Meditating on a visit from ‘K’

While on an October retreat in Colorado, during a break for recreation, a friend of mine who trains hawks asked me to help him feed his hawk, named “K.” The result is the video my staff made available on our Facebook page. My comments were meant to be humorous, especially my non-serious comments comparing myself to St. Francis. Fun aside, I know that, in any comparison of myself to St. Francis, what is similar would be dwarfed by what is dissimilar!

As I experienced with “K,”, and you can see from this photo and video clip, hawks are magnificent creatures, but they are also predators. Later that day, during prayer, I thought how the life of the woman who is alone and without a home is also vulnerable to predators who want to exploit her by trying to destroy her dignity and safety.

For some mysterious reason, people will often come to the rescue of a homeless woman with children, but when a woman is alone and fending for herself, she is ignored, even though she is also among the most helpless and defenseless people in our society.

But the unaccompanied woman faces huge dangers: human trafficking, murder, types of sexual and physical assault, drugs, alcohol, and threatening environmental conditions like inclement weather, Coved 19, and unhygienic living conditions. These dangers have only grown as our society becomes more violent and ruthless.

As a priest serving the poor, I saw these conditions for myself and it compelled me to establish the Julia Greeley Home. We reach out to the woman alone and assure her of her God-given dignity and worth, and we give her the time and spiritual and practical support, in safe surroundings, to rebuild her life.

Without you, this urgent need would never be filled. So, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have supported and donated to the Julia Greeley Home for the past seven years.

Now, thanks to you, we have been able to expand our program and we can take it to warp speed with the arrival in October, 2020, of our excellent Executive Director, Dr. Mary Callan, PhD.

Mary is truly unique in her experience and talents, and she has a great love for the Julia Greeley Home. I hope you’ll read my Letter introducing her, “Our New Executive Director” on this page.

The letter you’re reading now was inspired a week later during the retreat I lead every year at the Mother Cabrini shrine just outside of Denver. My encounter with “K” was not only an enjoyable “time out” from the concentration of the retreat itself, but afterwards, it led me down a more serious path to write the thoughts you are reading here.

I’m praying you will join us, or continue with us, in our exciting new chapter with Dr. Mary Callan as Executive Director. I will continue to be active as Founder and President of the Julia Greeley Home — but as a falconer, not so much! In any case, please visit our Facebook page to view a 30-second video of my attempt to be courageous at falconry at least amusing. 

Father Regis Scanlon, OFM Cap

Founder and President, Julia Greeley Home Inc.