Homelessness is Hell
Works of Mercy
Journey for Justice
Abundant Life
Action and Reflection
Holiest of Holies
Street Teachers
Beloved Community
responding
to the cry of the poor demands more
than
works of mercy. The Open Door Community also takes public direct action to
expose and address the root causes of this suffering. In the process, we
work to show that poverty and injustice are no accidents. They are,
rather, the direct result of public policy, specific laws, and accepted
practices. Inspired by prophets such as Jeremiah and Isaiah, who were
community-based political and social agitators in their day, our community takes
to the streets to shout: No justice, no peace!
the journey for justice is no abstraction.
The Open Door Community fights on behalf of our beloved friends on the street and in prison – for whom the stakes are life or death. Our work for transformation makes the promises of heaven real on earth: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13-14 NRSV).
there is an alternative to war-making.
Following the nonviolent paths of Jesus, Gandhi, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Dorothy Day, the Open Door Community resists militarism and war. Each year, members of our community join in peaceful protest at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, GA. The community also takes part in a critical response to Atlanta’s Coca-Cola corporation, for its complicity with military forces in developing countries, and to the U.S. government’s expansion of the military industrial complex.
Next
public witness in solidarity with the poor
is an ongoing feature of Open Door Community life. Members of the community are a frequent presence on the streets of Atlanta, calling attention to the underside of our city’s newfound affluence. During Holy Week, we maintain a vigil on the streets. Some risk arrest by sleeping on streets and park benches in protest of Atlanta’s “quality of life” ordinances. The Open Door also hosts an annual Festival of Shelters in downtown Woodruff Park.
in 1999, grady hospital, atlanta’s only public hospital,
raised the co-pay on prescription drugs from $.50 to $10.00 for the poorest of the poor. The new co-pay would have amounted to a death sentence for many poor people. The Open Door intervened and quickly organized the Grady Coalition, a broad-based group of concerned Atlantans, and launched a campaign of action. Through public hearings, civil disobedience, and a mass outcry, the Grady Coalition helped persuade the hospital board to rescind the new co-pay. The Coalition continues to work with Grady Hospital to provide quality health care to Atlanta’s poor.
have become more and more scarce in Atlanta. In 1990, members of the community were arrested after occupying an abandoned downtown hotel for 13 days. As part of a movement led by 300 homeless friends, the community demanded that the city of Atlanta convert the building into low-income housing. Six years later, the Imperial Hotel opened its doors – to low-income residents.
IS HARSH AND DREADFUL
WHEN COMPARED TO
LOVE IN DREAMS