the Greenfield store.

At Mass, before the SVDP council meeting, you were sitting next to one of our members, an 87 year old woman who has fought for civil and human rights for many years. Her major concern is for the children who will go without basic home necessities: stoves, refrigerators and beds because of this losing investment in the suburbs and not in the neighborhoods of the needy.

You also blamed the Archdiocese of Milwaukee closing down Churches in North Central Milwaukee as the reason why many poor people in this impoverished area are not being served by SVDP home visits. Yes, the Archdiocese did close churches in North Central Milwaukee, the most segregated and poorest section of the city. However, there is no rule in the Society that conferences need to be at parishes or that members can only serve people in outdated parish boundaries. The reason that people are not being served is a local decision of the local Society — to not serve areas that do not have a Catholic Church with a conference. Since the very first conference of young adults at the University of Paris, members of the Society have always gone ‘out of the neighborhoods’ to serve people in need. Parish boundaries of the 50’s and 60’s no longer apply. A computer in the office, programmed by staff, decides who get served or who gets told, “We do not serve your area.” This practice is wrong and, in my opinion, an immoral example of segregation.

In short, I believe you have “betrayed this friend … but, especially the poor.”

Bob
For More Information see Mission of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul
“We must do what is most agreeable to God. Therefore, we must do what our Lord Jesus Christ did when preaching the Gospel. Let us go to the poor.” Blessed Frederic Ozanam, founder of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul (1813–1853 )

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