By Rita McInerney

Catholics from parishes and from ecumenical groups working at shelters and soup kitchens were a presence at the national March for the Homeless held Saturday, Feb. 27 in downtown Atlanta.

Guided to a common meeting point by a large banner worded “Religious,” they came together in a far corner of the upper parking lot at the Atlanta Civic Center. There the large white and blue banner of the Southeast Center for Justice told them they were in the right spot.

Waiting in the bright sunshine they listened to a succession of political speakers filling the crisp air with pleas for justice for the homeless, and mingled with friends.

Shortly after noon, all of the diverse groups responding to the call of the National Coalition for the Homeless, sponsors of the march, were in formation. Busloads of homeless and their advocates had driven from New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul and many other cities and towns to join this event.

By 12:20 p.m. the march to Woodruff Park was underway. Four Trappists held a banner for the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers. It was the first time, said Father Methodius, one of the quartet, a banner had been carried since some of the monks marched for civil rights in the 1960s.

Volunteers carried a handsome new banner for the St. Francis Table soup kitchen at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Parish groups walking behind banners included Sts. Peter and Paul, Decatur; St. Lawrence, Lawrenceville; Transfiguration, Marietta, and St. Jude, Sandy Springs.

Brother Brian Pierce, O.P., from the Aquinas Center for Theology at Emory University, and Reme Rodriguez, of Orense, Spain, recently awarded her master’s at Georgia State University, carried a Spanish language banner urging “Peace and Justice for All.”

Thousands of marchers strode briskly up the Pine Street hill, amazed by the length of the column in front and behind them. The long line turned onto Peachtree Street. Soon it was passing the landmark Sacred Heart Church off to the left. Next to the church the old Imperial Hotel stood vacant, as it has been for several years. It was a symbol to marchers of one of the causes of homelessness, the loss of affordable single room hotels for people of limited income.

The marchers moved quickly down the famous street, past the luxury hotels, office towers, restaurants, the big department store, specialty shops, banks.

Spectators watched from the sidewalk. There was no jeering, no remarks, no counter banners or posters. Mostly there were thoughtful expressions at the mass turnout of homeless men, women and children and those who serve them – in shelters, meal centers, through the Saint Vincent de Paul Society, and numerous other services and ministries.

Teenagers marched with their families, young adults with friends, toddlers held tight to adult hands. Marylyn and Tom Tuura, volunteers who that week had created the blue and brown banner for the St. Francis Table marchers, carried baby son, Logan, and his sister, Megan, two-and-a-half.

As the marchers halted briefly in front of a luxury hotel, Brother Brian led those around him in a pep rally “cheer” calling for houses now for the homeless. Two rows behind him, Frances Manchester, one of the founders of Harbor House in Lawrenceville, echoed the cry.

Father Gerry Conroy, executive director of the Southeast Center for Justice, called the march an “enormous success.” He said police estimated there were between 8,000 and 10,000 people participating. “There were perhaps 750 to 1,000 identified as church people.”

“We’re real pleased at the response to the center invitation,” he continued. “We had about 450 people marching with us including delegations from five states. It was interfaith and interracial. One of the strongest statements made was the racial mix of the gathering. It showed that it was not just a concern of the black community.”

“The organizers thought of it as a political response,” the Glenmary priest said, “and with this faith response they are beginning to see the religious dimension of this political question; that people of faith will be bringing an explicitly religious witness to suffering in our society.”

“The bishops at Vatican II were calling people of faith to examine the signs of the times and judge them in the light of the Gospel and demanding a response,” he said.

Among the out-of-town groups marching with the center’s forces was a Savannah group, wearing blue t-shirts identifying them as from an ecumenical Inner City Night Shelter. Paddy Kennington said they came to Atlanta because “the kind of people that do what we do have to band together and act collectively. We need to show there are enough people concerned about this need.”

With her was Mary O’Brien who also was representing the Stella Maris Catholic Worker House of Hospitality in Savannah.

Nancy Dwyer, who writes for The Long Island Catholic, newspaper of the diocese of Rockville Center, came with a bus group from New York City. She and several others were representing the Inner Faith Nutrition Network, an ecumenical group that operates 11 soup kitchens and four shelters on Long Island. There are several more shelters in the planning stage for this affluent bedroom annex for New York City, she said.

Aaron Haskell, in kindergarten at Sts. Peter and Paul, came with his mother Barbara Haskell. The family volunteers at St. Anthony’s night shelter. The march and rally was another way they could show their love and concern for the homeless, Mrs. Haskell said.

“This is what I do,” Marian Willingham, another Sts. Peter and Paul member said. “I stick up for justice. I’ve been doing it since I came to Atlanta in 1964.”

