Thanks, John.

No, Qodrn, I wasn’t aware that the Army accessed the IRS records. However, I do believe that student records are confidential even to the Army.

It was so interesting to hear your story, John. Knowing the stories of our lives help us to understand our differences. I have heard Michael’s story and also Kathi’s and they are very different but equally interesting. Sharing those stories in that way allows us to all expand our worldview and to become more empathetic.

I will tell you a little about my own story. I was born in Oakland in 1939 at the end of the great depression and just before WWII. Dad joined the Navy shortly after. I spent my childhood traveling from one place to another, leaving the old way behind and beginning a new one over and over.

My brother and I were expected to be like ambassadors representing the US Navy wherever we went. My mother taught us that wherever we lived, we were a part of the community and should leave it better than we found it. She believed we should choose our own religion and set out to educate us about a variety of churches (all Christian) Dad was not religious and encouraged us to tell the truth and think clearly. I was also influenced by my maternal grandmother was a seeker and studied eastern and new age religions too.

I am still learning and experiencing. I have taken an interest in many schools of thought and selected the best I saw from all of them. I am more interested in the real inner experiences and in learing. I prefer to think of people as individuals rather than as members of a religion. After all no two people are the same in any one religion. Even in the same family, the children experience life differently. My brother is happy in his fundamentalist church, for instance, and that is not for me. My reasons have to do with my real life experiences that he never experienced.

I think far too much is said about other people’s beliefs without any real understanding of the other’s story that led them to those beliefs. The ego’s competition to be right only increases fear, hatred and violence.

If I had my way, I would not allow personal attacks on other people or groups on this blog. Those who do so continue to make this a source of negativity for all who read it. That doesn’t mean I would not allow controversay. I think conversations are needed to find resolutions to conflict. But there are ways to do that that are non-violent and impersonal.

Further, you don’t have to be against the Catholic Church to be against the child abuse that was perpetrated there. When Catholics try to defend the Church in that respect, they offend everyone else. The Church needs to accept the consequences of its members’ bad behavior, learn and change. When they defend themselves, others fear they haven’t learned the lesson.

I too believe that churches should stay out of the schools. I think that is clear in our laws. If COR is a religious group, they should not be allowed in the schools. Nor should the schools be allowed to give out confidential information about individual students to them.

We worried about this in my neighborhood when the Salvation Army got involved at school. We also stood up against the district giving the names of our high school students to the USArmy recruiters.

However, I don’t think anyone has given me enough information to make that kind of a judgment about COR.

Even if there were things they did wrong or that were controversial, I don’t think what was said is reason enough to wipe them off the face of the earth. Maybe it was a wrong strategy or the results of some loose cannon within the organization.

I would like to hear from them!

Perhaps they appear to drift when seen from your point of vfiew. I will not attempt to adress that…. none of us are perfect as was seenj the night that the present board was sworfn nad before Ms.Bruinner barly had her hand on the Gavel, HEA Prwesidenbt was loudly delvering ‘instructions’ from a standing position at the rear of those assemnbledin Council Chambers.

The heavuy set vice president of HEA has on occasion, especially when cameras are rolling, turned into soimething, almost chameleonlike,other than a wellcomposed,thoughtful. model citizen.

I too have some reservations about the quality or quaklificwations of the present COR staff.None of us perfect and most of us correct those personal behaviors in the course of time and experience.

FRankly, I am in the procdess of picking over a few items of contention with COR leader Heredia! wish her luck… as I refuse to just ‘go away’

Frankly I think HEA needs a change of leadership which seems to have become a bit stale!

