wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Day 1 of moderator's tour: sew stirring

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Note #8224 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04215
May 6, 2004

Day 1 of moderator's tour: sew stirring

Andrews hurriedly surveys 'beautiful' expressions of the gospel

by John Filiatreau

ALBUQUERQUE, NM - In physics, a moderator is a substance used in a nuclear
reactor to slow things down. In the Presbyterian Church (USA), a moderator is
a force that operates at hyperspeed and is never at rest.

	The incumbent, the Rev. Susan Andrews, has been on fast-forward for
11 months, attending 15 national conferences, visiting 85 presbyteries, 15
synods and nine Presbyterian-related seminaries in this country and touring
extensively in Africa and South America - showing up fresh, pleasant and
knowledgeable at every stop. She said she's been on the road "95 percent of
the time" since her election last May.

If the clock in her cell phone didn't automatically adjust itself to local
time, she'd have tennis elbow from resetting her watch. She packs a suitcase
that always weighs 50 pounds, the airlines' maximum, give or take a pound or
two of paperwork.

Andrews, who before last summer's 215th General Assembly was "merely" a
pastor in Bethesda, MD, calls herself an "ambassador, storyteller and
peacemaker for the denomination." She was in this dusty brown city last week
to kick off the moderator's annual tour of U.S. missions, which this year
made its way around the Southwestern United States > to Albuquerque; Austin,
TX; Fort Myers, FL; Immokalee, FL; and Miami.

Everywhere she went, Andrews met Presbyterians serving the gospel in steadily
"browning," multicultural, multilingual communities - representatives of the
"incredibly creative and chaotic" work and worship that she says have renewed
her hopes for the denomination during her traveling year.

Five days, five cities, five airports, seven flights, 15 appearances, one
sermon, a dozen off-the-cuff speeches, a thousand handshakes, and a smile
that communicates in any language.

One gospel.

The unofficial theme seemed to be from John 10:10, where Jesus the good
shepherd says, "I came that they might have life, and have it abundantly."

The tour, on which Andrews was accompanied by the Rev. Curtis Kearns,
director of the PC(USA)'s National Ministries Division, began on April 26 at
the Southwestern Creations Collaborative (SCC), where a group of impoverished
Hispanic women have parlayed a 1994 grant from the PC(USA)'s Self Development
of People (SDOP) program into a $400,000-a-year business and a vastly more
abundant life.

In a quonset hut on a sun-scrubbed industrial lot in Albuquerque, a dozen
women sat behind industrial sewing machines and expansive tables, cutting,
stitching, gluing, embroidering, labeling, packaging, assembling. SCC, which
specializes in small-batch manufacturing, rules its niche, one worker said,
because "we have incredible quality here."

"It is really about dignity," said Susan Matteucci, SCC's founder and
executive director. "It has always been about that. ... We started by talking
about what were some of women's values as women, as mothers, as community
members."

SCC's 29 full-time workers make $9 to $17 an hour. They get two weeks of paid
leave, on-site day care (at 25 cents an hour), and classes in English, child
and family development, health and "financial literacy." There are programs
to help them earn GEDs and become U.S. citizens. Those who need it can get
counseling for domestic violence or referrals to community health programs.

"No health benefits," said Andrea Plaza, director of operations. "Not yet."

The enterprise began when Matteucci, a community organizer from Chicago newly
arrived in New Mexico, announced at San Jose Catholic Church that she was
looking for women interested in learning to sew or improving their skills.
She expected about five women. Sixty-five showed up. Ten of that original
group still work at SCC; two others have left and started small businesses of
their own.

"I don't know how to sew," confessed Matteucci, who said she has learned
through experience "to let these women figure out what to do, and have high
expectations," and stay out of the way. "I'm the only one here who doesn't
know how to do anything."

SCC started by setting up its sewing machines and cutting boards in the
Catholic church's parish hall, taking the tables apart and storing the
equipment on the weekends so other could share the space. The collaborative
moved into its current cramped quarters in 1996, and needs a larger home.
(When SCC landed a contract to produce thousands of hand puppets recently, it
barely had room for the "eyeball machine" it needed.) The adjacent day care
center is in an old trailer whose white paint is chipping off under the
baking desert sun.

"We're growing," Plaza said.  "I mean, we're growing growing growing. ... In
the past week, we've taken on six more people - and we'll probably retain
three of them. And lately we've even had a little bit of overtime."

