Transformations

Ater much prayer and thought, it has been decided that Tau House will no longer be a place where regular worship services take place.

The Tau Rose

The garden at Tau House has always been a focal point for our community. It's a green postage stamp nestled between Tau House itself, two neighbors and a massive brick wall that in another era separated the world from the Carmelite sisters. One neighboring building is much taller than Tau and has several apartments in it. When I look up from our garden, especially at night, I am sometimes reminded of Blanche Dubois' place in the Quarter. There are little balconies, clotheslines and every now and then a moment of music drifts down from someone's radio.

I never cease to be amazed at what these little courtyard gardens are able to accomplish with a couple hours of sunlight, water, and an occasional shot of Miracle

Gro. Without care, they become jungles of vines that eat away at whatever is in their way. With care, an incredible array of colors, shapes and textures mingle and respect each other.

Roses don't often do well in the climate of New Orleans. It's too warm, too humid. Fungus takes its toll on the rose plant. We have one rose in our garden. For most of the year it's the proverbial stick in the mud. Fr. Ralph told me someone gave it to him years ago. He didn't know what to do with it so he stuck it in the ground near the pond. I don't know if he was aware that that spot gets the most sunlight of all in our garden. It is much less than the six hours that defines "full sun." Perhaps it gets three hours. So our plant manages to store whatever energy comes its way. Last year it graced us with three or four blooms during the month of December. What you see at right was the best. Lo, how a rose....

On Sundays at 4:15 a wonderful gathering of colors, music, people of all shapes and sizes and beliefs happens at Tau House. Please join us for prayer.

Forum for Equality

Sr. Ann and I recently met with representatives from the Forum for Equality, Mary Griggs and Frank Flaspohler. The Forum is a civil rights organization dedicated to the establishment of a society free from discrimination. In an effort to work more closely with area faith communities they had contacted us and wanted to get a feel for what goes on at Tau House. Result: Tau will be listed and recommended as a place where the LGBT community is welcomed and accepted. Of course we knew that all along, but it’s nice to know there’s an organization like the Forum getting the word out for us. There’s a link to their site in the right hand column.

God Dreams

ADVENT WORKSHOP

On Wednesday evenings in Advent we'll be taking a look at Archbishop Desmond Tutu's book God Has a Dream. We'll be listening to sections of the book as read by the archbishop. A Soup & Bread supper as well as discussion time round out the evening.

Maybe this is the reason you need to get back to Tau House.

Come on back and pick up where you left off.

Wednesdays in December

(2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd)

6 to 8 PM.

November

All The Saints

A place of beauty and prayer, the courtyard at Tau House also triggers our memories every time we touch the names engraved at our feet. The firm foundation on which we walk almost gives way as memory transports us backward and forward. Oh, how I wanna be in that number….

Every now and then it is good to name the names. Every year for this ever-so-New Orleans Feast Day we begin our prayer in this holy place. Below are listed all those who have been important to someone at Tau and whose names are inscribed there. If by chance you notice that a name is missing from this list please let us know.

George L. Anderson

Joann Joy Arambasich and Bro.Ed’s family

Julie Arbaud

Barry Coyle, OFM

Blaine Family, Adele, Pierre, Elaine

Tom Boderlon

Alan Bose

Troy Brown

Tony Chabera

Mr. F. P. Coogan Sr.

Merlin Douth

Catherine Dunne

Mike Early

Fasnacht Family

Patrick Fogarty

Dee Dee, Gendusa Family

Bruce Gillen

Godchaux & Bruce Families

Fran & Larry Green

Paul Aaron Greensberg

Stephanie Hall and parents

Louise and Bennett Voorhies

Daryl Hancock

Dr Daniel Herrera

Cecelia Hodge

Sr. Jane Kraus, CSJ

Kenneth Kuhn

Lasseigne Family

Jutta Latterman

Erick C Lee

Lin & Eli

Charles and Mary Mallinson

Simone Mallinson

Patrick McCarthy

Eduardo Marvez-Valle

Louis Masset Family

Edward and Elizabeth McElha

Doug Massey

Tom Murphy

Terry Murata

Paul and Joe Nicholson

Gratian Nosal OFM

Joseph William Parrino

May and Zig Pawell, Fr. Bob’s parents

Ismael Pena

Danny Perry

A. Pratt R Provosty

P. Provosty & children

Chester and Lillian Robichaux

Hugh and Loretta Roddy

William Romine

Kelly A Ryan & Family

Jim Shepard

Robert Shepard

Smith Family

Tim Snyder

Todd Taylor

Bette Taylor

Renza Terrebonne

Wendel Zane Thompson

Anna Tomeczek

Kevin Viola

Jessie Walker III

Mike Wech

Wech & Ferris Families

Esther B Wessel

Louis A Wessel

Robert Wessel

Margaret M Wessel

Linda A. Wessel

Chuck West

Wiesbrook Family

Mr. & Mrs. H. H. Winn

Mr. H.H. Winn Jr

Arthur Wojciechowski

Reggie Young

Summer Reflections...

