A Short Visit (That Lasted 39 Years)

Twenty-five year-old Mary Nelson thought it would be a short visit to Chicago. After all, she was simply going to help here brother move here to begin a new job in the Garfield Park neighborhood. But after what she witnessed on those fateful summer days, Mary Nelson decided to stay awhile. And at 64 years of age, she still here.

The year that Mary came was 1965. After centuries of oppression and discrimination, African-American citizens had had enough. A grass roots effort-now called the Civil Rights Movement-was in full bloom. African-Americans all over the U.S. were marching, singing, protesting, and claiming their rights as citizens. The Civil Rights Movement, led by such legendary figures as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Mr. Edgar Evers, Ms. Rosa Parks and others, was decidedly non-violent. Many European-Americans and Latinos joined in.

But some African-Americans chose violence in an attempt to right the grievous wrongs that the whole black community suffered. Some European-Americans chose violence in a vain attempt to stop civil rights being extended and protected. Thus in the mid-1960s, large cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, and Newark, experienced violent civil disturbances marked by gun battles between some individuals and the police and National Guard, and the widespread destruction of property.

This is what Mary Nelson inadvertently walked into in the Garfield Park neighborhood in the summer of 1965. Bricks damaged her car and mayhem surrounded her brother's new home.

But Mary was not afraid. She was able to see the beauty of Chicago's West Side, so she stuck around to help make it a better place. She has since devoted her life to building up the West Side, and helping some of Chicago's poorest residents make better lives for themselves.

Mary founded a community organization named Bethel New Life (http://www.bethelnewlife.org/). Bethel New Life has created some 1000 new and affordable homes for people, and has helped countless people find jobs over the last 25 years. And they bought a hospital that was going to close and turned it into a residence for the elderly.

Feats like these cannot be underestimated. During her 64 years, Mary Nelson has seen government funding for human needs shrivel, while many people with means stay blind to those without. But through a combination of moxie, intelligence, skill and luck, Mary Nelson has built a community of people who care for one another and for others. She's about to retire, but her legacy will live on.

Catholic Connections

"To meet the requirements of justice and equity, every effort must be made, while respecting the rights of individuals and national characteristics, to put an end as soon as possible to the immense economic inequalities which exist in the world, which increase daily and go hand in hand with individual and social discrimination."

The Catholic bishops of the world gathered in the Second Vatican Council, "The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," number 66, 1965.

Reflection Questions

Tell about a time when you-or someone you know personally or from history-went to do something thinking it would be quick, but ended up working long and hard at it.

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