If you were an observer of the blog ‘goings on’ last August ( 2010 ) when Mr. Moore began contributing (?) it became obvious to most that he is upset with the R.C Church over the abuse of children by priests. Even went so far as to drag up Pope Benedict’s history as a teenager compulsorily involved with the Wehrmacht near the end of WWII. If he is anti-religious, his attitude seems directed solely to R.C. Church. He has however, in his defense, more recently avoided the subject until his unfortunate remark against COR.
COR Is an ACRONYM of ‘Congregations Organized for Renewal’ COR had it’s origins in the mind of Saul Alinsky the great ‘organizer’ whose ‘direct action’ approach involved ‘sit ins’ etc…. Not a Catholic, probably a Hebrew in faith or background, Alinsky was often described, without comment by him, as agnostic. His direct actions were not violent in the sense that he did not have a club in his hand or resort to violence in finding solutions in aid of ‘justice’ for those ‘living on the edge’ in chronic conditions, where social justice was lacking. His single greatest ‘tool’ was seen inb his ability to organize folks to take risks, involving potential violence which was sometimes evoked by lack of patience within police Departments, major businesses, and City Halls across the nation.
Initially, I was put off by such tactics, which in my personal experience, I thought it was based on false information, that had aroused inappropriate actions. In my own case, my employer assigned me to the task of initiating a response that satisfied the group that had deliberately caused an annoyance which interrupted business in a Branch Bank. A hundred people laying on the lobby floor will easily upset customers attempting to access their money! Despite the tactic I appreciated the goals soon achieved.
Banks do have a responsibility in attending and meeting the financial needs of an entire community and not just the needs of ‘fat cats’!
Sol Alinsky’s actions soon attracted the attention of the Jesuit order of priests in the Catholic Church. I had attended Jr. High school at a Salesian boarding school in Watsonville. Initially I saw it as ‘punishment’ for the misguided conduct at a cost of repeating the seventh grade. My widowed Mother was unaware of my incredible number of absences from school ! The eldest of three, I had asthma and could no longer live on Mac Arthur Blvd in Oakland, quite near the Altenheim within Oakland’s Dimond District. Mac Arthur Blvd was one of three major routes to Southern Alameda County. Two of those routes were cluttered with slow moving electric street cars and the problem affecting the home selected by Mother was that it was immediate to the bus stop she needed for transport to San Franccisco.
Without an operable auto, her job took her to San Francisco where she worked as secretary to a sales manager of a major plumbing supply company… the lady was exhausted, especially with the onset of cancer. I could not live in the really old dwelling with considerable substandard features. WWII autos all needed an engine ring job and exhaust pipe emissions were crippling.
I took up residence with maternal grandparents who had a semi-enclosed rear porch. The fresh air worked wonders and I soon found work as a news carrier, delivering papers from a bike along a 21 mile stretch of streets, inclement weather was used as an excuse for not attending school on a fairly regular basis. A younger brother and I were soon whisked away to Watsonville when, widowed paternal Grandmother sold her home to cut her expense
While also enabling tuition and boarding expense, which was very reasonable given the fact that the Salesians operated 140 acres of agricultural, grape, orchard and cattle operations. Students had assigned, light chores to aid the operation.
After completing 9th grade, a paternal uncle’s wife interceded and the two sponsored my enrollment at The Jesuit Prep School near Santa Clara University. The Jesuits are serious about being well educated and offering themselves to education. I spent three years, boarding on the Bellarmine campus. They were rewarding years in that I was deeply exposed to a student body which was derived from many levels of wealth, education and national origin. Their viewpoints were an education in and of itself.
I am married to a lady who, after earlier acceptance, was turned away from a life within a teaching order on Nuns as direct result of lapsing into a diabetic coma one month prior to graduating High School. Her strength of character sees her at my side after over 58 years of marriage. More interesting is the fact that her Mother’s only brother was a Jesuit priest and her Father’s nephew was also a Jesuit Priest. I never met the Uncle but was well acquainted with wife’s cousin, a brilliant man, who according to another, who had also joined the Jesuit order and was in the same classes at the novitiate. After his death cousin was eulogized as a man who began teaching, almost unconsciously. Even to the extent that he reminded an older priest who presided at the dinner table, that he, the older man had assigned after dinner tasks with both the instruction and response, in Latin, ‘you have just used a transitive verb without an object’! That from the mouth of a man who had just turned 17.5 years of age, in August 1939.
I relate all that for the single reason that having known them, I stand in awe of the Jesuits and for that reason I came to understand why it was that the Jesuits ‘picked up’ on the message that Sol Alinsky was ‘preaching’. They respected him to the point that Alinsky was invited to lecture at their nearby Colleges. Further, they associated with him in the creation of ‘Congregations organized for Renewal’ (COR)
I had the experience of being visited by a Jesuit at my home. He had been referred to me by Priests or staff members at St. Joachim’s Parish Church on Hesperian Blvd, opposite the Airport. His purpose in the visit was to recruit me into a leadership position at creation of a Haywrd chapter of COR.
I DECLINED THE REQUEST ON THE BASIS OF THE IDEA THAT SINCE I HAD NO FACILITY IN SPANISH. THAT I WOULD NOT BE EFFECTIVE. I REFUSED THE INVITATION WITH THE SUGGESTION THAT COR SEEK LEADERRSHIP THROUGH THE PASTOR OF THE PARISH LOCATED IN THE OLD DECOTO DISTRICT OF UNION CITY…. WHERE THE POLICE CHIEF HAD BEEN SHOT TO DEATH BY A SNIPER, THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOW OF THE ASSEMBLY BUILDING. The Priest of that Parish, personally took on the role and succeeded so well that COR subsequently established a group or ‘chapter’ in Hayward. They seem to have achieved some limited success.
Let us be clear about COR, it is not a religious order seeking converts on a door to door basis. It is an alliance of Americans of various faiths in possession of varying intensity of effort at seeking justice as well as opportunity, for actions which serve the well being of our nation.
I mentioned earlier in this scribble, that my employer had be subjected to a ‘sit down’ by vocal participants who objected to conditions in a particular residential site on which the bank held a note and deed of trust which had been recorded as security for that note. That particular loan had been acquired by purchase from a mortgage lender in San Francisco. The upshot was that the underlying appraisal had not been performed by an appraiser associated with my employer.
I examined the structure in question. Not as bad as some, but hardly a ‘prime’ loan. The owner was a tough lady, reputed to be Afro-American, who was accused of being abusive by her tenants.
Frankly, I would not have been able to see that structure used as a dog kennel. I reported the facts as I saw them. Foreclosure proceedings were initiated the moment that the process was legally enabled.
Apparently, the members of the group used a tactic brought to the national scene by those in alliance with Sol Alinsky. I personally approve of such tactics and my employers of the moment suddenly had me representing the firm, together with other lenders in organizing “ Oakland Neighborhood Housing Services Corporation” which had the purpose of assuring access to loan money for dwellings in need of repair or refurbishment.
No one had to make a profession of Faith in anything other than the simple concept of freedom of opportunity! It is my simplistic belief that the problem with COR in Hayward is that it has lost much in the way of zeal….. Beyond that I have nothing else to say about COR. ( Congregations Organized for Renewal.)

