c. 1998 Religion News Service

CLEVELAND _ Robert Caver, a homeless man, used to sleep on a sidewalk in front of St. Peter Catholic Church in downtown Cleveland. On frigid, windy nights, he and other street people found warmth curled up in raggedy blankets near hot steampipe manhole covers. “The whole sidewalk was heated,”Caver said.”It was a comfort zone, physically and mentally. What harm could possibly come to you at the church?” But St. Peter’s sidewalk is no longer a”comfort zone”for the homeless.

The Rev. Robert Marrone, the church’s pastor, said he is fed up with feces, urine and empty booze bottles. He is fed up with vagrancy, vandalism and panhandling. “I live here,”Marrone said.”What I see and what I know and experience, I don’t think other people do.” Marrone has erected barriers to keep the street people away, but in doing so, he has ignited a moral debate as well as an investigation by the city into whether he violated sidewalk codes.

Marrone hired contractors to install decorative metal fencing around the church and on the steps, dig up sections of public sidewalk in front of the church and put in shrubs, trees and rock gardens.

The rocks are piled around the manhole covers where the homeless used to sleep. Since the project was completed several weeks ago, the street people have moved to manhole covers on neighboring blocks. “People from all over are whispering about it,”said Toni Johnson, a Catholic social activist who is on the board of trustees of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.”But they’re not being outspoken about it.” Parishioner Mike Griffin of Elyria said there was a”difference of opinion”among the congregation, which is made up mostly of suburban people. He said the matter is something they don’t want to discuss publicly.”We need to address and deal with it internally,”he said.

Parishioner Robert Rybka, who is on a parish committee trying to raise $500,000 to put a steeple on the church, said he was surprised to see the sidewalk landscaping. When he first saw the construction crews, he said, he was hoping they were building wheelchair accesses because the church has none.”I just don’t know how necessary it is,”he said.”It was just sort of done.” According to City Hall, Marrone did not have the required permits to do the work. Mayor Michael R. White’s press aide, Nancy Lesic, said the city was investigating to see whether to take any action.

Marrone, who declined to say how much his church paid for the work, said he presumed that the contractors had taken care of the permits.

St. Peter is two doors away from a community mental health center that has a daytime, drop-in soup kitchen and showers, toilets and telephones for the homeless. It is run by the Catholic diocese of Cleveland.

Just across from the church is Cuyahoga County’s welfare services building, which opens its basement every night as an emergency shelter for homeless men who sleep on mats on floors. Each night brings between 60 and 100 men. There are no showers and only a couple of toilets.

A block away is another emergency shelter funded by the county. It, too, holds at least 60 men a night and has only one toilet and no showers. “No wonder there is feces and urine on the sidewalks,”said Brian Davis, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless.”The reality is, this is a horrible situation. But none of the community leaders in that area, the father included, have come forward to assist with a solution. It’s been 10 years of temporary situations.” Davis said Marrone should have spent the money on public toilets rather than gardens and fences.

But Marrone said,”We’re just a little church on the corner. The situation is not under our control. It seems to me the city and the county should be dealing with the problem.” The two emergency shelters for men, plus another one in the city, are operated by First United Methodist Church, which also operates a shelter for women and children in its basement.

The Rev. Kenneth Chalker, pastor of First United Methodist, said he understood Marrone’s frustration but was bothered by his actions. “We have the same problems he does,”said Chalker.”It’s very difficult to deal with the homeless population. But it seems to me that is what the church is supposed to do. And it isn’t easy. “As long as people have the freedom to walk on sidewalks and sleep on sidewalks, we’re going to have problems. And I’m not ready to trade our society for one that forcibly removes them.”

DEA END O’MALLEY