<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=windows-1252"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;">Ah, YES. Thanks Dick and Happy Birthday.<div>Love, Grace & Peace,</div><div>Ellen & Dick<br><div><div>On Dec 10, 2017, at 4:10 PM, Richard via OE <<a href="mailto:oe@lists.wedgeblade.net">oe@lists.wedgeblade.net</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 18px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><div id="divtagdefaultwrapper" dir="ltr" style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Death Bed<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">After being at the October Chicago ICA Celebration of the Band of 24, being my birthday (76years), I thought it would be appropriate to share some of my history. For the last 6 years I have supported ICA Chicago’s work on Accelerate 77. This first helped me to get familiar with the Southside of Chicago as Seva Gandhi (ICA Director of Programs and Partnerships) and I visited Accelerate 77 Southside partners. This familiarization helped me to take the One Earth Film Fest to the Southside. The Southside is great<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In working on the Southside, I discovered one of the great community organizers was Saul Alinsky. Terry Bergdall loaned me his autobiography (<u>Let Them Call Me Rebel</u>) that highlighted Alinsky taking on the University of Chicago and Mayor Daly. Alinsky was a master in mobilizing local people. But what really caught my attention was one of the key figures in the book is Monsignor Jack Egan who brought resources and people to the table for Alinsky’s effort.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span> </span>I became acquainted with Egan when I was assigned for a week to go to Trenton New Jersey to work with Egan as his facilitator for a gathering of the diocesan development coordinators. Monsignor Egan was at the University of Notre Dame, at that time, heading up the Urban Ministry Institute. He would give these great talks and then I would follow him to lead the group in strategic planning. Egan would kick them in the pants and then I would capture their new energy.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So when Alinsky mentioned Egan, I looked for and found a book about Monsignor John Egan called<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><u>An Alley in Chicago</u>. I was sure there would be something in the book about ICA/EI. And there was: Egan was assigned to Presentation Parish, which is right next to 5<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>City. That is how he became a great friend of Joe Mathews. Then on page 269 the book tells the story of Egan being asked to come to Joe’s<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>death bed</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>and to hear his<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>‘patrimony to the world’:<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>“<i>We’ve tried to get the established Church to see that it’s not about peddling abstract dogma but about awakening men into life and significant engagement in the historical process so that they might truly experience the glory of life through intensification of consciousness, and intensification of engagement</i>. Jack Egan prayed with his friend Joe Mathews, blessed him, and knelt for the blessing of this very beautiful and bright man… and to this day, I am a member of the Ecumenical Institute’s board of directors”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Wow, is this not what we are still about? Ok, change men to people<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dick Alton, RS-1, 1968 in Philadelphia.<o:p></o:p></span></div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;"><br></div><div id="Signature">Richard H.T. Alton 166 N. Humphrey Ave, Apt, 1N Oak Park, IL 60302 T:1.773.344.7172<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="mailto:richard.alton@gmail.com">richard.alton@gmail.com</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Don't let the fear of striking out hold you back Babe Ruth</div></div>_______________________________________________<br>OE mailing list<br><a href="mailto:OE@lists.wedgeblade.net">OE@lists.wedgeblade.net</a><br><a href="http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net">http://lists.wedgeblade.net/listinfo.cgi/oe-wedgeblade.net</a></div></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>