YOUR MAY-JUNE 1997 cover ("All Together Now!") was timely. We’ve got to work together. It brought to my mind a childhood memory. I grew up in the middle of Detroit. Our Catholic parish church, near Gratiot and E. Outer Drive, was St. David’s. Our whole life was centered around St. David’s. I remember being told that the largest contributor was a member of a wealthy family who lived nearby.
My mother instilled in her children a strong sense of social justice and care for our neighbors. In the ’40s, when factories sprang up all over Detroit, I wasn’t surprised when my oldest brother, Henry, spoke to our pastor and told him he was concerned about all the new families who were moving into our neighborhood, living in trailers, really poor. Henry said, "Can’t we do something? Invite them to our church?" Our pastor’s reply did surprise me. He said, among other things, "Son, don’t rock the boat." I wondered then, did the "boat" belong to our wealthy neighbor?
Read the Full Article
