The Catholic Worker is unique in that it allows different people to answer God's particular calling to them in their own particular ways and yet provides a theological framework for all those individual callings. Just in the larger Bay Area, we have the Montesanos at the Catholic Worker Farm at Sheep Ranch running a candle business and an AIDS retreat center; we have Kate Chatfield and Peter Stiehler in San Bruno, whose ministry of hospitality provides meals, shelter and food distribution to families and single individuals; we have a number of differing expressions of the Works of Mercy in several different C.W. houses in the East Bay; and in Polk Gulch we have that crazy street priest River Sims whose vision is of harm reduction spirituality. The Catholic Worker is like a flower in full blossom with different shapes to its petals, each a unique expression of the root, the ground of its being.

The heart of that root is the Mystical Body of Christ, the belief that each human being has unique and irreplaceable worth because Christ emptied himself to become one with human beings. In each person we meet we find a reflection of the Incarnation, we find Christ. Each person has infinite worth and how we treat others has eternal ramifications. There is a Eucharistic aspect to this mystery, as well. The Eucharist feeds, nourishes, sustains and transforms us and at its very center is the incarnate Christ, the One who becomes flesh in our midst and who, through us, takes on flesh to reach out to those we serve.

From this foundation flow the tenets of the movement. Personalism, which I take to mean that each person is a friend, a guest - not a "client," not a statistic, but a living icon of God and of infinite worth. The Works of Mercy, the active living out of the fact that, as we are loved by God through Jesus of Nazareth, we too are called to be a manifestation of Christ to others through providing for their basic needs - food, clothing, shelter, a presence of love. It is in this expression of love that Christ becomes most visibly present to others.

Voluntary Poverty, which is, as Peter Maurin often pointed out, not destitution, but living simply, living precariously, depending on God's generosity through the kindness of others. Like the Buddhist monks who go out day after day into the local villages from their monasteries with bowls for alms, we too go out day after day with our "bowl" begging for the support and involvement of others in our work. Like those Buddhist monks, we are grateful for what we receive and give thanks to God. By living simply we are allowed to give all the more to God. Non-violence. Like Jesus of Nazareth, we affirm the uniqueness and value of every human life. We seek to respect, honor and glorify God by not doing violence toward the God who is the breath of life in each one of us.

Community. Dorothy Day once wrote, "we have all known the long loneliness and we have learned that the only solution is love and that love comes with community." Community takes many forms in the Catholic Worker: non-related individuals sharing housing together - married couples with or without children, singles, gay/lesbian, straight - or individuals joined together in some looser confederation. (Peter Maurin spoke of communes on the land, with families in their own cottages and singles in dormitories, as the ultimate expression of his vision.) Whatever form community may take for a particular group of Catholic Workers, it must be grounded in the sort of spirit St. Francis expressed when he prayed that he might "seek to understand rather than to be understood." It is as we give and reach out to each other in community that our existential loneliness is eased. Community in the Catholic Worker, whatever its practical form, is ultimately the giving of ourselves to others in love.

Many years ago I heard the call of Christ in the lives of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin and their vision of living, and for me the Catholic Worker model has been the way of life that makes sense, that has the authentic ring of Gospel values, that is the Voice of Christ I hear in the world. It is the model that seems best to open the door to resurrection life and wholeness. So, like Larry Pursell in Redwood City, Jeff Dietrich and Catherine Morris in Los Angeles, and countless others I meet at Catholic Worker gatherings or read about in C.W. literature, this crazy priest has found his home in the Catholic Worker movement. In Temenos, I find - as do so many other Catholic Workers in their particular callings Christ incarnated in the physical presence of the poor, the desperate, the broken, the hungry, the homeless. Loneliness is eased; Christ is once again encountered in flesh.

We are pleased to announce that Marur McDaniel from Oberlin College in Ohio and Terry Sullivan from the Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, will be joining us for the next three months as interns. Terry recently penned the following thoughts on what drew him to this particular internship:

"My interest in working with River Sims and the Temenos Catholic Worker stems from many years of doing outreach and addressing social justice issues from a Christian perspective. During the course of my seminary training, I have been disappointed by the lack of both classroom teaching and practical experience for people who wish to pursue ministry outside the traditional congregational models. I have always believed that the church has a fundamental responsibility to serve and provide a sense of community for those who live on the margins of society. I look forward to working with Temenos and coming to understand more fully the principles of the Catholic Worker movement."

Temenos celebrates the Eucharist every Sunday evening at 6:30, after which we serve food on the street. We invite you to attend - upstairs at

1177 Polk Street (between Post and Sutter). Fr. River's Evangelical Anglican Church in America colleague Fr. Stephen Bartlett-Ré often shares preaching responsibilities.

