Fordham Logo 400 X78
  • BOOKS
    • New and Forthcoming
    • Award Winners
    • Bestsellers
    • Catalogs
    • Imprints
      • American Literatures Initiative
      • Empire State Editions
        • ESE Books
        • For Authors
        • For Media
        • ESE Contact Us
        • Support ESE
      • Modern Language Initiative
    • Subjects
    • Series
    • Inactive Series
  • Journals & DVDs
    • Journals
    • DVDs
  • DIGITAL SHORTS
  • OPEN ACCESS
    • American Philosophy
  • NEWS & EVENTS
    • Exhibits & Events
    • Press Releases
    • Roundtable on The Hawthorn Archive
  • ABOUT
    • Contact Us
    • History
    • Meet the Editors
    • Manuscript Submissions
    • Resources
    • Distributed Presses
  • BLOG
DONATE
Sacred Shelter: Thirteen Journeys of Homelessness and Healing

Sacred Shelter: Thirteen Journeys of Homelessness and Healing

Thirteen Journeys of Homelessness and Healing

Edited by Susan Greenfield

Published: 2018

ISBN: 9780823281190

Page Count: 336

Trim Size: 6.000in x 228.600in

Formats:

Paperback
Hardcover eBook - Epub

Price: $30.00

Buy Now
OTHER RETAILERS
Barnes & Noble
Description

Named a Gift Book for the Discerning New Yorker by The New York Times

In a metropolis like New York, homelessness can blend into the urban landscape. For editor Susan Greenfield, however, New York is the place where a community of resilient, remarkable individuals are yearning for a voice. Sacred Shelter follows the lives of thirteen formerly homeless people, all of whom have graduated from the life skills empowerment program, an interfaith life skills program for homeless and formerly homeless individuals in New York. Through frank, honest interviews, these individuals share traumas from their youth, their experience with homelessness, and the healing they have discovered through community and faith.

Edna Humphrey talks about losing her grandparents, father, and sister to illness, accident, and abuse. Lisa Sperber discusses her bipolar disorder and her whiteness. Dennis Barton speaks about his unconventional path to becoming a first-generation college student and his journey to reconnect with his family. The memoirists share stories about youth, family, jobs, and love. They describe their experiences with racism, mental illness, sexual assault, and domestic violence. Each of the thirteen storytellers honestly expresses his or her brokenheartedness and how finding community and faith gave them hope to carry on.

Interspersed among these life stories are reflections from program directors, clerics, mentors, and volunteers who have worked with and in the life skills empowerment program. In his reflection, George Horton shares his deep gratitude for and solidarity with the 500-plus individuals he has come to know since he co-founded the program in 1989. While religion can be divisive, Horton firmly believes that all faiths urge us to “welcome the stranger” and, as Pope Francis asks, “accompany” them through the struggles of life. Through solidarity and suffering, many formerly homeless individuals have found renewed faith in God and community. Beyond trauma and strife, Dorothy Day’s suggestion that “All is grace” is personified in these thirteen stories. Jeremy Kalmanofsky, rabbi at Ansche Chesed Synagogue, says the program points toward a social fabric of encounter and recognition between strangers, who overcome vast differences to face one another, which in Hebrew is called Panim el Panim.

While Sacred Shelter does not tackle the socioeconomic conditions and inequities that cause homelessness, it provides a voice for a demographic group that continues to suffer from systemic injustice and marginalization. In powerful, narrative form, it expresses the resilience of individuals who have experienced homelessness and the hope and community they have found. By listening to their stories, we are urged to confront our own woundedness and uncover our desire for human connection, a sacred shelter on the other side of suffering.

Reviews
Both the Torah and the New Testament instruct, 'love your neighbor as yourself.' This book’s stories of suffering and redemption show how real people live that commandment. Susan Greenfield has compiled stories and reflections that inspire, uplift and challenge. Sacred Shelter shares lessons about the power of love and perseverance, and about how, when we extend respect, kindness and hope to people our society rejects and scorns, we take huge steps closer to a more just and love-filled world for everyone. - Brian Purnell, Geoffrey Canada Associate Professor of Africana Studies and History, Bowdoin College
It is rare that one book provides a gripping, honest, unapologetic look at the lives and perspectives of individuals experiencing homelessness. Sacred Shelter does just that demanding a reader's immediate attention. After bearing witness to the truths captured in this book I was moved to deepen my intention to fight for affordable housing across the nation. - Afua Atta-Mensah, Esq., Executive Director, Community Voices Heard
Homelessness is not hopelessness–at least for the 13 individuals whose stories are told in Sacred Shelter. Personal empowerment; supportive community; God’s gracious presence are highlighted as key to these success stories of transformation and growth. The editor sensitively and capably allows these individuals’ own reality and narrative to emerge through their stories. - Msgr. Kevin Sullivan, Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York
A powerful look beyond statistics and policy proposals, into the stories of people who have experienced homelessness, in their own words. These painful, honest, and ultimately hopeful stories--paired with reflections from religious leaders--inspire the reader to greater empathy and commitment. - Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director, T'ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights
Table of Contents

