1984-04-10

              The

April 10, 1984

Volume 97

ecord

Number 6

Collegeville, MN

Zoning

threatens

Donovan

house

By Julio Ojeda

The Jean Donovan Catholic Worker House, located at 315 North 8 Avenue in St. Cloud, was established late last year as a community of Catholics living out Christ's message of peace. One way the five founders apply their beliefs is by taking in the homeless as their guests, offering them a meal and a bed for the night.

The Catholic workers consider themselves to be a family in the true sense of the word; their hospitality is the same any other family would offer its guests. But the City Planning Director of St. Cloud disapproved, and cited the house for violating a zoning ordinance designed to keep "transients" out of residential neighborhoods.

According to the city's interpetation of the ordinance, the Catholic worker house would fall under the same classification as hotels, boarding houses, and government funded agencies such as orphanages and shelters for battered women.

The Catholic workers, in an attempt to demonstrate that their house does not violate the ordinance, first met with the St. Cloud Planning Commission on March 13. The commission studied the case and unanimously decided that the house should be classified as a private home under the zoning ordinances.

The workers then appeared before theZoning Board of Appeals on March 21. There, St. Cloud Legal Service attornies Dan Ward, OSB, and Ann CofeH argued that the Catholic worker house is like any other home in the city and not a commercial establishment or government agency.

Ward pointed out that the Catholic worker house is not a government agency because it receives no government funds; it relies entirely on donations of money, food, household goods and labor. Nor, he said, is it a motel because the house certainly does not charge its guests any money.

The main difficulty in the case, however, was in establishing whether the house is atransient facility. Ward insisted that the Jean Donovan House should be considered a private residence that takes in guests much as any other home would.

Maggie Cashman, one of the five founders of the Jean Donovan House and a CSB alum, compared the house to the Safehomes of St. Cloud, where private citizens take into their homes battered women and children. Though these Safehomes exist in all zones of the city, the City Planning Director has never questioned their right to take in these guests.

Donovan     continued on page 6

Ora et labora

Photo by Mark Bellingham

At the ground-breaking ceremony for the renovation of the Auditorium, Abbot Jerome Theisen, President Hilary Thimmesh, and Donald Lemay, OSB, each got their turn to wield the golden spade.

The discussion continues: ROTC decision pending

By John Rosengren

A formal discussion regarding the appropriateness of the ROTC program at SJU was held at St. John's on March 26.The second of this academic year, the panel was formed as a result of President Hilary Thimmesh's urging for further dialogue on the issue, and was sponsored by the Campus Ministry Office. His official decision concerning the topic should be forthcoming later this month.

Both sides were equally represented by the eight member panel". The four members opposed to ROTC at SJU were Bernard Evans, School of Theology faculty member; John Reilly, SJU senior; Columba Stewart, OSB, School of Theology faculty member; and Rob Culligan, Admissions counselor and SJU alum. Panel members supportive of ROTC on campus were Robert Spaeth, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Mike Ford, St. Cloud attorney and SJU and ROTC alum; Steve Larson, SJU senior in the ROTC program; and LukeTerhaar, SJU and ROTC alum. Bill Franklin, Director of the Christian Humanism Project, was moderator of the discussion.

The topic discussed was "Does the sponsorship of the Reserve Officers Training Program at St. John's University constitute en-

dorsement of values opposed to the Christian and-Benedictine character of the University?" This same question was the basis of last year's presidents committee report which concluded by a 6-2 majority that the sponsorship of ROTC did oppose Christian and Benedictine values. Last week's discussion provided commentary on the committee and its report, as well as discussion of the question itself.

Thimmesh was pleased with the panel. He has encouraged public interest and expression of opinion regarding ROTC, because he wants to discern wheteher the committee was representative of the entire community.

Dean Spaeth began the panel discussion with the claim that the committee was not representative of the St. John's community. He believes that the majority opinion of the committee should not be used as grounds for expelling ROTC, "because the moral basis for the majority report is false to Christian tradition regarding military forces and to the true nature of military service itself." He continued, "The values of this academic and monastic community are best revealed by what we do and have done—many of us, over many years." Pointing to the SJU alumni and ROTC graduates who have performed honorably in the military, and the St. John's monks who have served as military chaplains, Spaeth concluded that "the vast majority of

this community's members have found their Christian and Benedictine values to be morally consistent with military service." In reference to the committee's majority opinion, Spaeth asserted, "no opinion of six people can change this record."

Bernard Evans offered a different perspective on Christian values. "Sponsorship of ROTC constitutes an endorsement of values which are in conflict with basic Christian values. One of those basic values is the promotion of reconciliation, peace, and especially the conditions necessary for peace." Because ROTC is a military program, Evans opposes it, claiming, "Military actions and military preparedness are often used to prevent the development of conditions necessary for peace." He maintained that the training of individuals for combat is "to confuse peace keeping with peace making." Believing that "our faith calls upon all of us, as individuals and institutions, to be engaged in peace making," Evans concluded, "If we choose to support ROTC at St. John's, I don't think that we can at the same time claim to be a university with a Christian character, for we are endorsing values opposed to fundamental imperatives of our faith."

Luke Terhaar (the only panel member who Discussion     continued on page 6