I am sorry, but i take exception to Moore’s above comments.

If you were an observer of the blog ‘goings on’ last August ( 2010 ) when Mr. Moore began contributing (?) it became obvious to most that he is upset with the R.C Church over the abuse of children by priests. Even went so far as to drag up Pope Benedict’s history as a teenager compulsorily involved with the Wehrmacht near the end of WWII. If he is anti-religious, his attitude seems directed solely to R.C. Church. He has however, in his defense, more recently avoided the subject until his unfortunate remark against COR.
COR Is an ACRONYM of ‘Congregations Organized for Renewal’ COR had it’s origins in the mind of Saul Alinsky the great ‘organizer’ whose ‘direct action’ approach involved ‘sit ins’ etc…. Not a Catholic, probably a Hebrew in faith or background, Alinsky was often described, without comment by him, as agnostic. His direct actions were not violent in the sense that he did not have a club in his hand or resort to violence in finding solutions in aid of ‘justice’ for those ‘living on the edge’ in chronic conditions, where social justice was lacking. His single greatest ‘tool’ was seen inb his ability to organize folks to take risks, involving potential violence which was sometimes evoked by lack of patience within police Departments, major businesses, and City Halls across the nation.
Initially, I was put off by such tactics, which in my personal experience, I thought it was based on false information, that had aroused inappropriate actions. In my own case, my employer assigned me to the task of initiating a response that satisfied the group that had deliberately caused an annoyance which interrupted business in a Branch Bank. A hundred people laying on the lobby floor will easily upset customers attempting to access their money! Despite the tactic I appreciated the goals soon achieved.
Banks do have a responsibility in attending and meeting the financial needs of an entire community and not just the needs of ‘fat cats’!
Sol Alinsky’s actions soon attracted the attention of the Jesuit order of priests in the Catholic Church. I had attended Jr. High school at a Salesian boarding school in Watsonville. Initially I saw it as ‘punishment’ for the misguided conduct at a cost of repeating the seventh grade. My widowed Mother was unaware of my incredible number of absences from school ! The eldest of three, I had asthma and could no longer live on Mac Arthur Blvd in Oakland, quite near the Altenheim within Oakland’s Dimond District. Mac Arthur Blvd was one of three major routes to Southern Alameda County. Two of those routes were cluttered with slow moving electric street cars and the problem affecting the home selected by Mother was that it was immediate to the bus stop she needed for transport to San Franccisco.
Without an operable auto, her job took her to San Francisco where she worked as secretary to a sales manager of a major plumbing supply company… the lady was exhausted, especially with the onset of cancer. I could not live in the really old dwelling with considerable substandard features. WWII autos all needed an engine ring job and exhaust pipe emissions were crippling.
I took up residence with maternal grandparents who had a semi-enclosed rear porch. The fresh air worked wonders and I soon found work as a news carrier, delivering papers from a bike along a 21 mile stretch of streets, inclement weather was used as an excuse for not attending school on a fairly regular basis. A younger brother and I were soon whisked away to Watsonville when, widowed paternal Grandmother sold her home to cut her expense
While also enabling tuition and boarding expense, which was very reasonable given the fact that the Salesians operated 140 acres of agricultural, grape, orchard and cattle operations. Students had assigned, light chores to aid the operation.
After completing 9th grade, a paternal uncle’s wife interceded and the two sponsored my enrollment at The Jesuit Prep School near Santa Clara University. The Jesuits are serious about being well educated and offering themselves to education. I spent three years, boarding on the Bellarmine campus. They were rewarding years in that I was deeply exposed to a student body which was derived from many levels of wealth, education and national origin. Their viewpoints were an education in and of itself.
