Friday, March 27, 2015

Detroit March 28th March for Justice

From Chene Park to MLK High School from 12 Noon. www.marchforjustice2015.com Join me. L. Ventline VENT-Line Interfaith Center for Coaching/Counseling 2231 Caniff Ave. Hamtramck, MI 48212 (313) 530 2777

Need a Job in Michigan?

Contact MICHIGAN WORKS! for work, please, or, attend 4th Monday of the month from 2-4 pm in the Macomb-Clinton Library on Gratiot, north of 15 Mile Road to hear representatives on Job seeker communications Landing your job Engaging social media Interviewing Be blessed. You need land only one job and God is already there! Try Focus:HOPE Detroit also for job training, manufacturing and more. Focus:HOPE has a proven record of helping people since the riot in 1968, almost 50 years ago in Detroit. Father Lawrence Matthew Ventline 2231 Caniff Avenue Hamtramck, Michigan 48212 313 530 2777

Friday, March 20, 2015

HIRING - APPLY WITHIN

Amazing grace! Put that sign in the window at VENT-Line Interfaith Center for Coacing and Counseling and what a flurry of activity. God help us! Indeed! Little did the curious know that the hiring is for folks to walk on Jos. Campau Avenue in Hamtramck, Michigan, USA, to share Good News. That's it! Good News. God's. That is. For sure. With the center open now and the call for others to join in and help with Good News is crucial. Familiy is fledgling. Singles are the most populated people in the U.S.A. Do they commit? Are they divorcing? What gives? Good News. I need it. You? And, more.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Spring in the Air

It may be cooler and colder than yesterday in Michigan, but, I will take the sunshine and brisk, blowing wind over the snow and sleet of the past weeks.

Even people I meet on Joseph Campau Avenue in Hamtramck,, Michigan seem happier and more engaging.  One guy even shouted out across the street to me:  "Hey, I need a cup of coffee!"

Life is in air, or spring's coming, or . . .

Life unfolding with people out of hibernation of winter.

I like it.

And, on this St. Patrick's Day amid Lent's final couple of weeks, I'm happy to take what I get at my age from God.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Great Grief in Hamtramck, Michigan

In the small town of Hamtramck, Michigan, nestled next to Detroit and Highland Park, the 2.2 square mile City is grieving the removal of its popular Police Chief, Maxwell Garbarino.

The 35-year-old University of Detroit doctor of law was told by the City Manager to hand over his gun, badge, ID, and computer over a week ago, allegedly without reason other than rumored hints of Internet issues.

The following Monday the chief appeared at a City Council meeting to get answers about Garbarino's removal.  Few were revealed, although the chief was seen in a photo talking with a TV reporter speaking for himself.

When accusations are implied, one needs to speak for one's self to clear the air.

"It's like having my heart pulled out of my chest," said the decades-long security official who rose through the ranks after a decade on the beat.

However, his term ended last Wednesday when the city manager announced Garbarino's resignation.

Found among residents, at community meetings, and more, neighbors who knew their chief well are writing notes detailing their fond memories of him.

Grief is like that.

It's like the Detroit/Windsor tunnel.

Getting through it, I mean.

I look toward the light at the end of that tube.

It takes time, however.

People's hearts connect.

Humans in Hamtramck like each other.

That's how that town has flourished over decades since thousands of immigrants came to work in the auto factories there in the 50s.

Polish food, and more things Polish.

Over fifty nations are now represented in Hamtramck.

Diversity soars and people get along.

"Diversity is and isn't working," Garbarino told a crowd weeks ago in the Hamtramck Public Library.

"We get it right but not always," he confessed to crowd at a town hall meeting on Caniff Avenue, blocks east of the I-75 Interchange that included concerns about ISIS from the Global Alliance for Termination of Al Quada, also.

People are there for each other in their terrible grieving and loss.

They are.

Just as Police Chief Garbarino was there for the heart-broken community for more than a dozen years as a protector.

Grief.

It may take months to recover.


Paddy's Day

Druids clans captured the son of a Roman deacon, the tale be told.

Patrick escaped to France from Ireland.  In France, he studied to be a priest.

Then, Patrick, returned to the Green Isle to get the snakes and serpents out of Ireland.

Consequently, March 17, marks Saint Patrick's Day, a patronal feast day sandwiched into the Christian penitential season of Lent, meaning "springtime," and Saint Joseph's Day, the 24-hour celebration of what Polish people claim as "our saint."

However, either day amid intense prayer, fasting and charitable giving is welcomed by believer.

This 40-day period that ends at Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday, a day before Good Friday when bells sound loud and church lights illuminate edifices across the universe.

In the end, however, after all is said and done, Easter Sunday, April 5th, triumphs over Lent with 50 days to celebrate Christ's resurrection from the dead.

That's Good News.

And, that is central to Christian theology, the distinguished study of God by women and men across the planet(s).

Any way, Saint Patrick's Day can be extreme with green beer, whiskey and many toxic ways that could be sinful for celebrators of Patrick.

Take Sunday, for example, as I walked among and worked the crowd at Michigan Avenue/Trumbull, and beyond with a parishioner from the second-oldest Catholic Church in the U.S., Saint Anne, by the Ambassador Bridge, revelers were numb from beer by 1 pm when we arrived to greet the faithful.

Ah....the humanity in all of us!

And, Patrick, who gets blamed for most of the mess and debris left in the streets.


Friday, March 6, 2015

Ambiguity

Embracing life with its ambiguities and all is critical for satisfaction, it seems to me.

Unless one accepts moments of desolation and consolation, he or she will struggle and be frustrated.

Like the roller-coaster ride at the Edgewater Park on 7 Mile Road near Telegraph, life has its ups and downs to be sure.

Embracing such ambiguous times and experiences facilitates daily living.

Monday, March 2, 2015

When Death Strikes

When death trikes, one better be ready.

Or else.

A regular prayer Monday leader at the jail died last week, and, his demise has me wondering about his passing ever since.

Death is like that.

It is.

It surprises when it comes suddenly.

It may even anger some survivors.

It does, however, weigh upon me.

It does.

He was a dedicated visitor and Bible study leaders at the jail right up until he could no longer show up at the jail.

When one gets into the 70s, you have to wonder, but. . .

Death does come like a tief in the night.

And, it works on one like it is on me.

Grief is like that.

It is a process.

And, it takes one through a dark tunnel like the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel.

I can't wait to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I can't.