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Urban
Retreats |
Polk
Street, San Francisco. Kids from all over
run away and find themselves here. Many end
up supporting themselves through sex work
of one kind or another. Most are without homes,
or live in precarious circumstances. Their
world is often violent and often unpredictable.
Most end up shooting up drugs to kill the
pain of life on the street, and even more,
the pain that got them here.
These are the parishioners of Father River
Sims, of the Temenos Catholic Worker Ministry.
In the tradition of the Catholic
Worker movement, Fr. River Sims makes
Polk Street into his place of worship and
action, focusing his ministry on sex workers
and homeless youth in this San Francisco neighborhood.
With a small crew of volunteers, he passes
out sandwiches and condoms; exchanges needles;
takes people to the hospital and visits them
in jail. In the face of horrifying and seemingly
unsolvable social circumstances, this simple
work enacts Dorothy
Day's observation: "The only solution
is love."
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Fr.
River holding services in
Hemlock alley for his street
parishioners. |
Fr.
Sims is now available for individual or small-group
spiritual retreats which focus on finding
love in the most loveless of circumstances
and removing the walls which modern society
builds around our hearts. Christ and other
spiritual teachers challenge us to love all
people. These urban retreats are designed
to help you understand this challenge in a
profound and concrete way by bringing broad
spiritual teachings into the stark directness
of daily urban life. You will work with Fr.
River Sims: live among the poor; and take
time for spiritual reflection and conversation.
Retreats can vary in length and focus. They
are open to anyone, including people who seek
to develop spiritual practices other than
Christianity.
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©
Temenos Catholic Worker |
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