It's a full-tilt, year-round operation these days, and that's good for
morale. "Actually, people are happiest when there is almost too much work to
do, when we are totally slammed and busy," Plaza said.

She displayed a small box containing three neatly ribbon-tied sachets of
sweet-smelling herbs. They cost $1.92 to make and sell for $14 in high-end
stores.

"I'll bet $7 goes to the CEO of that corporation," Andrews mutered.

"Our focus is keeping and adding good jobs," says Matteucci. "We ask
ourselves what the women need in their lives, and try to provide it."

Matteucci, who describes herself as a "cultural Catholic," said SCC is "a
spiritual project."

"Our guiding principles and values are spiritual," she said. "I'm always
amazed at the faith of the women here."

Keeping the business in the black, Matteucci said, is a matter of paying
close attention to expenses: "It's about pennies. People say, 'I love your
mission,' then beat us up for a penny."

One of the women said told Andrews: "In the past, I didn't have confidence in
me and my abilities. I thought I could only work in caring for kids. This has
been amazing for me. I'm a single mother with five kids, and I'm very happy
to be here, because I can learn more. I can have my kids here. I have more
money, because we have good salaries here. And all these people around us are
like our family."

The collaborative's board of directors is composed of employees.

"The whole thing brings tears to my eyes," Andrews said. "It's such a
beautiful story. ... Thank you for the work you're doing."

Later, the moderator visited Albuquerque's La Mesa Presbyterian Church, whose
pastor, the Rev. Trey Hammond, is among the leaders of Albuquerque
Interfaith, a non-profit coalition of faith groups, unions and schools active
in justice and development issues. Albuquerque Interfaith is funded through
the Presbyterian Hunger Program.

The night before Andrews' visit, Hammond, a former director of urban
ministries on the PC(USA) national staff, had had about 300 people at his
church for a forum on the city budget. They demanded higher wages for public
employees, better public schools, and development policies that help the
city's older neighborhoods.

Hammond said his congregation's activism is an attempt to "put legs on what
we believe," and reflects the congregation's commitment to its neighborhood,
where 80 percent of residents are in families headed by first-generation
Spanish-speaking immigrants. When other congregations moved to the suburbs,
La Mesa held fast.

"When the opportunity came to relocate, we didn't do it," Hammond said with
pride. "And we're not principally professional people who come with big bank
accounts. People here took their retirement savings and loaned them to the
church."

In 1988, La Mesa set out to provide full-time care for the children in its
impoverished, multi-ethnic neighborhood, creating the tuition-free La Mesa
Early Childhood Center for kids 6 weeks to 3 years old. The church renovated
some of its facilities with a grant from the PC(USA)'s Bicentennial Fund, and
installed a sprinkler system and built a playground with money from the
Presbyterian Women's Thank Offering.

On Thanksgiving, when the church serves about 2,000 meals through its Feast
of Hope program, Hammond said, "We try not to have a serving side of the
table and a dining side."

La Mesa Presbyterian is also the site of a truancy prevention program and
"homework club," Building Healing Communities for Children (BHCC), in which
high-school students serve as mentors to younger children with chronic
school-attendance problems.

"The teen-agers are able to have a job, basically, that is very compelling,
and these kids, one of the things that inspired me from the beginning was
their love and their eagerness to work," said Manuel Ruiz, BHCC's director.
"Often what the younger kids need is someone to listen, to show some interest
and care about them. Some of (the program's success) is just the older kids'
behavior being modeled by the children. ...

"A lot of our kids know no other world than what they call the 'war zone.'
... This program gives them inspiration, and something to shoot for."

The four-day-a-week after-school program also offers exercises in
team-building and conflict resolution, recreation, and lots of what Ruiz
calls "empathic listening."

Andrews listened empathically as Ruiz went on: "Our major funding is running
out this summer. The (New Mexico) Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency
Prevention gave us one-third of what we asked for."

BHCC is looking for other sources of funding.

 "There's incredible caring within our church family," Hammond said. "We're
small enough to really get to know people - all of the people. We try to
focus on serious issues of the day. ... We believe we really can shape public
policy."

Andrews also visited the not-yet-open-for-business Albuquerque Opportunity
Center, a brand-new, 10,000-square-foot, 110-bed multi-purpose shelter for
homeless men.

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