Our Archbishop

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OUTREACH MINISTRY in the inner cities of America is met with many challenges that other churches and ministries would find unfathomable if not impossible to address with any measure of adequacy.  The many aspects of any endeavor to “relieve human suffering” are daunting and overwhelming.  High crime rates and victimization, poor housing standards and conditions, poor education and low expectations are not the only risk factors; there are life-expectancy issues in which people just grow to expect worse than average mortality rates. Almost everyone who has grown up in Weinland Park, South Linden, Mylo-Grogan, or Whitehall Ohio has lost on average 2 to 3 friends per year to gunfire, drugs, or random violence. Homelessness, hunger, violence, victimization, go to Personal Safety issues. Low Education. People who suffer Clinical mental health issues of Chronic Traumatic Stress are part of our normal make up of patrons at our Soup Kitchen and crisis ministries. We thought that we would publish a series of brief but factual articles describing the ordinary life conditions of the people living in our neighborhoods.  Far beyond housing and employment issues, ordinary people grow up and exist in a fearful environment not unlike people living in a war zone.   Not knowing what to expect what the next moment will bring; living in a state of near panic, uncertainty, and dread for much of one’s life brings about a whole set of self-perpetuating, generational stressors and mindsets which only keep the cycle going far into the foreseeable future.