Mission in Society
Vol. XVI
No. 9
OCTOBER 2004
Missionary In Our Midst
By Terry Quilico
MINISTRY IN CHICAGO GANGLANDS
According to Comboni Father Maurizio Binaghi, who runs Peace Corner, a storefront on the West Side of Chicago, “We are called to walk the streets of Chicago in search of those marginalized by the ‘good society’”.
In walking the streets of the city, Father Maurizio meets new humanity, a humanity forgotten and avoided by the rest of society.
Daily he meets scores of kids pushed by the cruel cycle of poverty into the arms of gang lords or into prostitution. Childhood, according to Father Maurizio, is stolen from thousands of children because of poverty, domestic violence and abuse. The reality of street kids challenges society and the Church to listen to their cry and to rediscover their beauty. “We need to talk to them in their language,” Father Maurizio said, “to listen to their dances and tears, to care for and love them, and say with Jesus, ‘let the children come to me.’”
Real peace
Father Maurizio quotes Mahatma Gandhi: “If we are to reach real peace in our world, we shall have to begin with children.” It is not surprising that for him “it would be wrong to see gangs only as an enemy or plague to fight with the same violence they perpetrate,” he said. “The real enemies are not the kids, and I do not agree with the governor of Illinois who said in 1995, ‘We are at war with gangs.’” He is worried that the “get tough on crime” translates into “kill some kids in order to save others.”
“We are called to do as Jesus did,” said Father Maurizio, “to answer violence with love and care.” He believes that once the challenge is accepted and we go out into the streets, the faces we meet are not those of armed criminals but of children who are trying to survive in a city unfriendly to them.
Preparation needed
It is impossible to walk the streets without some preparation. It is a reality that many of us do not want to deal with, especially in Chicago, the “murder capital of the United States.” Preparation is needed to deal with poverty and all its consequences. The closer it gets, the more uncomfortable we become, as we realize it is our responsibility and something we have to deal with one way or the other.
Peace Corner is founded on two assumptions: first, it is a privilege to minister to African-Americans, and second, they reciprocate by ministering to us. They are a community, which has much to give and can share with all of us - a deep spirituality and an unshaken faith. By accompanying the youth in their process of integral liberation, we discover the poor Christ in our marginalized brothers and sisters.
Meeting needs
“We started the Peace Corner Youth Center,” Father Maurizio said, “as a way of ministering to African-American youth in Chicago. It is an attempt to answer some of the needs of youth in one of the poorest and most abandoned communities in the United States. The primary goal is to find new and creative ways to reach these young people, given the fact that traditional methods, with few exceptions, have shown their inability to be truly meaningful.”
Poverty, violence, marginalization and the uncertainty of life are the realities of Chicago’s ghettos. To become a more authentic witness of the gospel, the Peace Corner Youth Center shares in these realities. “In other words,” said Father Maurizio, “we at the center believe that it is important to become poor with the poor in order to be credible proclaimers of the good news and to participate in the empowerment of the people. Here in the ghettos, a ministry that uses authority and control does not make any sense.”
Including everyone
Father Maurizio lives in an apartment only a few blocks from the Peace Corner, which is a safe refuge for area youth. They can do their homework, develop computer skills, take GED classes under tutelage of volunteers from Loyola University, shoot pool, play ping-pong or just find someone who is willing to sit down and listen to them. It is also a meeting place for the Making Choices group, which collaborates with Kolbe House and the Catholic Jail Ministry of the Chicago Archdiocese to help those just released from detention centers. Peace Corner also plans field trips, basketball tournaments and parties, and has Bible study sessions on Sunday afternoons. Jobs and job training are also provided through the Peace Corner Handy Man Service that does work for private families and with the Community Investment Corporation, a development company that cleans abandoned buildings and prepares them for rehab.
The Peace Corner Youth Center does not resolve the systemic problems, but in the words of Terrel Skinner, writing in the Peace Corner Rap: “Life at the Center is a lot of fun. However, the Center wasn’t built just for that. It was created to try to keep kids out of trouble and away from the street corners. Surely, the Center could just provide us with a pool table, ping-pong and other games, but this would not fulfill the Peace Corner mission.”
Solving systemic problems involves a web of relationships that includes everyone inside and outside the ghettos.<WM
Copyright © 2004 World Mission Magazine