2 min readMuch to my surprise I received an email this morning from the moderator of TUSD’s School Community Partnership Council (SCPC) announcing her resignation. SCPC is a collective group of site council representatives from schools across the district. Over the past four years I have been part of this council and have seen a huge shift in the way it operates. When I began attending the meetings I felt as if this group only existed for the sake of existing. There was very little opportunity to communicate our concerns, and more importantly, no way of making sure there was follow through

4 min read“Sanctuary makes a ring of fire around our people.” – Marisa Franco and Not1More Deportation As I write this requested response to the question, “What does being a Sanctuary City mean anyway?” I am watching friends and compañer@s who have locked down to keep an ICE van from deporting loved ones from Phoenix to Mexico. As I write this sentence the Phoenix PD is beginning to attempt to clear the site of Phoenix residents intervening with Trump’s, and formerly Obama’s, immigration dragnet. The young, fierce Latinx who is narrating the scene is telling me that none of the local politicians

3 min readpor Brian Flagg ARREPIÉNTETE Y CREE EN EL EVANGELIO es el titulo del comentario de ayer en mi misal ‘Pan de la Palabra’. Dice: Hoy es el primer día del tiempo de Cuaresma: tiempo fuerte y de revisión profunda para nuestra vida personal y comunitaria, para avanzar en el camino de nuestra conversión. Pero eso el profeta Joel nos invita a no quedarnos solamente en signos externos de penitencia (como la ceniza que recibimos hoy), sino que el deseo de convertirnos surja desde lo mas intimo de nuestro ser: “Vuelvan a mi de todo corazón, con ayuno, llantos y duelo.” Esto

7 min readby Cesar Aguirre Yesterday my 10 year old daughter Jasmine asked me to sign her permission slip to go on a field trip with her class to see the movie Hidden Figures, a true story of 3 black women who where instrumental in the development of NASA’s space program during the space race. I like to screen what my children watch, so I looked for the movie online and watched it (even with copyright banners across the screen through most of it). As my daughter was getting ready for bed she saw what I was watching and said, “dad, you’re going

2 min readThis comes from our long-time friends and supporters, John and Julie Indermark. After a recent morning at Casa Maria, my back had a serious talk with me, an aging baby-boomer who’d prefer to live in denial of both. Lifting boxes was no longer in the cards, Back said – you’ll have to find something else to do with Casa Maria. So Brian graciously offered the option of occasionally writing words for the blog. It is humbling to even think of doing so. The ministry done in this place is a daily and literal practice of Matthew 25. The ministry done

< 1 min readIf you’re interested in the dysfunction promoted by the current TUSD board majority and how they’ve botched the potential firing of Superintendent H.T. Sanchez check out these articles in the Tucson Sentinal: TUSD board delays vote on Sup’t Sanchez’s job — again Stop the insanity: TUSD eschews the easy for the scandalous in Sanchez battle A toda la raza, lo siento pero estos artículos solamente están en ingles…

2 min readby Cesar Aguirre For the second time in the last week the Tucson Unified School District board has discussed whether or not they should fire Superintendent H.T. Sanchez. By watching the TV news and reading the Daily Star one could not tell that there was overwhelming support for H.T. Sanchez at last night’s board meeting. People spoke at Call to the Audience, one after another, in support of Sanchez. There were parents, teachers, and even members of the business community speaking on his behalf. Adelita Grijalva mentioned, after the board voted to not allow the rest of the people who

2 min readby Brian Flagg The newest album by Rich Hopkins and the Luminarios (also known as the Casa Maria house band) is really good and has recently received 3 rave reviews, in the Daily Star, the Weekly, and in Zocalo. My personal fave is the collaboration between Rich, his wife Lisa Novack and Casa Maria’s own Cesar Aguirre on the rap song “Meant for Mo’”.  It’s not about stupid stuff, he raps about the journey to find himself and his relationship with the Creator in the midst of this oppressive society, with the full electric Luminarios rock band backing him. And

3 min readby Brian Flagg Last week I was once again proud to be a Catholic! This is because our Bishop, Gerald Kicanis, spearheaded an effort that gathered more than 60 Southern Arizona religious leaders to express their opposition to recent presidential orders calling for the construction of a border wall and banning the admission of refugees. He was actually providing leadership! But neither he nor practically anyone else talks about why there are so many refugees, from Mexico and Latin America and from all over the world. The world-wide refugee crisis didn’t just happen by  chance or by magic… It is rooted