A dream that has come true too quickly has been the development of the street ministry. We have gone from visiting with one or two women a night to visiting with 15 to 20 adults and as many as 50-60 children everyday. We receive so many calls for help from people we meet on the streets. We have gone from working mostly with adults, to working with more children than adults, although working with children almost always involves working with their parent or guardian. Neglected and abused children walk the streets looking, hoping that someone might notice them and help them in some way.
Drugs become so much more important than caring for children when a person is addicted.
We do feel the stress of the sudden and enormous numbers of people looking to the Franciscan Peacemakers to bring some peace to them. We feel the stress of not having enough agencies share our concerns and of politicians who deny these children even exist in beautiful Milwaukee Wisconsin. Nevertheless, we believe that what we are doing can be done by thousands of parishes throughout urban America. More on that idea another day though. Peace and everything good be with you.