May 2013
Dear Friends of Jonah House,
We are in a spirit of CELEBRATION! June 1, 2013 marks 40 years since the original Jonah House community began its life together in Baltimore. June 1, 2013 also marks 18 years since the community moved, as a whole, from the Park Ave. row-house to St. Peter’s Cemetery and the house that peacemakers from all over the world helped to build. This summer Jonah House Community of Resistance will have new members to continue peace-making and caretaking the cemetery. Amy and Ted Nee-Walker with Amber and Kevin Mason will be here forming a new part of the beloved community. Amy and Ted come to Jonah House from Mary House Catholic Worker in New York and Amber and Kevin from Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in Washington DC.
Through all these years we have known deep gratitude to all who lent assistance to us spiritually and in the building of this wonderful center for retreats, prayer, gatherings, labor sessions and community-building. The first day of autumn, Saturday, Sept. 21, 2013, we will host an Open House to celebrate the years past and those to come. Please come if at all possible. Be part of making his/her story a reality. We have selected this date as a time for you to meet the new members (they will, by then, be moved in and begun getting their new home in order).
Also, during the open house, you will be invited to visit the house next door – the former caretaker’s cottage – 1303 Moreland Ave. where Liz, Carol and Ardeth will begin separate community living and more active ministry. In our new elder status, we will be available when needed to enkindle a smooth transition. But mostly, we will be getting out of their way as much and as soon as possible.
We came to you in the early 1990’s for monetary and personal assistance to begin this new venture and build the new Jonah House on this land. It has been a profound and fruitful time; we’ve grown food – for our own use and to share with needy people in our neighborhood; we’ve directed retreats for college students during their breaks, for adults during seasons of faith and conscience, for people considering nonviolent direct actions. We’ve continued to prepare for and direct the Faith and Resistance retreats with Dorothy Day CW and the Atlantic Life Community, and we prize both our daily and our weekly study and prayer circles; we’ve developed these 22 acres into a place of beauty and peace in a struggling neighborhood.
Thank you for all the years during which your fidelity has brought light to the darkness and your loving encouragement has been a profound support for all who have been part of Jonah House in the past. We trust that you will continue to be with us all in the same way in the future.
Prayers and love,
Liz, Carol, Ardeth
[Liz McAlister, Sr. Carol Gilbert, Sr. Ardeth Platte]