Editor’s Note ix

Background xi

Glossary and Names of Replicate Programs Represented in Sacred Shelter xiii

Introduction: Susan Celia Greenfield 1

Life Story: Nelson Prime 29

Life Story: James Arthur Addison (grad. 1993) 44

Reflection: Rabbi Jeremy Kalmanofsky 61

Life Story: Black (Pseudonym) (grad. late 1990s) 65

Reflection: Stephanie Reid 77

Life Story: Dennis Barton (grad. 2002) 79

Reflection: Dawn Ravella, DMin 104

Life Story: Michelle Riddle (grad. 2003) 107

Reflection: Hope 127

Life Story: Edna Humphrey (grad. 2005) 130

Reflection: Ira Ben Wiseman 140

Life Story: Deborah Canty (grad. 2005) 142

Reflection: Jane Griffin 163

Life Story: Lisa Sperber (grad. 2007) 165

Reflection: Reverend Alistair Drummond 178

Life Story: Rodney Allen (grad. 2009) 181

Life Story: Akira (grad. 2009) 200

Reflection: Doug Mastin 222

Life Story: Sophia Worrell (grad. 2010) 224

Reflection: Terry Michaud 241

Life Story: Cindy (Pseudonym) (grad. 2011) 244

Reflection: Reverend Michelle Nickens 264

Life Story: Heidi Nissen (grad. 2013) 268

Making a Difference: Marc Greenberg 287

Crossing Boundaries and Listening for Conversion: George B. Horton 295

Acknowledgments 305

Notes 309

Details

ISBN-13 9780823281190

Published: 2018-12-04

Contributors

Edited: Susan Greenfield
Susan Celia Greenfield is a Professor of English at Fordham University; author of Mothering Daughters: Novels and the Politics of Family Romance, Frances Burney to Jane Austen; and co-editor of Inventing Maternity: Politics, Science, and Literature, 1650–1865.

related title

The House of Early Sorrows Paperback  by Louise DeSalvo

The House of Early Sorrows

A Memoir in Essays

By Louise DeSalvo

Neighborhood Success Stories Hardcover  by Carol Lamberg

Neighborhood Success Stories

Creating and Sustaining Affordable Housing in New York

By Carol Lamberg

Chasing Ghosts Paperback  by Louise DeSalvo

Chasing Ghosts

A Memoir of a Father, Gone to War

By Louise DeSalvo

A Scholar's Tale Paperback  by Geoffrey Hartman

A Scholar's Tale

Intellectual Journey of a Displaced Child of Europe

By Geoffrey Hartman

Passing on the Faith Paperback  by James L. Heft, S.M.

Passing on the Faith

Transforming Traditions for the Next Generation of Jews, Christians, and Muslims

By Edited by James L. Heft, S.M.

Between the Bylines Hardcover  by Susan E. Wiant

Between the Bylines

A Father's Legacy

By Susan E. Wiant

Martin Buber's Journey to Presence Hardcover  by Phil Huston

Martin Buber's Journey to Presence

By Phil Huston

A Prophet for Our Time Hardcover  by Judith H. Banki

A Prophet for Our Time

An Anthology of the Writings of Rabbi Marc H. Tannenbaum

By Judith H. Banki, Eugene J. Fisher

NEWSLETTER SIGNUP

Please enter your name.
Please enter a valid email address.
SUBMIT
Something went wrong. Please check your entries and try again.

IMPRINTS

American Literature Initiative
Empire State Editions
The Modern Language Initiative

Donate

CONTACT & ORDERING

Domestic Sales
Reprint Rights
International Sales
Special Sales
Book Sellers

RESOURCES

For Authors
For Booksellers & Librarians
For Instructors
For Media
Ebook Partners

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Subsidiary Rights
Reprint Rights
Course Packets
Alternate Formats Availability
General Inquiries
Rights Available

CONNECT

© Fordham University Press 2017  |  Privacy Policy  

Fordham Univesity Press Logo

Created by Supadu