{"id":1429,"date":"2008-11-20T21:26:00","date_gmt":"2008-11-20T21:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html"},"modified":"2008-11-20T21:26:00","modified_gmt":"2008-11-20T21:26:00","slug":"we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html","title":{"rendered":"“We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while”"},"content":{"rendered":"

How much can one man do for a suffering child? My hometown diocesan paper, The Tablet, has this inspiring answer<\/a>:<\/p>\n

<\/a> There is an extraordinary spirituality that shines throughout the story of Father Joseph Maier. His heroic struggles offering hope and promise to abandoned and homeless children in Bangkok, Thailand, are chronicled in a new book, \u201cThe Gospel of Father Joe: Revolution and Revelation in the Slums of Bangkok,\u201d written by journalist Greg Barrett.<\/p>\n

During a recent stopover in New York, Father Maier took time out to speak with The Tablet. \u201cI hurt real bad as a kid,\u201d he said. \u201cI really wanted to help other kids so they wouldn\u2019t hurt like I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Father Maier is a product of a broken home. His father was an alcoholic who deserted his family. But he has transformed the suffering of his youth into a \u201cmiracle\u201d known as the Mercy Centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere one can find 33 pre-schools teaching four thousand kids. In fact, many of the teachers here got their start in the same slum schools,\u201d explained Father Maier. \u201cOver the years, the numbers in our alumni have swelled to the tens of thousands.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mercy Centre is growing international scholars and injecting hope into impoverished neighborhoods that did not have either,\u201d suggests author Barrett. <\/p>\n

Besides a solid foundation in education, the Mercy Centre provides housing for homeless street kids who have often been rescued from oppressive exploitation and injustice of one sort or another. Many have been found orphaned by the AIDS crisis. There is also a hospice for adults with AIDS. <\/p>\n

Father Maier points to the \u201csafe haven houses\u201d for the youngsters. \u201cVery often, these children have been saved from the world of violence and abuse because of our presence here,\u201d he explains. \u201cThese are the rescued wounded who are offered refuge and swiftly spirited from being throwaway kids to being part of a larger loving family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many of these young folk are being sheltered from both predator and parent alike. \u201cVery often the parent(s) fall on hard times and they are often inclined to sell their child to an abuser,\u201d he explains. \u201cThe pedophile monsters likewise often offer money to aid the deep rooted addictions of the parents \u2013 all in exchange for these children<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while. You want to show them perhaps for one bright shining moment of their lives that there was a Camelot called childhood.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s a remarkable tale. Visit the Tablet link<\/a> for the rest. You can also find out more about Fr. Joe and Greg Barrett’s book about him at this website<\/a> or through the publisher<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Meantime, for further information on Mercy Centre, visit its website<\/a>. Father Maier also has written a book of his own, \u201cWelcome to The Bangkok Slaughterhouse\u201d<\/a>. Proceeds from the sale of his book are donated to the Mercy Centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How much can one man do for a suffering child? My hometown diocesan paper, The Tablet, has this inspiring answer: There is an extraordinary spirituality that shines throughout the story of Father Joseph Maier. His heroic struggles offering hope and promise to abandoned and homeless children in Bangkok, Thailand, are chronicled in a new book,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":365,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration"],"yoast_head":"\n"We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How much can one man do for a suffering child? My hometown diocesan paper, The Tablet, has this inspiring answer: There is an extraordinary spirituality that shines throughout the story of Father Joseph Maier. His heroic struggles offering hope and promise to abandoned and homeless children in Bangkok, Thailand, are chronicled in a new book,…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-11-20T21:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SSYeRTVX2uI\/AAAAAAAADWw\/V1xTb1rNtfI\/s320\/FatherandPrae4.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"deacon greg kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while\" - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while\" - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"How much can one man do for a suffering child? My hometown diocesan paper, The Tablet, has this inspiring answer: There is an extraordinary spirituality that shines throughout the story of Father Joseph Maier. His heroic struggles offering hope and promise to abandoned and homeless children in Bangkok, Thailand, are chronicled in a new book,…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2008-11-20T21:26:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SSYeRTVX2uI\/AAAAAAAADWw\/V1xTb1rNtfI\/s320\/FatherandPrae4.jpg"}],"author":"deacon greg kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html","name":"\"We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while\" - The Deacon's Bench","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SSYeRTVX2uI\/AAAAAAAADWw\/V1xTb1rNtfI\/s320\/FatherandPrae4.jpg","datePublished":"2008-11-20T21:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-11-20T21:26:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SSYeRTVX2uI\/AAAAAAAADWw\/V1xTb1rNtfI\/s320\/FatherandPrae4.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SSYeRTVX2uI\/AAAAAAAADWw\/V1xTb1rNtfI\/s320\/FatherandPrae4.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/11\/we-try-to-give-a-kid-the-chance-to-be-human-for-a-while.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“We try to give a kid the chance to be human for a while”"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic Deacon Ponders the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/052b8cd86cc713feaccdc8282b03cf10","name":"deacon greg kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/a4e\/a4e07ce6fde3f10d4d9753243fd48d45x96.jpg","caption":"deacon greg kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/365"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}