Mrs. Willingham, now serving as international affairs chairman for the Atlanta Archdiocesan Council of Catholic Women, rushed to the civic center from the Cathedral of Christ the King where she had attended the annual AACCW recognition day for outstanding women and youth from parishes around the archdiocese.

Vince Bathea, a permanent deacon, believes the poor are “calling us to hear the cries of Christ.” Although he conceded there might be some political gains for the Democratic candidates taking part in the rally, he said “a lot can be accomplished even though it’s not entirely pure. God’s work will get done, that’s the most important thing."

Ray Stermer, banner carrier for the peace and justice committee from St. Jude church, said, “I think we need somehow to speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves…Everybody talks about it. I don’t have a lot to say. I’m here to support by my presence.”

Bill McNulty, of Marietta, joined his wife, Kathy, on the staff of the justice center, and daughter, Tara, at the march. For him the problem of the homeless can no longer be ignored. “It’s basic justice, not a theological debate. Here we are, on a beautiful springlike day. In Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, it’s going to be in the 20s and 30s. Here we’re lulled because of the mild weather, while the homeless in northern cities still have months of winter to endure.”

Priests taking part in the march and rally included Father Henry Gracz, pastor of Transfiguration; Father Joseph Cavallo, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes; Father Bob Menard, of the Catholic Center at the University of Georgia; Father Edd Salazar, S.J., of Ignatius House; Father John Adamski, pastor of the Shrine of the Immaculate conception, and Father Alan Dillmann, chaplain at Grady Hospital and Fulton County jail. Deacon Homer Woods of Our Lady of Lourdes was present.

From the monastery in Conyers came Fathers Tom Francis, Methodius, Francis Michael and Brother Abraham.

Sisters taking part included Kathy Tomlin, and Patricia Clune, C.S.J.; Joan McCann and Mary-Beth Beres, O.P.; Margaret McAnoy and Jean Booms, I.H.M.; Mary Jeannette Crosson, G.N.S.H., and Carmen Cabrejos, A.C.J.

Forty-five marchers from New Orleans, including the homeless and members of a social service coalition assisting the homeless, spent Friday and Saturday nights sleeping in the Marist School gymnasium so they could take part in the march.

The march sponsor, the National Coalition for the Homeless, earlier attempted to make the crisis of homelessness an issue for the presidential candidates. In a briefing paper prepared in May, 1987, the coalition called on the candidates to:

Establish a right to shelter by legislation recognizing the basic right to shelter for all homeless Americans. Also urged was a federal program to provide emergency shelter. Estimated cost of such a program was put at $1.8 billion.

Enforce existing shelter programs which have been neglected by the current administration. Such programs exist within the Veterans’ Administration, the Department of Defense and the Department of Health and Human Services. Enforcement of such programs would cost an estimated $10 million.

The passage in the spring of 1987 of the Urgent Relief for the Homeless Act is a “modest start by Congress, but it barely begins to address the enormity of the problems.” Public entitlements, mental health care and housing need strong support from Washington, the report said.

Homelessness has increased while federal programs for the poor have been sharply reduced, according to the coalition report. Aid to Families with Dependent children (AFDC) has been cut by $3.6 billion while food stamp benefits have been reduced for 20 million people. Between 1981 and 1985, the Social Security Administration dropped 491,300 elderly and disabled persons from its rolls. About 200,000 of these people were reinstated on appeal after lengthy proceedings.

Since 1981, the report said, subsidized and public housing programs have been cut by over 75 percent – from $32 billion to $7.5 billion. At the same time, private development has replaced hundreds of thousands of low-rent dwellings with luxury apartments and office buildings.

Cutbacks in federal food programs have contributed to the inability of many poor persons to meet basic needs, forcing them to choose between two basic necessities, food and shelter.

Since 1982, $6.8 billion has been cut from the food stamp program, taking one million from the rolls as well as cutting back benefits for 20 million others, most of them children. The average benefit is now 49 cents per meal.

Because the food stamp outreach program was repealed in 1981, many of the poor including large numbers of homeless, are unaware of benefits to which they are entitled and which they desperately need.

The National Coalition for the Homeless has urged the adoption of a three-part federal program against homelessness; emergency relief to ease immediate suffering; preventive measures to stem the increase in homelessness, and long-term solutions to address underlying causes.

Response requires action at both the executive and legislative levels, with the executive branch recognizing that homelessness is a national crisis, the coalition said.

Acknowledgement of this reality should be followed by establishing a right to shelter, enforcement of existing programs and the funding of housing programs, the report said.