says Stephen Sinn, SJ
Stephen (Steve) Sinn, SJ has been a Jesuit for 60 years. After 18 years in the inner city Parish of St Canice’s, Sydney, he established The Bridge Community in Bathurst, to provide accommodation and support for men and women coming out of prison. He presently lives with four of the men in one of the Community houses.
Tell us about your experience of serving lunch every day to street people in your parish that only had a weekend soup kitchen earlier.
I knew that the key to a healthy parish was to follow what Mother Teresa once said: “Put the poor at the centre of the parish and everything else will look after itself.” I do believe that and I tried to do that. I wanted to get to know the street people, to sit at table with them, as friends. I knew they held the key that would lead me and the parish to Jesus. Whenever I was with them I felt close to the gospel. They are the same people Jesus saw when he got out of the boat, “harassed and helpless.” I wonder what Jesus taught them. Their distress would have opened him to his own deep truth, that he and the Father are one. He sat down with them to eat.
Will you share with us about your friendship with Celeste, the woman whom you found sitting on the steps of the church?
When I came to the parish as the assistant priest I was lonely. The Jesuit community was established and I was the newcomer. I didn’t know anyone in the parish. One day I saw Celeste sitting on the steps of the church. I sat down next to her, both of us facing the street. She was swarthy, a week’s growth on her heavily powdered face. She was wearing a schoolgirl’s skirt and had hairy legs. Around her neck was a whistle, the kind umpires blow. It was to keep others away. I sensed an empathy that I had not experienced prior to this. I told her I was lonely and she heard me, she didn’t comment, just heard me. She was the first person I met and we have been friends ever since.
I knew the street people held the key that would lead me and the parish to Jesus.
How do friendships offered by street people help you as a Jesuit priest?
The friendships I have with street people give me heart. They disarm me, disturb me, welcome me, love me. They are my tribe. I come from a different tribe but they have welcomed me as one of them, different but one of them. They disarm my defences: my prejudices, my fears of rejection, of not being good enough. The depth of their suffering disturbs me. I see their ravaged faces, the mental illness, the sores on their feet, their decaying teeth and I feel powerless. I am grateful they open their door and welcome me into their lives and love me.
Tell us about your experience as a part time Scripture teacher in state schools.
I’ve been teaching scripture to children for over 25 years, one weekly class. Many times I’ve felt like resigning, because I’ve felt so inadequate but somehow I hear God calling in the children. It’s a unique privilege to be given time to talk with the children about God. I’ve never met a child – or a street person for that matter – who is not open to God. Their spontaneous faith is inspiring. I ask them to read a gospel story from a bible picture book and to write down a sentence that moved them. It is a beautiful thing to see the eye and the hand of a child working together to form a sentence from the gospel and for them to read it back to the class.
My deepest joy as a Jesuit priest is to recall many a time during the day that Jesus has saved me, that all will be well, that he loves me so much.
What made you think of the Bridge Community – houses for men and women coming out of prison?
I had this vision of living with homeless people, especially those coming out of prison, as nobody is willing to welcome them. I used to see them asleep on the porch of the church and I wanted to sit at the same table with them. I have always felt this to be a calling from God. The Bridge Community is three houses and two units with 12 men and 1 woman at the moment and I live in one of the houses with 4 men. I believe it is God’s work and that God sends the people who need the place. At the moment it’s not an organisation, we rely totally on donations and no one is employed. I’m presently working on how to make The Bridge Community sustainable. The men here are often too much for me and I have to throw myself into the arms of the Lord or light a candle before a battered statue of Mary I have in my room.
What are your joys and challenges in being a Jesuit priest in Australia today?
My deepest joy as a Jesuit priest is to recall many a time during the day that Jesus has saved me, that all will be well, that he loves me so much and that he has won victory over evil and death. In the midst of my trials I have this knowledge that gives me deep joy. The challenges are endless: how can I cope with seeing a child I have grown to love caught between parents who don’t know how to love one another let alone the child? How can I be kind and tough at the same time? How can I live with the anguish of other’s suffering and not be manipulated? Why did I take on so much? I’ve said ‘yes’ to the one who calls me and that means I have to carry my cross with him.
Courtesy: Jivan