Mathias on the windmill

Our mini-hayride

This past summer, Henri, a member of the Tau House community, spent some time with me up in Ohio. He offers his reflections below.

The great thing about vacations is that they give memories meant to last. Since it still feels like summer in New Orleans, I think it's still OK that I offer a blog here about mine.

Being from New Orleans I have already done: hurrications with Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike. Also staycations (they’re cheap and I really like my own bed a lot!). But this time I did it all differently and I actually did a vacation.

Billy Edwards invited me up to his family's place called Crystal BrookFarm, near Chagrin Falls, Ohio. It’s some 40 "motorist" minutes outside of Cleveland. I've

never been to Ohio. He invited me and is a gracious host. I needed to just see someplace new, to change my mind and the scenery. It's been a year since the house is repaired and we are back in it. So with those and so many other good reasons, I took the plane up to Ohio.

Is it cloying to say this was all a miracle for me? A different way of seeing my world? The day before I left, I went to visit a friend I met years ago on a Handicap Encounter Christ retreat. The miracle began when it turned out by accident and coincidence that of all the days I chose to see Mike again after 5 years, it was his birthday. I brought him a nice journaling book so my gift was a birthday gift and this was the first time that he, his mom and I all found ourselves in the same place. After she left, he treated me to dinner where we both didn't eat the liver.

I hadn't flown since ’02. and didn't feel like going through the TSA screening, but I was able to bring some of the blueberries for snacking that I had picked and also tea bags of my preference so it wasn't bad.

I landed at Akron/Canton airport some 5 hours later after changing planes in Atlanta. Billy picked me up. There at the farm waited Mathias Verheyen and his sisters Desiree and Sophie who had arrived the day before. All of us at Tau had met Mathias this past Mardi Gras. (Cf. blog entry below “Southern Hospitality”.) Here he was again, this time with his sisters, making a month long tour of the Midwest and Metropolitan corridors. This was a treat for them especially since Mathias had completed his soup kitchen work, Desiree had just graduated from university and Sophie had found a job in her field of counseling. It was also a treat for me to see Mathias again and to be here at Billy's family's farm after all these years knowing him only in New Orleans because of Tau House. I was here for all these good reasons and not out of the drama of the crisis of fleeing for one's own life.

So it was fun to so many different degrees: encouraging Sophie in her English as she encouraged me in my German; going to Chagrin Falls and checking out the waterfalls; shopping at an Amish farm road side stand for some fresh produce for the traditional German meal they would cook for us. Just looking out over lake Erie for the first time and just doing it though we were tired and couldn't decide what else to do. Walking through Cleveland on a beautiful sunny day (without New Orleans' humidity!) with Mathias thinking we could make the long trek on foot from Tower City down to the Museum of Art then but then deciding to take the bus instead. Meeting Billy's parents. Having the calm and silence at the farm interrupted twice by honking Canada Geese arriving to rest on the pond then also departing for their next leg of their journey. Taking a hayride and witnessing the chutzpah of youth as Mathias climbed up a windmill. Just being able to gaze out on a field, a pond and woods, noticing different butterflies and flowering plants that are indigenous to this part of North America. Picking flowers out the field - of which Queen Anne's Lace I had never seen before - for the place setting for the traditional meal of Kartoffelsalat mit Frikadel that Mathias, Desiree and Sophie prepared. And just enjoying this final meal with them on Saturday evening. They would leave early Sunday morning by Greyhound bus for NYC. Waiting with them at the station I was remembering how it was for me when I was that age and traveled around Europe with friends after we had completed our studies abroad...

The Falls at Chagrin Falls, Ohio

I was on my way to Columbus to see a friend who couldn't return to New Orleans because of Katrina and her health. The next miracle for me was that I accepted the complicated circumstances of what I would go through to get to see her, if only for just a couple of hours. I let go of what would be comfortable or the ideal situation for me and in the end I figured it out. I said good-bye to Mathias, Desiree and Sophie at 2:30 a.m. and then waited for my bus to leave at 4:30 a.m.

Henri André Fourroux III

With Billy's Family

Making Hay

Most of the regulars at Tau House know that I'm up in Ohio being a farmer and landscaper for my regular 5 month stint. We've just finished getting in our first cutting of hay and I thought I'd share a few photos. Haymaking is prayer for me. Instead of beads on a rosary I have row after row of hay to deal with. With each row I call to mind a different person.

So here's the process... The machine below is called a haybine. It cuts the grass at its base. It only cuts it once (not like a lawnmower). It then pushes the hay through those big black rollers where it is crushed and bent so that it will dry more easily. It then spits it out the back.

On the 2nd day of the process the hay is "tedded". This machine spins around and turns the hay over so that what is still wet is exposed to the sun for a day or so.

On the 3rd day, the hay is raked back into rows and then the baler picks it up, compresses it, cuts it into rectangles, and spits it out the back. Our baler has a "kicker" on the back which throws the bales into the wagon that is attached behind the baler.

In the video below you'll see my faithful coworkers who accompany me in the tractor. They make sure the wheels keep going around!

Video