Author: Charles Dittmeier

Immigration Rally

Yesterday a vigil was held to support immigrants and decry violence targeting them. U.S. Representative Morgan McGarvey spoke to the assembled people at a Louisville park. The vigil was scheduled to take place at a Catholic parish but was moved at the last minute.

The change of venue to the park created traffic jams on the street near the park and parking problems that delayed the arrival of many and may have dissuaded others from attempting to get near the site.
The sun was setting and it was really cold as people gathered in the park for what turned out to be an outdoor vigil.

The increased number of younger people was notable and encouraging.

Representative McGarvey spoke to the gathered crowd in a shortened program. The traffic was so bad and we had to walk so far from a parking place that I arrived at the actual vigil site so late that I caught only the last minute of the program and then we all headed back to the warmth of the cars.

RITI: Room In The Inn

RITI is a program becoming nationwide that utilizes warm church buildings as sleeping places for homeless people on cold nights. RITI Louisville has started this service just this week as temperatures dipped to the single digits. The start of the program was delayed by fire regulations.

The program has three shifts per night. The first shift from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM welcomes the women to the center, gives them supper, and puts them to bed. The second shift today, from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM, consisted of Jean (L) and Bob (R). They really have nothing to do all night except to provide supervision and security. Here they are at the end of their shift at 5:00 AM as Diane (C) and I arrived for the third shift.
Diane (above) and I arrived at 4:45 AM while the women were still sleeping, and started waking them at 5:00 AM, gradually turning on more lights. There were 11 women listed to come last night but only 4 arrived because of the weather conditions (extremely cold).
Diane and I arrived and were on our feet till we left at 7:00 AM. The second, the night shift, stayed in the little entrance way behind us all night to monitor any comings and goings. They can take turns sleeping as long as one of them is awake.
As the women guests woke up and got ready for another day, Diane and I set out morning supplies, started two big pots of coffee, and helped the women put away their bedding and tidy up the room.
At 6:30 AM on a regular day, the women guests must leave the facility but another shelter program in an adjoining building allows them to come in out of the cold and shower and wash clothes, etc. Here our overnight guests pack up their things to move to the other building.

RITI is a really wonderful program.

National Catholic Office of the Deaf

Pastoral Week (Monday)
Flying into Chicago from Portland, with ice on Lake Michigan

Today was strictly a travel day. I had been checking the United app the last couple days and it said my flights were still on schedule so I did not re-schedule them as many others did for their flights because of the snow over much of the US. But although there were no snow or weather problems, the trip was “eventful.”

• Two sisters from Montreal and I left the Portland hotel at 3:30 AM. I arrived quite early for my 9:00 AM flight, but their offer of a ride saved me a $65 Uber fee.
• The flight to Chicago was smooth and I got a little sleep.
• When I went to the gate in Chicago for the flight to Louisville, there was a notice it was delayed 15 minutes. Then a second delay was announced, and then a third because the plane was in the maintenance hanger.
• Finally at 9:45 AM we boarded the plane.
• At 9:46 it was announced there would be a 20-minute delay for refueling.
• Then it was announced the plane would be de-iced. Another 20 minutes.
• After that we moved out to a taxiway. And stopped. After 20 minutes it was announced there was an instrument problem and we had to return to the gate. But we didn’t move.
• 25 minutes later it was reported we were waiting for a gate to be available and we finally moved to F4. The repairs took 20 minutes.
• Then it was announced we needed to refuel again.
• Finally 1.5 hours late we took off for Louisville and arrived at 9:25 PM. The original ETA was 5:37 PM.

It was plenty cold there but the streets had been plowed and it was no problem getting to Nazareth Home.

National Catholic Office of the Deaf

Pastoral Week (Sunday)

In the morning we had our last information session and then left right away for a national pilgrimage site, The Grotto on a Portland hilltop.

The Grotto is a shrine to Mary as Sorrowful Mother and is part of a huge rock face on the hill top.

At the top of the cliff and the grotto is a beautiful forest of magnificent trees.

On the edge of the cliff, with a panoramic view, is this chapel for meditation and prayer. It is amazing that all of this is within the city of Portland.
Our time at The Grotto concluded with a final liturgy. The presider was Bishop Stephen Raica whom I first met at the 1978 Florida NCOD conference in Florida, when he was a new priest getting into deaf ministry.
Back at the hotel, we had a concluding banquet. For me it was a chance to meet more new friends.

National Catholic office of the Deaf

Pastoral Week (Saturday)

This has to be a brief post. I need to leave the hotel at 3:30 AM to get to the airport and I need to get some sleep. It could be a l-o-n-g journey back to Louisville with all the snow and air travel disruption.

At one of our announcement sessions, two representatives from the International Catholic Deaf Association gave information about the activities and programs of the ICDA,

National Catholic Office of the Deaf

Pastoral Week (Friday)
As many Catholic gatherings do, our pastoral week started with a liturgy for 90 or so participants from all over the USA.
There is a group of six American Sign Language interpreters working at this conference to facilitate the spread of the program content and enable communications among the participants with various levels of sign language skills.
One of the first speakers was Fr. Bill Key from Milwaukee. He and I have been friends since these annual gatherings in the early 1970s.

Two other friends from the early days of deaf ministry are Bea (L) and Judith, Sisters of Providence who are ministers in Seattle. Here we are at a nearby mall food court for a supper to allow us to catch up.

National Catholic Office of the Deaf

Pastoral Week (Thursday)

We flew through Denver to get to Portland from Louisville, and then in Portland it was a 24-mile drive to the hotel where the gathering is being held. On the drive I noticed one sign that we are not in Kentucky: the trees here have no mistletoe while the barren trees around Louisville are full of the dark clumps of the seasonal parasite.

Registration for the gathering started at 4:00 PM and then in the evening we had a welcome reception. I was pleased to meet some of the pastoral workers I first met 50 and 60 years ago.

National Catholic Office of the Deaf

Pastoral Week (Thursday)

Every year the National Catholic Office of the Deaf has a pastoral week to bring together people who minister in religious formation programs for Catholic deaf people. I am attending this year’s gathering in Portland, Oregon, and got this photo on the way here, changing planes in Denver.

You want me to check the oil, too?