San Francsico's Tenderloin Street Ministry of Presence

Street Retreats
 

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Yes, there are streets in every city
and there can be Street Retreats in every city, too!

The streets are public places where we meet each other as equals and encounter the unknown as well as ourselves. They are often those places in our cities and towns we are told not to go, where those who are "not like us" live.

Two, and often three times a month, the ministry provides Street Retreats where people from all walks of life are invited to bear witness to the poverty and deprivation that exists on the streets. In this context opportunity is given for personal action and reflection.

This what it takes:

  •  At least on local leader familiar with the streets in your town and the people there.
  •  Your help in inviting local service providers and faith communities to participate.
  •  A commitment to continued reflection opportunities for participants.
  •  One night home stay, transportation costs, and an honorarium.

Deepening opportunities:

  •  Participation in the Sunday Worship after the Retreat
  •  Coordination with a performance of The Witness

San Francisco Street Retreats

Day-long street retreats are a primary element of the ministry of the Faithful Foots. Since July of 1998 more than 900 people have joined us for street retreats. They have come from as close as the Bay Area and as far as Idaho, Boston and Chicago.

There is a certain innocence or place of not knowing that we carry with us into the streets, but it is out of that place of not knowing that we have the possibility to discover what is there for us to know, and to, as we say in our mission statement, "discover on the streets our common humanity".  Myths get shattered. Our own stories get revealed to us. We begin to see the light, courage, strength and creativity in the people we encounter.

The day begins as the group is gathered with song and reflective readings. After a time of introducing ourselves, sharing what has brought each one to the retreat and the hopes and expectations that each one brings, an orientation to the layout of the day is given and then we set out into the streets for a number of hours. Adults go by themselves and youth are shadowed by an adult who previously has made a retreat.


Alex, Kay, and Martha

There is nothing that anyone must or should do except trust that they will be led to that which is theirs to encounter in the day. In the late afternoon we return to share our experiences and close with a soup and bread supper, and, if we're lucky, a little wine and chocolate.

While moving through the day people are asked to walk with a consciousness to that which arises from within them - attitudes, judgments, fears, assumptions, etc. - about who is in the streets and why some people are homeless, especially at a time when we are being told that this is an era of great prosperity in the U.S.

What is it we see and hear and feel as we have conversations with individuals, walk through the streets, sit on a bench in the U.N. Plaza, or in a drop-in center, stand in a food line waiting for a meal, become tired or have to go to the bathroom and confront signs that say, "rest-rooms for customers only", or "no loitering"?

We share the richness of the experience as it is reflected through the voices of some of those who have gone into the streets with us.

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