Shelter May Get Presidential Seal

Backers of a long-stalled 192-bed homeless shelter at the closed Tustin Marine Corps base said they believe their project finally will be green-lighted in the wake of President Bush’s pledge Monday to funnel more public money and other help to faith-based agencies for social services.

Jim Palmer, president of the Orange County Rescue Mission, said he has waited four years to have the Secretary of the Navy sign away the deed to the 6.1 acres.

“All we need now to get started is a signature,” said Palmer, who has raised $14 million for the transitional-housing project and has even built model rooms in the abandoned barracks. “I’ve called a dozen times, and they just don’t return phone calls. I don’t think Washington in the past has valued faith-based organizations.”

But on Monday, Bush created a White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and also signed an executive order to “clear away the bureaucratic barriers . . . that make private groups hesitate to work with government.” During his presidential campaign, he pledged to assist faith-based efforts.

The news of Bush’s initiatives was praised by some and greeted warily by others.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Karen Roper, coordinator for homeless services for Orange County. “You need many groups working together as a team. Faith-based communities are very much needed. I view them as a sleeping giant in terms of making a difference.”

In 1996, the federal government began encouraging religious involvement in efforts to move welfare recipients into the work force. Bush would like to expand that idea to programs aimed at social problems such as juvenile delinquency and drug addiction.

But so far, partnerships between religious groups and government are uncommon. A recent survey showed only 6.1% of California congregations have applied for government welfare-to-work funding. According to a poll by the California Council of Churches, the USC Religious Research Center and the University of San Francisco Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management, half said they lacked the resources to seek it, half were daunted by red tape, and 29.7% also cited theological reasons for steering clear.

“Nobody asked us if we were interested or prepared to do this. . . . It feels like something coming from the outside and imposed on religious communities,” said Scott Anderson of the California Council of Churches. The council represents 19 Protestant and Christian Orthodox denominations that together claim 1.5 million members. “Whether we have the capacity to run a formalized government service is a really problematic question.”

Religious leaders expressed concern that the most important ingredient in making their programs work--faith--could be stripped away by a government partnership.

“Life change is a complicated, dicey business,” said Glenn Parrish of the Rising Tide Transitional Housing Program, which has its roots at Mariners Church in Irvine. “The profoundly complex nature of the problems we’re trying to address leads you to include faith-based solutions. We need to address the most crucial issues [our clients] face: hopelessness and despair. Unless you can address the spiritual issues, you can’t get in the game.”

Parrish said he likes the trend toward faith-based agencies providing social services, but that their ministry can’t be compromised--either theologically or bureaucratically. Specific rules haven’t been hammered out as to exactly how much religion an agency receiving government money can dish out along with its social services.

The basic rules that faith-based organizations have been following are no proselytizing; religious instruction is voluntary; and everyone, regardless of faith, must be served.

“The issues aren’t just faith,” Parrish said. “You’ve got an entrepreneurial organization trying to partner with a bureaucratic one.”

Politicians and government workers have long envied the success of faith-based social service providers, which offer considerable advantages over other organizations: high levels of community trust, a potential volunteer pool and a spiritual message that often helps people change their ways.

Ninety percent of the women and children who arrive at the Orange County Rescue Mission become self-sufficient, Palmer said, compared with a rate of 10% for government programs.

“People need their hearts and souls filled as they’re receiving shelter,” Palmer said.

Faith leaders are sharply divided on whether to spend their assets on government programs. Evangelical Christians have generally embraced the initiatives. Much of the organized Jewish community has opposed them, wary of crossing church-state lines and inviting government-funded proselytizing. Members of mainstream Protestant denominations have been divided. Muslim leaders have come out in favor of Bush’s proposals.

A number of faith-based groups, such as Catholic Charities, have provided social services for years with no overt religious message attached.

Palmer said he believes government and faith-based groups can work together. His rescue mission already formed partnerships with the cities of Orange and Tustin.

“We’re not about filling the pews in church,” Palmer said. “We’re about helping people.”