28.09.2016
Shout About Injustice of Homelessness From the Rooftops – Church and Society Seminar Hears
“Ten thousand people would pass me every day but not one of them would see me.” These words on what it is like to be homeless were shared by Glenn Cronin at the Church and Society Commission of the Church of Ireland seminar on homelessness on Monday September 26. Glenn, who is a graduate of Tiglin Challenge, spoke alongside Phil Thompson of Tiglin, Fr Peter McVerry and David Carroll of Depaul Ireland at the seminar for clergy and faith leaders of all denominations which took place in Griffith College.
Speakers at the event highlighted the importance of treating people who are experiencing homelessness with dignity whether at a personal level as people engage with homeless people or at a service provision level in the quality of services available. Fr McVerry posed the question: “If you have always been at the receiving end then what does that do for your dignity?” Throughout the morning those present were challenged to think about what they could do to highlight the injustice of homelessness.
In his opening remarks, Archbishop Michael Jackson, suggested that there remains insufficient connection between the concept of economic recovery, the enactment of the common good and the true plight of individuals and families. He spoke of frustration at the limitation of the noun ‘homelessness’. “There is a person or a family at the heart of the word to whom the abstract noun does not do justice to the public and private panic,” he stated. He said the seminar offered an opportunity to discern by listening, inform our prayer for those who are homeless, make contact and connection with experts, and return to parishes changed by information and inspiration.
Tiglin Challenge provides residential and day programmes for people struggling with addiction and an aftercare service providing safe, step down, residential accommodation. They also run the No Bucks Café bus which offers friendship and food to homeless people at night in the greater Dublin area. Phil Thompson, Tiglin’s CEO, explained that 72 percent of the people they see have been homeless during their addiction. “Tiglin addresses the reason they became homeless and addresses the reason they are in addiction. It is a wrap around service which helps people to successfully exit homelessness or addiction and bring out their full potential.”
Glenn Cronin described his journey to addiction and homelessness. He explained that not all homeless people are visible – he stayed on friends’ sofas before moving to a squat. He described how it felt to beg for money. “My patch was at the bank machine on Baggot Street, sitting on the cold concrete underneath the bank machine so full of shame. The lowest point of my life was sitting underneath the bank machine. Ten thousand people would pass you every day but no one would see you. That was difficult to realise – you’re just going to disappear and no one will realise,” he said.
Glenn arrived in Tiglin in 2010. After graduating from the programme he moved to supported accommodation in Greystones and went to college. He is now a self employed engineer. Asked how people can engage with people who are begging, Glenn said there is a huge barrier but showing a bit of love was key. “Someone talking to you means they have seen you… I’ve seen the power of change in my life… It’s that love that will pull down the barriers of all the broken and lost people. Ninety–nine percent of the time you will get brushed off but you might reach one,” he commented. On the issue of whether to give money to people who are beggin or not, Phil said he chooses to buy them a cup of tea and if he has €2 he will give it to them. He had come to the view that if people need money to buy drugs they’ll get it anyway and you might save the person doing something wrong to get the money.
Fr Peter McVerry outlined the background to the setting up of the Peter McVerry Trust. The trust now has 14 hostels in Dublin and one in Newbridge along with a number of programmes for drug treatment and stabilisation and a drop in centre and apartments for homeless people. He said that the first and most important thing individuals and church communities could do was to engage with homeless people. “Our dignity depends on our ability to contribute. Homeless people are always on the receiving end, what does that do for their dignity?” he asked. “Get to know homeless people. Build that relationship. Don’t just buy them a sandwich. How do you know they want a sandwich? Go and ask them what they want. If they ask for money, give them money – if they’re on drugs their going to get money anyway.”
Addressing the Churches’ responsibility Fr McVerry said there were five fundamental rights – food, health, education, work and a home. The most fundamental of these, he said, was the right to a home because having no home affected access to all the others. “As Churches we declare that every single human being is a child of God. If we preach this on a Sunday but do not struggle to affirm the dignity of every single human being during the rest of the week, then what we say on Sunday is empty. We as Churches should be screaming from the rooftops about the injustice of this, an injustice that is the denial of the dignity of the person… As a Church our role is to reveal God to the world. You can only reveal a God of compassion by being the compassion of God and in some way responding at local level. It’s a real opportunity for clusters of parishes to respond,” he stated.
Director of Services and Development with Depaul Ireland, David Carroll, brought perspectives on homelessness from north and south of the border. “We should as a society want to end homelessness. We can be overwhelmed but we must believe that there is an end goal,” he stated. Depaul works in four areas: homelessness and families, prevention of homelessness, homelessness and addiction and criminal justice and mental health. He commended the Government’s rapid build programme but said it was not ambitious enough. He said the key issues to examine were how to stop people becoming homeless and how to get them out of dormitory accommodation fast. He said that the Government needed to outline a long term approach spanning a 20 to 30 year period.
He suggested that Churches could provide moral and ethical leadership and speak out about homelessness. He added that Churches could continue their partnerships within communities and between parishes and organisations dealing with homelessness. Churches could also provide pastoral support to people experiencing homelessness and could encourage people to volunteer. He encouraged clergy to communicate the message of homelessness to their congregations.
In his closing remarks, the Revd Adrian Dorian, chairperson of the Church and Society Commission, said that the speakers had been inspirational. He highlighted the importance of dignity and recognising the image of God in others. He suggested that one of the challenges governments faced was to see that homelessness is not an economic issue but an issue about people. “I suggest that you think about what you can do and recognise what that might be,” he said before encouraging people to go and see what organisations dealing with homelessness do, pray in an informed way, recognise that Churches have a privileged position to speak and be advocates for homeless people.
Photo captions:
Top – Glenn Cronin (Tiglin Graduate), Phil Thompson (CEO Tiglin), Fr Peter McVerry (Peter McVerry Trust), David Carroll (Director of Services and Development Depaul) and the Revd Adrian Dorian (Chaiperson of CASC).
Bottom – David Carroll (Director of Services and Development Depaul) and the Revd Adrian Dorian (Chaiperson of CASC) speaking at the seminar on homelessness.