Casa Maria, Author at Casa Maria Soup Kitchen

HUGO CHAVEZ

Casa Maria February 24, 2015

2 min readBy Brian Flagg, I/we don’t have a Catholic Worker job description that details how we go about a practice of faithful discipleship, one that moves in the direction of the spiritual and material liberation of those whom we serve every day. So we have to be creative. And we have to be inspired. One day a couple of years ago I had a flash of enlightenment. I realized that what I really wanted was not Pima County Interfaith Council organizers, but serious, dedicated revolutionaries. The organizers here, Jimmy Ojeda, Cesar Aguirre and now Gilberto Contreras have generally agreed with this

I turned 60 on Monday, February 16

Casa Maria February 19, 2015

2 min readBy Brian Flagg, It really pissed me off, for weeks leading up to the day. I successfully avoided celebrations and instead went by myself to camp and read and walk into Cochise Stronghold in the Dragoon Mountains east of Benson. It was the most perfect and most sacred place I could go to. I spent time reading about and reflecting with Cochise, Fr. Jon Sobrino and Fr. Ignacio Ellacuria, Hugo Chavez and Simon Bolivar, St. Ignatius and of course mi novia, Jesus! The first reading from the mass on my birthday was from Genesis 4, the story of Cain and

Bravo to TUSD Board Member Kristel Foster

Casa Maria February 18, 2015

< 1 min readBy Brian Flagg, Bravo to TUSD Board Member Kristel Foster for her heartfelt, courageous and confrontational (in an extremely positive way) letter to the editor (Star, 2-15-2015). http://tucson.com/news/opinion/mailbag/letters-to-the-editor/article_6e9438b4-70b6-5639-be2b-25a171936fb5.html If you missed it, she calls out fellow board member Mike Hicks for his support of SB1371, which would eliminate $64 from the district. He isn’t the only one seeking to put down TUSD and destroy public education. May Kristel Fosters’ willingness to speak out help to transform us all into spirit warriors in defense of public education.

THE REGGIO EMILIA APPROACH AND WHAT THE RESEARCH SUPPORTS

Casa Maria February 16, 2015

3 min readSpecial thanks to the Tucson Children’s Project, Mimi Gray, Pauline Baker, Ben Mardel, Teresa Acevedo, and especially Lella Gandini of Reggio Emilia, Italy for making this all possible. by Cesar Aguirre As an avid supporter of public education and an extremely involved parent at Ochoa Elementary, I have done a lot of research and studied best practices of early childhood education. Over the weekend the Tucson Children’s Project held a conference titled “What the Research Supports”. I was in attendance, along with many dedicated teachers from Ochoa. Ochoa is a Reggio Inspired Magnet school. It’s the only public school of

A LITTLE INSPIRATION FROM…

Casa Maria February 12, 2015

2 min readA LITTLE INSPIRATION FROM… Pedro Arrupe Superior General of the Society of Jesus (1907-1991) Pedro Arrupe, who was elected Superior General of the Jesuits in 1965, oversaw a renewal of the Society so profound that he is revered by many Jesuits as a “second founder.” Specifically, he was instrumental in defining the modern mission of the Jesuits in terms of “faith that does justice.” Arrupe’s sense of solidarity with a suffering world had roots in his early years as a priest. Assigned to Japan in 1936, he was serving only four miles from the center of Hiroshima on August 6,

A LETTER TO SYLVIA CAMPOY

Casa Maria February 11, 2015

2 min read February 10, 2015 Dear Sylvia, Thanks for coming to Casa Maria. I think we fundamentally disagree with you on some main themes, but talking with you and Terry Higuera really helped us think about desegregation and how we as parents and the larger community can move forward to advocate and organize for a more just TUSD. Ultimately it’s all about better educated kids. We understand that no matter what is just or unjust, right or wrong, there is a court order that exists. But it is only a court order, not a commandment that came down from heaven. We would

A Safe Place to Dream 24 hours a day

Casa Maria February 9, 2015

2 min readCasa Maria supports all people having a place to sleep at night. Casa Maria supports SAFEPARK which is located downtown in Pancho Villa Park. John McLane is a founder of SAFEPARK and a friend of Casa Maria. _______________________________ A Safe Place to Dream 24 hours a day By John McLane, Three years ago, a group of ‘homeless activists’ with the group Occupy Public Land set out to decriminalize homelessness in the City of Tucson and during that effort fill in the gaps in services for both the houseless population and those wishing to express their rights and redress their grievances.

Contrary to what you might read in the newspaper, IT’S A NEW DAY IN TUCSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT-

Casa Maria February 5, 2015

< 1 min readBy Brian Flagg, There is now a new three person board majority that replaced Superintendant John Pedicone with a new Superintendent, H.T. Sanchez. H.T. has provided a new type of leadership. He has spearheaded a pay rise for teachers, reduced class size, aggressively defended the Culturally Relevant Curriculum from new attacks from the North, and refused to give up more legal fees for de-segregation lawyers who have milked the de-segregation lawsuit for 40 years. He and the Board are trying to use desegregation dollars to provide for increased academic achievement at magnet schools instead of only trying to integrate them,

WELCOME GILBERTO CONTRERAS

Casa Maria February 4, 2015

2 min readCasa Maria is excited to have hired Gilberto to be a community organizer with Casa Maria. He is a 2014 graduate of the University of Arizona with a B.A. in Mexican American Studies. ______________________ By Gilberto Contreras, This will be my first post on this blog, so I would like to introduce myself to you all. My name is Gilberto Contreras Morales and I am not a stranger to Casa Maria de Guadalupe. Before I speak about the work I have done with Casa Maria, I would like to give you all a little of my story. I am a

FOR JOHN C. SCOTT: on if I was King…

Casa Maria February 2, 2015

2 min readBy Brian Flagg, I read this great article in America magazine by the auxiliary bishop of San Francisco, Robert W. McElroy, entitled “Market Assumptions: Pope Francis’ challenge to income inequality” (Nov 3, 2014). This past April, Pope Francis told over 10 million online followers, in nine different languages, “Inequality is the root of social evil.” And what he tweeted in just seven words, he had elaborated on at length five months earlier in ‘The Joy of The Gospel’ (No.202): The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed… As long as the problems of the poor are

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