A Home for the Homeless: It’s What Jesus Would Do

Jesus told us to invite the poor, the crippled and the homeless into our homes.

He didn’t say: “Invite them into a city-approved church, social hall or homeless shelter.”

I’m following that direct command from Jesus, as are my wife, Leia, and seven other staff members of the poverty-relief group Orange County Catholic Worker.

That has put us in direct conflict with the city of Santa Ana, which has ordered us to evict more than 100 people -- most of them women and children -- from our small house on Cypress Street.

On Jan. 8, Leia and I met with the mayor and city manager. We were accompanied by our landlord, Steve Dzida, who supports our mission.

We had been called onto the municipal carpet because our little home had been declared a “public nuisance.”

We had been given 60 days to remedy the situation, presumably by closing down our shelter.

Thanks to Bishop Jaime Soto of the Catholic Diocese of Orange and hundreds of supportive letters and telephone calls from the public, we had been invited to attend a “bottom line” meeting, at which city representatives would explain what they really wanted us to do to avoid prosecution.

During the meeting, City Manager Dave N. Ream looked me in the eye and said, “The renegade mission use must stop!” He recited the a 1978 ordinance that says people offering food or shelter to the needy for religious or humanitarian reasons must do so in an industrial zone, not a residential area.

Ream also made it clear that our situation was not “complaint driven,” meaning no neighbors had complained.

Still, the city maintained that our house violated the letter and spirit of the law.

In 1988, the city tried to close Catholic Worker’s previous mission on Main Street.

But the house’s location in a commercial zone and the influence of a young politician named Miguel A. Pulido carried the day for the homeless.

Pulido had volunteered at Los Angeles Catholic Worker while in college and was impressed with the members’ devotion to helping the poor.

Now we are dealing directly with Pulido, who has become Santa Ana’s mayor, as well as a member of the board of directors for the new Irvine Great Park at the former El Toro Marine base.

Pulido said there was more than enough space at the proposed park to build a 1,000-person shelter.

“We could help you put together a professional effort we could all be proud of,” Pulido said.

I countered that the Sisters of St. Joseph, or certainly the Salvation Army, would be a much better choice for such a Herculean undertaking and promised to work with those agencies to take advantage of the mayor’s generous offer.

Ream then asked: “What if we were to place every family in your shelter in appropriate housing or in a licensed shelter?”

“Wonderful,” I responded, astonished beyond words.

I hadn’t imagined that the city had such capabilities. I thought that 51 kids were sleeping in my living room every night because the city couldn’t afford to help them.

The mayor then added a caveat: “Of course, you’d have to agree not to bring anyone in again.”

The city also wants us to stop our Sunday morning breakfast for “all comers” and not erect any more tents in our backyard to give people shelter.

Ream complained of homeless people wandering through our neighborhood and bothering the residents.

Pulido then nodded his assent that this, indeed, was the bottom line.

I had thought that the city’s primary concern was child safety. But how were we going to refuse shelter to a child begging at the door of my warm (and, if we complied, soon-to-be-empty) house?

I am ashamed that in the end, I did consider offering a concession that might make it possible for my city and its normally liberal politicians to avoid a confrontation and subsequent loss of face. Maybe we would even gain something for the poor in return.

My plan was to consult our homeless friends and ask how many new public toilets they would trade to move our Sunday feast to the Civic Center Plaza downtown.

“None,” replied Richard, an old friend. “Jesus said you should serve the crippled and the lame, and -- I guess -- us homeless too, at a banquet you host in your home. Not in some park or plaza or some big shelter in Irvine.

“Stick with Jesus, Dwight. Stick with Jesus.”

So there you have it. We’re sticking with Jesus! The next move belongs to the city.