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HJ Clergy Corner: March 2007
COUNTING SOULS
Fr. Michael Pappas
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church
San Francisco, California
When we learn how to count in elementary school we don’t think of the possibilities, which such a skill will afford us later in life.
Essential to our very ability to exist, counting enables us to manage our businesses, household finances, and other basic pursuits. This said,
until just recently, never did I imagine that counting could make the difference in whether a person might be provided the essential needs
of food, clothing, and shelter.
Owing much of my journey to the priesthood to encounters with indigent souls, an article in the SF Chronicle about Homeless Count 2007
caught my eye and presented an opportunity to give back to our city’s impoverished citizens in a practical way.
One of hundreds of volunteers gathered at the Spanish Cultural Center on 15th and Mission streets, there I sat on a creaking folding chair,
sipping a cup of coffee, anxiously awaiting marching orders for the task at hand. Before long, a stream of mostly young, well-dressed
altruistic yuppies crowded the facility. No one really knew what to expect; the prevailing electricity in the room betrayed a common feeling
of urgency and sincere desire to right society’s failure to care for its own.
From the start, I realized that this evening’s venture would be far more different than any other in my experience with the homeless. The facilitator explained that in order for the City to receive federal funding, a comprehensive, objective and accurate count would need to be taken. One could sense the tension in the room between those in the administration who wanted to show progress in the Mayor’s efforts to fight homelessness, and those from social service agencies who sought to accentuate the plight of their constituents, San Francisco’s marginalized and disenfranchised.
It became quickly clear that our mission was not to engage, but to quantify. Spiritually, this antiseptic role of statistician gave rise to an
emotional angst in my soul. Like those on safari, our task was to hunt for the homeless. Instead of tagging them with a lethal weapon, we were
to keep our distance and identify on paper location, approximate age, race, gender and mental state. All the time, I had to remind myself that
this seemingly callous exercise would result in an ultimate positive benefit.
Having signed the necessary disclaimers and been instructed by the SFPD in basic safety precautions, I was grouped with other complete
strangers, who soon became colleagues and compatriots in a common cause. Armed with clipboards, maps, reflective vests, tally sheets and
flashlights, we hit the streets and canvassed every inch of the assigned region. This excursion took us to populated thoroughfares as well
as remote parks. Our vigil was at times tedious, at times anxious, bordering on fearful.
When, at midnight, we arrived back where we started to submit the completed tally sheet, each went on his way, realizing that together we
had participated in a profoundly important process. Although the results of our collective mission would not be reported for weeks to come,
patience in waiting for the final count was engendered by the sober reality that the societal problem we sought to impact would be perennial.
In counting souls on that cold winter’s night, I learned that what really counts is that they count!
Fr. Michael Index
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