Everyone Has a Right to See the Pope
Project HOME’s special outreach to homeless people during the Pope’s visit
Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia in late September will entail a staggering amount of security, which will create disruptions in almost every aspect of civic life for a few days. One specific area of concern is how this will impact the hundreds of individuals who are homeless on the streets of Center City, especially in the high-security area of the Ben Franklin Parkway.
From the beginning, the World Meeting of Families (which is hosting the Pope’s visit) has been concerned about this. Pope Francis’s visit to the Philippines in February prompted a complete sweep and dislocation of those hundreds of poor and homeless people in Manila – deeply ironic in light of the Pope’s deep compassion for the poor. The WMOF Hunger and Homeless Committee, co-chaired by Project HOME’s Executive Director S. Mary Scullion, is working to make sure that doesn’t happen in Philadelphia.
Marc Wise is a resident of Project HOME’s St. Elizabeth’s Recovery Residence. Along with several other Project HOME residents, he is part of a special outreach team which even now, months before the papal visit, is going out to the streets to talk to people living alongside the Parkway area. “I am one of those people who came from the streets. I was out there. I know half of those people. Now I want to tell them that there is a better way. They can change their lives.”
Under the leadership of Carol Thomas, director of Project HOME’s Outreach Coordination Center, these teams are informing the people on the streets about the security issues, listening to their fears and concerns, and dialoguing with them about how they can be part of the events or how they might access possible alternatives during those hectic days when up to a million and a half visitors are expected on the Parkway.
There is no question that voices like Marc and many others who have been on the streets are more compelling and trusted by persons who are out there now. “I have always wanted to be out there with outreach, and this is my chance to give back,” comments Marc. “We are letting people know what will happen. We believe that everyone has a right to see the pope, and there should be no displacement. The question is how to do this safely. We will be having a lot of conversations with people out there.”
Marc Wise understands that it sometimes takes many invitations and second chances for people to stabilize their lives. “I’ve been at St. Elizabeth’s seven months, but this is my second time there. Before, I’d met Sister Mary in her outreach at Suburban Station. I came to St. E’s, got a good job, and got caught up in all that money and did not keep the discipline. I did not get involved in the entire Project HOME community and opportunities. I thought money would answer all my problems. I relapsed; my mother died; and that put me over the edge. I was on the streets again.
Even after his relapse, Marc kept in touch with Project HOME and its outreach teams. “Staff here gave me the courage to come back. Now, I am trying to get involved in everything, and to really change inside.”
His mission of outreach to his homeless brothers and sisters for the Pope’s visit is an important part of how this City is trying to truly express the vision of mercy and justice that Pope Francis so powerfully conveys. It is also part of his own ongoing transformation.
“Now I know that if I don’t deal with what is inside of me, nothing will really change,” Marc says. “I am trying to do things that I never tried to do. The more I try to do for people, the more I am able to do.”
