Hi Friends!
It's hot out there! You can help us help our friends on the street by donating bottled water, freezer pops, and single sized electrolyte or other drink mixes (such as propel or crystal light). Last summer we had a couple church/community groups run collections and we'd so love to see that again! Drop them by our house at 8617 Mora Ln. or drop us a line at StLouisCatholicWorker@gmail.com for pickups of bigger donations.
Maybe you can help us keep our house cool too! To avoid running our stove for hours on our burrito service days, we're hoping to experiment with cooking our beans and rice in electric pressure cookers. We think it'll be energy efficient too! Our dream is that a couple of friends out there might have an Instant Pot that they don't often use and would be willing to share, either as a gift or as a long term loan. The bigger the better! Email us at StLouisCatholicWorker@gmail.com if you can to help.
We also hope to see you at one of our upcoming monthly events! All of which will be happening at our house of hospitality at 8617 Mora Ln.
Community Prayer
Wednesday July 9th, 6PM
Join us as we bring our joys and concerns to the creator and community.
Clarification of Thought Movie Night : Atomic Homefront
Thursday July 17th, 6 PM
"The City of St. Louis has a little known nuclear past as a uranium-processing center for the Atomic bomb. Government and corporate negligence led to the dumping of Manhattan Project uranium, thorium, and radium, thus contaminating North St. Louis suburbs, specifically in two communities: those nestled along Coldwater Creek – and in Bridgeton, Missouri adjacent to the West Lake-Bridgeton landfill."
Join us as we watch the film followed by a discussion.
Potluck
Sunday July 27th, 5 PM
Feel free to bring a friend and a dish to share to our (usually) last Sunday of the month shared meal!
Oak Flat Update
We were disheartened to hear this past month that the US Supreme Court decided not to intervene and stop the US government from handing over the sacred Apache land at Oak Flat to corporations in destroying it destroy with mining. We are continuing to support our friends at Apache Stronghold as the tentative land transfer date of August 17th draws near.
Apache Stronghold believes strongly in the power of spirit and will gather in prayer with people of many nations and faiths at Oak Flat on July 19th. They ask that all people of good will add their spiritual might to theirs by praying in their own way and place on that day.
In the event of a land transfer we hope Theo will be able to once again travel to Arizona to support Apache Stronghold. If you'd like to learn more or support Theo's efforts to be present at that potential zero hour, email him at theodorekayser@yahoo.com. An excerpt from Justice Gorsuch's dissent can be found below.
Not Another Nickel
The STL Catholic Worker Community is partnering with other local environmental and anti-war groups to sponsor the Not Another Nickel campaign which demands "not another nickel to tax breaks for corporations that profit from war, human rights abuses, environmental devastation, and violations of international law. These tax breaks steal funding that otherwise would be invested in vital resources for our communities."
Join us for the coalition's monthly meeting this Thursday, July 10 at 06 PM at the Thomas Dunn Learning Center 3113 Gasconade St, St. Louis, MO 63118.
Read about the campaign here at : https://www.yesmagazine.org/political-power/2025/05/26/not-another-nickel-campaign-st-louis
Thanks for all your support and friendship! We hope to see you soon!
The STL Catholic Worker Community
For centuries, Western Apaches have worshipped at Chí’chil Biłdagoteel, or Oak Flat. They consider the site a sacred and “direct corridor to the Creator.” It is a place where tribal members conduct “religious ceremonies that cannot take place elsewhere.” Recognizing Oak Flat’s significance, the government has long protected both the land and the Apaches’ access to it. No more. Now, the government and a mining conglomerate want to turn Oak Flat into a massive hole in the ground. To extract copper lying beneath the land, they plan to blast tunnels that will result in a crater perhaps 1,000 feet deep and nearly two miles wide. “It is undisputed” that the government’s plan will permanently “destroy the Apaches’ historical place of worship, preventing them from ever again engaging in religious exercise” at Oak Flat.
Seeking to halt the destruction of the Apaches’ sacred site, Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit organization, sued under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 (RFRA). That law prevents the federal government from “substantially burdening a person’s exercise of religion,” unless that burden represents “the least restrictive means of furthering a compelling governmental interest.” In a sharply divided decision, the Ninth Circuit rejected Apache Strong hold’s challenge. Though the government’s plan will result in the destruction of an ancient sacred site, the Ninth Circuit reasoned, that plan does “not impose a substantial burden on religious exercise.”
While this Court enjoys the power to choose which cases it will hear, its decision to shuffle this case off our docket without a full airing is a grievous mistake—one with consequences that threaten to reverberate for generations. Just imagine if the government sought to demolish a historic cathedral on so questionable a chain of legal reasoning. I have no doubt that we would find that case worth our time. Faced with the government’s plan to destroy an ancient site of tribal worship, we owe the Apaches no less. They may live far from Washington, D. C., and their history and religious practices may be unfamiliar to many. But that should make no difference. “Popular religious views are easy enough to defend. It is in protecting unpopular religious beliefs that we prove this country’s commitment to religious freedom.”
Comments
Post a Comment