In response to our appeal for help in a fall issue of Peniel, our friends Roy and Linda Moss have agreed to take over responsibility for the practical publication of this newsletter - printing, addressing, collating, mailing. We are very, very grateful for this tremendous assistance. Thank you Roy and Linda!

We are often asked why we focus so much of our energy on harm reduction, why we consider harm reduction an essential element of our spirituality. The answer is that Jesus spent much of his time going about healing and caring for people, improving their quality of life. Like Jesus, we seek to improve the quality of life for those we serve. In our area of San Francisco, we have the highest rate of HIV infection in the City, the highest rates for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), the highest rate of Hepatitis C infection and the highest rate of admission to emergency rooms due to infections from IV drug use. Providing clean needles through needle exchange reduces AIDS infection by 65% and other resulting diseases and infections at similar rates. Condom use significantly reduces the spread of all STDs, including HIV. We believe that a part of the Gospel imperative for us in serving this marginalized, at-risk community is seeking to express the love of God by reducing the harm experienced by IV drug users and sex workers in their life-style - not so that we may "endorse" or "enable" any particular aspect of that lifestyle, but simply to make possible the highest quality of life available within the existential realities of the lives our friends and parishioners lead.

Christmas this year was joyous, sacred, a truly incarnational experience - and made more so in particular by the work of Mary Monihan, our friend, nurse board member and most of all a true follower of Christ. Thanks, Mary, for everything!

Thanks also to our anonymous friend in Christ, a great writer and supporter who truly shares the compassionate heart of Jesus, whose efforts this year brought significant support to Temenos.

And thanks to all of you who have supported this work so faithfully over the past year. Your generosity has made possible: 16,500 meals feeding 9200 people; donation of 2100 blankets, 5000 pairs of socks, and tons of clothing; distribution of 60,000 clean needles and 12,000 condoms; 350 jail visits; 550 hospital visits; 2 baptisms; 5 memorial services; and 1400 one-on-one pastoral contacts - through all of which we trust the love of Christ has been made visible to the people of Polk Gulch and Tenderloin.

For their support in the past six weeks we especially thank: Susan Peach; Fr. Stephen Bartlett-Ré; Judith Dobry; John Simmonds; The Order of Christian Workers; Mary Lou Geplinger; Lori and Les Swenson; St. Boniface Catholic Church; Susan Dragg; Deborah Letourneau; Katherine Paredes; Mark Vermeulen; Cindi Vian; Beverly Morris; Marybeth Williams; Marilyn Ehline; Chris Seltzer; Judith Klamath; Rosemary Phipps Pheiffer; Gerald Hennis; Larry Murphy;

Charles & Esther Nichol; Randolph Stephens; a "friend in high places"; John S. Dowling; The Rev. Sherman Skinner; The Rev. Lori Skinner; Christopher Esposito; Fr. Mario DiCicco; Michalene Kiss; Joe Story; James Cummings; and Russ & Pam Jorgenson.

Also: Bishop Stephen E. Burke; The Rev. Don Steele; SueLynn Hurt Groves; Jean Fortna; E. Kenneth Bennett; Mike & Diane Malchow; Donald E. Friedman; Mike & Cindy Poulin; Edwin Oyarzo; Layne Lee Mosler; Jane S. Dirks; Susan Dolder; Roy & Linda Moss; Mr. & Mrs. C. Wendell Tewell; Adam Tewell; Randolph Stephem; The Catholic Worker Farm; Martin de Porres House of Hospitality (especially Barbara, Charlie, Jim & Carol); Theresa Sullivan; Richard & Beverly Hills; Fr. Richard Gibert; Mary E. McCutcheon; Phyllis Eggert; Anand Rajaraman; The Rev. Roy Birchard; Mary Jean Pramik; and The Rev. Keenan Kelsey.

Also: Chris Montesano; Jim McLaughlin; Robert Foder; Judith Murphy; Stephen Smith; Rose Grogan; Old First Presbyterian Qhurch; Pam Free; Mary Beth Bianco Williams; the Nathan Cummings Foundation; Carol DeFrances; Craig Keene; Lou Russell; Tamara Alliston; Larry Holben; Cliff Palefsky; Sister Patrick; Johannes Miller and friends; San Francisco Food Bank; Delia Garda; HIV Prevention Planning Counsel; Clare Flagerman; Tom Waddell Clinic; Lisa Young; Dr. Catherine Regan; Larry Nelson; and all others who are not mentioned who have left donations.