I am married to a lady who, after earlier acceptance, was turned away from a life within a teaching order on Nuns as direct result of lapsing into a diabetic coma one month prior to graduating High School. Her strength of character sees her at my side after over 58 years of marriage. More interesting is the fact that her Mother’s only brother was a Jesuit priest and her Father’s nephew was also a Jesuit Priest. I never met the Uncle but was well acquainted with wife’s cousin, a brilliant man, who according to another, who had also joined the Jesuit order and was in the same classes at the novitiate. After his death cousin was eulogized as a man who began teaching, almost unconsciously. Even to the extent that he reminded an older priest who presided at the dinner table, that he, the older man had assigned after dinner tasks with both the instruction and response, in Latin, ‘you have just used a transitive verb without an object’! That from the mouth of a man who had just turned 17.5 years of age, in August 1939.
I relate all that for the single reason that having known them, I stand in awe of the Jesuits and for that reason I came to understand why it was that the Jesuits ‘picked up’ on the message that Sol Alinsky was ‘preaching’. They respected him to the point that Alinsky was invited to lecture at their nearby Colleges. Further, they associated with him in the creation of ‘Congregations organized for Renewal’ (COR)
I had the experience of being visited by a Jesuit at my home. He had been referred to me by Priests or staff members at St. Joachim’s Parish Church on Hesperian Blvd, opposite the Airport. His purpose in the visit was to recruit me into a leadership position at creation of a Haywrd chapter of COR.
I DECLINED THE REQUEST ON THE BASIS OF THE IDEA THAT SINCE I HAD NO FACILITY IN SPANISH. THAT I WOULD NOT BE EFFECTIVE. I REFUSED THE INVITATION WITH THE SUGGESTION THAT COR SEEK LEADERRSHIP THROUGH THE PASTOR OF THE PARISH LOCATED IN THE OLD DECOTO DISTRICT OF UNION CITY…. WHERE THE POLICE CHIEF HAD BEEN SHOT TO DEATH BY A SNIPER, THROUGH THE OPEN WINDOW OF THE ASSEMBLY BUILDING. The Priest of that Parish, personally took on the role and succeeded so well that COR subsequently established a group or ‘chapter’ in Hayward. They seem to have achieved some limited success.
Let us be clear about COR, it is not a religious order seeking converts on a door to door basis. It is an alliance of Americans of various faiths in possession of varying intensity of effort at seeking justice as well as opportunity, for actions which serve the well being of our nation.
I mentioned earlier in this scribble, that my employer had be subjected to a ‘sit down’ by vocal participants who objected to conditions in a particular residential site on which the bank held a note and deed of trust which had been recorded as security for that note. That particular loan had been acquired by purchase from a mortgage lender in San Francisco. The upshot was that the underlying appraisal had not been performed by an appraiser associated with my employer.
I examined the structure in question. Not as bad as some, but hardly a ‘prime’ loan. The owner was a tough lady, reputed to be Afro-American, who was accused of being abusive by her tenants.
Frankly, I would not have been able to see that structure used as a dog kennel. I reported the facts as I saw them. Foreclosure proceedings were initiated the moment that the process was legally enabled.
Apparently, the members of the group used a tactic brought to the national scene by those in alliance with Sol Alinsky. I personally approve of such tactics and my employers of the moment suddenly had me representing the firm, together with other lenders in organizing “ Oakland Neighborhood Housing Services Corporation” which had the purpose of assuring access to loan money for dwellings in need of repair or refurbishment.
No one had to make a profession of Faith in anything other than the simple concept of freedom of opportunity! It is my simplistic belief that the problem with COR in Hayward is that it has lost much in the way of zeal….. Beyond that I have nothing else to say about COR. ( Congregations Organized for Renewal.)

In Charity, nothing else to say about Moore either!

My issue is that COR and other Faith Based groups do not belong in public schools. I believe that these organizations make their inroads in to the community and then recruit new members for their churches. The underlying ideology is the sneaky part.

The surface work of COR is very good. The underlying work is not so good.

Their website looks like they are simply community organizers who came from the churches. Since the South Hayward Collaborative came out of the South Hayward Parish and does a lot of good in the community without proselytizing, I am wondering what the difference is.